The infectious rhythm of your performance is the easiest gateway to positive audience or especially audition committee engagement. Compelling rhythm allows even the tone deaf listener to subconsciously feel like they are connected to a performance as a participating member. Even if it is only subconcsious, music is actually a participatory art form. Think about it: A great song comes on the radio we might start bobbing our head or even tapping our foot along. A good performance conveys rhythm as an infectious pulse. A good performance goes beyond accurate rhythm and even convincing rhythm. TimeĬonsider or rhythm as the single most important item to engage any listener of your music making. Arban’s and Schlossberg are my favorite books to practice these fundamentals. Unfortunately, most college trombone undergrads actually CANNOT play most excerpts or a solos with convincing and consistent rhythm, pitch, and a golden tone quality. I’m convinced that with near complete avoidance of musicianship in lieu of the THREE T’s, their studio would still have more success than most collegiate trombone studios for the simple fact that bad rhythm, unreliable pitch, and painful tone quality, even on just a few notes, is enough to kill a concert performance. What you need - Metronome, Tuner, RecorderĪ trombone teacher could design a zealous 4-year curriculum about nothing but Schlossberg, Arbans and the “THREE T’s”. This default is only possible through the habitual commitment of our energy and time to the tips outlined below. Remember, for practice to do its job, we must create reliable artistry and technique that is the default when we play, especially on our worst days. But regardless of what your success looks like, we must all generate a sustained culture in our practice that drives us to succeed with the immutable truths I have outlined for you in the tips below. Rather, we should DELIBERATELY strive in the direction we want our careers to go.

I would never say you should curtail your obligations out of hand.

These careless practice habits can leave our artistry and technique in an arbitrary place - like dry leaves in the gale force winds of our auditions, gigs, and school obligations.

We, all of us, are often entrenched in casual routines. Below is a list of skills that must be built into our intuitive automation with consistent, high-quality practice. Many students and professionals know exactly what goes into being a great musician, but only a few people put the work in. I know how to run a marathon, but that knowledge has very little value unless I put in the workouts. We are in a career field of “Doers” where knowing the answer is never as valuable as the ability to do it 'on demand'.

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