The Legato
Trombone
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The legato tonguing style is one of the hardest and most
important things we learn on the trombone.
From the exquisite sounds of jazz ballads softly played by Tommy
Dorsey (sample)
or Bill Watrous
(sample),
or a lush Jay Friedman performance of Tuba
Mirum, the trombone is inherently an instrument capable of the most lyrical
and sublime sounds. In the modern
classical setting, legato has become even more important in many orchestras as
trombonist increasingly apply legato beginnings of notes to even marcato
figures. And beginning in the modern
Jack Teagarden (sample)
/Lawrence Brown (sample)
jazz trombone era, legato tonguing became and today remains *the* default mode
of tonguing.
Unlike many other important skills on the trombone, the ability of a trombone
performer in the legato style cannot be measured by tempo, or range. It is a purely aesthetic aspect of playing, and is inseparable from and
integrated in the overall quality of sound of a player. Many, many trombonists can produce a full, pure and wonderful sound
holding a note. Far fewer players
can produce a full, pure, natural and seamless sound whilst changing notes.
I have heard the goal of how the legato trombone articulation should sound
described as the seamless sound of a baritone or euphonium changing notes with
the valve only. Certainly this
describes a seamless articulation; however the legato trombone style can be so much, much more. In many
musical situations this may be precisely what we want the articulation to sound
like, but in others, perhaps a Lawrence Brown or Trummy
Young (sample)
wants a touch of slide into, around and out of the notes - these are subtle yet
vital stylistic prerogatives of the performer which merely illustrate the
importance of the art of the trombone legato in the musical palette.
The four keys to developing a beautiful legato style on the trombone are simply,
the ear, the air, the tongue and the slide. The ear, because as with the development of most technical skills on the
trombone, legato tonguing is best informed
by listening to great performers and broadening and deepening the ear and
mind’s conception of the “perfect legato sound”, and evaluated
by listening to one’s self to determine the ultimate success of a given
technique or approach.
On the technical side, the beauty and difficulty of improving legato technique
are largely due to the fact that the tongue, air fast slide movement are
*completely* dependent on one another in legato playing. One can learn the perfect legato tonguing technique and separately have
excellent air support and control, yet if the two cannot meet, intertwine and
“play” with one another, the final results are often far less than what the
instrument is capable of. So how the
ear, the air, the tongue and the slide interact is what produces the “best”
sound to our ears.
THE EAR
As pointed out above, one very basic essential description of the legato tongue
on trombone is to closely imitate the sound of a euphonium changing notes by
depressing a valve. If so, this
would comprise a “level one” education of the ear towards the legato
concept. And as we continue to
develop our concept, we reach for deeper and richer forms of musical expression
to inform our musical selves.
One of the preeminent sources many players utilize in the development of legato
style is the Marco Bordogni Melodius Etudes compiled by Johannes Rochut. The Bordogni Etudes are
vocalises, originally written to be performed by
the human voice. Tuba Mirum is an obbligato accompaniment to a vocal solo. The
revolutionary approach to jazz ballad playing revolutionized by Tommy Dorsey was
highly influenced by the vocalists of his era. The genesis of jazz was based largely on 19-century spiritual music sung
by slaves in America. Are we drawing
a common theme yet?
Based on these examples and many others, we can conclude that the tradition of
legato trombone musical expression owes a great deal to the sound of the
singing, human voice. As
trombonists, we can observe this historical fact, and then *stretch* our
personal sources of vocal music influences to include almost any form of vocal
musical expression. From operatic
performance to the jazz vocal tradition, from the chants of Tibetan monks to the
soulful lyrics of a modern blues/rock performer, the human voice as an
instrument provides an almost limitless source of music we can use to expand our
ears.
THE AIR
The cornerstone on which a player builds a rich legato art is always air support
and air management. We can envision
and illustrate the characterization and feeling of strong air support and
constant and managed air flow using performances of Marceau Symphonique (sample)
played by Christian Lindberg or I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (sample)
played by Tommy Dorsey. We can hear
that while the air stream may provide for dynamic ebb and flow within the
phrase, the essential basics of air flow over these phrases is the
production of one continuous air stream which
does not start, stop, or otherwise pay any heed whatsoever to the changing of
the notes. The nature
of the air support should at all times have a strong foundation at the lowest
reaches of the air column, the area of the lungs that comes closest to the
diaphragm.
The quality of the air stream through the body should be completely unhindered
in the upper lungs, the chest, and the throat. Many players stress complete relaxation in these areas, many other great
players retain a firmness in the throat and chest as to maximize the dilation of
these areas. The bottom line? The airstream cares not one whit whether the muscles in the walls around
it are completely relaxed or slightly tensed - only when the airstream feels the
“walls closing in” (vis-à-vis constriction in the throat or chest), does
the ultimate quality of the legato sound suffer.
So: the goal is steady and smooth air, supported strongly from the bottom of the
belly, resulting in a firm, broad, and consistent quality of air flow to the
aperture.
THE TONGUE
The action of the tongue in the legato trombone style is an art unto itself.
One of my early teachers, now-Seattle Symphony bass trombonist Steve Fissel,
would describe the action of the tongue as “flicking” to a spot on the roof
of the mouth just behind the teeth. Other
players have used the shape of the tongue (soft, slightly rounded at the tip),
the quality of the “touch” of the tongue to the articulation point
(“duh” or the Simpsonian “doh”), or used various ways of describing the actual
action of the tongue.
Many advocate the action of the tongue as quickly moving to almost, but not
quite, interrupt the airstream, thereby resulting in simply pulsing the air
enough that a quick slide movement results in the desired sound. The action of
my tongue in legato style is that I make actual contact
between the tip of my tongue and a point on the roof of my mouth approximately
4-5 millimeters back from the teeth (a relatively far-back position), while
never achieving a complete seal around the sides of the tongue. In other words,
I use what could almost be described as a “Luh” tongue
just at the moment of the note change.
Again, the ear must be the final arbiter of what tongue movement/shape/technique
produces the final result that most suits us as performers. There are many tonguing
techniques; the “Best” one is merely the one
that works best for us as individuals.
THE SLIDE
The characteristics of effective slide movement in legato
style do not seem to vary among players as much as tonguing technique - the
theme of several key characteristics seems constant among the accomplished
lyricists, that is, fast, efficient slide
movement that is in perfect sync with the tongue.
The concept of a quick slide often seems at odds with the
overall concept of a smooth and liquid legato technique to the younger player.
Nevertheless, especially in note changes that span two or more positions,
a lightning-fast slide movement timed just at (or maybe a fraction of an instant
before) the moment when the tongue articulates the note is a vital ingredient in
producing the smooth, clean change of note many players desire in legato
playing.
Unfortunately, one of the byproducts of a fast slide
movement is that the shock of the fast arm movement can potentially manifest
itself in the shoulder area and ultimately produce an audible “waver” in the
tone. While in some styles of
playing (such as Dorsey slide vibrato) the stiffening of the shoulder can be
used to *accentuate* the manifestation of the slide arm pulse in the actual
head/embouchure/mouthpiece area, legato playing should strive for the opposite
goal of reducing shoulder tension, utilizing the wrist as much as possible, and
otherwise using the slide arm to absorb as much of the shock of the rapid slide
movement as possible.
While several aspects of legato trombone technique have a
high degree of agreement among accomplished trombone lyricists, the reality is
that it is up to each performer to determine the techniques that work the best
to produce the legato sound that best suits their ears without causing undue
negative impact on other aspects of playing. And the ultimate guide to what comprises the “best” legato sound is
the sound concept we have all developed as trombonists.
So it should come as no surprise that the single
most important aspect of legato playing we can exercise the most control
over as students of the horn is the amount,
degree of variety, and depth of quality of music that we expose ourselves to
in order for us each to cultivate our individual lyrical voice.
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