Balance

The word “balance” has many important applications to trombone playing.  I find myself using it constantly in my teaching with regard to the following points:

Balance your body…
Your skeleton is designed to deliver your weight to the floor; all the way through your feet when standing and through your sit bones to the chair when sitting. You should, therefore, not have to use muscular effort to hold yourself up.  If you are balanced, you have movement in any direction available to you to move with the music.  You are dynamically poised and your breathing is organic and easy.

Balance your head atop your spine…
Always bring your instrument up to your face; never crane your neck over to reach the mouthpiece.  As you are playing, imagine being a bobble head doll see if you can subtly move your head slightly.  Use your kinesthesia to check in with other parts of your body as well – your arms, knees, neck, feet, etc…

Balance your embouchure…
An embouchure does not exist without air flow (see the embouchure and primary control button).  A balance exists between the flow of air and the tissue through which it flows at the mouthpiece.  This “point of contact” is the only place where the air flow meets with resistance before leaving the body.  Chop problems can usually be traced back to an imbalance between the air flow and the tissue caused by inadequate air flow.

Balance your instrument with a bullet brace and a counter weight…
Hold the weight of the instrument up with the left hand and arm so the right arm is free to move the slide.  You can add a bullet brace (also known as a rest bar) to your instrument to provide stability in holding it up.  They are available through:
Greenhoe http://www.greenhoe.com/ (Greenhoe calls its product a rest bar) or
Edwards http://www.edwards-instruments.com/ (Edwards calls its version a bullet brace). 

I have found a counter weight to be helpful for some people who feel the instrument is front-heavy.  Counter weights can be obtained through Hickey’s: www.hickeys.com