Latest update:  January 13th 2010

This page is dedicated to my study of trombone's natural articulations. Some people call them against the grain playing, some fretting etc. I simply call them lip-breaks.

This is a doctorate study for Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki, Finland.

BACKGROUND

The reason I play jazz trombone is that I happened to listen to Tutti's Trombones recording
when I was 14 years old. At the time, I already had been doing music for nine years, but this incident changed my life. I didn't know who was playing on that tape. I listened that over and over again. I could sing all the solos by hearth, but I didn't know how to play the trombone. I just enjoyed the way the trombone was being played. Until years after I learned that it was Frank (Rosolino)along with Dick Nash playing all great solos. Even many more years after I finally learned lip-break articulations through hard study around the world. Then I realized that I actually had been listening to lip-breaks from the very beginning of my career. I found this discovery amazing. Lip-break -phrasing had become the way I heard the trombone. It was very natural to me to use them in my own playing. Since I found this, they have become very important to me. I feel very strongly that they could be used much more in every day trombone playing than they are being used nowadays. And even more, since they are flexibilities, they improve trombone playing in vary many areas.

MY INFLUENCES

Almost all jazz trombonists use lip-breaks, but however, some do more than others. There are some trombonists who have been a big source of inspiration to me: Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana, Bill Watrous, Conrad Herwig, Hal Crook, Jiggs Whigham, Juan Pablo Torres, Eje Thelin, Nils Landgren, Bart Van Lier, Sam Burtis, Robert Bachner and finnish trombonists Markku Veijonsuo, Petri Juutilainen, Jari Hongisto and Pekka Leander.

MATERIAL OF LIP-BREAKS

The are some books which cover lip-break -articulations: Alternate Positions System (Malone), Every Day Exercises for Trombone (Steiner), Trombonisms (Watrous/Ralph), Basun skole (Hansen), Contemporary Techniques for trombone (Baker), Method of Trombone playing (Winding), Jazz Styles And Analyses (Baker), Trombone Technique (Wick), Jazz Riffs for Trombone (Baron), Advanced Flexibility Studies for Trombone (Waitts). 

LIP-BREAK ARTICULATION

WHY: 1. The main reason to use natural articulation is to get constant, very clear legato-articulation. 
         2. To gain the speed of naturally faster instruments like saxophone or trumpet.
         3. They will help with the high range, because the tongue doesn't block the air.
         4. Cracking notes will decease thanks to studying how the partials really work. 
         5. They improve lip-flexibility and muscle memory.
         6. Thanks to studying alternate slide positions the slide technique gets smoother.
         7. Technically you will get into a new dimention.        
         8. They really sound great!

HOW: 1. Every time when changing a partial a lip-break occurs. (main principle)
          2. You can add a slide movement to that as well. (opposite to glissando)
          3. Study partials how they work and where they cross each other (alternate positions)
          4. Make sure that you won't skip any partial between two notes
                (otherwise a small crack will be heard-to omit that you will need to tongue) 


EXAMPLE LIP-BREAK PHRASE:

Following line can be played fluently and very fast in full legato without using the tongue.
The line is built over lydian b7 sound. The slide positions are marked under the line.



More coming up!

If you have some ideas concerning this research, please e-mail me!