I have just bought my daughter a new Yamaha trombone.

Her teacher said that she had to be very careful to get her positions exactly right during the first few months as otherwise the instrument would never play properly in tune. Is this really true or is he just trying to put pressure on my daughter to to pay more attention to where the slide is?

A somewhat related question is what effect does a child's arms growing have on their positioning the slide correctly? My daughter has had a very rapid growth spurt. Her arms have grown by about 15cm over the last couple of months (I can tell this from her clothes on which the sleeves are all suddenly much too short) and her playing has become very sloppy. She complains that all the positions seem to have moved but her teacher seems to think suddenly having longer arms shouldn't make any difference.

Hey Kerioboe.

When I got my new trombone it did take me a while before I got used to it and knew where exactly the positions were. This may because I went from a tenor trombone with a small bore to a tenor/bass trombone with a large bore. I think there is some truth in what he has said - as is the case with any instrument you buy.

Of course this will have an effect, especially if the growth spurt is happening rapidly. Due to the rapid growth she won't have time to adjust the slide position changes as she would if the growth was slower. When playing the trombone you get a feel for the positions are from the feel in your arm ... I remember that if I fully stretched my arm when I was 9 then that was 6th position, however now if I fully stretch my arm I go past 7th position. So it takes time to get your head around this new 'feeling' where the arms are.

I hope that makes sense, not really sure it does.

Thanks Ben but I am still puzzled as to why repeatedly playing a note with the position in the wrong place would make the instrument itself permanently play out of tune (as opposed to the player getting into the habit of playing in the wrong place and then finding it hard to change the habit).


It does make sense as this is similar to what my daughter has been saying. I think her teacher must either have grown very slowly or it was so long ago, he's forgotten.

I remember when 'Bone Son had a huge growth spurt when he was between 13 and 14 he went from average height length for his age to over six feet in less than a term. It has taken him a long time to 'grow' into his new body, not just with music and sport but also even with simpler things like getting in and out of cars and sitting properly at a desk or table. His music has been no exception, he still veers between being very sloppy and very careful to get the tuning and tone right.

As to 'playing in'.... I suspect that your teacher is using a bit of clever child psychology here! As a string player I can't see how a tube of metal can learn whether sounds are in tune or not...... but I am prepared to stand corrected if someone knows better.

The nearest analogy I can think of is moving up violin sizes. Many children HATE the size, weight and sound of a bigger instrument to start with as they have been practicing keeping their arms in a particular position to make a good sound on a smaller one for some time and are generally getting quite good at it. It can initially be frustrating for them to start with to have to remember to stretch out not only the fingering hand further and spread the fingers more, but also to move the bowing arm out further away from their nose otherwise they will end up bowing almost on the bridge of their new instrument and making a really bad sound. Find some fun stuff that she will want to play, but not necessarily something that she already plays 'automatically' with her old trombone.

Has her teacher shown her any things to watch out for that might make playing this trombone different to the old one? If not, perhaps she can have a go at working some out for herself.

Actually it's a disastrous bit of child psychology. My daughter is a very anxious child. She was overjoyed with her new trombone - I bought it home after she'd gone to sleep and the next morning she insisted on playing it at 7.30 before she left for school! She had it for almost a week before her first lesson and was playing it at every opportunity but is now terrified to touch it in case she damages it permanently.

Like you

My instinct is just to tell her that the teacher only said it to make her think about her positions but that it is not really going to have any effect on the instrument but then I think he's the professional and I'm not and what if he's right....

Like you
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I can't see how a tube of metal can learn whether sounds are in tune or not......
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My instinct is just to tell her that the teacher only said it to make her think about her positions but that it is not really going to have any effect on the instrument but then I think he's the professional and I'm not and what if he's right....
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I am a brass teacher, and I think you are right! I teach lots of kids who suddenly grow and can't find the slide positions any more because their arms are a different length, and also lots who suddenly get a new instrument and also can't find the slide positions either! However this is <almost> always overcome very quickly simply by reminding them to pay attention to the slide positions and listen for tuning.
You cannot make an instrument play out of tune permanently by putting the slide in the "wrong" place, honest! Tell your daughter to enjoy her lovely new trombone and also to experiment a bit with it - maybe ask can she hear as well as see on the slide position when the notes are in / out of tune?

Thanks I'll tell her. She will be relieved


Actually she relies on hearing rather than seeing for the slide position and she does (try to) correct it when she hears it is out of tune but she often overcorrects (ie it was flat and she then plays it sharp) - this is why I said it sounds "sloppy." I'll just encourage her to do lots of very slow scale practice. (Fortunately she is one of those children who loves scales ).

One of the tuning tactics that I've seen advocated (but never used) is using a drone tone to play over, listening really carefully to each of the intervals:
http://www.trumpetguild.org/pdf/2008journa...TrumpetTech.pdf
If you have the technical capability to do this, it might help - certainly, as a trombone player, your daughter will need to become very sensitive to forming intervals correctly, and this would be one way to encourage that, I think.