Western Illinois University
Trombone & Euphonium Studio

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Basics of Baritone/Euphonium Technique

Posture

When standing, stand up straight, look straight ahead of you. Breathe normally, relax your shoulders.

When you sit and play, sit upright, as if you were standing. Stand from the waist up; sit from the waist down, with feet flat on the floor in front of you. Your posture from the waist up should be the same as when standing. Your goal is to stand or sit strong, proud, yet relaxed.

Use a mirror to check your posture. Look at your face, neck, shoulders, and waist. Take a full deep breath and let it out slowly.

Holding the Instrument

Hold the instrument’s weight primarily with the left arm and hand. Holding too much of the weight of the instrument with the right hand (the fingering hand) will make fingering much more difficult. Fingers should be curved to meet the valve caps.

Bring the instrument up to your face – do not lean your face down to reach the mouthpiece. Remember to sit tall in your chair.

As you play, feel your elbows “floating”. This helps to eliminate tension in your arms.

Breathing and Blowing

Breathe full, relaxed breaths through the mouth. If you breathe through your nose you are limiting your air capacity, and therefore your tone production. Inhale as if you were yawning – an open throated, full breath.

Blow with the throat open and relaxed. Blow, don’t squeeze, force, or bear down. Blow more like a sigh – fast air movement, not high pressure. Once you attack a note, let your air go immediately – don’t hold it in. Blow a steady air stream.

Mouthpiece Buzzing

Buzz specific notes on your mouthpiece a few minutes or more each day. Listen for a good buzz, one that is clear, not airy, and take care to keep your embouchure corners firm and your throat relaxed as you blow.

Buzz melodies on the mouthpiece. This is good ear training and helps to build embouchure sensitivity and breath control. Plus, it’s fun.

Buzz any note. While buzzing, slowly pull the mouthpiece away from your lips until you feel the connection end. Your goal is to learn how much mouthpiece pressure is enough for good sound without applying too much pressure. This will help with many things, including tone production and high range.

Tonguing

Use “tip of the tongue” articulation. When you say, “tip”, you can feel where the tongue should be placed for clear, crisp tonguing.

Tongue action should be quick, whether playing whole notes or 16 th notes – be careful not to “hammer” the attack.

For legato, be sure to keep the tongue action quick and light – somewhere between “dah” and “lah”, and generally with a placement higher in the mouth.

Keep your air stream constantly flowing while articulating. Drop the tongue to the bottom of the mouth immediately after the articulation. Feel your steady air stream cause the tip of the tongue to fall out of the way.

Finger Technique

Remember to curve the fingers to meet the valve caps, and take care that your right hand does not become too tight or tense. Remember that the weight of the horn must be borne by the left arm. Don’t try to hold the horn up with the fingering hand.

Fingering should be a quick, precise action. Always finger in rhythm. The “up stroke” of the fingering should be as quick, precise, and rhythmic as the “down stroke”.

Coordinate the tongue perfectly with the fingerings.

Recommended Method Books

Arban: Complete Method for the Trombone/Baritone

Clarke/Gordon: Technical Studies for Cornet or Baritone (treble or bass clef)

Fink: Studies In Legato; or Rochut: Melodious Etudes, Book 1 (more advanced)

Remington: Warm-Up Exercises

Study privately with a good teacher!

John S. Mindeman
Assistant Professor of Trombone/Euphonium
Western Illinois University
JS-Mindeman@wiu.edu

**Thanks to George Krem, Edward Kleinhammer, Arnold Jacobs, and Max Perkoff for ideas and inspiration.

Printable version in PDF format.