Warmups for Low Brass
The first examples are from a book/program envisioned by tubist/trombonist Don Strand called “Marathon Musician”.
Mouth or free buzzing is a controversial subject, and even mouthpiece buzzing is not without its controversy. However, if you choose to incorporate these into your warmups, you can play the exercises all three ways: free, mouthpiece, or instrument.
I’ll be adding further thoughts on the subjects of free and mouthpiece buzzing later. I want to get the content up!
Because it’s important to play the partials correctly, I’m breaking away from the philosophy I use for the other exercises on this site and have created single-instrument transcriptions for C, Bb, F, Eb, CC, and BBb instruments. Hopefully, it is not too much of a burden for those used to reading in the Treble Clef to make do with the Bass Clef for these simple-to-read warmups.
The Following are By Don Strand from Marathon Musician
This first warmup is only in Bb in two octaves. All players can free buzz and mouthpiece buzz it, and trombonists can play much of it on their instrument. The red notes are the ones that can’t be glissed in a single slide movement.