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 deviating 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 instruments. The red notes are the ones that can’t be glissed in a single slide movement.