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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:41 pm
by elimia
The important thing is that you are practicing on valves. Just playing on a baritone or euphonium would put you a leg up on other trombone players coming to audition. The only other major adjustment you might have, unless you dabble on bass trombone, might be a bigger mouthpiece to adjust to (for example, I think the Cavaliers' euph players all use the Wick SM3, which is larger than a standard Bach 6.5)

Best of luck to you!

Ryan

Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:47 pm
by Contramark
Some of thebest players where I marched wer tombone players also.

I know at blue devils they will provide a horn at auditions. You can play a solo on trombone and then just play some stuff on one of their euphs or baris just to make sure you can do it on the valves.

Just get used to the valves. If you have any more questions Pm me.

Mark

Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 12:19 am
by Leland
Learning valves is no big deal; I'd say that, as a trombone player, you already understand the fact that valves add tubing, while complete newbies to the instrument seem to take forever to comprehend the concept.

Your school's marching bari will do just fine for button-learning purposes. Read up on some Clarke exercises to get the patterns under your fingers.

I learned valves on a 2-valve G baritone (actually, I had to use a euph during the winter) in treble clef by 1) writing in every fingering, and 2) watching other players (usually sopranos, because I could see them more easily) during warmup exercises.

What I'm really trying to say is that, as long as you have some idea of finger patterns, you shouldn't worry. More important is your quality of sound and your willingness to learn. If you're willing to put aside your preconceived notions of a drum corps hornline and just listen to the techs & instructors, and you can make their suggestions stick, they'll gladly accept you into their line.

Nobody wants an instrumental god who refuses to be part of the ensemble.