Selected Studies for Trombone, Blazhevich/Voxman, p 16, m 26-end
This study is marked at dotted quarter = 64-70. I have chosen to play it at a more comfortable dotted quarter = 66 to allow time for breaths without feeling rushed. As with all of these etudes, a more musical performance on the slow side of the listed tempos will be appreciated more by the judges than a faster performance that is sloppy or lacks musicality.
Speaking of musicality, this etude has plenty of room for interpretation. There are a lot of dynamics noted, ranging from piano all the way up to forte, with crescendos and subito (sudden change in dynamic) changes throughout.
The first thing that I did when I started to look at this excerpt was to plan out my breaths. Look for rests and cadences (resting points in the harmonic structure of the music) as your first options for breaths. Then try them and see how they work. At this tempo, my breaths tended to be about every 2 bars or so.
Then I looked at the dynamics. It begins mezzo piano and has a crescendo in the 3rd bar with a piano in the 5th bar. Are we expected to crescendo downwards? No, of course not, but how far should we go? I added a mezzo forte on the second beat of the 4th measure on the dotted quarter note C. That gives me someplace to aim for as well as giving me somewhere to go from when I reach the subito piano in the 5th bar.
As we move on, there is another crescendo, followed by yet another crescendo on the third line that brings us to forte. In order to make a good contrast, I marked in a mezzo forte on the Ab in the last measure of the 2nd line. We also do not want to sit on any notes. We should always be moving somewhere, either following the shape of a line up or down, or growing or diminishing on a held note. This means that I play 2 1/2 measures of piano, crescendo for 1 1/2 measures to mezzo forte, play 2 1/2 measures of mezzo forte and crescendo for 2 full measures to reach forte, continuing the notated crescendo for another beat until the forte that is marked.
The music then stays forte for the rest of the next line with a crescendo at the end that brings us up to forte. Wait a sec… Weren’t we just at forte? How can we crescendo from forte to forte?
The answer is simple. We can’t.
So…
I come down to mezzo forte plus on the repeated sixteenths on the 3rd measure of the 4th line and start building from there before coming down AGAIN at the beginning of the crescendo at the end of the line. Contrary what you may think, when you see a crescendo the first thing you should think is not “get louder.” The first thought should be “play a bit softer” so that you have someplace to grow from in order to make a contrast from where you were just playing.
Now I stay strong for 4 full measures, following the shape of the line with my dynamics, but remembering to stay forte so that I can get softer when I reach the mezzo forte at the beginning of the next line.
The final observation I would like you to make from watching this video is my choice of positions. I use a few alternate positions in this performance, using 4th position for the upper D and F as well as the marked Bb in 5th position.
When deciding to use alternate positions, it is important to realize that they are called alternates for a reason. We want to make those notes sound as good as the ‘normal’ positions do. Practice these spots slowly using the positions that are farther in on the slide to make sure you know where your high F and D are for both sound and tuning. Once you have worked on those a bit, you may choose to use the alternates I do or not, but you will have a better sense of why I chose to use them.
We use alternate positions for several reasons, chief among them being Articulation and Slide Speed. I use some of these positions in order to match the articulation of other notes around them and some for comfort on the slide. Look at the marked Bb in 5th position on the 3rd line. That can be played in first, moving from 4th to 1st and back, OR it could be played as marked, moving from 4th to 5th and back to 4th. Once you learn where the 5th position Bb is (a slightly raised 5th position for tuning purposes), it is much faster to play the alternate position.
Finally, I end with a slight relaxation of the tempo to make the ending a more satisfying arrival point, playing the final low C and F both in 6th position because it sounds better than playing them on the valve and because we are trombonists and it looks cool!