Colby Norton Tenor Trombone Kentucky All State 2020-2021 Tyrell #11
A quick read of the 2020-2021 Kentucky All-State Tenor Trombone Excerpt from Tyrell #11 from 40 Progressive Studies for Trombone. I like to play the pieces that my students are working on allowing my natural tendencies (tone, tempo, rhythm, intonation problems, style, and so on) to exist. This gives me an idea of possible problems that may occur during a lesson so that I can have a game plan on how to fix said problem.
This is one of my favorite Tyrell etudes, it has a few different moods the further along in the etude you get. The first things I notice is the time signature (3/8), the eight note gets the beat (160), and the key signature (G minor). You can tell it centers more around G minor rather than Bb major (the related major key to this key signature) by noticing how often a phrase begins or ends on a member of the G minor triad (G/Bb/D)
With any kind of triple meter, I like to really be obvious with the dancing quality of a strong beat one and lighter beats two and three. The phrasing left to right keeps this from becoming boring and repetitive. Follow the lines up and down with crescendos and decrescendos accordingly. Feel free to mix it up by decrescendoing on ascending lines and crescendoing on descending lines. You’ll find that you aren’t as boxed in creatively as you might think.
Meldoically, put some emphasis on F#’s as they are the leading tone to G, giving even more credit to the G minor sound. Also notice how the opening phrase keeps rolling, like it never seems to be a complete statement until measure 17. Keep this in mind, breathe where you need to, but try not to break the phrase. The second half of the etude starts on the B natural in measure 17 beat 3. Replacing the Bb with a B natural gives us a major sound. We can adjust our attitude to being more playful, as it also tells us to play legato. This is to contrast the leggiero (light) style from earlier. DO NOT SLOW DOWN THE TEMPO HERE! Just because it is softer doens’t mean it needs to drag. This second half is more sweeping and vocal than the first half. I like to imagine the first half as a cello (simialr to a Bach Cello Suite Gigue) and the second half a vocalise (think like the Bordogni).
The second half shifts between a couple of keys, so be sure to have your intonation on point. This is soemthing I would challenge myself to. The intonation is ok, but I’m not making enough adjustments on some of the chord outlining.
Here you should think of lowering the B natural a little to get it in tune with the G major sound it is outlining.
Again a G major sound leading into an A# diminished sound that could be derived from B major. Tuning needs to be precise to truly project this unique color shift. Trombones can only play single line melodies (traditionally) so it is on us to also think like a harmonicist that is trying to tune a chord. Pointing each note at a tuner and waiting for the green verification isn’t the same as playing a group of notes in succession and them being in tune with one another. We don’t use just intonation so a B in a B major triad is one place on the horn while a B in a G major triad is in a slightly different place on the horn.
The purpose of this etude is to see if you can make quick adjustments from one style of playing to another. Light and separated to connected and legato. Intonation will be the biggest trap from my experience, so play it slow, sing it at a piano, or any other device you may think to confidentally play it in tune. The notes and rhythms aren’t too terrible, so learning the etude won’t be difficult. The hard work will come from fixing small problems measure to measure to make it a polished product.
Book a lesson with me if you want to play for me and get some personal feedback!!