How do I go about putting more air into my trombone?

Question:

How do I go about putting more air into my trombone?

It seems to me that better breath support would improve the sound of my trombone playing but I cannot figure out how to do so. Whenever I try, I just seem to make myself louder, which isn't the effect I want.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It sounds to me as if your problem is not in the quantity of air being used, but the quality, though it may be both. As you are playing, you should have an intensity to the air that creates a centered, crystal-clear tone. This can be achieved by providing diaphramatic pressure as you play. Some ways to learn this:

- Check out the book "The Breathing Gym" by Patrick Sheridan and Sam Pilafian.

- Pretend as if you are trying to blow out 100 candles at a birthday party every time you play your horn. In order blow out that many, you have to use sustained, consistant air all the way across the top of the cake. It must be intense enough to blow out the candles, but easy enough to maintain air flow across the entire cake without running out of breath.

- Do a Santa-type "ho ho ho" laugh. Each time you say ho, if you are doing it loudly enough, then you are contracting your diaphragm in the way that you would when you are playing your horn. Now do the same thing is slow motion. This gives you an idea of how to contract the proper muscles in order to create intense air. It is all about controlling the pace of air release.

- Take a sheet of paper and hold it against a smooth wall with you at arms'-length from the wall. Now blow on the paper. Try to hold the paper to the wall using nothing but air. How long can you hold it there? Try to increase your time. Many of my students are approaching 45 seconds or even a minute.

I hope that these help. I have dozens more exercises and ideas. Email me if you would like some more.