I think that one of the important things to remember with improvising on the trombone is that any limitations you perceive that the trombone as an intrument has are actually the limitation itself! In other words, one should approach improvisation on the trombone in the same way as any other instrument.

It is often the opinion that the trombone presents many technical restricitons that make it difficult to play:

- fast

- high

- across a wide range (tessitura)

However, the thing to remember is that every instrument presents its own so-called limitations. I prefer to call them characteristics.

The simple way to jump over these hurdles is to isolate them, and practise exercises that highlight these characteristics at a slow, comfortable tempo.

For example, if you want to be able to play an improvised melodic line over three octaves, practise some simple phrases that cover all three octaves - slowly!

Also, practise them in every key!

A lot of the application of improvising on an instrument is psychological.

- if you want to be able to play something high, practise playing low down!

- if you want to improvise at a fast tempo, practise ideas at a slow tempo first

...and so on.