My First Years Playing the Trombone

I started playing the trombone when my father went up into the loft and brought down an old trumpet and an old trombone which he used to play himself. I immediately saw the trumpet and made a dash for it, but my sister got there first so I was stuck with the trombone. Although at the time I was disappointed, I am still playing the instrument 14 years later and have had huge amounts of fun along the way!

As a young child playing the trombone, my main problem was the fact that my arm was not long enough to push the slide out as far as it needed to go. The solution to this was to point the instrument at the floor and let the slide drop. After a reasonable amount of practise, I could consistently point the trombone at the correct angle to land the slide in the desired position.

When I was younger, I suffered from asthma. I would sometimes not be able to sleep at night from all of the wheezing and coughing. After I took up the trombone, my condition gradually started to improve until I eventually recovered completely. This was not completely down to my new hobby, but I am convinced that it helped significantly.