Along the journey of my artistic research, I developed a method of improvisation and composition that uses words to inspire musical elements, I called it “WORDS”.
This method of “instant composing music” also manifests itself as a musical project and involves several musicians scattered throughout Europe. The first record was released in 2024 (my first record as a leader) and is precisely titled “W O R D S”
Here you can read about it:
​
ESSENTIAL WARM-UP / DAILY PRACTICES
With time and experience, through periods where time to study is tight, periods where you are touring, always traveling and struggling to find your own space to study, I have managed to summarize a daily practice that should never be skipped.
However, it is important to understand that each period of our lives is unique, and the same is true for our musical and instrumental journey. For me, at this time in my path, these are the basic exercises that are essential to keep fit.
​
​In the next few lines, I will describe how I personally approach these exercises, but my advice is, “keep it fresh”! Do it your way, change a small part of your routine from time to time, make your mind fluid and your body reactive!
BREATHING EXERCISES
Air is our best friend! If you breathe well and blow just as well, you will solve almost all the problems that any brass player may have.
There are really so many exercises you can do, any of them can be a good one. The one that comes to mind most often is this one:
metronome = c.a. 40 bpm​​​
4 beats IN - 4 beats OUT
4 beats IN - 3 beats OUT
4 beats IN - 2 beats OUT
4 beats IN - 1 beats OUT
ending/relaxing breath​
​4 beats IN - 4 beats OUT
3 beats IN - 4 beats OUT
2 beats IN - 4 beats OUT
1 beats IN - 4 beats OUT
ending/relaxing breath
MUSICAL BUZZING
For a long time I stopped buzzing in my practice routine, but lately I have realized how important it is instead in order to have a centered and efficient sound, at least this is true for me, discover as you go.
VERY IMPORTANT: The first approach to the instrument (in this case the mouthpiece) should be musical, artistic, NEVER technical and analytical. This is, in my opinion, the most valuable advice I can give you.
​
So, just play a melody on your mouthpiece, visualize the most beautiful sound you can imagine and start to play whatever melody. Put yourself in it, make art and play something very comfy and easy going. No stress, no show off, just music and enjoyement.
GLISSATO BUZZING
Sometimes, if I feel that my lips are okay and I feel confident and centered, I skip this exercise. However, it is always good to do.
​
Tongue is forbidden, just lots of air, fill every millisecond with the blowing, and try to feel and visualize the optimization between air and vibration in the center of your mouthpiece.
If you still don't reach this extension (it's only a matter of time) stay in comfortable ranges, but always try to touch your limits and, sweetly, push them little by little further.
​
We all have a point (more than one actually) where our embouchure begins to change; through glissade exercises we can clearly identify it.
We can have some embouchure switching points when we approach D4, or F5 or C2 for example.
​Know that it is natural to have them, and you should definitely not try to avoid them by keeping to the same embouchure. Go through these points trying to get the same sound quality in your buzzing, blow through them, and make the transition from “one embouchure to the other” as smooth as possible.
IMPROVISATION OF THE DAY - FREE
If you missed the buzzing today (it happens to me sometimes) then this should be your first contact with the instrument.
Grab it, and play the first thing that comes to mind. Be gentle, and perform a nice improvisation, try to make it musical and meaningful (harmonically, melodically and rhythmically) without thinking too much.
Every day we feel differently, our body is different, our focus is more or less present, and our connection is always moveable; well, this imporvvisation can represent the “you” of the day. Anything will do, as long as you are thinking about music and having fun with your companion of a thousand adventures, your instrument.
Stay within your comfort zone.
​
Personally, I tend to favor legato, sweet melodies and different registers.
CHROMATISM
Michel Becquet said that a trombonist should never skip his chromatic exercises, and in my opinion he was right! For us trombonists, the chromatic exercise is a great way to maintain a high level of coordination between tongue, arm, and air. For us, the chromatic scale is not a combination of keys, but a fluid and precise movement of our body.
​
Any exercise is good, ascending and descending scales, exercises from methods such as Arban, Clarke etc. Make your own excerice based on your own needs and skills, use your creativity!
​
I suggest to do that staccato (a light one or a heavy one, you decide) also because the next exercise I'm proposing does not involve the tongue.
THE EXTENSION SCALE
NO tongue, just quality air, imagine the most beautiful sound you can, the most resonant, centered, big, full-bodied, take a deep breath and go!
The V degree as the penultimate note is crucial! The meaning is all there, lean on that note, make it precious, and the rest will follow.
​
​This scale is made to touch your whole extension! So you have to get to it in the basement and in the attic, always with a beautiful sound and making the scale as musical as possible: never forget to play music, imagine that someone is listening to this boring exercise, you have to be able to make him involved, to express the art inside yourself so that he can feel it also through a scale.
It continues descending by semitone until it reaches:
It continues ascending by semitone until it reaches:
I always play AT LEAST this range; if this range still does not belong to you, get to your limit, and add a semitone (above and below) every time you reach that limit, you will see that day by day your register will improve drastically (always lean on the penultimate note).
In the lower register, you probably won't have enough breath to do it in one breath. Breathe where you need to, when you take a breath restart from the note you stopped on. IMPORTANT: Always play the last 3 notes legato all in one breath.
251
It is important to keep your harmonic skills fresh and responsive. When I'm short on time, I play at least one round of 251 in all keys (using the circle of fifths).
To stimulate my creativity, I bring the elements into play: Water, Earth, Air, Fire. Sometimes I play a whole round with one element, but sometimes I play a different element every 3 keys (or every 4 or 6 keys if I want to do more than one round). More or less, the elements are divided like this:
EARTH
WATER
I feel the ground, I feel a groove. I play very groovy and solid, I may use a dark and dense sound. I may use ghost notes, strong accents.
I play liquid, I'm not really on the beat. Not a lot of notes. I may use a mellow windy sound, I may use some glissato. I play lines well connected, not really lots of jumps of intervals.
FIRE
AIR
I'm on fire man! I feel the groove and I'm over it, cool lines, simple but effective!
I may use high rage, a loud brassy sound, maybe some pentatonic, I may shred a bit. Clear harmony.
I'm on the clouds, but my brain is active! Sometimes I do not care about the beat, I may go out of harmony and come back time to time. I may use upper-structures, lot of tensions, some "out of time"lines. I may play with a little sound, I may use some effects with my lips. I may play lot of strange and wide intervals.
You can practice the 251 any way you want: just playing, following a metronome (maybe with the beat only on the 2, or the 4, or the second eighth of the 2 beat, etc.), with a drum kit from Drumgenius, or with a backing track on iReal or YouTube. In short, find the right inspiration and play!