This advanced method for trombone is designed to meet the needs of the advanced high school trombonist and to prepare him for later participation in college, civic, and professional musical organizations of higher artistic standards. The student should not be satisfied with a thorough study of this method, but should seek improvement of his musical skill in other methods. Some very worthy studies for trombone have been written by La Fosse, Vobaron, Muller, Blume and others which should prove of much value to the student.

Although traditional methods of teaching brass embouchure tend to favor a more centered mouthpiece placement, individual differences in facial structure may make a centered placement inefficient for many individuals. Thirty-four test subjects (N = 34) who volunteered from a mid-sized, Midwestern university school of music, a mid-sized Midwestern high school, and professional and semiprofessional trombonists from around a Midwestern state were tested for an efficient embouchure and then photographed while playing specific pitches into a transparent plastic mouthpiece. Additionally, each subject filled out a brief survey and had various facial characteristics photographed. Statistics from this data suggest that the three basic types defined by Doug Elliott, Very High Placement Type, Medium High Placement Type, and Very Low Placement Type, are accurate. Evidence also suggested that airstream direction and the use of an embouchure motion is dependant on vertical mouthpiece placement. The angle of the airstream also changes according to the register being played. It was also determined that certain physical characteristics, most notably lip protrusion, suggested that a subject will play with a specific mouthpiece placement. / School of Music

The modern bass trombone has undergone many changes in design since the 1960s and a student beginning on or switching to bass trombone today needs pedagogical material that methodically addresses the many valve combinations available on an independent double valve bass trombone. The existing books for bass trombone contain useful exercises, but none of the currently available books address all the valve combinations and patterns that are helpful for developing proficient valve technique on bass trombone. Therefore, I created a new bass trombone double valve technique method book that includes a thorough exploration of the bass trombone's two valves within the context of scales, scale exercises, and original material specifically designed to be applicable to common literature for the bass trombone.