Review

David William Brubeck
5-Minute Lessons for Trombone:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2025
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

28 pages

Primary Genre: Study Material - method
Secondary Genre: Study Material - etude

David William Brubeck is probably best known for his collection of bass trombone compositions entitled Stereograms of which he has written at least 35 (possibly more). According to the Cherry Classics website, he is a professor at Miami Dade college and is an active musician having appeared with many luminaries in the business. He also is the Chief Educational Officer for Tromba, a brand of plastic trombones.

This 26-page book consists of short sections of one to two pages: ten 5-minute lessons, six sections labelled as ‘Preludes’ and a collection of material with titles ending with “...For Short Arms” (Rhythms for Short Arms, Songs for Short Arms, Sight Reading for Short Arms, Scales for Short Arms). One might expect all the preludes to appear at the beginning. Three of them do but the others are interspersed throughout the book as are the “...For Short Arms” items.

Preludes A, B, and C appear at the beginning. They are completely text-based and give mostly time-tested advice on matters of breathing, relaxation, posture, mouthpiece placement, trombone assembly, and so on. Some of his descriptions are confusing to me and possibly for students. One section, titled “Smell the Grapefruit & Make a Triangle,” talks about placing the hands together in front of the face with fingers touching as if holding a grapefruit to smell it. I don’t have any fundamental disagreement with this description except that I kept wondering how it would be perceived by a young player. If only such a description had an attached video it would be much more impactful. Kids are good at imitating what they see. Detailed verbal descriptions are increasingly less effective with younger generations. At two points during this discussion, Brubeck references the “Tromba trombone.” At first this confused me until I learned that he works for that brand of plastic trombones. I wonder if perhaps this material was originally part of a handout for new purchasers. If so, simply repurposing it for a separate book without revising the text feels underwhelming. 

Brubeck provides some good advice such as encouraging players to buzz simple tunes, stay relaxed, and avoid mouthpiece pressure. As to slide grip, he advises “2-finger Grip, Palm Facing You-Not the Floor.” This is mostly correct but some students might over-rotate their palms toward their face resulting in forearm strain. Once again, a video or even a still image would go a long way to clarify his instructions.

One piece of advice - to have the lips gently touching as if to say the letter M - is quite common but I don’t love it. I think young students are better served with the idea of beginning with the lips slightly parted and brought gently together with a continuous air stream. However my opinion may be in the minority.

I do like the fact that his playing examples stay within the 3rd partial of the overtone series. Some beginners struggle to hit the 2nd partial. There are some good counting exercises mixed in. He includes advice to keep the elbow in the position for an E-flat and reach in to the F in first. That’s somewhat unique but does remind me of the video series released by Ed Neumeister in which he uses the term ‘ubiq’ for the ubiquitous 4th position.  Likewise his “...For Short Arms” material is highly welcomed. So many beginning band methods ask young players to immediately reach out to 6th position perhaps so the trombones can play along with other brass in band class. That can be a challenging reach for beginners and might lead to bad habits. I also like the fact that he doesn’t shy away from using sharps. He includes little songs with lyrics which is a nice touch (including a mini history lesson on Kid Ory!).

Prelude F on page 20 is an oddity and seems out of place with the rest of the book. It is a whole page of Clapping and Counting exercises. Suddenly the rhythmic complexity takes a huge leap into 6/8 time, syncopations, and 16th note rhythms. No attempt is made to explain these meters. Strangely, each short exercise is numbered in a sequence beginning with #75 and ending with #128. This seems to imply another set of pages with 74 preceding clapping and counting exercises but you won’t find them in this book. Once again, this feels like recycled material from another project. 

This is a 26-page book that, as of May 2026, sells for $22 (PDF or physical format) through Cherry Classics. Honestly, that price feels high to me. While the book has some good and sometimes novel ideas, it feels a bit thrown together from content seemingly intended for other projects. Visually it is at times a bit dense and would benefit enormously from some pictures or links to videos. I take no pleasure in being critical but there simply are better materials available at a better price (including free content to be found on the internet).