Review

Brad Edwards
Lip Slurs: Progressive Exercises for Building Tone & Technique:

Ithaca, NY, United States
Publisher: Ensemble Publications
Date of Publication: 2006
URL: http://www.enspub.com

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

Lip Slurs is slated to become the bible of the genre in the same way that Bordogni’s vocalises are the source for legato playing. Thorough, well organized, challenging, and contemporary in content and appeal, Edwards provides the trombonist with the one practice book to have when stranded on an island.

Edwards provides an easy-to-read position/intonation chart, admonitions to use a metronome and a tuner, and a final reminder to play musically. The book provides for six levels of study, each of which is provided with slow slurs, fast slurs, and lip slur melodies. The order of the exercises is somewhat confusing, but a few moments of examination will sort out the method of organization. Exercises cover all positions and ranges, including trigger registers, so the book can be used by both tenor and bass trombonists. Interesting and idiomatic chord progressions are used to facilitate, among other prototypes, creative and interesting chord stacking, leaping patterns, and consecutive intervallic patterns that transport the player past the known universe of lip slurs found in the likes of Schlossberg and Remington warm-ups. The effect of these exercises is to instill belief in the power of the air stream to provide a full tone and accessibility to all ranges of the instrument. 

The most captivating section is the 20 lip slur melodies that is, like the rest of the book, to be played entirely with natural lip slurs. Vaguely tonal and musically pleasing, Edwards provides a diverse, practical application of the skills acquired in the rest of the book. Lip Slurs is recommended for players of all levels. The book represents a milestone in trombone pedagogy.

-Joel Elias
Sacramento State University