Review

Gregorio Sánchez Alcalá
Día a día [Day by day], Método completo para Trombón Tenor y Bajo: Complete method for tenor and bass trombone

Málaga, , Spain
Publisher: Romero Music Spain
Date of Publication: 2012
Language: Spanish

Includes compact disc of performed examples.

Primary Genre: Study Material - method

This method is unusual in the sense that it is written in Spanish, presumably for a Spanish-speaking readership of student trombonists. It seems to be focused on the country of Spain itself, although there is no overwhelming reason to assume that it would be any less useful outside Spain, either in Latin America or in Spanish speaking areas elsewhere in the world. I contacted the author to ask about the possibility of an English language version of the method: he assured me that an English version was scheduled to appear in February of 2014.

As far as the essential parts of the method, it is pretty standard, with discussions of sound, intonation, rhythm and articulation. The beginning of the book is devoted to a discussion of how the book was developed and the philosophy of the trombone, leading to a series of exercises for warming up. Señor Alcalá devotes considerable time and many exercises to combining vocal practice [solfège] with mouthpiece buzzing in various styles with and without legato connection. These warm-up exercises follow a progression, from relatively simple [small intervals] leading to passages up to and beyond the octave. Further on in the book there are exercises for improvement of articulation and for flexibility, which he divides into static and dynamic flexibility – dynamic flexibility involving the use of the valve[s], slide and both in varying mixtures. He uses an odd code to distinguish between valves: a circle represents first [F] valve, a wedge accent the second valve, and the two combined serve for the use of both valves together. To my way of thinking this is a bit cumbersome, but I suppose that students will get used to this system.

The last part of the method consists of what he calls “group work” [Trabajo en Grupo]. The main intent of this section is to develop a refined sense of intonation in a section. This, by the way, represents the content of the enclosed compact disc.

This method is quite thorough in its application of exercises for flexibility, intonation, rhythm and articulation. It remains to be seen whether its statements concerning sound are sufficient to the needs of the student. What I do not see is any expansion of the reach of the book to include solo repertoire and/or orchestral material – it is purely a collection of exercises. Nevertheless, it will probably have the intended result of giving students a good technical basis for further work. In any event, most of us will have to await the English version to profit from this man’s efforts.

-Philip Brink
Mahidol University