Review

Frank T. Williams
Chops: The Ultimate Guide to Building Tone, Technique and Flexibility:

New York, NY, United States
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Date of Publication: 2012
URL: http://www.carlfischer.com

63 pages.

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

This book presents a series of generic but useful technical exercises divided into sections including breathing/embouchure, long tones, articulation, flexibility, scales and jazz patterns. Oddly, the introduction refers to a section addressing “range extensions/power” but I was unable to find any such labeled section. The short ‘breathing’ and ‘embouchure’ sections are text-only. Instructions if the ‘breathing’ section seem sound but would benefit from a more thorough explanation of the exercises, possibly with illustrations. The embouchure discussion is mostly a brief summary of other’s approaches, including Farkas, Reinhardt and Caruso. One section discusses mouthpiece placement for trumpet and horn but says nothing specific about trombone except that they have “more variation.”

The playing exercises themselves are fairly generic and range mostly from E to b-flat1. The trigger range is oddly neglected perhaps because this is an adaptation of the trumpet version. This may also explain the length, without a breathing pause, of some of the exercises. They may work on a trumpet but most trombonists won’t have enough air to get through them. The “jazz techniques” section includes interesting lip slur patterns going “across the grain.” These patterns use some strange position patterns, a B major triad using 4-6-7, for example.

There are some small errors in the book, nothing serious but I expected a cleaner edition from Carl Fischer. In the hands of a good teacher, this collection of exercises might be useful in helping a player build technique but I don’t see anything compelling enough to replace Arban’s, Schlossberg or any of the many other books already crowding this field.

-Brad Edwards
University of South Carolina