When TROMBA, The Ultimate Plastic Trombone, asked me to adapt some of my elementary trombone materials for their young trombonists, I leapt at the chance to introduce a concept of melodies restricted to a minor third, and four consecutive positions-initially first through fourth.
This approach served the dual purposes of reducing the challenges posed by slide distances and sensitizing the young musicians to half-steps right away. One of the ‘TrombAngel’ parents happily reported to me that after the “5-Minute Lesson” series, her daughter could pick up the viola, and play in-tune without needing to mark the fingerboard with tape. Something the mother, an accomplished violinist and violin teacher, attributed to the ‘5-Minute Lesson” approach. Other benefits have become apparent, and we’d like to celebrate the popularity of this ground-breaking technique with the release some duos based on one of the more popular ‘minor third’ melodies-Kid Ory. Enjoy!
c. 2014 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved davidbrubeck.com
