What is a fretted slide?
It is a JOKE between my students and myself… and now YOU too!
I embrace humor and use it in my personal life and professional life. One of the things I love about my wife is that she ALWAYS laughs at my jokes - whether they are funny or not! Without a doubt, if she can laugh at my turtle joke, she is a keeper. Fretted slide is another eye-roller of a joke. When a student plays out of tune, I always address it, but I have found that humor makes it memorable. Often I will ask the student:
“What brand horn is that again?”
The student will reply with the make and model of their instrument and then I follow-up with…
“Oh… you didn’t upgrade to the fretted slide did ya?”
It is a subtle way for us all to remind ourselves to tune with our ears not by those imaginary frets we pretend are on our trombone slide!