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Wagner's Ride of the Walküre was made famous (infamous?) by Elmer Fudd as he chased Bugs Bunny singing "Kill da wabbit" in "What's Opera Doc?" (If you haven't seen the cartoon, you've really missed something - it's uproariously funny.) Unfortunately, Elmer taught three generations of trombonists to play this excerpt sloppily. Too, the common rhythmic teaching tool or having students think the words, "Amsterdam, dam, dam" is also a poor model.
The problem with this excerpt comes with the relation of the sixteenth notes to the following eighth notes. Each note needs to be cleanly articulated with the tongue - but by using the syllables "ster-dam" or "da wab-", the sixteenth note is elided together to the eighth rather than cleanly articulated. I like to think the words, "Koko Kahila" - the name of the former bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1952-1972). These are solid syllables that require solid articulation (although obviously we use a "ta" attack rather than a "ka" syllable).
When you practice this with a metronome, you'll be surprised to find that you feel like you're rushing. Go with the metronome and get used to the feeling. It's very easy to drag each measure even while sometimes arriving on the second beat too early. There will always be someone on the audition committee tapping his pencil (often for the "benefit" of this other colleagues to see) for whom rhythm is everything. Make it your job to satisfy him.
Another common problem is the eighth note pickups, which are often played as if they are written in 3/4 time rather than 9/8 time. If you sustain the dotted quarter notes that are tied to eighth notes (this is also especially true in the major version which follows this excerpt), then you will usually get the eighth note pickup in the right place.
Finally, most players play this excerpt out of tune simply because they never practice anything in b minor (or B major, for that matter). I suggest that you take some of your favorite b flat minor and B flat major etudes and transpose them into b minor and B major. You then already know the interval relationships between the notes and can learn the exercise quickly while you concentrate on good intonation.
By the way, this excerpt was originally intended to be played on bass (not contra-bass) trombone.
To download the music of this excerpt as a PDF file which may be read and printed in a high quality output with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software), click the icon below:
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