Expectations, more simple air

I am uncomfortable in the low register on my instrument. How strange for a bass trombonist!

The most significant obstacle is only mental. Rather than letting things happen, I get in the way and brace for impact. Don't brace for impact. Expect a good product.

Second, I am doing some re-learning how to play trombone. If the air stream should be just like when I am relaxed (Remington's 'conversational' breath), how do I take that to my playing? Another of Jan Kagarice's exercises offers a solution. Take the good air stream, ever so gradually, from a full-open embouchure to a gently firm one. Just as an exercise, I breathe through the horn. With every breath, I close the embouchure a fraction more.

It's very educational, that exercise. It tells me that my 'bracing' in the low register clamps my lips together ... too close together sounds just as bad as too far apart. The famous advice?

Don't do that.
Just do the right thing.