Ageing Effects on Brass Players: Navigating the Golden Years
A while back I had the chance to rehearse with a prestigious band alongside some of the city’s finest musicians. One of them was a trombonist who’d been my idol as a teenager — the country’s leading commercial trombone player, the standard everyone else measured themselves against. I’d never played alongside him before, and I was nervous with anticipation. He was 90 by then, and the first thing he said to me was, “I don’t play much anymore; I just play in a brass band from time to time.” It reset my expectations instantly. The virtuoso I’d idolised had simply run into the same thing every player eventually does: time.
Ageing changes brass playing in specific, predictable ways. Here’s what tends to happen, and what helps.
Physical changes. Lip strength often declines as the muscles in your embouchure weaken with age, which can affect your upper register. Lung capacity tends to shrink too, cutting into breath control and stamina. And arthritis or other age-related conditions can reduce finger dexterity, making fast passages harder to execute cleanly.
Mental changes. Memorising complex pieces can get harder, which may mean leaning more on sheet music during performances than you once did. Sustained focus during long practice sessions can also become more difficult to maintain.
Emotional changes. Motivation can wane as priorities shift with age, and physical limitations can chip away at confidence — making performances feel more nerve-wracking than they used to.
What helps. Adjust your practice to focus on embouchure strength and lung capacity rather than raw repertoire volume. Choose pieces that suit where you are now, not where you used to be. Stay engaged — join an ensemble, or consider teaching, to keep your connection to music alive even as playing itself changes. And get the professional support that helps: regular check-ups with a physician, and possibly a physiotherapist, to manage the physical side of ageing.
Ageing is inevitable, but it isn’t the end of your playing life. Understand what’s changing, adapt to it, and you can keep making music for a long time yet.
For further discussion, see “Ageing trombonists and other brass players?” on TromboneChat.