Trombone

From Young Composers

The Tenor Trombone

The trombone is a brass instrument generally of the tenor/baritone range. Unlike other brass instruments, trombones do not use valves as their main method of achieving the desired pitch. Instead, trombones use an extendable slide, which offers both advantages and disadvantages over the valve system. One distinct advantage is that it provides constant control of intonation, so a trombonist theoretically could never be out of tune. The name originally comes from the Italian name for the 'trumpet' (tromba) and the suffix for 'big' (one) which combined is trombone. Trombones are derived from sackbuts, which had a more narrow bore and bell and thus a thin, less powerful sound. The name 'sackbut' was originally a compound French term, saque-bute, meaning pull-push.

Trombone Types

Types of trombones are; Piccolo, Sopranino, Soprano, Alto, Tenor (most common), Bass, and Contrabass. Other different types of trombones include the valve trombone, which uses valves similar to a trumpet, and the superbone, which uses both valves and a slide.

Tenor Trombone

The tenor trombone, the most common of trombones, is a brass instrument of the tenor/baritone range. Some tenor trombones also use a rotary valve to extend the range downward. This 'F' Trigger, aptly named, extends the fundamental pitch of the instrument downward by a perfect fourth, changing the fundamental from Bb to F, and so allows for some notes out of range of the non-valved variety as well as provides alternate positions for some wide shifts that can otherwise be very awkward.

Bass Trombone

A bass trombone is a tenor trombone with an F trigger and additionally an Eb or D trigger (which depends on whether it is a Yamaha or not). It is not true to say that all professionals have 'F' triggers on their instruments, although in classical music this is generally the case, in more popular styles such as jazz or pop 'F' triggers are generally considered as being bad, due to the extra weight they add on to the instrument as well as the fact that they reduce the range somewhat (down to a Bb above middle C). The trombones without the F triggers, in some personal opinions, sound much lighter and more mellow, and have a nicer overall sound, as well as a greater range.

The contrabass and soprano trombones

Contrabass Trombone

The less common contrabass trombone, unlike the bass trombone, is pitched in F, a perfect fourth below both the tenor and bass instruments. This instrument was first scored in classical literature by Wagner in "The Ring". Being such a cumbersome instrument, the contrabass often feature a doubled slide, for extensions into the latter positions are rather extreme. The contrabass does not see extensive written repertoire outside of the trombone choir, in which it fills the lower harmonies or plays the bass line.

Alto and Soprano Trombones

The alto and soprano trombones, even more rare, see little repertoire outside of the trombone choir, in which they fill the upper harmonies and melodies respectively. The alto is pitched in Eb, same as the alto saxophone, and the soprano is in Bb, and is sometimes referred to as a slide trumpet, whose playing range it shares. The soprano used to fill the upper harmonies and melodies of the brass choir before the advent of valves, when it was then replaced by the valved trumpet.

Sopranino and Piccolo Trombones

These instruments and yet more rare than the alto or soprano instruments. They are pitched one octave above the alto and soprano, in the respective keys of Eb (sopranino) and the higher Bb (piccolo), the latter equivalent to the piccolo trumpet in Bb. They are very rarely called for in the trombone choir, as they are very hard to come by.

Valve trombone

The valve trombones come in sizes ranging from alto to contrabass and have equivalent ranges to their slide-mounted counterparts. While already uncommon, the tenor instrument is the most often seen. Because of the nature and effects of valves on brass instruments, the valve trombone tends be more resistant than it's more free-blowing slide-mounted relative, and thus there are very few trombonist who prefer it's use over the more common slide trombones. The contrabass valve trombone is often referred to as a 'cimbasso' and has been called for in the operas of Verdi and Puccini, where it is sometimes played by a tuba player. Most models have a distinctive 'bent' shape and up to five valves, usually of the rotary variety.

Capabilities

Agility

Because of the use of the slide, lower down the instrument, agility can be much less than other brass instruments. However, higher up around the top range, the slide positions are all very close together. A very hard shift is Bb (2nd line of Bass Clef) to B natural one above it. This is because one has to move the slide from first to seventh position. Trombones should be able to play semiquavers though, so long as long shifts such as this one aren't included. Also, like every brass instrument, large jumps of more than an octave are quite difficult.

Timbre

This can vary a lot. Trombones can produce a very harsh, very loud sound, or a very smooth warm mellow tone, depending on how they are played. Generally, the higher register is more smooth, simply because in the upper register slide positions are closer together.

Range

The range of a tenor trombone is from the 'E' on the ledger line below the stave in bass clef up to the D on the second to top line of treble clef. Higher notes can be played, but they are difficult to produce and sometimes inaccurate. In addition to this, the low Bb, A, Ab and G below the bass clef stave can be played, these are known as pedal notes. If a bass trombone is being played, the lowest note would be the F one octave below the F under the bass clef stave, and the highest note would be the F which is the bottom space of the treble clef.

Trombones with F attachments have no difficulty with 1-7 slide transitions because the trigger, when pressed, effectively "extends" the length of the instrument without having to move the slide. For example, a low C (normally played in 6th position) can be played in 1st with trigger, and a low B (normally in 7th position) can be played in trigger 2.

A trombone with an F attachment trades a bit more difficulty in the higher register with access to lower notes a normal trombone can't handle. The range between the E below the bass staf and the pedal notes (really low B flat, A, A Flat, G) can be reached with a few exceptions. The low D Flat, C, and B natural are all difficult to hit without the extra trigger the bass trombone provides, but the E, E flat, and D natural can all be reached using the trigger.

Extended Techniques

Many trombone players, in addition to single tonguing, can also double and triple tongue. This make fast passages a lot easier to play, but can be difficult to maintain for a long period of time. In addition, some jazz trombonists also learn a technique referred to as 'doodle' tonguing which interpolates the syllables 'da' and 'ga' between the typical, harsher syllables 'ta' and 'ka'. This allows for extremely rapid playing but with much less distinctness to each note. Doodle tonguing is rarely used outside of improvisation.

Glissandi are made particularly easy on the trombone. With a moving slide, one pitch can be slid straight into a pitch above or below so long as the interval doesn't cross any gaps in the instrument's harmonic series. For instance, sliding from D3 to A3 could not be done smoothly because the F3 betwixt, a note in the instrument's natural harmonic series, is in 1st positition and the subsequent note, F#3, would require a sudden jump into 5th position. In contrast, a jump from A3 to F4 would be very easily managed due to the fact that F4 is in 1st position and A3 could be played in 7th. This would be one single motion and easily managed.

Writing for the Trombone

Writing for trombone should be done in bass clef concert pitch. While using a tenor clef for high passages is popular, many trombonists dislike it. This is especially true for big band writing. For the brass band, the trombone is written in treble clef as a Bb transposing instrument (like every other brass band instrument) with a transposition interval of one octave plus a major second, same as that of the tenor saxophone and bass clarinet.

Typically, the easiest keys to play in are concert Bb, F, Eb, C, and G. These avoid many of the long 7-1 shifts.

Air usage: Varies with the instrument. Generally, a bass trombone will need to breathe a lot more than a tenor trombone. 8 bars at 120 bpm is easily done.

Notes on Slide Positions

The slide serves the same purpose and has the same funtionality as the valves on any other brass instruments. 1st position is equivalent to 'open', or no valves depressed, 2nd is equivalant to 2nd valve depressed, and so on.

1st pos. = ○○○ = Bb1 harmonic series (Bb1, Bb2, F3, Bb3, D4, F4, Ab4, Bb4, C5, ect...)

2nd pos. = ○2○ = A1 harmonic series (A1, A2, E3, A3, C#4, E4, G4, A4, B4, ect...)

3rd pos. = 1○○ = Ab1 harmonic series

4th pos. = 12○ = G1 harmonic series

5th pos. = ○23 = F#1 harmonic series

6th pos. = 1○3 = F1 harmonic series

7th pos. = 123 = E1 harmonic series

Furthur note that the seventh degree of the harmonic series will tend to be flat. Realize that for all notes that can be played in 1st position, all notes 6 semi-tones below each can be played in 7th position, while the notes between will be between 1st and 7th. This way, all glissandi can be easily played be sweeping from a higher position to a lower position without necessarily crossing over 1st position.