Composing for Trombone

Range:

The range of a 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.

Sound:

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.

Agility:

Because of the use of the slide, lower down the instrument, agility is much less than the 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 you have 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.

Key signatures:

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.

Tuning:

With good players, there should never be an issue with trombone tuning, as the tuning is adjustable with the slide.

Writing:

Writing for trombone should be done in bass clef concert pitch. Whatever you think about tenor clef saving paper, trombone players all hate it (well, I do anyway). This is especially true for big band writing. For the brass band, the trombone is written in Bb treble clef, like every other brass band instrument.

Is a bass trombone basically a trombone with an f trigger?

My friend a trombonist says that all proffesionals have f triggers on their instruments.

A bass trombone is a trombone with an F trigger and an Eb or D trigger (depending 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 my own personal opinion, sound much lighter and more mellow, and have a nicer overall sound, as well as a greater range.

Yah I noticed that in his playing, you shouldn't carry a bass trombone during marching band season :thumbsup:

I'm going to add notes about tenor horns with F attachments and bass trombones, and other generic notes.

Trombones with F attachments have no difficulty with 1-7 slide transitions because the trigger, when pressed, effectively "extends" the slide for you without moving it. 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.

A bass trombone sacrafices even more of the upper range flexibiltiy (although a good bass tromobonist can still get pretty darn high) for better tone in the low register and access to notes a normal or F attachment tenor cannot reach. The D Flat, C, and B natural notes below the staff are accesible by combining combinations of both triggers. The bass trombone is best known for its ability to absolutely dominate the sound of an orchestra, possibly only overpowered by the bass drum or timpani. It can produce a soft mellow sound or a very, very, very loud, furious, harsh, edgy, "chainsaw" tone.

A quick note. While the D on the second line of the treble clef line is the "accepted" maximum range, very very good players can get much, much, much higher, with the ability to play the entire range of the piano. Writing in these extremes is only advisable for very difficult literature, solos, or specific performers.

When talking about range, you better be talk'n about a keyboard. FElla!

don't forget to mention that everything below a low F sounds guttaral and doesn't project as the higher notes. It's like the trumpet and the horn: generally, below middle concert B-flat, these brass instruments don't project and sound guttaral and rough, also, it becomes VERY difficult to play loudly with good tonality. Be careful when writing low for, say, high school bands.

don't forget to mention that everything below a low F sounds guttaral and doesn't project as the higher notes. It's like the trumpet and the horn: generally, below middle concert B-flat, these brass instruments don't project and sound guttaral and rough, also, it becomes VERY difficult to play loudly with good tonality. Be careful when writing low for, say, high school bands.

Sometimes, the guttural, loud, edgy sound is what the composer is going for. "Pedal tones" (low b flat below the staff and lower) are very effective in this effect. It is VERY difficult to play anything technical in this range, however, so sustained notes are best.

Full range of the piano? Jeez, highest I've ever played is C6, and highest I've ever heard any recording play is E6.

Since I don't play trombone at all, I don't know anything about the "slide positions" in relation to the notes. My only question is: If i'm writing a part for trombone that slides a lot between notes, is it possible (and relatively easy) to slide from any one pitch to another? I'm assuming it is at least quite hard, so my question is: What notes can I safely slide between? Thanks! :P

Since I don't play trombone at all, I don't know anything about the "slide positions" in relation to the notes. My only question is: If i'm writing a part for trombone that slides a lot between notes, is it possible (and relatively easy) to slide from any one pitch to another? I'm assuming it is at least quite hard, so my question is: What notes can I safely slide between? Thanks! :shifty:

If you mean just moving the slide between notes, don't worry about it higher than about middle C or so, because at that point there are enough alternate positions that it's no big deal. Below that, the worst jumps are (in order of decreasing difficulty) between Bb3 and B3, Bb3 and C4, A3 and B3, and F4 and F#4. The first is the only 1st-7th jump that was mentioned in an earlier post. The other three are 1st-6th and 2nd-7th. If you're writing for orchestra, don't worry because orchestral trombone players tend to have F attatchments.

If you mean what can be properly glissandoed, here are the intervals: E2-Bb2 (please only for bass trombone), E3-Bb3, B3-F4, E4-Bb4, Ab4-D5, B4-F5, D5-G5, E5-Bb5, F5-C6, etc. The F attatchment adds all of the above intervals except lowered by 5 semitones. I don't know what extra intervals the bass trombone has because I'm not familiar with the second attatchment. Obviously you can gliss up or down, and any interval inside any of those intervals is okay. Please don't write glisses outside of those intervals or crossing between intervals. I hate it when composers write octave glisses.

My suggestion would be to get a simple slide position chart. There are plenty available on the internet.

Hey! Thanks a lot you've really been a big help. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. :laugh:

Indiana- no, it's really easy to for trombonists to slide between two notes, provided those two notes are in the same "partial". Partials start at the following notes and go down a tritone: Low Bb, F, Bb (just below middle C), D (just above middle C), F, Ab, Bb, etc.

So, if you want a trombonist to gliss from, say, A(just below middle C) up to D, they could do that in the D partial. Most short distances are no problem, 'cause there's a lot of overlap. Now that everybody has triggers, most (short) glisses are possible.

A high D!? wow, what position would that be? i've played a high Bflat (middle line of treble clef) on 1st position, and a high C on first position, is a high D played on 1st as well?

A high D!? wow, what position would that be? i've played a high Bflat (middle line of treble clef) on 1st position, and a high C on first position, is a high D played on 1st as well?

Usually 1st ... sometimes 4th.

Wow....that's pretty helpful. You know, people should write 'guides' like this for other instruments, and someone could compile it into some sort of book or something....

~Kal

I recommend you check out the wiki.

www.youngcomposers.com/articles/instruments

I'm a little pressed for time at the moment, but if someone could wikify the trombone thingy I would be grateful.

...people should write 'guides' like this for other instruments, and someone could compile it into some sort of book or something....

It's been done...many-a-time.

It's been done...many-a-time.

Ah yeah, we call these orchestration textbooks, bloody usefult things to have around :laugh:

I'm a little pressed for time at the moment, but if someone could wikify the trombone thingy I would be grateful.

I'm on it! :w00t:

EDIT: "Trombone" on the Wiki: http://www.youngcomposers.com/articles/Trombone

I've never played a trombone in my life, so please check if any of my additions are inaccurate.

Redirect to this article from "Bass Trombone"? I don't think its necessary, but if anyone thinks it is, it is well justified, I presume.

Thanks James, I appreciate it :w00t: