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What I've learned about the trombone

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Re: What I've learned about the trombone

#41

Post by jeffbee »

analog31 wrote: post #40
mbrameld wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mainly control pitch with the tuning slide or the valves on those instruments? I think you mainly control pitch with the valves and only supplement with a tuning slide for certain notes, depending on the instrument, and therefore the statement is accurate.

Mainly the valves. The tuning slides help with a number of things, including the fact that the harmonics (notes above the first ocatave) are not precisely in tune with the fundamentals. A trumpet typically has a trigger lever or a loop for your finger on one or two of the tuning slides. You use it as needed. If you're playing a really fast passage, you'll likely skip it, but shorter notes are harder to place the prec…

The slides are needed, at least on the trumpet, because the tuning is perfect when using one valve but it's way off when you use two at once.

Re: What I've learned about the trombone

#42

Post by bluGill »

brudgers wrote: post #39
bluGill wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not with EBVTIII. Some temperaments would, but Bach showed it was possible to do without. (Bach did not use equal temperament)

JS Bach did not use a piano either. Because so much of music was written around the organ (e.g. vocal music sung in tune with a church organ) tuning was what it was. The well tempered clavier is exceptional because it is an exception to the vast majority of JS Bach’s work.

Organs are and were tuned all the time. While he didn't have a piano, the organ was tempered in some way.

His well tempered clavier was a plea to give him organs that could play in any key. We don't know what temperament he used (there is plenty of debate), but it is clear he was trying to show how the key in his system changes the sound/mood of the piece - something lost in equal temperament.

Re: What I've learned about the trombone

#43

Post by JeremyHerrman »

Polizeiposaune wrote: post #35
bradrn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s slightly confusingly phrased, but the full sentence is: > The trombone is the only brass instrument in a classical orchestra […] where the main mode of pitch control is by moving the tuning slide. Which is correct.

Their terminology is odd. The thing you move while playing is generally called the hand slide. There's nearly always a separate tuning slide located in the crook of the bell section. (Some relatively rare instruments like the Shires Alto do "tuning in slide" with a mechanism for fine adjustment in the hand slide). If you're also moving the tuning slide in the middle of a piece you're probably a bass trombonist doing…

I was thinking the same thing. The tuning slide is not what you use while playing, it's the separate slide on the bell side of the trombone for fine adjustment to ensure you're in tune with the rest of the band.

Re: What I've learned about the trombone

#44

Post by bryanlarsen »

erikness wrote: post #28
bryanlarsen wrote: post #12

I've been trying to square the physics and my experience. Pedal B flat is the fundamental, low B flat is the 2x, F 3x, mid B flat the 4x, D the 5X, high F is 6X, G half sharp is 7X and high B flat is 8X. The position your music teacher most likely will have told you to adjust is 2nd position - you play it slightly sharper for an A vs the E or C sharp it's also used for. Why is that? It's the major 3rd that has the la…

But you'd only adjust the position of that A if the band is playing an F major chord. Only then. The D in 1st position - it varies from horn to horn but more often than not yes it'll be a little flat. If you're playing the D as the third of a Bb major chord, then you're already adjusted, easy. If you need a really in-tune D, either 1) tune the whole horn such that 1st position is not quite "all the way in" so you hav…

I guess high school teachers can get away with mentioning the A as a global rule simply because high school music rarely has a key with sharps. You're usually playing in a key that uses A-flat instead of A, or it's the third on an F or the sixth on a C or a seventh on a B-flat. Playing that sixth a little sharp might or might not be wrong, but it's unlikely to be a held note of a chord in high school repertoire. The seventh might be part of a chord, but that's going to be pretty crunchy for high school curricula.

Re: What I've learned about the trombone

#45

Post by justonceokay »

vintermann wrote: post #17

One trombone feature not mentioned here is that the length of the pipe apparently affects the timing enough that they have to compensate for it.

This is a feature of every instrument. Even with piano you have to start pressing down a key slightly before you want to ring out or you will be behind time.

Re: What I've learned about the trombone

#48

Post by jschveibinz »

For those who played in high school and then put your instrument down for 40 years, you can pick it back up and play again! One of the great joys of my life now is playing trombone in a local band with other people just like me--relearning their instruments and making new friends.

New Horizons Band: https://newhorizonsmusic.org/Find_a_Group

Re: What I've learned about the trombone

#50

Post by macintux »

jschveibinz wrote: post #48

For those who played in high school and then put your instrument down for 40 years, you can pick it back up and play again! One of the great joys of my life now is playing trombone in a local band with other people just like me--relearning their instruments and making new friends. New Horizons Band: https://newhorizonsmusic.org/Find_a_Group

My high school band teacher and my father have both performed with New Horizons. Great group.
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