The TromboneThe trombone is a member of the brass family. As with all brass instruments, its sound is produced when a player's lip vibrations are directed into a mouthpiece, which turns the air column inside the trombone into a standing wave vibration.
Trombone DesignThe trombone is made of brass with a lacquer coating and is shaped into an oblong "S". Its most distinguishing feature is the slide, which allows the player to alter the length of tubing and change the pitch. It's design is elegantly simple and it's constructed in four parts: the mouthpiece, inner slide, outer slide, and bell section. The mouthpiece fits onto an inner slide, which consists of two open-ended parallel lengths of tubing that are connected by a strut. The outer slide also has two parallel lengths of tubing connected by a strut, but only one end is open while the other is closed. The outer slide resembles an elongated "U". The outer slide telescopes in and out over the inner slide, thereby altering the length of the air coulmn and thus the pitch. Together, the slide assembly connects to a single bell section via a locking ring. The tubing of the bell section forms another 180 degree bend, where there is an adjustable tuning slide for correcting intonation. Finally, the tubing extends into a flared bell. When valves were first introduced in the 19th century they were initially incorporated into the trombone. However, as they were not needed, they quickly died away. Valves aren't in widespread use and are typically only found on bass trombones. When valved trombones are used it is usually for playing fast musical passages that are difficult to perform with a slide. Trombone HistoryThe trombone's evolution is directly tied to the trumpet of the renaissance era. Prior to 1375 trumpets were simply long, straight tubes with flared bells. Soon after they underwent bending into an S shape. During the 1400's a sliding column was introduced near the mouthpiece, giving the player the ability to adjust the pitch. Shortly afterwards a double slide was integrated, thus marking the divergence of trumpet and trombone. However, this early instrument was known as the sackbut in England, which derives from old French verbs sacquer (to push) bouter (to pull). It acquired the name trombone, from the Italian for "large trumpet", at some point in the early 18th century. There is little difference between the sackbut and the trombone except that the latter acquired a larger bore and a more widely flared bell over the ensuing years. Until the early 19th century the trombone was primarily used in church music and military bands. But, beginning with Beethoven's inclusion of the instrument in his 5th symphony, the trombone soon became a mainstay of the orchestra. It has retained a prominent place in military and marching bands as well as fulfilling a role in brass concert bands and jazz ensembles. Trombone AcousticsLike the trumpet, the trombone has a cylindrical bore with a series of tapers throughout the tubing length. However, unlike most other brass instruments, it has no need of valves - the slide makes it a fully chromatic instrument. It's tone, less piercing than the trumpet, is very full and noble sounding. It's also known for it's capacity for volume, something that composers like Wagner and Berlioz used to good effect. As with the trumpet, the timbre is also affected by the choice of mouthpiece and the use of mutes. Types of TrombonesThe most common types of trombone are the tenor and bass, though trombones are built in a wide range of sizes from the contrabass to the piccolo.
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