Trombone

A lip-reed aerophone with a predominantly cylindrical bore, the trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. The most frequently encountered trombones are the tenor and bass counterparts of the trumpet. The trombone is usually characterised by a telescopic slide with which the player varies the length of the tube.

Variations in construction

Bells

Trombone bells (and sometimes slides) may be constructed of more than just yellow brass. The most common material is yellow brass, comprising 70% copper and 30% zinc, though other materials used include gold brass (85% copper, 15% zinc) and red brass (90% copper, 10% zinc). These different materials affect the tone quality of the instrument and change the timbre quite considerably. Some manufacturers now offer interchangeable bells so that the player can select which bell he prefers according to the artistic requirements. Tenor trombone bells are usually between 7" and 9" in diameter, the most common being sizes from 7½" to 8½". The smallest sizes are found in small jazz trombones and older narrow bore instruments, while the larger sizes are common in orchestral models. The bell may be constructed out of two separate brass sheets or out of one single piece of metal and hammered on a mandrel until the part is shaped correctly. The edge of the bell may be finished with or without a piece of bell wire to secure it, which also affects the tone quality; most bells are built with bell wire.

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Valve attachments

Valves

Some trombones have valves instead of a slide: see valve trombone above. Slide trombone valve attachments may be fitted with rotary valves or sometimes with piston or disc valves, which are modern variations on types of valve invented during the 1820s, but discarded at the time in favour of the rotary valve and the Périnet or piston valve.

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Tubing

More often than not, tenor trombones with an F attachment have a larger bore through the attachment than through the straight section (the portion of the trombone through which the air flows when the attachment's trigger is not depressed). Typically, for orchestral instruments, the slide bore is 0.547" and the attachment tubing bore is 0.562". A wide variety of valve attachments and combinations are available. Valve attachment tubing usually incorporates a small tuning slide so that the attachment tubing is able to be tuned separately from the rest of the instrument. Most B♭/F tenor and bass trombones include a tuning slide, which is long enough to lower the pitch to E with the valve tubing engaged, enabling the production of low B.

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Tuning

Some trombones (principally bass trombones) are tuned through a mechanism in the slide section (Tuning-in-the-Slide or "TIS") rather than via a separate tuning slide in the bell section. This method preserves as long and smooth as possible an expansion from the start of the bell section to the bell flare. The tuning slide in the bell section requires two portions of cylindrical tubing in an otherwise conical part of the instrument, which of necessity affects the tone quality. For the sake of convenience and ease of production, most trombones feature this device, which in instruments with no valve attachment is often completed by the addition of a counterbalance weight to offset the weight of the slide.

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Slides

Common and popular bore sizes for trombone slides are 0.500", 0.508", 0.525" and 0.547" for tenor trombones, and 0.562" for bass trombones. The slide may also be built with a dual bore configuration, in which the bore of the second leg of the slide is slightly larger than the bore of the first leg, producing a step-wise conical effect. The most common dual bore combinations are 0.500"-0.508", 0.508"-0.525", and 0.525"-0.547", 0.547"-0.562" for tenor trombones, and 0.562"-0.578" for bass trombones.

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Regional variations

Germany & Austria

German trombones have been built in a wide variety of bore and bell sizes and differ substantially from American designs in many aspects. From the mouthpiece to the bell, there is a great deal of difference in how the traditional German Konzertposaune is constructed. The mouthpiece is typically rather small and is placed into a slide section that uses very long leadpipes of at least 12"-24". The whole instrument is often constructed of gold brass and this naturally characterises the sound, which is usually rather dull compared with British, French or American designs. While bore sizes were considered large in the 19th century, German trombones have altered very little over the last 150 years and are now typically somewhat smaller than their American counterparts. Bell sizes remain very large in all sizes of German trombone and in bass trombones may exceed 10" in diameter. Valve attachments in tenor and bass trombones were traditionally constructed to be engaged via a thumb-operated rotary valve equipped with a leather thong rather than a metal lever. Older models are still to be found with this feature, though modern variants use the metal lever. As with other German & Austrian brass instruments, rotary valves are used to the exclusion of almost all other types of valve, even in valve trombones. Other features often found on German trombones include long waterkeys and snake decorations on the slide and bell U-bows.

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France

French trombones were built in the very smallest bore sizes up to the end of the Second World War and whilst other sizes were made there, the French usually preferred the tenor trombone to any other size. French music, therefore, usually employed a section of three tenor trombones up to the mid-20th century. Tenor trombones produced in France during the 19th and early 20th centuries featured bore sizes of around 0.450", small bells of not more than 6" in diameter, as well as a funnel-shaped mouthpiece slightly larger than that of the cornet or French horn. French tenor trombones were built in both C and B♭, altos in D♭ sopranos in F, piccolos in high B♭, basses in G and E♭, contrabasses in B♭.

Related Topics:
Second World War - Cornet - French horn

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