I've noticed recently several people on here mentioning that they play/played trombone as well as harmonica. How many of us are there? I gave up playing in a big band a couple of years ago to concentrate on harmonica. [I wasn't really enjoying the big band at that time either].
Believe it or not it was the first instrument I ever played - my friend was in the Salvation Army band and he gave me a lesson. Then when I went to secondary school they asked what we played and I said trombone so they auditioned me for the orchestra in spite of my pleading them to understand that I had only ever had one lesson. They auditioned me and it was a disaster. Then I took up the French horn, then the bassoon (I was tiny, but they needed a bassoon player, that was their only consideration - irony can be cruel can't it!), then I ended up with the oboe. ----------
Andrew. ----------------------------------------- Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup.
Last Edited by on Nov 12, 2011 10:30 AM
I played as a young man, well enough to be awarded a scholarship to Wayne State University. BUT...I had a falling out with the bone. Long story. Anyway, I'm taking it back up in order to be more attractive to bands, that is, playing bone and harp and some vocals.
Trombone and harp have similarities in that both make unique sounds and both have limitations on technical expression. The difference is everybody likes the way a harp sounds. If you're the best trombone player in the world and you go to a party and play, people will say it sounds "all right." If you know three chords on the guitar, you're the hit of the party, and you'll probably get laid. That being said, other musicians seem to LOVE the bone in that it gives their band a bigger sound.
So, you're crossing the vast wasteland of Texas at 130 MPH in your Mazaratti and, way out ahead, you see an armadillo in the right lane and a trombone player in the other. There is no other lane to go to--you gotta take out one or the other--which do you choose??
A: The trombone player--the armadillo might have a gig.
I don't play any other wind instrument but I love the sound of the trombone. I really like how HBO:s Treme showcase under-appreciated musicians and instruments, especially the 'bone. *Waiting for season three*
Oldwailer, that reminds me of a terrible joke a camp counselor told me years ago.
It seems this town sat right below a huge dam, and for some reason, the engineers who built the thing had built a giant lever in the middle of the town that would open the flood gates. Maybe it was an attempt to remind us of our mortality, no one was really sure. They just knew that if someone hit the lever they would all drown. It was a strange town.
The town, remember, it was a strange town, also had a beloved giant pet snake that they kept in a pit near the lever. The snakes name was Nate (I guess that's what made the counselor think to tell the joke. Kids love jokes with their name in them.) Some people said the snake was there to guide the lever. Other people weren't so sure.
Anyway, there was an elderly lady who had never learned to drive, who on this particular morning was taking the drivers' test for the 4th or 5th time. She kept failing. Anyway, she was driving around with the test administrator in the car when they were cut off by a large truck. It took all she could do not to slam her Humvee into a nearby school bus. (Again, no one knows why an old lady was taking a drivers' test in a Humvee, it was just a strange town.) She went up on the sidewalk, did a two wheel ski to avoid hitting the pedestrians, dodged a couple of children sitting on a park bench, missed a small dog and avoided running over the town's prized rose bushes. It was an amazing feat. However, as she rounded the last corner, still struggling to bring the vehicle under control, she saw before her the most excruciating choice. To her left, was the town's beloved snake, Nate, sitting in his pit sunning himself, and to the right was the lever that would drown the whole town.
The test administrator screamed. The old lady did the only thing she could do- she swerved left. Poor Nate never saw it coming, so at least he went peacefully. The test administrator realized the old woman had just saved the town- it wasn't her fault she'd been cut off. He decided he would award her her driver's license.
"You passed," he said. "I just have one question, how did you make the choice."
The woman paused to think. "I studied for this test a lot. Some people told me I was to old to get a license, but in the end, even although it was a hard choice, I decided it was better Nate than lever."
The trombone is my "real" instrument from days gone by but I was never an improvisor back then. The harp opened up some new doors for me. However, developing asthma kind of late in life I'm sure glad that I learned to play the harmonica. Asthma really takes the fun out of the bone but it doesn't impact the harp much. BTW just saw Dr John a couple of weeks ago. Stellar band with only one horn: the trombone. The player, Sarah Morrow, was in danger of stealing the show. She was great! Check her out on Youtube. All the best! Jay ---------- Music speaks where words fail.
While learning harp, I drew on some old horn licks, some stuff from the big bands in the forties and some classic rock riffs. THEN...when I picked the bone up again, I found it pretty natural to play harp licks on the bone. Life is good.
Some of you may be interested to know that the late great Norton Buffalo played trombone too. Before his long tenure with Steve Miller he toured and recorded with Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen... The best example of his time with that band is probably on the "We've got a live one here" album. IMHO a very funny record in places. ---------- KiwiRick http://www.richardshanksart.com
I played the 'bone for a short time in 4th grade. After a few months I decided it wasn't for me so I turned it in. Good thing too. I can play my harp whilst driving. To attempt that with a trombone would make for a tragick, yet humerous write up in the police report section of the local papers.
I've always kinda wanted to pick up 'bone. The first instrument I learned was trumpet back in 5th grade. Then I played bari euphonium in high school since it was all the same fingering as trumpet. I may try to pick it up yet. Kinda torn between that and tenor sax.
Brad Hessing here in Springfield plays 'bone as well as harp. He told me about this little baby. It looks interesting. If I decide to do trombone, I may get this.
I used a Trombone (muted in three instances) along with low pitched harmonicas for 4 songs on my latest CD "2 Days Out" which incidently was first ballot grammy nominated. I love the blend between the two instruments. Check out samples at http://www.ptgazell.com ---------- "Life...10 Holes & 20 Reeds At A Time"
Those Bonerama guys are a trip, it's weird, I really appreciated listening to a couple of seconds of both those clips, but it felt like a novelty thing. I honestly couldn't see myself going out for a full night of horn section re-arrangements of classic rock.
Who is their audience?
Last Edited by on Nov 17, 2011 9:35 AM
I've thought about a valve bone. And yeah, it'd prolly be easier for me to pick up on in the long run. But clarify one thing for me if you can. I know slide plays bass clef, but does a valve bone play treble or bass clef? If it's bass, then either way I have to reacquaint myself with bass clef, something I haven't done since my brief piano lessons 14 years ago. LOL.
That being said, I will say that the look of a slide trombone being played is much more appealing to the eye of an audience IMHO. So I guess I'd have to make a trade-off between ease of learning and stage aesthetics. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Nov 17, 2011 9:42 AM
The valve bone is just that, a bone with valves instead of a slide (not counting the Superbone which had both). Music is written in bass clef. HOWEVER...if you're not in a chart band it doesn't really matter. You can "think" in treble clef and play it like a trumpet.
The trouble with a slide trombone for the casual bone player is the intonation issue. If you're a little long or short on a position, the note will be flat or sharp respectively. With a valve bone, that problem is obviated. PLUS...if you already have the skill from playing trumpet or baritone horn or euphonium, it's just a matter of lip conditioning.
A trombone is a "fretless" insturment, like a base or a viola, viloin or similar insturment. This is not a problem but a difference. You can instantly adjust to be in tune as things warm up or otherwise change. I like the flesibility if the slide, but then I have never played a valve instrument, I don't even have an F attachement.
The harp is less "fretless" than a trombone but it still has a considerable bending range, and it is getting more flexible as I learn to play it.
@STME58, you can instantly adjust if you can hear the aberration. Same thing with bending the harp....or singing, for that matter. To be clear, it's only a "problem" for the casual bone player. Casual was the best word I could come up with. Operating the slide is a skill, and a non-transferable skill, whereas valve fingering, keyboards and such are transferable and more precise skills. If you pound a key on a piano, the note comes out.
FMWoodeye, I get your point and I agree in general. On the paino you get what you get but most other instruments, fretted or valved, wind or string, allow a bit of bending. I expect that learning to bend the harp and get to the right note might be more transferable to a fretless instrument than one might expect. To be sure, there is manual skill required but the trained ear is the more important part.
re 'clef' for t'bone. in Brass bands all music is written in treble clef apart from the bass trombone. in big bands all the trombones are usually written in bass clef. When it is written in treble clef it is written in Bb when in bass clef it is written in concert C.
re 'clef' for t'bone. I still usually stumble when I am reading along in bass clef and then a few measures of alto or tenor clef are thrown in. It's one of those things that happens not quite often enough to cause me to really dig in and learn the C clefs.
I really laughed when I heard "Tomislav Goluban – Spread the News Around " on last.fm . The featured instruments are trombone and harmonica. What makes it fun is its polka like beat.
I have only ever played from Bass clef [tenor trombone] apart from a short foray into treble with a brass band. I don't really understand transposing instruments, why can't they all read in concert C?
This has been a topic of conversation around my house lately. As a trombonist I never had to deal with transposing, but my son is learning the Eb sax and is getting frustrated trying to find sheet music that matches recordings.
Lumpy, I used the bass clef playing baritone tuba too (and in choir). One neat thing about valved instruments is if you know one you can switch pretty easily to another. Even although they are different notes the fingering for a baritone in the bass clef is the same as the fingering for a trumpet in the treble clef. Anyone learning horns though should learn the higher instruments first. They require a tougher embouchure. I actually tried to pick up trumpet. I've got a chipped front tooth though. Almost nothing bothers it, but having the mouthpiece for a trumpet resting on my lip there does.
I've also messed around with movable clefs/movable do in singing a little. If I was designing a music reading system for harmonica players from scratch I'd steal heavily from that. It would open up all the standard musical notations for harping.
As for why they don't read in concert C, remember concert C is just really a construct. On a piano it's all white keys. C is the pianos natural key but other instruments are set up differently. Sharps and flats really aren't any different than regular notes. It's just an accident of how we named them. If you force them to read in concert C you force them to add accidentals in their head (or you force instrument makers to make all there instrument's natural key C, which would actually impact how music sounds quite a bit.)
Lumpy, I used the bass clef playing baritone tuba too (and in choir). One neat thing about valved instruments is if you know one you can switch pretty easily to another. Even although they are different notes the fingering for a baritone in the bass clef is the same as the fingering for a trumpet in the treble clef. Anyone learning horns though should learn the higher instruments first. They require a tougher embouchure. I actually tried to pick up trumpet. I've got a chipped front tooth though. Almost nothing bothers it, but having the mouthpiece for a trumpet resting on my lip there does.
I've also messed around with movable clefs/movable do in singing a little. If I was designing a music reading system for harmonica players from scratch I'd steal heavily from that. It would open up all the standard musical notations for harping.
As for why they don't read in concert C, remember concert C is just really a construct. On a piano it's all white keys. C is the pianos natural key but other instruments are set up differently. Sharps and flats really aren't any different than regular notes. It's just an accident of how we named them. If you force them to read in concert C you force them to add accidentals in their head (or you force instrument makers to make all there instrument's natural key C, which would actually impact how music sounds quite a bit.)
