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Some musings on music, trombone in particular [1]

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Date: 2023-01-20

No, that's not a selfie.

The other day I had some fun digging into the story of the pop hit MacArthur Park, and found out far more about it than I had expected. (This will be 55 years since it was released.) But while I was doing that, I also ran across more about my particular interest: trombone.

(Warning — this diary may be TLFW — Too Loud For Work)

I’ve been playing since elementary school; decades later I hope to eventually get the hang of it. I’ve played in marching bands, orchestras, big bands, pit orchestras, a cover band doing pop and rock tunes… My trombone has taken me to places I would have never gotten to otherwise, and I’ve heard some great musicians along the way.

My father was a musician, playing multiple instruments — when he wasn’t busy with his ‘day job’ as a practicing physician — so I had an early exposure to music as something that could be a normal part of a life.

My public school system had music programs from elementary on, including bands and choruses. While my high school band played for football games, we also did some serious concert work, including commissioning new music. My high school instructor and band leader was Thomas G. Everett who went on to have an impressive career. (He’s a founder of the International Trombone Association among other things.) I’ve been lucky to have crossed paths with him.

(Check out the Online Trombone Journal for more trombone resources.)

I’m not a professional musician — it’s never been a full time job for me. I’ve managed to keep it up regardless by finding community groups to play in, and being recruited for some bands who do manage to get paid — gas money at least. ;-) It’s too much fun to give up.

I’ve often considered that a music education is something should be part of becoming what used to be called a well-rounded person, more than just someone to plug into a job somewhere. With all the emphasis on sports in school as a means of learning team work, building personal confidence, and developing leadership skills, I’ve found many people do not appreciate that playing an instrument can be just as demanding and just as important in developing those skills. Cuts to music and art programs in schools are shortchanging our youth.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about Star Trek is the way all of the series have included characters pursuing art in some form. Watching Commander Will Riker perform on trombone — what can I say! (And yes, Jonathan Frakes really does play trombone.) Extra points if you recognize the piano player in this clip.

Too many people learn to play in school growing up — then never touch an instrument again, which is a shame. It’s never too late to come back. I was lucky to come from a family where we could afford to have my own trombone, and participation in community groups of all kinds was a norm. But enough about me.

Let’s talk a bit more about trombones.

Trombones (also see sackbut and posaune) have a history going back centuries. Brass instruments, they are readily recognizable because of their slide. Moving the slide in and out changes the length of the air column in the horn, which changes the pitch at which it vibrates, just as adjusting the length of a vibrating string on a string instrument changes the pitch.

(Disclaimer — as I said, I’m not a professional musician so excuse me if I get some of the terminology wrong and skip over a few things.)

This gave trombones an early advantage over other brass instruments because they could play every note in a scale. Until valves were developed for trumpets, French horns, etc. to route the vibrating air column through different lengths of brass tubing to get different pitches, they were limited to playing just harmonic pitches. That’s why bugles, lacking valves, play only certain notes.

The ability to play a full range of notes made it possible for trombones to accompany choirs and such, which is why they turn up in a lot of early church music. It’s also because the natural range of a tenor trombone is comparable to that of the human voice.

So what kind of music do most people associate with trombones? Marching bands for sure. (The big number from “The Music Man” is “76 Trombones” after all.) Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and the Big Band era is another style of music people think of, along with Dixieland jazz.

But that doesn’t limit options; trombones have also turned up in the Rock era. The bands Chicago, Blood, Sweat, & Tears, are just a couple of examples that have shown the power of brass. Here’s some Eric Clapton reimagined.

Todd Rundgren featured a trombone solo in the ballad “Hello It’s Me.” Thomas Dolby has employed trombone on several numbers, such as “Hyperactive” and “My Brain is like a Sieve.”

Funk, fusion, any genre — trombones keep turning up. And of course trombones still have a place in classical music and symphony orchestras.

Here Christian Lindberg takes a piece which normally features the violin, and works trombone magic. Don’t let the “relaxing cello graphic fool you — this is Méditation from 'Thais' played on Trombone.

Because of the range of the trombone (add alto trombone on the high end, and bass trombone on the low), a trombone choir can cover what usually takes a full orchestra to do. (There’s also the valve trombone, which keeps the straight untapered tubing of a trombone, but substitutes valves for a slide. Then there’s the Superbone...)

This recording of a special arrangement of “the 1812 Overture” features Trombonists (in order of left to right) - Austin Westjohn, Kyle Peck, Greg Hammond, Katie Thigpen, Hank Currey, Michael Burner, Ethan Scholl, of the US Army Band. (You really need to hear this through either good headphones or a good speaker system. Brace yourself for the cannon fire!)

The duo Daft Punk produced a mix of house/funk/disco/techno/rock/punk during their career. One of their efforts, the 2001 album Discovery, is also the soundtrack for a companion animated film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

One of the tracks is Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, which is a musical number during a scene where the kidnapped members of a band from another planet are being transformed to appear as humans by an evil music impresario. With their memories wiped and rewritten, he plans to use them as musical slaves so he can get the final gold record he needs to become master of the universe…

It’s maybe the last number you’d expect to be transformed from its techno-vibe into a trombone feature — but trombonist and Youtuber Christopher Bill did it as part of the 2019 International Trombone Festival. (He has a lot of amazing videos on his channel — check out Bonehemian Rhapsody.)

Here it is, with 48 top trombonists from around the world performing it with a relentless drum track underneath. It’s just over three minutes, followed by a promo from Bill, and some of the players showing some behind the scenes takes. It’s a lot of fun — enjoy!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/20/2148213/-Some-musings-on-music-trombone-in-particular

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