contrabass trombone slide position chart

St Cecilia's Hall, University of Edinburgh See also: Cimbasso Cimbasso in B♭ by Stowasser, early 20th century. The double slide and the pitch one octave lower means this instrument has the same seven positions as the tenor trombone, and a range to the low E 1 in the “spear” motif in Das Rheingold: For the première in 1876, Wagner commissioned a contrabass in 18′ B♭ from Berlin instrument maker Carl Wilhelm Moritz, who built it with a double slide. Soon after, Wagner notably employed contrabass trombone in his Der Ring des Nibelungen, a cycle of four operas commonly known as the Ring cycle, writing a fourth trombone part to double on bass and contrabass trombone. In France, composer Georges Bizet called for contrabass trombone in his opera La Coutes du Roi de Thulé (1869), and in his completion in the same year of Noé, an unfinished opera by his father-in-law and French composer Fromental Halévy. Newly invented models of contrabass trombone in low 16′ C and 18′ B♭ soon followed, and the first double-slide contrabass trombones were produced by Parisian maker Jean Hilaire Asté (known as Halary) in the 1830s.

Makers soon applied the double slide to bass trombones in F and E♭ that would normally require a slide handle to reach the longest positions. He proposed that it would lend greater facility to the bass trombone, and described the idea of using two joined outer slides moving on four inner tubes, halving the distances between slide positions. The innovation that enabled a practical instrument was the double slide, first documented nearly two centuries later in 1816 by German writer and composer Gottfried Weber. Gottfried Weber's trombone slide concept in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 1816 This instrument was seldom used and generally unsatisfactory with players, being unwieldy and taxing to play. During this period, the contrabass trombone was built with a very long slide, with an extension handle to reach the lower positions. The bass trombones of the time were pitched in 12′ F ( quart-posaune), or 14′ E♭ ( quint-posaune). The contrabass trombone first appeared in Renaissance music in the late 16th century as the octav-posaune ( lit. In the 21st century the contrabass has enjoyed something of a revival, particularly in film and video game soundtracks.įor broader coverage of this topic, see Trombone § History. Since the late 20th century, the double-slide contrabass has largely been supplanted by the less cumbersome bass-contrabass in F, a fourth below the B♭ tenor and bass trombones. German opera composer Richard Wagner notably called for this instrument in his Der Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle in the 1870s, and contrabass trombone has since appeared occasionally in large orchestral works without becoming a permanent member of the modern orchestra. While modern instruments are pitched in 12′ F with a single slide, the first practical contrabass trombones appeared in the mid-19th century built in 18′ B♭ an octave below the tenor trombone with a double slide. Use a tuner to double check the positions for each note.The contrabass trombone ( German: Kontrabassposaune, Italian: trombone contrabbasso) is the lowest-pitched instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Is yours? If so, every position on that partial should be played slightly longer than usual. Many are slightly sharp on the 5 th partial. Learn the characteristics of your trombone. To play in tune, a player must listen to every note and make micro adjustments while playing. Learning where a position should be is just a starting point. Find the slide position by listening Exercise: The best way to determine the exact slide position for any note is to listen. The use of the trigger will change the slide positions. The sky is the limit.īass trombones and some tenor trombones have an additional “trigger” or valve. There are as many partials on a trombone as a player can buzz. The high Ab in 1 st position is not usable for this reason.

high G is played in a short 2 nd position). Tip: Notes on the 6 th partial (starting with Ab in 1 st position) are naturally flat so all positions on that partial need to be shorter than usual (e.g.

Contrabass trombone slide position chart