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TROMBONE (Fr. trombone, Ger. Posaune,...

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 304 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TROMBONE (Fr. trombone, Ger. Posaune, Ital. trombono) , an important member of the See also:brass See also:wind See also:family of musical See also:instruments formerly known as See also:sackbut. The trombone is characterized by the slide, consisting of two parallel cylindrical tubes, over which two other cylindrical tubes, communicating at their See also:lower extremities by means of a See also:short semicircular is See also:pipe, slip without loss of See also:air. The See also:outer See also:tube, therefore, slides upon the inner, and as it is See also:drawn downwards by the right See also:hand opens a greater length of tube proportional to the See also:depth of See also:pitch required. When the slide is closed the See also:instrument is at its highest pitch. To the upper end of one of the inner tubes is fastened the See also:cup-shaped See also:mouthpiece and to the end of the other tube is fixed the See also:bell-See also:joint. This joint, on the proper proportions of which depend in a greater measure the acoustic properties of the trombone, consists of a length of tubing with conical See also:bore widening out into a large bell and doubled back once upon itself in a See also:plane at right angles to that of the slide. The bell-joint is strengthened by two or three stays, and the slide also has two, one between the inner immovable tubes and the other on the outer sliding tubes, by means of which the slide is drawn out and pushed in. See also:Sound is produced on the trombone, as on the See also:horn, by means of the lips stretched like a vibrating See also:reed across the cup mouthpiece from rim to rim; the acoustic principles involved are the same for both instruments. By overblowing, i.e. by the varying tension of the lips and pressure of breath, the See also:harmonic See also:series is obtained, which is effective between the second and the tenth harmonics, the fundamental being but rarely of See also:practical use. There are seven positions of the slide on the trombone, each (with closed slide). II.

es e. V. The See also:

Alto in E See also:flat or F. e^ to The See also:Bass in F or G (with See also:double slide in E flat). () TROMBONE 303 The double-slide trombone (fig. 2)—patented by Messrs Rudall See also:Carte & Co. but said to have been originally invented by Halary in 183o—is made in We, G bass and El) contrabass. In these instruments each of the branches of the slide is made See also:half the usual length. There are four branches instead of two and the two pairs See also:lie one over the other, each pair being connected at the bottom by a semi-circular tube and the second pair similarly at the See also:top as well. The usual See also:bar or stay suffices for See also:drawing out both pairs of slides simultaneously, but as the lengthening of the air See also:column is now doubled in proportion to the shift of the slide, the See also:extension of See also:arm for the lower positions is lessened by half, which increases the facility of See also:execution but calls for greater nicety in the See also:adjustment of the slide, more especially in the higher positions. The See also:history of the See also:evolution of the trombone from the See also:buccina is given in the See also:article on the Sackbut (q.v.), the name by which the earliest draw or slide trumpets were known in See also:England. The Germans See also:call the trombone Posaune, formerly buzaun, busine, pusin or pusun in the poems and romances of the 12th and 13th See also:century, words all clearly derived from the Latin buccina. The See also:modern designation " large See also:trumpet " comes from the See also:Italian, in which tromba means not only trumpet, but also See also:pump and See also:elephant's See also:trunk. It is difficult to say where or at what See also:epoch the instrument was invented.

In a psalter (No. 20) of the 11th century, preserved at See also:

Boulogne, there is a drawing of an instrument which bears a See also:great resemblance to a trombone deprived of its bell. See also:Sebastian Virdung, Ottmar Luscinius, and See also:Martin See also:Agricola say little about the trombone, but they give illustrations of it under the name of busaun which show that See also:early in the 16th century it was almost the same as that employed in our See also:day. It would not be correct to assume from this that the trombone was not well known at that date in See also:Germany, and for the following reasons. First, the See also:art of trombone playing was in the r5th century in Germany mostly in the hands of the members of the See also:town bands, whose duties included playing on the See also:watch towers, in churches, at pageants, banquets and festivals, and they, being jealous of their privileges, kept the secrets of their art closely, so that writers, such as the above, although acquainted with the See also:appearance, See also:tone and See also:action of the instrument would have but little opportunity of learning much about the method of producing the sound. Secondly, See also:German and Dutch trombone players are known to have been in See also:request during the 15th century at the courts of Italian princess Thirdly, Hans Neuschel of See also:Nuremberg, the most celebrated performer and maker of his day, had already won a name at the end of the 15th century for the excellence of his " Posaunen," and it is recorded that he made great improvements in the construction of the instrument in 1498,2 a date which probably marks the transition from sackbut to trombone, by enlarging the bore and turning the bell-joint See also:round at right angles to the slide. Finally in early German See also:translations of See also:Vegetius's De re militari (147o) the buccina is described (bk. uur., 5) as the trumpet or posaun which is drawn in and out, showing that the instrument was not 'only well known, but that it had been identified as the descendant of the buccina. By the 16th century the trombone had come into See also:vogue in England, and from the name it bore at first, not sackbut, but shakbusshe, it r E. See also:Van der Straeten, See also:Les Musiciens neerlandais p. 26. 2 See G. von Retberg " Zur Gesch. d. Musik-instrumente " in A nzeiger ,fiir Kunde der deutschen Vorzeit p.

241. (Nuremberg, 1860), See also letters from Jorg Neuschell 1540—1545 in Monatshefte f. Muszkwissenschaft, ix. p. 149 seq. giving a theoretical fundamental tone and its upper partials a semitone lower than the last, and corresponding to the seven shifts on the See also:

violin and to the seven positions on See also:valve instruments. These seven positions are found by drawing out the slide a little more for each one, the first position being that in which the slide remains closed. The performer on the trombone is just as dependent on an accurate See also:ear for finding the correct positions as a violinist. The table of harmonics for the trombone in B's is appended; they See also:compass of two octaves and a See also:sixth. Position I. VI. E_ --a These notes represent all the notes in practical use, although it is possible to produce certain of the higher harmonics. The instrument being non-transposing, the notation represents the real sounds.

The four See also:

chief trombones used in the See also:orchestra are the following: to Q_ or (b~_) The Contra-Bass in B flat. An See also:octave below the See also:Tenor-Bass. _to 8t' See also:bassa The compass given above is extreme and includes the notes obtained by means of the slide; the notes in brackets are very difficult; the fundamental notes, even when they can be played, are not of much practical use. The contra-bass trombone, although not much in request in the See also:concert See also:hall, is required for the Nibelungen See also:Ring, in which See also:Wagner- has scored effectively for it. The quality of tone varies greatly in the different instruments and registers. The alto trombone has neither See also:power nor richness of tone, but sounds hard and has a timbre between that of a trumpet and a See also:French horn. The tenor and bass have a full See also:rich quality suitable for heroic, majestic See also:music, but the tone depends greatly on the performer's method of playing; the modern tendency to produce a harsh, noisy blare is greatly to be deplored. Besides the slide trombone, which is most largely used, there are the valve trombones, and the double-slide trombones. The former seven positions of the tenor furnish a See also:complete See also:chromatic or (_e:s_) are made in the same keys as the instruments given above and are constructed in the same manner, except that the slide is replaced by three pistons, which enable the performer to obtain a greater technical execution; as the tone suffers thereby and loses its characteristic timbre, the instruments have never become popular in England. is evident that the instrument had been introduced from See also:Spain and Bucin—a See also:term borrowed from the French in this instance—was not from See also:France (where it bore the name of saquebute), as some I maintained in military music, and it is not so very See also:long since it have assumed from the more frequent use of the word sackbut. was completely given up. By giving a half turn more to the bell The See also:band of musicians in the service of See also:Henry VIII. included ten tube its opening was directed to the back of the executant; but this sackbut players, and under See also:Elizabeth, in 1587, there were six See also:English instrumentalists then enjoyed a certain reputation and were sought for by See also:foreign courts; thus in 1604 See also:Charles III. of See also:Lorraine sought to recruit his sackbut players from English bands.' See also:Praetorius' classes the trombones in a complete family, the relative tonalities of which were thus composed: r Alt-Posaun, 4 Gemeine rechte Posaunen, 2 Quart-Posaunen, 1 Octav-Posaun—eight in all. The Alt-posaun was in D.

With the slide closed, it gave the first of the accompanying harmonics: iii • _y 0 The Quart-Posaun was made either in E, the See also:

fourth below the gemeine rechte Posaun, or in D, the lower fifth. In the latter See also:case it was exactly an octave below the Alt-Posaun. The Octav-Posaun was in A. It was constructed in two different fashions: either it had a length double that of the See also:ordinary trombone, or the slide was shortened, the length of the column of air being still maintained by the See also:adaptation of a crook. The first See also:system, which was invented by Hans See also:Schreiber four years before the See also:work of Praetorius appeared, gave the instrumentalist a slide by which he could procure in the lower octave all the sounds of the ordinary trombone. The second system, which Praetorius had known for years, was distinguished from the first, not only by modifications affecting the See also:form, but also by a larger bore. See also:Mersenne 3 calls the trombone trompette harmonique, or See also:tuba tractilis. He describes carefully the seven positions and gives the diatonic See also:scale for the first octave, but he does not, like Praetorius, mention the pitch of the trombones in use in his day. He established this fact, however, that it was customary in France, as in Germany, to lower the instrument a fourth below the pitch of the ordinary trombone by means of a tortil, a See also:kind of crook with a double turn that was fitted between the bell and the slide, " in See also:order," he said, " to make the bass to hautbois concerts." This system, so See also:simple and rational, might have been expected always to serve for the basis of the technique of the instrument; but from the See also:middle of the 18th century the art of playing the trombone became the See also:object of purely empiric teaching. Owing to the decline in the popularity of the trombone during the 18th century in England, France, Germany and See also:Italy, writers of that See also:period are sometimes at a loss to describe the working and effect of theslide, as were the early 16th-century authors. J. J.

Eisel, and after him See also:

Jacob Lotter, whose work is a rechaufi of Eisel's, mention four See also:principal positions, " the others not being of much importance." The lowering of the pitch effected by means of these four positions, however, is almost equal to that of the seven positions of the modern trombone. The tenor or ordinary trombone is given as an example. It stood in the first position in A. The second position, equal to the modern third produced the harmonic series of the fundamental G one tone lower than the first position. The third position gave F again a tone lower and corresponding to our sixth position. The fourth position, which extended so far outward "that the arm could hardly reach it," gave E as fundamental. The intermediate semitones, instead of being considered as positions, are treated as accidentals, lowering or raising any See also:note obtained in one of the positions by drawing out, or pushing in, the slide approximately an extra two-fingers breadth. It would not be correct to See also:state without qualification that four positions only were used on the trombone in the 18th century. See also:Samuel See also:Wesley, who has See also:left notes on the scales of various instruments, in his own hand (Add MS. 35011 fol. 166 Brit. See also:Mus.), has added under the scales of the trombones—bass, tenor and alto—the remark " sacbut or double trumpet, the scale of which is wanting." Of all wind instruments the trombone has perhaps been least modified in form; changes have occasionally been attempted, but for the most See also:part with only trifling success.

The innovation which has had the most vogue See also:

dates from the end of the 18th century; it consisted in bending the tube of the bell in a half circle above the See also:head of.the executant, which produced a very bizarre effect. It also gave rise to very serious inconveniences: by destroying the regularity of the proportions of the bell it prejudicially affected the quality of tone and intonation of the instrument. For a long See also:time the curved bell with its See also:serpent's See also:mask known as the ' See A. Jacquot, La Musique en Lorraine, p. 61. ' Organographia (See also:Wolfenbuttel, 1619). Harmonic universelle (See also:Paris, 1636). form, in See also:fashion for a little while about 183o, was not long adhered to, and the trombone reassumed its See also:primitive form, which is still maintained. As appears from a patent deposited by Stolzel and Blumel at See also:Berlin on the 12th of See also:April 1818 the application of ventils or pistons was then made for the first time.' The ventils, at first two in number, effected a definite lengthening of the instrument. The first augmented the length of the tube by a tone, lowering by as much the natural harmonics. The second produced a similar effect for a semitone, and the simultaneous employment of the two pistons resulted in the depression of a tone and a half. The principle, therefore, of the employment of ventils or pistons is the same as that which governs the use of slides (see VALVES).

Notwithstanding the increased facility obtained by the use of pistons, they are very far from having gained the See also:

suffrage of all players: many prefer the slide, believing that it gives a facility of emission that they can-not obtain with a See also:piston trombone. The flat tonalities having been preferred for military music since the beginning of the 19th century the pitch of each variety of trombones has been raised a semitone. At See also:present six trombones are more or less in use, viz. the alto trombone in F, the alto in El) (formerly in D), the tenor in Bb (formerly in A), the bass in G, the bass in F (formerly in E), the bass in F_b (formerly in D), and the contrabass in Bb. This transposition has no reference to the number of vibrations that may be officially or tacitly adopted as the See also:standard pitch of any See also:country or locality. A trombone an octave lower than the tenor has recently been re-introduced into the orchestra, principally by Wagner. The different varieties just cited are constructed with pistons or slides, as the case may be. Further See also:information on the trombone will be found in the mono-graphs by the Rev. F. W. Galpin, "The Sackbut: its Evolution and History," Proc. Mus. Assoc.

(1906-1907); by See also:

Victor Mahillon, Le Trombone, son histoire, sa theorie, sa construction (See also:Brussels, See also:London, 1907). Before his See also:recent See also:death See also:Professor See also:George Case had in preparation an important work on the trombone. (V. M.; K.

End of Article: TROMBONE (Fr. trombone, Ger. Posaune, Ital. trombono)

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