Coming To a Close With Penguins, Obama and Star Trek

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! This is a picture of Abbey Road Penguin Style.

Penguin Road

Are you a Beatles fan? I know I'm not because the Beatles were famous 40 years before I was born. But, my process for finding random things isn't based on what my interests are(but there is no way a cat will get on this blog). I usually don't care what random thing goes on my blog to sandwich my topic. My process is come up with something random in my head look it up, and then find an even more random thing from my search results. 

But, sadly this my last blogpost. I have to answer the question: How have I changed over the course of this year? 

If you guys remember, the good old days, the days where I was just a small lad, the times when it was fall instead of spring. Oh those were the days, the days where I had to reclaim my sleep schedule completely. I may have had to wake up for marching band early in the morning, but I was staying up until 3 AM the night before every week day and then passing out on my couch after marching band. Rules of sleep do not apply to me folks. Anyway, I was an ever-fresh freshman new to the dynamic that is pseudo-high school(I still go to a Junior High). None of my creativity or openness had been unleashed at that point. All my posts were purely instructional, and I credit myself to slightly phase that out with the instruction as I had less and less musically instructional to talk about. Surprise! We are officially at the bottom of the barrel. I'm sure you guys can't tell because this blog material is just so high brow.

Ok, I actually have to answer the question without my perpetual ramblings. I've changed the formatting of my blog posts form all topic content to be more like an ice cream sandwich. The topic is enclosed in two fluffy things that allow for consistent structure. You can hold on to it and depend on it because it will always be there. The ice cream is what you come for, I mean its called an ice cream sandwich the not two chocolatey buns of righteousness and morality with filling. I've incorporated more voice into the blog as well as a bit of comedic features. I have to admit that my old blogposts were boring. But I guess that the point of those blogs wasn't comedic at all, it was all about the musical facts and advice. 

If I were to answer the question without the blog in mind and just answer the question as it addresses me as a person there's a few things that have changed about me this year. I guess I've gotten more confident, confident as a trombone player and outside of that. I've definitely gotten better as a trombone player, I've improved my tone quality, my sight reading, my rhythm, my range, and my technique as it applies to playing trombone. I wish I could talk about how I've changed as a person but I really can't. I've gotten taller, I've valued fitness and health more as a person but I can't say that my personality has changed that much. I've gotten introduced to various political views, outlooks on life, different ways to approach things and different mindsets to have. I've become more liberal, but I think that's something that any teenager goes through. I guess I've changed a lot over the course of the year, but it all mental, so subtle and subconscious that I have to delve deep to think about how much I've changed. I guess the grand summer upper is that I've gained self-confidence. The self confidence so say...

Obama

Thanks for reading guys, I hope Obama was a nice touch to this blogpost, If not I can...

Obama Change

To conclude this post I just want to say that trombone is the best instrument in the multiverse. Commander Riker is on team trombone. Basically, if you don't think that trombone is the best instrument you are against Riker and the entire Star Trek Universe.

Commander Riker Playing Trombone

Commander Riker Playing Trombone

Commander Riker Playing Trombone

Alright Guys, Thanks for putting up with me and so's and now's this year.

Have a nice day or night.

Magnanimous Marching Band, What Happens When Darth Vader Gets Rosetta Stone with a Llama

The Fabulous Llama

Hello ladies and gentlemen it's almost that time of year when marching band starts but those llamas are already here. 

That's right it's almost here, we are about to have the party of all time this summer marching band season in the trombone section. I am not sure what trombone I will use because the Pbone sucks and my other trombone is too expensive to brave the weather with. Maybe I'll get a King 2b Silversonic 1940 edition, maybe I won't. All I know is that it's almost marching band season.

SJSU Trombone Player

Nebraska Husker Trombone Section

Before I move on I don't mean to lead you on by saying I might buy this trombone right here. 

King 2b Silversonic

So, marching band is coming up it's the best way to spend summer time on your instrument. In marching band you spend two hours on your instrument every week day and with that kind of devotion to your instrument you get phenomenally better. Instead of playing video games every morning you will engage in physical activity to get in better shape and then play video games. Think about it guys, a potential six pack AND League of Legends, you can't get better than that folks you just can't. Did I mention the fact that you are going to be in the sun for a long amount of time. So, Unless you are polish like me you just might look Samoan by the end of the summer. Surprise! I'm part Cherokee so I will get a tan this summer! 

To continue on ever so gracefully marching band is great! When you are a marching band member you get to play the song Thriller while wearing a fruity hat. The possibilities are boundless!

If I haven't sold you yet then you weren't in the market to buy my precious wares. Onto something else. 

So, to buy a really nice trombone for marching band and jazz band, to get a trombone for a few hundred for marching band, or to just use my Pbone.

Now, If you don't know what a Pbone is, well, you are a privileged person. A Pbone is a plastic trombone. It's slide isn't like a regular slide, you can't use your slide-o-mix on it and achieve the same results as you do with a normal slide. The mouthpiece cannot produce a good sound and you have to use a small shank brass mouthpiece instead.Every thing about the instrument is cheap, You can get a better brass trombone for the same price. The only good thing about the instrument especially for marching band is that it's only 1.8 pounds with the Pbone mouthpiece and probably a couple pounds more with the brass mouthpiece. 

To end off this post I'll leave you with some Star Wars multi-lingual Darth Vader stuff. 

Thanks for reading, have a nice day or a nice night.

Darth Vader in Multiple Languages

The Sacrosanct, Sagacious, Salubrious and Satiating Solo/Ensemble Escapade

Arthur Pryor

That right above this text is a famous trombone player named Arthur Pryor. I personally don't know why I chose this picture, but if you look up trombone solos and go down exactly 73 rows you will find this picture.

To continue down this unnecessary tangent...

Random 19th Century South Carolinian Trombone Player/ Model

Alright, so if you look up revolutionary war trombone player and go down eight rows you will find this spunky carolinian civil war trombone model. From this picture you can tell that she has a great personality with a lot to bring to a conversation about pop culture.

If you haven't questioned the nature of this blog yet then, congratulations! You are used to the pointless, tangential and disfigured statements that truly embody what my blog is about.

Now onto the thing that was actually in this blogpost's title.

Alright, my perfect audience. I went to Layton for the Utah State Solo/Ensemble. I took the bus with the percussion ensemble at about 10:30 AM. I was the only non-percussion soloist on the bus that morning and my solo was scheduled for 3:05. So,  you can imagine that I had a lot of time on my hands. Now, this was Layton High School not Time Square or Las Vegas. There weren't places things to do or people to see for at least 3 hours. We weren't allowed to leave the campus, so all my exploration were kept to the confines of the Layton Knight's inner sanctum. Rationally, I walked around until I saw some orchestra kids like Benny O and Charlie L. Charlie Had to leave, so I was hanging out with Benny(if you know benny, you know this was going to be an "interesting" time. After an hour of Benny filled exploration and copious cheerio throws later, Benny realized that all the orchestra kids had left the building, so he grabbed all his stuff and ran out of the building at a dead sprint. So being "responsible" me, with an hour to go I found where my solo was, texted my piano accompanist to arrange where we should rehearse, suggested that the 15 minute time limit on the warm-up room was just a "rule", that no one enforces that and got my stuff. When I got to the practice that my accompanist setup in I found a overly nervous freshman with a white dress shirt and tie telling me that we had 8 minutes left. After I got my trombone out, warmed up, realized that the room made my sound overly bright  and was told we had 5 minutes left. Thereafter a rather, um, stout woman popped open the door and whispered a question to the preppy freshman (I surmised that she was asking about the time left). She looked at me with a supercilious look on her face along with a glint of intolerance and elitism in her eyes. What I got from that expression was, "Look at that tuxedoed up child trying to rehearse before his solo. If you had to rehearse right before you solo, you weren't ready to begin with. Idiot".  I'm sorry guys, but I can't quit capture it and put into words what this quite obese woman showed on her face. But, loathed her so much that it was as if Kim Jong Un came into that warm-up room and intimated that we were not good at planning out rehearsals. Enough of my ranting. We left the warm-up room, shared another warm-up room the cats pajamas and trombone guy Jake A. just to spite that woman and the rules. After that I went over to the seminary where lots of solos were taking place for my scheduled solo. From there I waited 37 minutes after my appointed solo time, because they were apparently running behind schedule and met wondrous Mr. Hughes outside the bus while feeling bad for keeping the bus off schedule. I got a 1- compared to the 1 I got at region which I guess I'm pretty proud of considering the lack of effort I put into my solo after region. Also I have to say that the judging is scaled up. For example the comments could be"work on getting these notes at measure 73-75 and make sure that you have dynamic range" or something where they are more conservative with what they tack off on your solo. At State They say "These notes weren't tuned and your tone quality was not not consistent".They really start tacking off things and that's why it's important to make your good solo even better or you could get a point or more lower at state compared to region.

Thanks to everyone who reads this so and now filled blogpost.

To leave you guys with a good feeling in the most centralized point in your vascular system is this metaphorical masterpiece. If you understand high school bands this is rodent gold.

l.o.l. rodent metaphors

Tremendous Transcriptions with Decadent Dolphins and Backhanded Bulldogs

Snoop Dogg with Dolphins

The Nationalist Dolphin

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! It's that time of year at my schedule where all the Jazz band kids at my school have to do a transcription. Usually only 12 bars from a 12 bar blues song with the head and the actual solo. In my jazz band we have to learn to play the changes on piano for our song; I'm sure that in Varsity it's only harder and more time consuming.  

Maybe it is a hassle to do the transcription but it improves us all as players of our respective instruments. For example when you are listening to the soloist you have to be able to tell what note he's playing while keeping track of the rhythm. Not all of the notes are sustained for long at all. Maybe you are trying to transcribe one of Andy Martin's solos and he goes into a 5 bar nonstop 16-note run, and there, you are pretty much hopeless unless you are now all of the jazz specific scales by heart or you have a program that can slow the song. But, when you transcribe you develop your musical ear so you can decipher notes better and be able to listen to something and play it right off the bat. When you get to that point its really cool and you can show off to all your friends. 

Transcription improves your solo vocabulary. If you want to be a good soloist or even if you just want cool stuff to play over changes then transcription is what you want to do. There are hundreds of solos over an f blues by talented and famous musicians that you can listen to, transcribe, and play over some changes at your school or even at home with some changes you can play on your laptop. 

The last thing is that the best players have done tons of transcriptions. There's a trumpet player at my high school named Luca and he is an amazing soloist. He's transcribed every solo that clifford brown has on the internet and if you listen to Clifford or you know how he plays, Luca has an identical solo vocabulary and tone quality. If I wanted to sound like Andy Martin or JJ Johnson I would listen to them all the time, transcribe everything that they've put out. At the end of it my solo vocabulary would be dramatically different and expanded, my tone quality would have changed to a point and I would be able to show off all his works and name them. 

That's all I have to say about transcriptions for this post. I hope that you guys liked and potentially learned something from it. Also if you want an easy way to transcribe you can go to Noteflight, it makes the process of transcription phenomenally easier then just using a pen and musical score paper because you don't have to rely on your handwriting and what you believe a note sounds like in your head. It writes it out so it looks professional and it plays the note for you so you can check if its the correct one.It plays back what you wrote with your choice of instrument to play it along with a choice of swing or no swing. 

Sorry, but I had to say it. Have a nice day or night. Look forward to a post about marching band and this bulldog.

Bulldog in a Toddler Swing

Best Bass Trombone Talk and Squirrel Semantics.

A Trombone Shorty

Ooh, thats right there was at true trombone joke. That picture did deserve a true trombone joke though, because squirrels need rights too. You know in the era that we live in I'm appalled by the fact that squirrels don't have rights like we do.
They don't have free speech, if they had free speech things like squirrel dictatorships wouldn't form.

Squirrels, don't have the right to bear arms, you know squirrels are already in such a disadvantage when it comes to bear attacks, they need that equalization that a bazooka brings to a bear brawl. Just imagine this squirrel above this paragraph with a bazooka and you will understand how powerful and humorous that is at the same time.

Now I believe that squirrels don't need the right to refuse soldier housing. In the society that squirrels live in currently there has been a development of tree sharing intolerance which is truly dismaying.

Unreasonable seizures and seizures for squirrels is just not cool. Squirrels spend all of their late fall free time organizing their nuts because they don't have Netflix. Those nuts are everything to them, don't be rummaging through those and taking them, how do you think most dogs feel.

Squirrel right to property is paramount. Even though tree-sharing helps squirrels have good squarma (think about it) the other squirrels in the oak trees need to know that that tree is the Squirrelson's tree, not the Squirreliam's or even the Squirrelenberry's tree.

Squirrel trials must be speedy. Have you ever seen a lethargic squirrel? Point made.

Excessive bails are just prejudice. It singles out the lower class squirrels and that's just not fun for everyone. Since squirrel society is making a noticeable shift to communism, it important get rid of socio-economic boundaries.

Give squirrels all the rights. All vices would be made illegal in squirrel society, because in society there is a certain prejudice that effects the squirrels children. We can't teach the little squirrels to be bigots!

Wow, I didn't know I had that in my to talk about squirrel rights for that long. That was just kind of weird.

Now let's actually talk about bass trombones.
The bass trombone is the exact length of a tenor trombone, but has a larger bore size and bell diameter.
So, the Bore size is at .562" and at .580" through the valve tubing. The bell diameter spans from 9.5"-10.5".

The fact is that the bass trombone is pretty awesome, you have low parts that sometimes even consist of pedal tones. You just sound like a musical terminator that can do the jitterbug. You have some of the lowest parts in the band and you feel like you have the power to overpower the band completely.

Also, bass trombone players are the coolest of the cool. Think about all the bass trombones that you personally know, including yourself Mr. N.W. They are just cool guys, and I get to join the club.

That's all I got for this post, thank you for reading, have a nice something.

State Jazz With Funny Haircut Fads

No caption could describe this

Ok. So this blogpost is weird.

As you can tell I have been "exposed" to, um, this. I honestly can't hold it in. It looks like a young man thought it was a good idea to scribble brown expo marker in a circle around his face to connect his tween side-burns and then photoshop his face onto Vin Diesel's head. I wonder what he was thinking right when a person snapped this picture. Maybe its"I didn't really have any friends until last tuesday at midnight, that's where I met a man in my local Waffle House named Steve. Steve he had a really cool Yu-gi-oh card collection, but that was only a ruse that I caught up on later. It was really an elaborate plan to get me to join his cult, The Kings of Kosher Cutlery. It all went downhill from there. he was He's probably just a victim of some college prank.

I really don't know why this is relevant to my blog, lets get into some relevant things. State Jazz competition is coming up. Its on a saturday and I have to be at the high school and ready at 7:13 to get on the bus to go to murray high school. We are going first, and I forget when the varsity plays but the we either leave or will be back in the afternoon. I'm a little worried, because there are parts that aren't all there somehow. There's also random mistakes that happened on the concert that I don't have any control over. I'm not sure If I've said this before on my blog, forgive me if I have, but, I can't do anything to prevent someone from misplacing the beat to the point where the band can't find the beat for a few measures. I can't prevent freak events and I guess that's whats making me nervous right now. Oh and also hitting the chair in front of me when I'm doing my fifth position.

Beware of those dubious trombone slides

Well, there's always a spongebob quote to lighten the mood "The best time to wear a striped sweater, is all the time."

So, we all know that spongebob is lyrically gifted. Lyrical enough to touch the hearts and minds of kids everywhere. But, he shouldn't join an acapella group. Since spongebob is the best cartoon from my early childhood and still is the best cartoon. I personally don't care too much for the newer spongebob episodes, the ones where the cartoon style got changed from this...

to this...

Even spongebob agrees.

The sad thing is that I can't link to these pages to you beautiful people because they are all blocked for some reason. It honestly limits creativity and deters students from doing creative things in their projects/blogs.

That's it for now, next post is about the best of the benevolent bass trombone. Thanks for reading and have a nice something.

Copious Amounts of Competitions With Talk of The Penniless Squirrel's Malnutrition

Sometimes it sounds like this is the case

Sorry guys I'm kind of on a squirrel kick right now, but you can't scold the squirrels! This picture was just too perfect to resist. It's both metaphorical and hilarious(squirrel double entendre).

Anyway, since squirrel talk is officially over, it's time for state solo/ensemble talk.  So, I did solo/ensemble(I did a solo) at my high school for the region competition. I was scored a 1 which is pretty durn good. I'm the only person in my school's symphonic band that made qualifies for state. To be fair there weren't that many in symphonic band doing it. Maybe six people even did the competition from symphonic band. Despite that I'm still proud I did well.

The piece that I played was called Achilles by R.M. Endresen. It was a grade IV piece with a piano accompaniment. I played it well and it was a great piece.

So I know that you want to know about that squirrel malnutrition right? Well squirrel malnutrition is just a thing I said to rhyme with state competition, kind of like Wiffletree Wind Ensemble, except five times better.
Sure a diet based solely on tree nuts can't be that great for you, too much carbs. I know that squirrels are herbivores and I'm sure that they have copious amounts of berries as well. Maybe there are squirrel kings in residential areas that govern the surplus of such nuts and berries and they are the only ones with the fat stacks. No stone unturned on this blog, we get right down to squirrel socio-economics.

Honestly I believe that the last paragraph was pure gold. Maybe you think it was nickel or maybe you think it was Californium 252 which is worth 27 million per gram.

Ok, now that we've gotten solo ensemble and squirrel socio-economic levels out of the way. I should talk about the Jazz concert. In the JV Jazz we did a set of three songs: Satin Doll, Misty and Oclupaca. A moderate swing, a ballad and a latin/swing piece. The first one and the last one went well but, the second song went very poorly, to put it candidly. It was out of tune and half-way a member of the rhythm got two beats ahead of the band, we lost track of one so the trombone missed their entrance. As long as that doesn't happen at state then we should get a 1 or a 1-.

Thank you guys for reading. I hope you will comment on the post and follow this blog if you haven't already. Have a nice day, night nice night or nice anything.

Oh,  here's the music we played at the jazz concert. The Satin Doll video isn't the same arrangement but you'll get the idea. Links above in blue.

Notoriously Noteworthy Noteflight for Transcending Transcription

Get out of the old days of transcription kids! It's too quaint to just write notes on paper for a transcription when you can just jot it down on an internet. Noteflight shows you the pitch and then plays what you wrote down back to you so you know you did it right without even picking up your instrument. You can write down multiple lines, for example you can write down the melody for Doxy for trombone,  copy and paste that into the trumpet line and adjust the octaves so the trumpet can play the same thing. After that you can change the instrument for the line. Instead of a piano playing the parts you can change the instrument to what you want. Noteflight is free and all the necessary things you need to write down music doesn't cost anything. Noteflight Crescendo is the premium version of Noteflight, it cost 50 dollars a year/ 8 dollars a month. I don't use Crescendo, and you can definitely get away with not using and it still looks professional.

Sorry if that came off as an advertisement. It probably did.  I just really like the program and I think that you guys should try it out. It has expedited all my transcription endeavors. It has also allowed to do more transcribing by just being there. I never would of transcribed "Black Sugar", the song that I shared in the last post with Andy Martin. It is a great program that has improved my musical competency and I believe that anyone that wants to improve themselves musically. Especially since a certain band director at a certain school said that we should be thinking about a certain transcription project in a certain class, *Wink*Wink*nudge*nudge*. I'm not sure if he is referring to all of these certain band classes, but I would ask him if he doesn't bring it up.

Time for personal talk. Today, tonight or this morning or when ever time you exist in currently when you are reading this you are going to experience the nitty, gritty, bits and pieces of my inner psyche. You'll learn what makes me tick, my pet peeves, what goes on in my little idea chamber/idea whole.

Ok, ladies, gentlemen and individuals in between lets get into it! First off squirrel jokes!

A metaphorical representation of good vs. evil in the context of Star Wars (AKA: The bets squirrel photoshop ever)

To indulge all you spongebob fans here's one of "those" squirrel jokes:"Why does it take more than one squirrel to change a light bulb? Because they are so darn stupid!"

A teenage squirrel told a guy squirrel she liked, "I'm nuts about you!".

They guy squirrel said, "You're nuts o bad yourself." Ba-doom-chh..."

Yes, that was a punchline. All squirrel humor aside, I'll talk about whats going on.

So, I went to region for jazz, and we got a 1, 1, 1-. If you don't know how the scoring works a 5- is the worst score you can get and a 1 or 1+ is the best. The Varsity Jazz got all 1's.  We are going to state with that score and apparently we are the first Junior Varsity Jazz Ensemble to go to state at our school. I'm honestly really proud of myself and the band and I can't wait to see what we can do at the end of the school year. 

Wait! I can't share all of my secrets in this post so, I'll save what else is going on in music for me in my next post. Thanks for reading, sorry to leave you hanging, but I have to keep a smooth supply of these things. Comment, and, um do other things. Have a nice night and Goodbye you handsome individuals. I'll leave you with this...

Metaphorical Representations?

Jealous and Jiggly Jazz trombones

Neon Trombone

Boom! That is a neon trombone! Random things are always the best things is what I say. Maybe be I've said it once, maybe I said it 50,000 times, maybe I never said it in the first place. Maybe I'm just Jim Carrey's riddler with my question mark pajamas.

Riddler

All terrible and misconstrue-able puns and jokes aside, this is a jazz trombone post. To start off I'll go over the top jazz trombone brands. There's Shires, Conn-Selmer, King, Getzen, Bach and Yamaha. If there are any other brands that have good jazz trombones tell me in the comment section. So, there lots of horns to go over. 

The good horn from S.E. Shires right now is the Michael Davis+. The bore size is 5.08" with a 7.75" bell. In this video you can see Michael Davis himself play the Michael Davis+. The video does a good job off showing off the trombone's greatness, especially with a great trombone player like Michael Davis to show it off. 

The Conn-Selmer horns that are known to be the best and comparable to the King 2b and 3b are the Conn 4h and 6h the Conn 4h being at a 4.90" or 5.0" bore size and the 6h bore size is at a 5.08". The Conn 4h would be geared towards lead parts with a little bit of a brighter tone than the 6h. The 6h would be better for 2nd and 3rd parts.

Next is the King trombones. The kind of King trombone you want is a silver sonic or SGX. like I said in the past paragraph the King 2b is at a 4.90"/5.00" bore size and is geared a little bit more toward lead parts than the 3b and the 3b is more geared toward towards the 2nd and 3rd parts. If you are going to get a King the best horns are from 1945, if you could get one of those rare beauties then you are golden. Many reviews show that they haven't been making any as good trombones in the past years.

To continue is the coverage of the Getzen trombone. Getzen has been renown for its pure goodness along with shires horns. Their horn comes in a 5.00"/ 5.08" with a dual bore slide and 3 different lead pipes. I've been hearing about the Getzen horns for the past two years and I haven't heard anything bad about them so far.

Almost there, the Bach trombones! The best Bach jazz trombones are the Bach 12 and 16 Stradivarius's from the 60's and 70's. The 12 is at a 5.00" bore size and a 7 1/2" Bell. The 16 is at a 4.95"/5.08" dual bore and a 7 1/2" bell.

Lastly is the not as good(slightly biased) yamaha horns. I personally have a classical Xeno f-attachment large bore tenor trombone made in part by principal trombonist Larry Zalkind in the Utah Symphony Orchestra and I love it, but yamaha isn't known for their Jazz trombones. Alright I'll go easy on them, they make pretty good horns. Their jazz horns are YSL-897z and the YSL-891z trombones. The YSL-897z has a bore size of .484"/.490" and a 7 1/2 bell. It was designed by Andy Martin and Alastair Kay and was definitely made for upper range work. 

The YSL-891z trombone bore size is at .508" and it has a bell diameter of 8" and was designed in part by Andy Martin again and Wycliffe Gordon. All in all, the people who helped create these trombones are all amazing musicians.

To end this blog post I'll leave you with this video featuring Andy Martin, Jim Pugh, Bill Reichenbach and Adam Machaskee with the US Army Blues Band. Make sure you get to 11:00 minutes, because if that isn't fun trombone section music then I don't know what is.

Thanks for reading, make sure to comment on this post on what your favorite instrument brand is personally, since I couldn't decide. Have a nice day.

Whiffletree Wind Ensemble and Marshy Fads with Varsity Jazz

How I feel

How I feel(represented by John Cena)

Yaba-doo is correct good sirs and ladies. I made varsity jazz and wind ensemble! So, yah, some of my respective freshman and I are going to be in those bands. I worked hard and I guess that work payed off. The only down side is that I have for wake up at zero hour to attend varsity jazz. To put that into perspective for you my school starts at 7:30 in the morning. I need to be at the bus stop by 6:51 to get there. Let's assume that zero hour is the same amount of time as regular classes (90 minutes), that would mean that I would have to be at school at 6:00 in the morning.

'bout sums it up

Now, in this photo the Marmaduke dog is putting evolutionary leg positioning to the wind, because he's tired. I believe that the rest of my high school life will be filled with coffee.

So let's talk about wind ensemble. Wind ensemble is the premier classical concert band for my school. It's usually one to a part, but that policy is probably going to be abandoned, because we have more trombone players than spots. The music will be challenging, a lot more challenging than the easy breezy not beautiful symphonic band that I'm in currently.  I will though do marching band over the summer and get to play with coolest and greatest of the trombones around. This will definitely help me to get better, because being around people that are better than you will make you better. Another complaint out of me(surprise, surprise) is that marching band starts almost every weekday at the same time school starts. I can however take a nap until lunchtime after marching band is done and then just stay up until three every night like last year. 

Next up is Varsity Jazz Band. The elite of the elite, the best of the best. The alpha and omega when it comes to jazz bands at school. Honestly I think its really cool that I'm good enough to be in that kind of group. I'm indefinitely going to get better in that kind of group, probably at a rate that I've witnessed before. The downside is the competitiveness that comes with a group like that. I am frankly pretty competitive. Sure, I'm not as competitive as a person known as Ben C. because we all know how competitive he is(if you go to my school). All singling out aside I hope I'm competent enough to make it in that group with out stressing my butt off.

That's all for this post guys. Thanks for reading. If you made it this far then, here's a high five from...

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler High Five

Oops, it's just a high five between two comedians, sorry. Make sure to comment and vote. Have a nice day.

Saccharine Sopranos and Adamant Alto Trombones

Hello ladies and gentlemen to the blog where you get to read alliteration filled facetious blog posts with words that are put in to make me sound smarter than I actually am. Now I realize that most of you fastidious fellows are picking up on the fact that saccharine and adamant don't go together. If you haven't noticed that, then more power to you for not being a grammar nazi. Alright I'm in a particularly happy mood so you will get to see that said mood slip down that old slippery slope inevitable depression that comes with writing about vapid trombone variations(yes, the dictionary is always open). To continue this trail of nonsense we will talk about the alto trombone. To drop some knowledge, the alto trombone is pitched in either Eb which would be a perfect fourth above the tenor trombone or F, a perfect fifth above the tenor trombone.

Alto Trombone

In this video that I can't caption, either based on ineptitude or just plain technical difficulties it shows a jazz alto trombonist featured on great come and get it day. This kind of allows you to hear what an alto trombone sounds like in the context of jazz with a brighter tone.

The times for the best tromboneness is 1:00, 3:31 and 5:54( that's a word now).

In this video there is a classical alto trombone soloist accompanied by a this menacing violin player to the right of him. Despite the scary browbeating violinist it still shows off what the alto trombone can do and what it sounds like in the context of a classical ensemble with a darker tone from the soloist.

Next as we go right along even though it may not seem like to the soprano trombone.

Soprano Trombone

Now, before you get mad at me for not supplying any video of a soprano trombone the fact is that every video I watched caused me either discomfort or physical pain just listening to them. But wait! More knowledge shall be supplied. The soprano trombone is pitched at a Bb an octave above the tenor trombone. Since this is the case most band leaders have trumpet players play the soprano trombone, when this occurs there is less note accuracy when the trumpeter is not accustomed to slide work. This is mainly why it is hard to find a good video of people playing the instrument. Maybe the bad sound is purely because it sounds like a trumpet. Burns that require regular icing aside There is another level above the soprano trombone. It is known as the sopranino trombone. It is pitched one octave above the alto trombone at an Eb.

Sopranino trombone

But Billy Mayes style,"Wait there's even more!" Boom shaka laka its a Piccolo trombone! It looks virtually the same but, it's octave above the soprano trombone, so guess what that's Bb again. I know we are all disappointed in that pitch of instrument, but it's a thing so we need to accept for the fantastic monstrosity it really is.

To conclude menagerie of trombone variants, I formally say now, it's not worth it to get anything above a alto trombone. Sure if you have found a trombone/trumpet player that can play the part for a specific song that can play it well, then the soprano trombone is acceptable. Honestly though, who thought the sopranino and piccolo trombone. I personally think that those would be very good as a part of a baby mobile. All joking aside thats the end of this blogpost, if you made it this far, you might get a Camaro one day.

Tremendous Tenor Trombone Talk Along w/ Bass Trombone Banter

King Tenor Trombone

The tremendous tenor trombone is the most common of all the trombones. I would even say that they are the king of the trombone section. Any ways, you can find them in a classical, jazz, ska or funk band. As many musicians know the fundamental note of the tenor trombone is Bb even though the trombone is in the key of C. What this means is the first position (open position) is Bb.

Trombone Position Diagram

There are seven positions on the tenor trombone like all trombones. Since the tenor is based on the mid range there majority of the positions used are within 6.  The usual range of a tenor trombone is from a pedal Bb to a high Ab.  

Tenor Trombone Musical Range 

  Since the tenor trombone is the most common trombone in bands there's lots of music where the tenor trombone breaks the limited range here. For example There's Andy Martin one of my favorite trombonists that loves to go out of the range. Here's one video of his work Posted by Rob Egerton. 

Straight Tenors are not typically used in the context of classical bands. This is mainly for the smaller bore size provides a brighter tone quality which is better for a jazz setting.

Next is the f-attachment tenor trombone, the type of trombone I personally own. 

F-Attachment Tenor Trombone

What the f-attachment does is lowers the pitch of the fundamental note from Bb to F. The Trombone includes a trigger to enable this change to occur. The bore size(width of tubing) is larger in an f-attachment trombone and can be 0.525" or 0.547" compared to the bore size of a tenor trombone which can get into the 0.4"'s The reason that most people have f-attachment in classical bands is so that there is more of a supported and deeper tone while allowing for a lower range, alternate positions and more in tune notes. 

Next is the lovable Bass Trombone. 

Bass trombone

 It seems than next year I will be playing fourth trombone in

the varsity jazz band which involves the glorious

bass trombone. The low end of the trombone line-up, but not the lowest. The typical bore size of a bass trombone is 0.562" or 0.580" with the bell size being bigger than the f-attachment trombone and even bigger than the straight tenor. This allows for a greater dispersal sound. This is why there are straight tenors in jazz band for bright and directed music except for fourth trombone of course. I shouldn't say this again, but, this is why there are f-attachment trombones in classical bands along with bass trombones. To discontinue my ramblings, please make sure to comment and vote on which instrument in truly the best. Thanks for reading, if you made it all the way through, then you will definitely get a trophy... within 7 to 2700 years. Have a good day, a good night and everything in between. P.S. heres this 15th century bass trombone.

15th Century Bass Trombone 

A Jazz Time Table

Alright, This time I'll talk about the history of Jazz where it started where it came from and who was at the forefront of a specific jazz movement. So lets get started.

Tommy Turpin, Image Courtesy of Flag Music

So, when slave were in the field they needed pass time and something that was their own. They started the sing and sing back songs, this was the start of the blues. After the abolishment of slavery jazz started to develop.  In 1892 the first ragtime composition known was made by Tommy Turpin called Harlem Rag.  Ragtime was the first development of early jazz.

Now actually getting into the 20th century in 1902 the John Philip Sousa Band records the ragtime piece Trombone Sneeze. Also in 1902 Lincoln Park is opened in New Orleans as a center for ragtime jazz.

John Philip Sousa Band, Image Courtesy of Britannica

In 1913 the word "Jazz" first appears in print at the same the tallest building in the world is built at 60-floors. In 1917 The Original Dixieland Jazz Band make their first jazz recording, and yes that is how it is spelled. This happened as the US entered into World War I.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Image Courtesy of  Wikimedia

In 1922 the pianist Fats Waller makes his first recordings as well as "Count" Basie. Also in the same year  Louis Armstrong moves to Chicago to join King Oliver's Band.

"Count" Basie, Image Courtesy of Rovicorp

Louis Armstrong, Image Courtesy of TheFamousPeople.com

Fats Waller, Image Courtesy of Wikimedia

In 1924 Duke Ellington makes his first recordings as the leader of the Washingtonians. In 1926 Louis Armstrong pioneers scat  singing with the song Heebie Jeebies with his Fat Five. John Coltrane and Miles Davis were born.

In 1933 Singer Billie Holiday makes her first recording. In 1937 Dizzy Gillespie does his first recording.

                                                 

Billie Holiday, Image courtesy of FanArt.tv

In 1939 a new band led by trombonist Glenn Miller gains game through regular radio broadcasts. In 1943 Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie join pianist Earl Hine's band. Thelonious Monk makes his first recordings with the Coleman Hawkins Quartet. In 1945 Dizzy Gillespie records Be-Bop. After this Parker hires Miles Davis to replace Gillespie at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie play in LA trying to get people to gain an interest in Be-Bop. In 1947 Miles Davis Records for the first time as a lead. Dizzy Gillespie records Manteca, bringing attention to Afro-Cuban Jazz.

Basically a lot of bad things happened and also in 1957 Miles Davis records Milestones, featuring early modal jazz. This is about all the important stuff in the timeline. If you would like to get events or go on in jazz past the 50's  its all right here. Thanks for reading guys for reading. If you made it all the way through they you get a gold star. Talk to you guys next post.

Taking Every Opportunity To Get Better

Today, this post is going to be all about why you should get private lessons. So, lets get into my personal reasons.

Young Trombone Shorty

Trombone Shorty Today

       Alright so If you know trombone shorty you know that he's been a good player for a while. He played with Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon and a number of other jazz professionals in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at age 13. But the reason I'm using this comparison is to show your growth as a musician if you take private lessons. Now you getting better doesn't only consist of you taking lessons. When you are around people that are better than you at something you are bound to get better yourself. Before I continue I just want to make clear I don't expect whoever's reading this to be at the level Trombone Shorty was at age 13. I purely just want to show you what can happen when you get better. Now lets go over what you can do to get better.

First there is Marching Band. Your college and high school are filled with lots of upper-class men that are better than you just hanging out with them can make a difference. With marching band there's a schedule that you have to follow for me it was every week day at 7:30 am until we the directors thought we were done for the day. Either way you get in at least two hours of hanging out with people that can teach you a thing or two. By the end of the summer I was twice as good as I was when school let out.

Nebraska Cornhusker's Marching Band

Next are combo groups. So with a combo group there aren't five or more instruments just like you to cover your mistakes. Usually there is only one trombone, one or two trumpets, one french horn and so on so you are completely liable for any mistakes you make. This forces you to practice just because of peer pressure. Also it allows you to hear what a tuba part actually sounds like and you can actually delve into what makes each instrument in your group so special.

Brass Quintet

Lastly are private lessons. Getting a private instructor is probably the best way to improve the fastest. A private instructor nit-picks at the stuff that you don't address. They can find the problems with your playing that you didn't even know about and help you fix those problems.  Your private instructor can pick out music for auditions and help you with them so you can perform the best you can. Taking private lessons can make you so much better. For me personally my tone quality,  my breathing, articulation, even how I hold the instrument has improved and I didn't know I was doing it wrong. Overall taking private lessons, marching band and joining are getting together combo groups. They will all help you more than you think they will. If you want to be a better player all these things will guarantee you success.