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.
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.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment