A Guide to Bass Trombone Playing
McMillen
1953
True confessions: I played trombone in high school. My dad was a band director, and my sisters and I all played instruments. They chose flute and clarinet, so of course I had to choose the most obnoxious thing I could think of. (I chose drums and was told “absolutely not”…so I married a drummer instead.) So, as the resident trombonist here at ALB, I feel qualified to comment on this book.
Whyyyyy did the library cover the title with the binding tape like that? They couldn’t trim it another 1/4 inch so it doesn’t say “ass trombone”? I mean…it’s hilarious, but I always wonder if these situations are on purpose in a sort of passive aggressive “middle finger to the man” kind of way or if they process so many books in a day that they don’t really look at the titles of each one. In Fake Library Statistics style, I’m saying its 70/30.
And yes, trombones have changed since 1953. Here’s a history of the trombone for your reading pleasure. You’re welcome. I’d like it noted that trombones were treated as “divine instruments” in the 18th century. Now we’re just a bunch of troublemakers in the back row that the rest of the band tolerates.
Holly
I thought the most obnoxious instrument in band was the tuba.
I’m giving tubas and sousaphones a pass for now because of that Klan serenader in Charleston I just heard about.
This one time, at band camp…
It was thought a good thing for a child to learn to play a musical instrument. The piano was probably the most prestigious because a piano meant the family was both cultured and rich.. One of my aunts wanted her daughter to go to a particular school because students could learn to play the harp. The idea of putting a full-sized harp in their little cottage was insane and it never happened.
Much to the dismay of family pets I became a pretty decent clarinet player in grade school. For the Memorial Day service at the cemetery the school band played ‘Stars and Stripes’ and I was given the task of playing the piccolo part on the upper register of my clarinet. It was a bit slow and I’m quite sure it wasn’t perfect but, hey! It was Memorial Day. Everybody’s just wanting to get this over with and go to the beach or have a cook-out.
Ah, how wonderful ar our childhood memories?
Not as LOL funny as “there were four F’s!” but it doesn’t sound like it was _bad_…
You could play altissimo register in grade school? That’s pretty impressive!
The closest I’ve come to a trombone was playing “Riddle School” where the main character uses one to make part of his escape from the school.