Types of trombone

A modern cimbasso in F

The cimbasso covers the same range as a tuba or a contrabass trombone. It has three to six piston or rotary valves and a predominantly cylindrical bore. Modern versions are most often pitched in F, although models are available in E♭, C, and occasionally B♭. The cimbasso has a sound ranging from warm and mellow to dark and menacing, and its valves allow for much more agility than a contrabass trombone.

The modern cimbasso is most commonly used in opera scores by Giuseppe Verdi from Oberto to Aida, and by Giacomo Puccini (only in Le Villi), but the word also appears in the score of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, which premiered in 1831. British composer Brian Ferneyhough used it in his large orchestral work Plötzlichkeit.

The contrabass trombone is the lowest trombone. The modern contrabass design based on a 1921 patent by Ernst Dehmel is pitched in 12′ F below the tenor or bass trombone, with two valves to lower the pitch further and extend the range to fill gaps between fundamental (pedal) and partial tones. There is less commonly an even lower 18′ BB♭ form with a doubled slide.

The contrabass is only occasionally called for in orchestral works. First appearing in its low BB♭ form in the late 19th century in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle, the contrabass trombone has been called for in other 20th century works by Richard Strauss, Varèse, Schoenberg, Hans Werner Henze and others, without earning a permanent presence in the modern orchestra. In the late 20th century, the smaller and more manageable contrabass in F has largely replaced its unwieldy predecessor and seen somewhat of a revival, particularly in film and television soundtracks.

Bass trombone in B♭/F/G♭/D

Although early instruments were pitched in G, F or E♭ below the tenor trombone, the modern bass trombone is pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor but with a wider bore, a larger bell, and a larger mouthpiece. These features combine to facilitate playing in the lower register of the instrument. Modern bass trombones have one or (more commonly) two valves which are needed to provide a fully chromatic low register down to the pedal range. In Britain, the bass trombone in G was used in orchestras from the mid 19th century and survived into the 1950s, particularly in British brass bands.

Tenor trombone in B♭

The tenor trombone has a fundamental note of B♭ and is usually treated as a non-transposing instrument (see below). Tenor trombones with C as their fundamental note were almost equally popular in the mid-19th century in Britain and France. As the trombone in its simplest form has neither crooks, valves nor keys to lower the pitch by a specific interval, trombonists use seven chromatic slide positions. Each position progressively increases the length of the air column, thus lowering the pitch.

Extending the slide from one position to the next lowers the pitch by one semitone. Thus, each note in the harmonic series can be lowered by an interval of up to a tritone. The lowest note of the standard instrument is therefore an E♮ – a tritone below B♭. Most experienced trombonists can play lower "falset" notes and much lower pedal notes (first partials or fundamentals, which have a peculiar metallic rumbling sound). Slide positions are subject to adjustment, compensating for imperfections in the tuning of different harmonics. The fifth partial is rather flat on most trombones and usually requires a minute shortening of the slide position to compensate; other small adjustments are also normally required throughout the range. Trombonists make frequent use of alternate positions to minimize slide movement in rapid passages; for instance, B♭₃ may be played in first or fifth position. Alternate positions are also needed to allow a player to produce a glissando to or from a higher note on the same partial.

While the lowest note of the tenor trombone's range (excluding fundamentals or pedal notes) is E₂, the trombone's upper range is theoretically open-ended. The practical top of the range is sometimes considered to be F₅, or more conservatively D₅. The range of the C tenor trombone is F♯₂ to G₅.

Trombone with F attachment slide position second harmonics.[1]

Many modern tenor trombones include an extra attachment of tubing – about 3 feet (0.9 m) in length – which lowers the fundamental pitch from B♭ to F. There are two different forms of this tubing: open wrap and traditional (or closed) wrap. The traditional wrap is curved and fits inside the main tuning slide while the open wrap extends past the main tuning slide and only has one curve in it. The F attachment is engaged by using a trigger which operates a valve (this is different from the three-valved valve trombone). This type of trombone is typically built with a larger bore size (0.525 or 0.547 inches (13.3 or 13.9 mm)) and is known as a B♭/F trombone, F-attachment trombone, or trigger trombone.[2] Trombones without this feature are known as straight trombones.

The F attachment originated in an instrument developed by German instrument maker Christian Friedrich Sattler during the late 1830s and patented in 1839. It gained popularity at a time when the older German E♭ and F bass trombones had fallen out of favour with orchestral players and were being replaced by a B♭ tenor trombone with a wide bore and large bell proportions. This instrument was known as the tenorbass trombone (German Tenorbassposaune)—it was a tenor trombone in B♭ with the bore and bell dimensions of a bass trombone, and was used to play both tenor and bass trombone parts.

Tenor trombone with a traditional wrap F attachment

Sattler used the rotary valve attachment to provide a way to play the notes between the fundamental B♭₁ (first position) and the second partial E₂ (seventh position). The valve allowed players to produce low E♭, D, D♭, C (and, with adjustments, B), thus making the full range of the old bass trombone in 12′ F available and extending the chromatic range of the tenor trombone through the fundamentals to E₁.

Sattler's intention was not to create a trombone that would replace the older F and E♭ bass trombones, but rather to provide an instrument with the ability to cover the range of the bass and tenor trombones seamlessly. The tenorbass trombone did replace the older bass trombones, however, and the bore and bell size were increased later in the nineteenth century to allow for models designed specifically to cope with bass trombone parts; modern bass trombones are derivatives of these late nineteenth century B♭/F trombones that are used to play parts originally intended for the bass trombone in G, F or E♭. Since engaging the valve changes the tubing length, additional alternate positions for notes become available. The resulting increase in facility and the addition of the low E♭, D, D♭, C, and B make these instruments popular among experienced orchestral tenor trombonists.

As the tubing length increases by a factor of one-third, the distance between each position must be one-third longer when the valve attachment is engaged. This results in only six positions being available, as the slide is too short for what is effectively a bass trombone in 12′ F. Because of this, the B two ledger lines below the bass staff can only be played by extending the slide past seventh position.

Alto trombone in E♭

The alto trombone is smaller than the tenor trombone and almost always pitched in E♭ a fourth higher than the tenor, although examples pitched in F are occasionally found. Modern instruments are sometimes fitted with a valve to lower the pitch, either by a semitone to D (known as a "trill" valve), or by a fourth into B♭. The alto trombone was commonly used in the 16th to the 18th centuries in church music to strengthen the alto voice, particularly in the Mass. Early 19th century composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann began writing for alto trombone in their symphonies, but the subsequent use and popularity of tenor trombones in the orchestra largely eclipsed their use until a modern revival that began in the late 20th century.

Soprano trombone in B♭

The soprano trombone is usually pitched in B♭ an octave above the tenor, and has seldom been used since its first known appearance in 1677 outside of trombone choirs in Moravian Church music. Built with mouthpiece, bore and bell dimensions similar to the B♭ trumpet, it tends to be played by trumpet players. During the 20th century some soprano trombones—dubbed slide cornets—were made as novelties or for use by jazz players including Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. A small number of contemporary proponents of the instrument include jazz artists Wycliffe Gordon and Christian Scott, and classical trumpeter Torbjörn Hultmark, who advocates for its use as an instrument for young children to learn music.

Piccolo trombone in B♭ by Wessex

The sopranino and piccolo trombones appeared in the 1950s as novelty instruments, and are even smaller and higher than the soprano. They are pitched in high E♭ and B♭ respectively, one octave above the alto and soprano trombones. Owing to being essentially a slide variant of the piccolo trumpet, they are played primarily by trumpet players.

Vienna Valves on a valve trombone

A valve trombone

The valve trombone has been built in every size from alto to contrabass just as a regular slide trombone has, though it is the tenor valve trombone which has seen the most widespread use. The most common valve-trombone has three valves. It plays just like a trumpet (an octave lower). They are built in either short or long form.

The valve trombone enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 19th century when the technology of rotary valve and piston valve instruments was developing rapidly. By the end of the 19th century, mass production of reliable, higher quality slide trombones led to a return of its popularity. Despite the continuing popularity of the slide trombone, valve trombones have remained popular in, for example, Austria, Italy, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Spain, Portugal, South America and India, almost to the exclusion of the slide trombone.

A bass or contrabass version of the valve trombone is the cimbasso and is used mainly in operatic works by Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.

Some passages, particularly fast musical figures, are easier to execute on a valve trombone than on a slide trombone. Many players consider the tone of a valve trombone to be stuffier and less open. Therefore, it is not common in orchestral settings, though Giuseppe Verdi in particular made extensive use of the ability of the valve trombone to negotiate its way through fast passages. As the B♭ tenor valve trombone uses the same fingering as the B♭ trumpet, it is occasionally a doubling instrument for jazz trumpeters. Notable jazz musicians who play the B♭ tenor valve trombone include Maynard Ferguson, Bob Brookmeyer, Clifford Thornton, Juan Tizol of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Rob McConnell and Bob Enevoldsen.

Additionally, the valve trombone was useful for situations when the movement of a slide could be inpractical, such as when marching or while playing in a cramped orchestra pit.

A valve trombone made by Adolphe Sax has a different system from that which is normally used. Instead of three valves in the style of the trumpet, it has one for each position on the trombone slide meant to be used individually. The valves also do not add extra tubing to the instrument's length, but instead isolate different amounts of the total tubing. The unusual bent shape was designed to make it easier for those in cavalry bands to maintain balance while mounted.[3]

This unusual variation of the trombone has a slide and a valve mechanism. Different types of valve-slide hybrids were first manufactured in the early 20th century, including the valide trombone invented by jazz trombonist and reed player Brad Gowans. It had a slide which did not lock, requiring the player to use both hands. In the 1970s Maynard Ferguson and Larry Ramirez (of Holton Musical Instruments) designed the Superbone, which gained some popularity as Ferguson used it in his band. The Holton Superbone has a locking slide which does not need to be held in place with one hand, so the player can operate the valves or the slide with either hand. Ashley Alexander became a proponent of this instrument. Recently, James Morrison crafted his own version of a Superbone (in conjunction with the company Schagerl) employing three rotary valves which are operated by the left hand.

Alto, tenor and bass sackbuts, Museu de la Música de Barcelona

A sackbut is a type of trombone from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, characterised by its small bell.

Bell of a buccin, Museu de la Música de Barcelona

A distinctive form of tenor trombone was popularized in France in the early 19th century. Called the buccin, it featured a tenor trombone slide and a bell that ended in a zoomorphic (serpent or dragon) head. It sounds like a cross between a trombone and a French horn, with a very wide dynamic range but a limited and variable range of pitch. Hector Berlioz wrote for the buccin in his Messe solennelle of 1824.

A portmanteau of "trombone" and "bassoon", the "tromboon" was created for humorous purposes by musical parodist Peter Schickele by replacing a trombone's mouthpiece with the reed and bocal of a bassoon. It is called for in several works of Schickele's fictional composer P. D. Q. Bach.