#Trombone position note chart professional
#Trombone position note chart series

Using the info above we can construct layer upon layer of glissandi. Jurgen Faisst that shows approximate positions and harmonics for the B flat trombone, the trombone with the F valve depressed and the trombone with a D valve engaged (notice that with the D valve the trombonist can only get a major third): See below for a slide position chart by Dr. One common system is one valve in F, the other in D (or the combination of the first and second will give D). Generally, they all have an F valve and some other valve that will give them that low B. There’s no real standard for what keys their valves are pitched in. You need to decide whether your occasion is special enough to ask a trombonist to do this.īass trombonists generally have two valves available to them and here’s where things get really wild.

#Trombone position note chart series

For special occasions they can pull the tuning slide out on the valve section and lower the pitch of the valve to E giving them the E harmonic series down chromatically to the B harmonic series. Now tenor trombonists are only missing one note: the B below the bass clef. You guessed it, that lowest C will probably not be playable by your tenor trombonist.

#Trombone position note chart professional

Professional bass trombonists should be able to play at least up to the D below that F: Most professional tenor trombonists can reliably produce notes from the fundamental (B flat below the bass clef) to the twelfth harmonic (F at the top of the treble clef). This means if you blow through the instrument with the slide all the way in you will get a note from the B flat harmonic series.

Know what key they are pitched in and you are well on your way to figuring out how they tick.Īs I mentioned, the vast majority of tenor and bass trombones are in B flat. There are plenty others: alto trombones, soprano trombones, contrabass trombones, piccolo trombones. You’ll generally be dealing with one of two types: tenor trombones and bass trombones. Octave, fifth, fourth, major third, minor third, flat minor third, etc. If you don’t know anything about the harmonic series take a second to digest that info (particularly the section “ Frequencies, Wavelengths…”) I’ll wait here. To know what gliss a trombone can do you have to first understand the harmonic series, then understand the layout of the trombone. The Harmonic Series (You Should Know This) Tl dr: scroll down to the “Exhaustive List” below. But 99.9999% of trombones today are pitched in B flat bringing us to the question of “what makes a trombone glissando possible?” More than likely he was writing for someone playing a bass trombone pitched in F which would make this lick most playable. To his credit, Bartók probably knew what he was doing when he mocked Shostakovich. I hope you have learnt something new.Excerpt from the third trombone part of the Fourth Movement of Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra.”Ĭan’t do it (for reasons I’ll explain in a bit) but ugly little things like this keep turning up in my parts, maybe because one popular orchestration book calls it “perfect.” (Cough, Adler, cough.) Please find below trombone notes: Trombone slide positions: 1st position- all the way in 2nd position-between 2.5' & 3' out 3rd position-brace just before the bell 4th position-end of slide just past the bell 5th position-mid way between the bell and stocking 6th position-just before the stockings 7th position-past the stockings just before it falls off Below is a rough guide for where each position is on the trombone, be aware that each trombone is different and will need to use your ears to correctly put the slide in the correct place to play in tune. Therefore I do not recommend playing it using this position. The Note in black the 7 th harmonic and is very flat when played with the slide all the way in. The Harmonic series of a trombone These notes below show the pitches that can be played by not moving the slide but just tightening up and loosing the lips. A high buzz will be created by tight lips and a fast stream of air pushed through them causing a high frequency of vibrations this will result in a produce a high note. This is done by tightening and loosening the tension of your lips, this will create a higher or lower sounding buzz. To get all of the pitches, you need change the Harmonic series. The trombone is the only brass instrument that doesn’t use valves to change the pitch within a harmonic series of notes.