Yamaha Custom

The Trombone

Different Kinds, Makes, and What Sets Them All Apart

What Makes a Trombone A Trombone. Different types of trombones as well as the different materials and pieces used to change the sound.

This is just a layman's overview of different things about the trombone. If you want more detailed information, click on the various links and they should take you to different knolls that I have created that are a little more in-depth. I will insert links as I create new content.

A trombone is an instrument that is a member of the brass family. Typically, sound is produced by the player by vibrating or buzzing their lips or embouchure inside of a mouthpiece. The trombone is played, unlike other brass instruments, predominantly with a slide instead of valves like the trumpet, euphonium, baritone and tuba.

Different Parts of a Trombone

A trombone consists of a few main parts. Starting at the beginning of the instrument, there is the mouthpiece which the player uses to create the sound. From there, the inner and outer slide come next. To play different pitches, the player moves only the outer slide, as the inner slide is fixed in place, to different positions depending on what note is desired. Moving down the slide to the bottom of the instrument a water key, or spit valve as many call it, is usually present in order for the player to let out water that condenses in the trombone. Moving down and around then up the slide, comes the point where the slide section and the bell section meet, using a connector nut to hold the two sections together. Moving up further, the tuning slide and/or a counterweight is/are present, with the tuning slide being used for adjusting intonation. After the tuning slide comes the bell which, depending on the size and what material is made of, helps define the individual trombone's sound.

Different Types of Trombones

There are three different, major types of trombones- the alto, tenor, and bass trombone. In addition to these three, there are also contrabass trombones, valve trombones, and superbones, however with the exception of the contrabass, they are rarely used in typical ensembles due to their unorthodox character. All of these trombones except for the alto and contrabass trombone are concert pitch, meaning their notes match up with a piano's when played, but are built around the Bb harmonic series.

Alto Trombone

The Alto Trombone, unlike all of its counterparts is pitched in Eb. It is played like a typical trombone, but usually with a smaller mouthpiece due to its design intent, which was to play higher than either the tenor or bass trombone. This trombone is made pretty much exactly like a tenor trombone, however, it is just smaller, and due to its small size the player is able to play higher than they would be able to on a tenor or bass trombone.

These are two Shire Custom Alto Trombones

Tenor Trombone

The tenor trombone is the most common trombone on the market. There is truthfully no upper limit to the range of a trombone, however the upper side of a trombonists range is usually limited by the strength of the player's embochure and equipment used. Tenor trombones may come with or without a F valve section. The bottom extent of the tenor trombones range without a valve section extends to a low E, however with an F valve section, it may extend down to a low C. (excluding pedal notes).

This is a Kanstul 1570T Tenor Trombone with a F valve section
This is a Yamaha 697Z without the F valve section

Bass Trombone

You guessed it- the bass trombone is bigger than both the alto and tenor trombones. It has a bigger bell, a bigger bore, usually a bigger mouthpiece, usually another whole valve section, and of course is the coolest of all the trombones (yes i am a bass trombonist). The two valves on the bass trombone (F/Gb and D/Db) allows the trombonist to play easier in the lower register, as well as to play lower than the tenor trombone (down to a B, instead of a C, excluding pedal notes). The valves can be dependent or independent.. but more on that in the equipment section.

This is my horn- a Yamaha YBL-822G Xeno with dependent F/D valve sections

Contrabass Trombone

Yes, there is not much to say about the contrabass except it is even bigger than the Bass trombone. Some contrabasses even have a double slide, which doubles the tubing that you can move, making it easier to play very, very low- even in ranges the bass trombone has trouble with. They are rarely used in non-professional ensembles, and even then, are used rarely. The contrabasses are usually pitched in F.

This is a Kanstul F Contrabass (and silver plated)

Valve Trombone

This is exactly like a tenor trombone, but instead of a slide, it uses valves. An overrated baritone if you ask me, but a trombone nonetheless.

This is an Orlando Valve trombone

The SUPERBONE!!!!!!!

Hmm... its a bird, its a plane- no. Its a superbone! Bad jokes aside, the superbone is basically a tenor trombone combined with a valve trombone. You get the best of both worlds- valves and a slide. This trombone is more of a novelty item than anything else. It is used a little, but its not nearly widespread at all.

This is a Holton Superbone

Trombone Sound and What Affects It

Just like any other instrument, there are many different factors that can change or improve the trombones sound, depending on the player's preference. These factors can be as simple as the player switching mouthpieces, or the material the trombone is made out of, and possibly could be as complicated as the difference between bore sizes, different leadpipes and their tapers. The simple point is that there is a whole lot of stuff that can affect the trombone's sound. I intend to show you the most common methods that affect the trombone's sound, while posting links that lead into more detail for those that become interested. (of course, that is when I get around to it)

Different Materials

As I stated above, the material the trombone is made out of can impact that trombone's sound quite a bit. I will list the different materials commonly used to impact a trombone's sound from the brightest timbre (a jazzlike sound, fairly piercing) to a darker one (orchestral bass trombone).

SilverSilver trombones are primarily used in jazz due to their extremely bright sound. You will rarely see a silver bass or contrabass trombone because those instruments were build to produce a dark, rich sound.
NickelI personally have never seen a trombone made out of nickel before I searched for it on the web, however I did know that they do produce nickel slides in order to brighten the tone of the instrument up a little. Nickel instruments are slightly less bright than silver ones, however this material is rarely used to make a whole trombone.
Yellow BrassThis is the most common type of metal used to build trombones. Every student model I have seenhas been made out of yellow brass. Yellow brass has the brightest sound out of the different types of brass used to build instruments, and is well suited for all types of playing. For those of you that don't know, brass is made by combining copper and zinc. The more copper you put in the mixture, the darker the bell colorand the sound it produces, gets.


Rose BrassRose Brass is slightly more rare than yellow brass, however it is definently not unheard of. This type of brass is generally used to produce soloistic or orchesteral trombones because of the darker tone it produces in comparision to the yellow brass bell. The color is much like the yellow brass bell darkened.


Red BrassRed Brass has the tendancy to be extremely dark, warm and mellow sounding due to the amount of copper used in its construction. Red Brass is fairly rare because it lacks versatility, however like silver contrabass trombones, it is not unheard of.

Mouthpieces

Mouthpieces come in all different shapes and sizes. The Bach line of mouthpieces is fairly standard for most players, however there are various other brands that many players move on to after they have discovered what they like in their sound. In general, the bigger the mouthpiece gets, the easier it is to play lower and the harder it is to play higher. Also as the moutpiece gets bigger, it takes more air to play, and the greater the resonance. Due to the wide variety of different mouthpieces, I will not talk about any specific mouthpieces, however if you want to look at specific ones, I suggest you go here. Those guys know what they are talking about.

What is the Difference Between Mouthpieces?Many different aspects go into shaping the sound of the mouthpice. Most of those are listed below.

The effects of different aspects of mouthpiece design Mouthpiece element Effect on playing

Inner rim diameter	Larger inner rim diameters are optimised for lower ranges, giving a richer tone. Smaller diameters assist high range playing.
Rim width	Wider rim widths reduce the pressure on the lips, allowing greater stamina. It does, however, reduce flexibility.
Rim contour	Flatter rim contours tend to be found rims with a sharper rim edges, see below.
Rim Edge (or Bite)	Sharper rim edges reduce stamina, but increase control. More smoothed rims are commonly found on deeper cups.
Cup Depth	Shallower cups greatly assist playing in high ranges, but do so at the cost of fullness of tone. Deeper cups assist low range flexibility and rich tone.
Cup Shape	Semi-spherical cups have brighter, more projected tones, while conical cups have less definition of tones, see throat contour.
Throat contour	In semi-spherical cups a sharper throat contour gives a more harsh projected tone and a rounded contour gives a deeper, richer tone. Conical cups with a smooth throat have less definition.
Throat diameter	Larger throat diameters give more volume, but less control. Smaller have much more control, but significant volume limitations.
Backbore	More conical backbores give a richer tone, while more cylindrical gives a brighter, more projected tone.

Valves

Professional players pay as much attention to their valve(s) as they do to any other part of their instrument, because the openess of the valve will affect how the horn plays when the valve is engaged.

Types of Valves
The typical trombones use rotary valves, but many companies take that basic design and modify it to improve the responsiveness and tone. In addition to the rotary valve, many orchesteral players have begun to use a valve called a thayer valve, which is conical shaped and allows for a smoother transition and more open tone.

This is a Shire Bass Trombone with Rotary Valves

This is a Getzen Tenor Trombone with a Thayer Valve

Dependent Versus IndependentOnly bass and contrabass trombones use more than one valve, so this question only applies to them. In order to use the second valve on a dependent valve system, you must use the F valve before you enable the other valve. In contrast, independent valves may be used seperately if desired. You still may be wondering why the valve configuration would actually matter. The dependent configuration reduces the air resistance, since you dont have to blow through two valves when playing without the valve sections. Due to recent advances, especially with the thayer valve, this has become less of a selling point on the dependent valve configuration. Independent valves offer more versatility, with the ability to play both Gb and Db in 1st position.

Bore Size

Like everything else, the bigger the bore size gets, the more air it takes to play, and the deeper the sound gets. Pretty Simple.

Comments

If you have anything questions you want answered/things you want added to this article, but you dont want to edit it, just leave a comment and I will try to answer your question.