Later on, the little nuances and tricks and other things worked themselves in, and it is always good to have a competent teacher show you these more advanced things. I simply learned the correlation between valves and slide positions, then went about playing things that I could play or knew on euphonium on the trombone. Pretty much these line up with the euphonium as well, although much harder to play a sharp 2nd valve than a sharp 2nd position. Of course there are many alternate positions you can play for notes (on both horns), and on the trombone there are things known as sharp 2nd position and other positions that can be played sharp or flat for alternate positions for notes. The trombone slide positions correspond to the euphonium valve selections, that is: Musical scales that start on the first position, always have a motion to the front, no matter if they go up or down.I started on trumpet, switched to baritone/euphonium in 8th grade, and learned trombone many years later. For the course of the melody, it is often favorable to keep an eye on the tone after next, in order to get an optimal movement pattern.ĭepending on this, the motion is either favorable or not. For example for musical scales, the trombone position chart is helpful in transferring mechanical motion sequences into another tonality. Often it is easier to keep a combination of numbers in mind if you refer it to a certain symbolism (ATM machine/Smartphone etc.) The idea behind playing according to a trombone position chart is that musical scales which run upward, always make a movement upward and vice versa. The combination in major musical scales, when upwards, is always: whole tone, semitone, whole tone, semitone and downwards: semitone, whole tone, semitone, whole tone. The patterns change with the musical scales (for example minor scales) but then are the same for all the minor scales. You only have to make sure that the two tones can be played without detours, so without a countermovement. Like this, the positions that have to be played will arise automatically. For example for the notes f and g, when playing with the help of a trombone position chart, the note f is always played on the sixth position.Trombone slide positions are usually given to a beginner student without much discussion of how a trombone works. In this article, we’ll discuss concepts that advancing students will find helpful.Ĭharts and positions don’t give the full story. Trombones are unique among the brass family because they have the ability to alter the length of tubing in small ways (if you’re in the market for a first trombone, check out my guid e). Valved instruments can change the length by moving the tuning slides of the valves, but this doesn’t help in most situations.Ī more in-depth analysis of tuning can be found in my article: 5 Steps to Playing in Tune.īrass instruments work by producing a distinct set of notes over top of a fundamental for each length of tubing. This is called the overtone series.įirst position on a (standard B-flat tenor) trombone is when the slide is all the way in. The fundamental is a B-flat, and then all the other notes in the overtone series can be produced.Ī valve instrument changes the length of tubing by pressing a set of valves down. The trombone changes the length by moving the slide.Ī good concept to remember is that the collection of notes made by putting the slide in a different position is the same just shifted down. This is because moving the slide to second position moves the fundamental down by a half-step. I’ve put the high A-flat in parentheses because it is theoretically part of the overtone series, but it cannot be played in tune or with clarity in first position. We’ll discuss this more in the advanced sections. Here we’ll go through the slide positions and give a chart for the notes these positions can (roughly) produce.Īs we’ll discuss later, the precise positioning doesn’t actually matter for learning the positions. I’ll give you rough ideas to help you remember them. Second Position: You’ll be able to see a finger’s width of silver.įifth position produces the following notes: Some of the notes given are “false,” and should only be used with a modified position in circumstances that call for alternate positions. Sixth Position and Seventh Position are the two positions farther out. Most people judge these two by how close to fully outstretched their arm is. As long as you aren’t still growing, this should serve you just fine. Some people have sixth position as basically fully extended, and then seventh has to get some shoulder extension into it.
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