The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
family of
brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and usually two valves to fill in the missing range immediately above the
pedal tone
Pedal tones (or pedals) are special low notes in the harmonic series of brass instruments. A pedal tone has the pitch of its harmonic series' fundamental tone. Its name comes from the foot pedal keyboard pedals of a pipe organ, which are used ...
s.
History
![Praetorius Trombones 1614-1620 Syntagma Musicum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Praetorius_Trombones_1614-1620_Syntagma_Musicum.png)
The earliest bass trombones were the bass
sackbut
The term sackbut refers to the early forms of the trombone commonly used during the Renaissance and Baroque eras. A sackbut has the characteristic telescopic slide of a trombone, used to vary the length of the tube to change pitch, but is di ...
s, usually pitched in G, F, or E♭ below the B♭ tenor. They had a smaller bore and less flared bell than modern instruments, and a longer slide with an attached handle to allow slide positions otherwise beyond the reach of a fully outstretched arm. The earliest known surviving specimen is an instrument in G built in Germany in 1593.
This instrument matches descriptions and illustrations by
Praetorius Praetorius, Prätorius, Prætorius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany.
In 16th and 17th century Germany it became a fashion for educated people named " Schulze," " Schultheiß," or " Richter" (which means "judge"), to Latini ...
from his 1614–20 ''
Syntagma Musicum
''Syntagma Musicum (1614-1620)'' is a musical treatise in three volumes by the German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius. It was published in Wittenberg and Wolfenbüttel. It is one of the most commonly used research source ...
''. These bass sackbuts were sometimes called , , and (Old German, , referring to intervals below B♭), though sometimes ''quartposaune'' was used generally to refer to any of these.
The in B♭ refers to a very large and unwieldy predecessor of the
contrabass trombone
The contrabass trombone (german: Kontrabassposaune, it, trombone contrabbasso) is the lowest instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. First appearing built in 18′ B♭ an octave below the tenor trombone, since the late 20th cen ...
, a full octave below the tenor.
![Bastrombone, BK-AM-61 crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Bastrombone%2C_BK-AM-61_crop.jpg)
Bass sackbuts were used in Europe during the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
and early
Baroque periods. By the 18th century the F and E♭ bass trombones were used in Germany, Austria and Sweden, and the E♭ bass trombone in France.
The "tenor-bass" trombone
German instrument maker
Christian Friedrich Sattler
Christian Friedrich Sattler (1778–1842) was a brass instrument maker and inventor in Leipzig, Germany. In 1821 Sattler became renowned for two inventions: the chromatic valve trumpet which applied three valves to the natural trumpet to provide ...
in 1821 created an instrument he called the (), a tenor in B♭ built with the larger bore and mouthpiece from the F bass trombone. It facilitated playing bass trombone parts in the low register, but was missing notes below E. Treatise author Georges Kastner and other contemporary writers described a dissatisfaction with bass instruments in F or E♭, due to their slow and unwieldy slides. The invention of valves was quickly applied to create
valve trombone
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
s in the 1830s which replaced the slide altogether; these became popular in
military band
A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...
s and
Italian opera.
In 1839 Sattler invented the (), a
valve attachment for a B♭ tenor trombone to lower the instrument a fourth into F. Intended to bridge the range gap of the tenor trombone between E and B♭, it was quickly adopted for bass trombone parts, particularly in Germany. These instruments in B♭/F gradually replaced the larger bass trombones in F and E♭ over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Late
Romantic German composers specifying ''Tenorbaßposaune'' in scores intended a B♭/F trombone capable of playing below E;
Arnold Schoenberg called for four in ''
Gurre-Lieder
' is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by ). The title means "songs of Gurre", ref ...
(1911).
The bass trombone in Britain
![MIMEd 1866](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/MIMEd_1866._Bass_trombone%2C_Nominal_pitch_G%2B%28D%2CC%29.png)
From about the mid-nineteenth century, the bass trombone in G enjoyed a period of extended popularity in France and especially Britain. In brass bands in Britain, the G bass trombone was standard, built largely by makers
Besson and
Boosey & Hawkes with no valves and a slide handle for reaching the longer sixth and seventh positions. For use in British orchestras from the early twentieth century, it was often built with a D or C valve attachment. The G bass trombone was in use until the 1950s, when London orchestral players began importing larger bore American B♭ instruments, particularly by
Conn. The G trombone lingered on in some parts of Britain and former British colonies well into the 1980s, particularly in
brass bands and period instrument orchestras.
Recent developments
The modern bass trombone has evolved from the large-bore B♭/F tenor-bass trombones in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, manufacturers attempted to solve the problem of the missing low B♮ on such instruments by adding a second valve. In the 1920s, manufacturers
Conn and
Holton made B♭/F bass trombones with a () that could lower the F tubing to E when manually set. The first true double-valve trombone (where the second valve can be operated while playing) was made by Olds in 1937, using a second ''dependent'' valve to lower the instrument to E, and having no effect alone.
In the 1950s, several bass trombonists in North American orchestras had double-valve instruments custom-built, and it is from these designs that the modern double-valve bass trombone has evolved. In 1956
Vincent Bach modified their bass trombone for Lawrence Weinman, then bass trombonist with
Minneapolis Symphony
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.
History
Em ...
. It added a dependent E valve similar to the Olds model. This instrument became the 50B2 model, first sold in 1961.
In the late 1960s another design appeared using a second, ''independent'' valve that can be engaged separately to lower the instrument to G, and to E♭ when combined with the first. The first commercially available trombone to use independent valves was the Olds S-24G model in 1973.
Although new to the bass trombone, this idea was anticipated in Germany in 1921 by Ernst Dehmel's design for a contrabass trombone in F with two independent valves.
Construction
The modern bass trombone uses the same length of tubing as the tenor trombone, but with a wider bore, a larger bell, and a larger mouthpiece which facilitate playing in the low register. Typical specifications are a bore size of in the slide with a bell from in diameter.
Dependent and independent valves
![Bass trombone valve comparison](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Bass_trombone_valve_comparison.jpg)
The bass trombone has typically two valves that lower the pitch of the instrument when engaged, to facilitate the register between the B♭
1 pedal in first position and the E
2 second partial in seventh. The first valve lowers the key of the instrument a fourth to F. The second (when engaged with the first) will lower the instrument to D (or less commonly, E♭).
The second valve can be configured in one of two ways, referred to as either "dependent" or "independent" (sometimes also called "in-line"). In a dependent system, the second valve is fitted to the tubing of the first valve, and can only be engaged in combination with the first. In an independent system, the second valve is fitted to the main tubing next to the first valve, and can be used independently. The second independent valve typically lowers the instrument to G♭, and D when engaged in tandem with the first valve. Less commonly the second valve is tuned to G (combining to give E♭), or has a tuning slide that can tune the valve to either G or G♭ as desired.
Single-valve instruments
![Bass Trombone Bb-F](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Bass_Trombone_Bb-F.jpg)
The low B
1 note immediately above the pedal range is unobtainable on a standard trombone slide with a single valve in F. Bass trombones from the 19th and early 20th century were sometimes made with a valve attachment in E rather than F, or with an alternative tuning slide to lower the pitch to E♭. Today, single-valve bass trombones have a tuning slide on the valve section that is long enough to enable access to the low B
1 by lowering the pitch from F to E.
Range
The range of the modern bass trombone with two valves is fully chromatic from the lowest
fundamental
Fundamental may refer to:
* Foundation of reality
* Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental"
* Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...
B♭ with both valves engaged (or even A with valve slides extended), up to at least B♭. Many professionals can extend the range even higher, though such demands may be taxing to the player. While much of the established orchestral repertoire infrequently strays below a B♭ or above a G, and is typically written for in the lower registers, high B♭ is called for in
Bartók's ''
The Miraculous Mandarin
''The Miraculous Mandarin'' ( hu, A csodálatos mandarin, translit= ˈt͡ʃodaːlɒtoʃ}, ; german: Der wunderbare Mandarin) Op. 19, Sz. 73 (BB 82), is a one act pantomime ballet composed by Béla Bartók between 1918 and 1924, and based on the ...
'' and
Kodály's ''
Háry János
''Háry János'' is a Hungarian folk opera by Zoltán Kodály with a Hungarian libretto by Béla Paulini and Zsolt Harsányi. The opera, in four acts, is in the manner of a ''Singspiel and is based'' the comic epic ''The Veteran'' (''Az obsitos'') ...
'' suite. Contemporary orchestral and solo classical pieces, as well as modern jazz arrangements, will often further exploit the wide tonal range of the bass trombone.
Repertoire
Since the
Romantic period
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, the trombone section of an
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
,
wind ensemble
A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...
, or
British-style brass band usually consists of two tenor trombones and at least one bass trombone. In a modern jazz
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
, at least one of the trombonists will play bass trombone, often serving as the anchor of the trombone section or doubling the
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...
and
baritone saxophone.
George Roberts (affectionately known as "Mr. Bass Trombone") was one of the first players to champion the solo possibilities of the instrument.
One of the first major classical solo works for the instrument was the Concerto for Bass Trombone by Thom Ritter George.
Images
File:F bass.jpg, Bass trombone in F
File:BassTrombone.jpg, Bass trombone in E♭
References
Bibliography
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{{Brass instruments
Bass (sound)
Orchestral instruments
Trombones