Donald S. Reinhardt (1908–1989) was an American
trombonist
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 ...
and
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
teacher.
He authored several books for brass players, including the ''Pivot System for Trumpet and Trombone: A Complete Manual With Studies'' and the ''Encyclopedia of the Pivot System''.
Life and career
Donald Shelley Reinhardt was born in
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...
, on January 22, 1908. Reinhardt began his formal musical studies as a
violinist
The following lists of violinists are available:
* List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards
* List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists
* List of violinist/composers, ...
but eventually moved to studying the trombone. In spite of some initial success, he struggled and sought help from eighteen different instructors, none of whom were able to help him work through his technical limitations. After an accident damaged his trombone he sent it to be repaired; however it was returned to him with the counterweight still removed. When he went to play the instrument with the counterweight still off, he ended up with a lower horn angle than he had previously played and he noticed that his range had dramatically improved. Some experimentation led him to discover that in order to perform well he needed to play in some ways that were quite different from how most other fine brass musicians played. This led to an interest in studying the physical mechanics of brass technique.
Reinhardt studied music at the Curtis Institute of Music, graduating in 1943 and earned a doctorate from
Combs College of Music
Combs College of Music was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1885 as Combs Broad Street Conservatory of Music by Gilbert Raynolds Combs, celebrated pianist, organist and composer.
The faculty included famous musicians such ...
in 1960.
In the 1930s Reinhardt performed as a trombonist in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
for the Fox Theater,
Philadelphia Grand Opera
The Philadelphia Grand Opera Company was the name of four different American opera companies active at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the twentieth century. The last and best known of the four was founded in November 195 ...
, and Philadelphia Civic Opera. In 1939 the Fox Theater fired the orchestra. Reinhardt took this opportunity to travel with his wife for the next five months. During this trip, he met in Kansas a young trombone student, whom he gave a brief lesson to, sparking his interest in becoming a teacher. For the next two years, Reinhardt gave free instructions to brass students in order to test and develop his teaching ideas.
In 1954 Reinhardt established a teaching studio in Philadelphia. In 1956 he was appointed Director of Bands at
La Salle College High School
, motto_translation = Character and Knowledge
, location = 8605 Cheltenham Avenue
, city = Wyndmoor
, county = ( Montgomery County)
, state = Pennsylvania
, zipcode ...
in Philadelphia, a position he held until 1973.
By the mid-1980s years Reinhardt developed serious health problems. He died of cancer on May 26, 1989.
Teaching
Reinhardt termed his approach to teaching the Pivot System, a term he borrowed from golf. He originally defined a pivot as transferring pressure from one lip to another while changing registers on a brass instrument. He later changed this definition to mean the pushing and pulling of a player's mouthpiece and lips together, as a single unit, up or down along the teeth while changing registers.
According to Reinhardt, the three primary playing factors of brass technique were correct breathing, tonguing, and
embouchure
Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument or the mouthpiece of a brass instrument. The word is of ...
. Reinhardt felt that each player's unique anatomical features required each player to perform differently and based his teaching on establishing the correct method for each individual student. He noted and categorized eight different tonguing types and four basic embouchure types with five subtypes.
[Reinhardt, Donald S., ''The Encyclopedia of the Pivot System For All Cupped Mouthpiece Brass Instruments, A Scientific Text''. New York: Charles Colin, 1973.] Each student would receive a personalized routine that took into account the student's embouchure and tonguing types.
References
External links
The Reinhardt FoundationAn Introduction to Donald S. Reinhardt's Pivot System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Donald S.
1908 births
1989 deaths
American trombonists