[Trombone-l] How to learn about F attachment

[Wayne Dyess]

On Mar 9, 2007, at 2:16 AM, Adrian Drover wrote:

> Hey, Wayne, G trombones are relics of the past now in Grand  
> Britannia.  I
> have two arranging books by British writers that I bought as a kid,  
> one for
> brass band (Denis Wright) and the other for big band (Reg Owen)  
> which both
> state that the bass trombone is pitched in G and has no pedal  
> register, the
> lowest note being C#.  That means that in those bygone days the tenor
> trombone could reach lower notes than the bass trombone.
>
> Of course, this is a load of nonsense.  I was recently shown an  
> antique
> pea-shooter G trombone and out of curiosity I had to test this  
> theory.  I
> found I could play all the way down to pedal C# (an octave below  
> the book
> range) with ease and clarity.  I guess the historic players of  
> those horns
> and arrangers just believed what they were told to believe.
>
> A.


Interesting, Adrian!

Our orchestration teacher asked me to come in and talk to his class  
about the trombone a while back.  They were all confused, including  
the teacher, about the F attachment and the range of the trombone.   
Seems their orchestration book was full of hooey.

And so it goes.

:-)
Wayne