[Trombone-l] valve trombone (was bass trumpet)

[Harlan Feinstein]

On Jun 17, 2008, at 11:42 PM, Adrian Drover wrote:

> I guess the style of wrapping has an effect on how it sounds and I'm  
> certain
> that no valve trombone comes close in sound to that of a slide  
> trombone.

But for the sounds of slidework itself, I don't agree.  To my ears,  
the tone can be indistinguishable between slide and valve trombones.   
For a given bell, bore size, and mouthpiece, I think the player exerts  
far more influence on the sound that whatever the slight differences  
in tone may be (if any).

One could tell the difference when hearing slide vibrato, or a half- 
valve gliss instead of a natural slide between notes.  Possibly from  
the characteristics of the transitions from note to note, dependent on  
the player and the style of music.

This is only my opinion, but it's fairly well-informed; I play a lot  
of valve trombone.

--Harlan