[Trombone-l] 51 positions of the trombone?

[Howard Spindel]

51 positions?  76 positions?

I think you might as well take the position (pun intended) that there 
are NO fixed positions on a trombone.  They vary from horn to horn, 
player to player, mouthpiece to mouthpiece, day to day, temperature, 
plus more I'm sure I'm missing.  Every note should be listened to and 
tuned appropriately.

Of course, handing a trombone to a beginner and telling him there are 
no fixed positions is not a useful teaching paradigm.

I don't have access to the book, so I don't know the author's 
intent.  But is there really significant information added of use to 
a player to assume 51 positions rather than 7 positions that must be tuned?

Howard