[Trombone-l] 51 positions of the trombone?

[Frank Darmiento]

Howard -
This is an interesting topic--one that came up some years back.  I have Mark McDunn's method book with the 51-position chart.  I've found it very useful over the years regarding where to look for those alternate positions for a high double F# or similar close harmonic.  I suppose the extreme version of the "no position" position would be that we shouldn't teach students that there are 7 positions on the trombone because they will be different on various instruments.  While this is a true statement it helps to have a rough idea where the 7 positions are.  That's how I use the 51 position chart--it gives me a rough idea of where to look for the alternate positions (I'm mostly talking about an octave or more above middle C.)  Anyway, I'm always interested in hearing different opions on this topic as improving intonation is a never ending task for me.

Frank

Frank T. Darmiento
Scottsdale, Arizona
frank at darmiento.com
www.SackbutMusic.com
---------------------------
Frank Darmiento's latest jazz CD 'Sudden Impact' is available from Summit Records at:
http://www.summitrecords.com/product.tmpl?SKU=339


--- On Wed, 2/4/09, Howard Spindel <howard at sci1.com> wrote:

> From: Howard Spindel <howard at sci1.com>
> Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] 51 positions of the trombone?
> To: "Trombone-L" <trombone-l at samford.edu>
> Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 9:20 PM
> 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
> 
> 
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