[Trombone-l] 51 positions of the trombone?

[Howard Spindel]

At 11:56 AM 2/5/2009, Peter W. Schroth wrote:
>Howard Spindel wrote:
>
>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.
>
>-------------------
>
>I'm not convinced.  It seems to me that, by the time I hear that the
>note is too flat or too sharp, I've already played it and it's too
>late.  I need to have a pretty good idea, in advance, of whether to
>adjust, say, a 5th position Db or a 6th position A up or down, and how much.

You're actually agreeing with me.  You refer to positions as adjusted 
5th or 6th, rather than positions 37 and 42 (or whatever they would be).

I didn't say "tuned on the fly".  You have to practice on your own 
equipment and figure out how to adjust any given note.  But I think 
of them as variants of the 7 basic positions, not as having a 
trombone with far more positions.

Howard