[Trombone-l] Alto Trombone requirement at Vanderbilt

[Howard Weiner]

At 10:40 26.01.2009 -0800, Glendening, Andrew wrote:

>I suppose that someone could propose playing alto parts on a tenor using
>only alternate positions that imitate the Eb overtone series 8vb.  Good luck
>with the accuracy and tone...

Andrew, you've missed the whole point. Most of the "alto" parts in 
the  orchestral repertoire were never intended to be played on alto, 
but on tenor. The alto trombone was a relatively rare beast in the 
18th and 19th centuries. For all practical purposes, it was unknown 
in Vienna until 1883. That means that all the "Trombone I" or 
"Trombone Primo" parts in Mozart's Viennese works, in Haydn, 
Beethoven, Schubert, etc. were originally played on a trombone in 
B-flat; in the case of early Brahms, it would have been a tenor valve 
trombone in B-flat. (Thus, to turn your analogy around the right way, 
it's the alto trombone that would have to imitate the small-bore 
tenor trombone.)

Howard


--
Howard Weiner
h.weiner at online.de
http://howard-weiner.de/

Tosca jumped to a conclusion.