[Trombone-l] A question on alternate(?) positions.

[Eric Swanson]

Jeremy,

I think you have the right idea.  At least you're asking the right  
questions, anyway.  If you are pretty much a beginner on trombone, I  
wouldn't worry too much about all the alternates for now with a  
couple exceptions.  There are a lot of times when you have something  
like C, D, Eb above the bass clef where it just makes a lot of sense  
to go ahead and use the fourth position D instead of coming back to  
first, so I would go ahead and get in the  habit of using that one.   
The other one would be using fourth line F in sixth position when you  
are already out on that end of the slide.  Learn that one too for  
sure.  I think those will get you started off on the right foot.

Eric Swanson


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On Mar 23, 2009, at 9:40 PM, Jeremy Yager wrote:

> Hey Listers,
> I am a clarinet player who has been invited to play trombone with a  
> local
> trombone choir that I'm arranging some music for.  I marched  
> baritone in
> college--in fact, I made a brief appearance on this list a few  
> years back.
> I'd like to be useful to this choir rather than just making  
> flatulent noises
> behind a stand, so I'm working pretty hard to get some decent slide  
> work
> going.
>
> So, I have a question on alternate positions after reading the '51
> Positions' thread.  Do you use alternate positions whenever it is  
> the most
> convenient (in terms of same slide direction or short position  
> changes), or
> do you reserve them for technical passages when it is difficult  
> otherwise?
> In other words, would a competent trombone player be concerned  
> about slide
> direction and slide travel distance for a passage if playing standard
> positions didn't affect the musicality of the passage in question?
>
> As a reference, on clarinet, for many notes we have a basic  
> fingering and
> then alternates that come into play when it is technically  
> difficult (or
> impossible!) to reach the basic fingering from the previous or next  
> note.
> However, alternate fingerings are not usually preferred when the basic
> fingering is reachable due to tuning or tone quality concerns.   
> Does such an
> distinction exist for trombone?
>
> Thanks,
> Jeremy
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