[Trombone-l] Contra question

Fri May 22 08:28:14 CDT 2009

I have played G bass for a several years now.  Even on my first one, which had a valve, I wouldn't have dreamed of avoiding the throw-rod, any more than I would shorten my bass trombone slide to only 5 positions.  And yes, it is the same ;-)

To be fair, I did play a bit of Bass sackbut in F in College, and fell in love with it.  The handle was missing, and someone added a bent coat hanger through the hole to make it work.  NOT!  So I build a handle with parts from the hardware store and it worked perfectly.

Also to be fair, my contra was built by me with a Bb length slide.  Why?  Where the $#@% would I find long slide parts?!?  :-)  But I often wish I had one, not only to make the longer positions more facile, but to feel more secure in general.

Like playing Alto, you just need to get used to the thing.  Doug Yeo and I have discussed this, and he posts on his site the use of the handle can be just as fast as the hand on the slide.  And you'll only hit your teeth once.  Like burning your hand on a stove - you learn fast!

Truly, give it a shot.  There's a reason there's hundreds of years of that design.  Double slides were made long before the Wagnerian BBbs.  They just weren't used that often; the throw was preferable.  And there were some pretty awesome British players playing with throw rods to back this up.  Even when they got valves, they didn't ditch the rod.

My $.02 (why isn't there a cents key on modern QWERTY boards?!?)

J.c.

---- Walter Barrett <walttrombone at optonline.net> wrote: 
> The Alexander is the only one I can think of with a slide long enough  
> to need a handle.
> 
> On May 21, 2009, at 11:36 PM, Eric Swanson wrote:
> 
> >
> > On May 21, 2009, at 4:03 PM, emrose79 at sonic.net wrote:
> >
> >> Everyone: Thanks for your thoughts. My contra is, I think, "standard"
> >> F/C/Db/A (or is that F/CC/DDb/AA), so I guess I'll get by without the
> >> handle. The problem I could see is that the handle is loose enough to
> >> hit the slide if I'm not careful (not that I'm EVER not careful!)
> >> Being
> >> a two-axis joint, it swings quite a bit. My "other" problem is that
> >> "I'm
> >> still learning" (I use that line often).
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Ed,
> >
> > Sounds like you might want to remove the handle (or have it removed)
> > to prevent damaging the slide.  What brand of horn is this, anyway?
> >
> > Eric Swanson
> > _______________________________________________
> > Trombone-l mailing list
> > Trombone-l at samford.edu
> > http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l
> 
> 
> 
> Walter Barrett
> 
> "...French horns have about the same length of tubing as the human  
> intestinal tract, and both frequently offer similar products."
> 	- Chris Waage
> 
> Alto, tenor, bass trombones
> Bass trumpet, euphonium, tuba
> Yamaha Artist/Clinician
> http://www.walterbarrett.com
> 
> 
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