Liudas Motekaitis wrote: >Can someone please clarify a symbol I have come across for trombone. The >symbol looks like an up-bow marking for stringed instruments, when placed >above the note. When placed below the note, the symbol is turned upside down >so that the point of the "V" points in the direction of the note.
Christopher Smith replied: > If it changes direction, then it isn't what > I think it is, which is a "V" for "valve", > meaning play it with the F key. As a long-time low brass player, starting on the trombone more than 45 years ago, I have never seen any marking in any sheet music that tells a trombonist when to use the "F Attachment" valve. This is one of those decisions that is best left to the player to decide. > Since it changes direction, then it is most > likely a marcato accent, which I see upside > down like this in some European (especially > Italian) hand copy. As I wrote in an earlier reply, I agree that this is probably what the marking is meant to be. > The V for valve would only apply to notes > low F or below, or to B natural or C in the > bass staff, unless it is to indicate a special > alternate position. Not so at all. True, the F attachment on a trombone allows the player to play notes between seventh-position low E and pedal B-Flat. True, the attachment also allows the player to play C and B in first position and (a long) second position, instead of reaching clear out to sixth and seventh positions. But a competent trombonist with an F attachment instrument will use the valve in all sorts of situations, and will in fact be as comfortable in doing so as a competent hornist is in switching from the Bb side to the F side of a double horn. Providing position numbers and indicating when and when not to use valves both become more treacherous when the player happens to have a trombone with two valves. Different makes and models are built differently. The valve attachments are built in different pitches, and in some the second valve is dependent while in others it is dependent. Unless there is a specific and absolutely inflexible need to tell the trombonist when to use and when not to use his/her thumb valve(s), I strongly recommend that composers and arrangers just write the notes and trust the player to make the right decisions. Jim O'Briant Bayside Music Press Gilroy, CA www.baysidemusicpress.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
