> From: Joe Laird <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > All this talk about bass trombones has got me wondering why the > bass trombone is the only non-transposing brass instrument in the > traditional British brass band. As I understand it, the practice > of transposing all the instruments in a brass band into either Eb > or Bb and writing them in treble clef developed in England during > the Industrial Revolution. Why didn't the bass trombone follow the > same convention? I'm just now finishing the first piece I have > written for brass band and find the unusual transposition > interesting. >
Actually the bass trombone is not playing an odd transposition: It is the only instrument, aside from members of the percussion family, which plays loco within the brass band notation system. Formerly the two tenor trombones also did so, insofar that they played tenor clef concert. It is important to realise, that the British brass band movement never was mainly about music. It always was a social vehicle, where music happened to be the topic of the gatherings. By having all of the valved brasses written, so that the relations between graphics and fingerings stayed uniform all over the range of instruments (maybe aside from the 4 valve euphoniums and basses), it was possible to rotate players among all of the instruments as membership fluctuations dictated. Trombones were the-odd-men-out. Some say they often were recruited among ex-service-bandsmen. And the bassbone was even more odd. It was pitched in G like the Brit orchestral bassbone was up to somewhere between 1955 and 1970. After that the one valve Bb bassbone entered the scene. It happened to have the exact same bottom limit as the G variant namely the the cellos lowest C# cum Db. I have played Eric Leidzen's Sinfonietta on a such trombone. The middle movement was written in E major (or was it C# minor) with 4 #'s in my part, whereas the cornets had 6 flats in their parts. My playing in tune on the low C# was a novelty in that band. Wonderful piece by the way. Since then I have, like most bassboners, gone to the 2 valve Bb bassbones, which unlike the single valve instruments have a full chromatic range over their 5, 6, or 7 octave ranges (depending on embouchure). Through the last few years I have been able to acquire 3 Brit bassbones in G, all to be played with a slide handle, as the 6th and 7th positions are out of reach for even players, who like me, suffer from the orangutan syndrome. The 1919 specimen is in high pitch (A=459). The most interesting sample may be the 1978 specimen, which has a D valve. It is one of the last samples made of the version used by the Brit symphs. Even a bone guru like Denis Wick hailed its wonderful low C in the short chorale in Brahms 1. The G bones don't own the broadness and warmth of the larger-bore Bb bassbones. But they own a quality often missed in present day low brass: clarity! It may have surfaced, that I have a love/hate relationship with the brass band entity, where I have played all instruments from Eb cornet through BBb tuba on just about all seatings. It even has taken me to the stage of Royal Albert Hall doing a short solo from a tutti seat. I have learned immensely from my experiences. But by now the sound and the not always very musical approach nauseates me, as does most of the repertory. Klaus _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
