On Jun 21, 2006, at 6:54 PM, Christopher Smith wrote:
The addition of a trigger alone does not make the instrument a "tenor-bass", as even King 3b's (peashooters) are available with triggers. They are just large-bore tenor trombones, that happen to have an F trigger. The real tenor-bass that is called bass trombone in North America these days has a bore that is larger still, a larger bell, and a much deeper mouthpiece and wider backbore and lead pipe. Almost all modern bass trombones also have a 2nd trigger,
The confusion here is largely the fault of history. When the trigger was introduced, instruments bearing it were called tenor-bass trombones because the trigger changed the instrument from Bb (tenor) to F (bass), and the instrument was designed to fill both roles. I have no idea what the bore of these early instruments was like, but it didn't matter: the trigger was the key point. Eventually, trombones with triggers became the norm, and at that point the "tenor-bass" term was dropped and the instrument was (and is) called simply "trombone." At that point you start getting a lot of scores such as the Hindemith _Symphonic Metamorphosis_ that simply call for 3 trombones w.o differentiating among them. You also see lots of scores for 2 trombones (NB: not specifically tenor trombones) and bass trombone, the latter differing from the former only in subtle ways (bigger bore, often 2 triggers), whereas in the old days the difference betw. a btrb (strictly in F) and ttrb (strictly in Bb) was quite distinct. To me, therefore, much of this discussion seems rather like arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
but even if it was missing the 2nd trigger (or even a straight horn! I've seen them!) it would still be a bass trombone.
A simplex bass trombone is an instrument in F. A "normal" bass trombone with one or two triggers is an instrument in Bb with an F attachment. That is of course also true of the, let us say, non-bass trombone. Unlike the old simplex instruments, the trombone (notice I don't call it a tenor) and bass trombone are virtually identical acoustically. They have the same range, play the same notes in the same way from the same positions. The only difference is that one is optimized for the performance of low notes, and the other isn't. BFD.
Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
