A no-valve bass trombone?! That is simply against nature, some would say. “Blasphemy” cry others.
Thanks to my good friends at S.E. Shires Co., I have a valveless bass trombone. I can not quite bring myself to call it a “straight” bass trombone, as somehow, that might imply that a bass trombone with valves is, well, something else altogether. Let’s not go there. The valveless bass trombone, pictured above left, is a pruned version of the bass trombone on the right. (Click on each photo to enlarge). The TruBore double in-line valve section pops out, and the goose neck connecting the hand slide and the main tuning slide pops in. Add a counter-weight and before you can say, “Dude, where’s my tuba on-a-stick?”, I have a no-valve bass trombone.
I like to use this valveless instrument in the late classical and early romanic repertoire. Just last week, it saw the light of day when the NSO performed two works of Robert Schumann on the same program; the Konzertstuck for Four Horns and Orchestra and the Symphony #1 (Spring).
To me, playing this horn is the bass trombonist’s equivalent of driving a stick vs. an automatic. You are actually relying upon a bona-fide slide technique to get the job done, rather than pressing on valves. The precision required to do this reminds me that I am a trombone player first and foremost, not a button pusher. It is honestly a great deal of fun to play. The sound quality is actually richer than its valved counterpart. It resonates like crazy and feels totally alive in your hands, probably due to the weight loss in dropping the valve section. I love that. The sound complimented the alto trombone on top and the .547 tenor in the middle very well.
I do have to cherry pick the repertoire for which I can break out this instrument. For the most part, we are talking about Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Schubert. Berlioz, perhaps. Any works with notes lower than Eb below the bass clef are out, unless they are only pedal tones. Still, I had to take just one low Eb up the octave in bar 149 of the Schumann Symphony #1 finale. Doing so actually made the phrase more symmetrical, so I was happy with the result. The conductor did not notice and I have received not one letter from outraged patrons demanding their low Eb back.
What exactly defines a bass trombone? Is it the presence of a valve or multiple valve combinations The bore size? Mouthpiece or bell size? The definitions and boundaries are becoming a bit more blurred as time marches on. Let’s explore just one defining aspect of the bass trombone below.
BORE SIZE
For several decades now, the standard orchestral benchmark bore size for the bass trombone handslde has been set at .562″. Many, if not most of the bass trombonists in today’s modern symphony orchestra opt for a dual-bore slide measuring .562 on the mouthpiece side and .578 on the bell receiver side. I even own, and use on occasion (don’t tell anyone!) a slide which boasts of .578 on both sides. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.
Sackbuts and early trombones often had little variety in the way of bore size. Instrument pitch and name (alto, tenor, bass, etc.) were typically derived from employing varying lengths of tubing. Bore size variation in trombones became more of a determining factor in trombone types in the later 1800′s. Still, one can find a bass trombone pitched in G with a bore size hovering around .483″. My contrabass trombone pitched in F (Hermann Kuhl: Kassel, Germany circa 1950) has a starting bore size similar to my bass at around .562, which increases exponentially on the other side of the slide and throughout the valve section. I know of many tenor trombonists in symphony orchestras who use a .562 slide on their large bore tenors.
As you see, we have already established a wide variety of nomenclature and usage for bass trombone attributes with regard to bore size. Tough to pigeon hole this sucker and we have not even begun to talk about mouthpieces, lead pipes (or no lead pipes!), valves and bells. Let me know your thoughts on the matter. I say the valveless bass trombone is a bass trombone. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
15 Comments
Some may actually argue that a real bass trombone should not be pitched in Bb at all !! I have thought about having a double slide EEb valveless bass trombone… Huge slide bore but smaller bell, no valves… darker and deeper but veeeeery cylindric ! Well, i digress!! I think that the definition of a bass trombone should be the best trombone at playing the third part at a given time..Of course dependant of the rest of the section /orchestra / hall and most important , the music !!
let the sound, not the looks decide !!
Trond
I have had conversations with Steve Shires about this subject, and his feeling–which I share–is that the shape of the bell flare is the most important factor in the overall character of the sound of the instrument.
When I play Classical and early Romantic repertoire, my preference is to use a single rotary valve section, a bass trombone bell flare (sometimes with a smaller end diameter of 9 inches), and a .547 or .547-.562 slide. This type of instrument tends to work better for me with a shallower cup mouthpiece. It still sounds like a bass instrument, but the core at the center of the sound is a bit smaller, and I can get an exciting, brilliant tone color without playing very loud.
I bought a straight pipe with my Greenhoe double conversion in 2005. It’s amazing to play in our
register with only two bends in the horn. I bought
a single valve for my horn last year and use it as
much as I can. It gets more than half way to the
valveless sound.
Two weeks ago I borrowed a valveless Shires F bass
for the Bartok Concerto. Talk about great power…
I highly recommend Trevor Herbert’s new book “The Trombone” Yale University Press http://books.google.com/books?id=Wy8bhvi2-j8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=trombone&client=safari for a good perspective on instruments and performance practice throughout the trombone’s history.
I don’t think that the presence or absence of any number of valves makes a trombone any more or less of a trombone. There is certainly a purist streak that makes the straight, or valveless, trombone seem like the most true form of the instrument and certainly until valves were used in the early 19th century, that was true. But by the age of the valve, it’s hard to realize how little the slide instrument was used. Herbert thinks it is likely that Brahms’s 2nd Symphony was actually premiered on an entire section of valve trombones! The slide instrument literally came close to extinction during the 19th century. I believe that a trombone is an instrument of a certain timbre that is achieved by a certain ratio of cylindrical tubing and a valve trombone is still a trombone and not a euphonium and not a bass trumpet. There is certainly a difference to the slide instrument, but a trombone nonetheless. A tenor trombone with an F attachment is still a tenor trombone, not a bass trombone. A bass trombone is characterized by it’s timbre, not by the presence or absence of any number of valves.
I’m certain that the absence of valves makes the instrument play differently and I’m also certain that if Matt is playing it, it will sound phenomenal. If it helps one feel that they are blending better with the section and orchestra and also adhering to what one imagines the composer intended, than more power to you.
The question of period instrument performance is rather complicated, but I think that it is admirable that you are trying to create a different timbre for different repertoire. Orchestras are a world of timbre, but it can also be easy to paint too heavily with the same brush.
I spent some time playing on a valveless bass also and agree with your statements on sound and repertoire. The horn, as you have said, seemed to resonate with much less energy input than my double valved horn. I currently play in a group where the need for the horn is much less, so I have note used it in a while, but yes, it was very satisfying.
At various times and places, the “bass” trombone was an instrument in B-flat (or pre-1700 in A). Several historical sources even indicate that the only difference between the alto, the tenor, and the bass trombones was the size of the mouthpiece. Combined with another practice documented in the 17th and 18th centuries, that of playing falset tones, it seems obvious that even the third trombone parts by Haydn (Creation), Beethoven, Schubert, etc. with an occasional low E-flat, D, or C would have been played on a “bass” trombone in B-flat.
For details, see my article “When is an Alto Trombone an Alto Trombone? When is a Bass Trombone a Bass Trombone?–The Makeup of the Trombone Section in Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Orchestras,” Historic Brass Society Journal 17 (2005): 37-79.
Thanks to Trond, Gabe, Phillip, Sam and Gerald for the above comments. It is a rare bird these days, the valveless bass trombone. I am glad that it inspired some dialogue here and elsewhere.
I neglected to mention the OMG factor. When you take one, or most likely two valves away from a bass trombonist, they will most likely freak out. The sink or swim possibilities presented with no valves borders on abuse to the double-valve junkie.
Like a painter with an enormous palette of color, we have at our disposal an infinite possibility of tonal color. Bass trombones of all shapes and sizes are the brushes. How we treat them and apply them-the paint. Our canvas? Any work set before us.
Have fun!
Matthew, I was thinking; while removing the valves makes the horn lighter and faster responding , does it not also makes it sound bigger and more open ? I play a great Conn from 1934 which has more resistance and a very pronounced “core” to the sound.. For me this makes it a great horn for pre-Brahms/smaller orchestras…While having Your comment; “with great power comes great responsability” in mind, Doesnt the valveless horn too easily become “too open” and thus too big and powerful?
Trond,
I think that the best way to describe the sound is big and warm, but without the weight and point in the sound. Kind of like an old Elkhart Conn bass, as you have. My first bass was an Elkhart Conn with tuning on the slide, so I know what you mean. Perhaps Germanic in manner could also describe it.
In most of the classical and early romantic rep., you are not going to really open it up a great deal anyway. Unharnessed and it could easily bury an orchestra, but we are not going to do that, are we?
Trond, in my experience, when you remove weight almost anywhere in the instrument, the size of the core of the sound will generally become more focused and flexible. Another way of saying this is that physical weight makes the core larger, with a bit less flexibility, and a lighter instrument will allow more variation in color and size of sound.
For many players, it can be difficult to make the center of the sound as small and focused as they want if the instrument is on the heavy side, and lightening it will feel more focused to the player, even if it sounds somewhat more diffuse on the other side of the bell. Matt is a player with a lot of focus in his tone production, and he tends to do well for most repertoire with a fairly heavy instrument.
The Shires Trubore valves are dimensionally and geometrically essentially the same as the straight gooseneck when they are not engaged, but the added weight tends to make the core of the sound larger – maybe thicker is a better word. Matt can play with a smaller, lighter quality with the straight gooseneck because the overall lighter instrument allows it more easily, without him having to play in a more tensed, focused manner.
Matt, does that sound right to you? I’m struggling a little for the right language (the 2 gin & tonics I just had are making it more of a challenge!).
Matt,
While I may not have any great knowledge to add to the conversation, I found your entry very interesting. It’d be great to hear you play on this horn sometime, please let us know if you’ll be playing it on any upcoming concerts!
Matt !
I think i know what you mean by “germanic” ! …Sort of a differnt set of “aestehtic values” when playing older style music.. Nothing too extreme, ….more subtle and chamber music like.. when you are talking about Your first bass , are you talking about the 62H you are pictured with? …if so , it is a little different than my 70H.. The 62h is a little more like you describe ….a little wider more diffused, but keeps its composure a little longer when playing louder.. My 70h starts “barking” at a much softer volume which means that I can give the sound a real raspy forte and fortissimo character without getting so loud in decibels that I “bury the violas”.But it has “point and weight” in spades!! When the strings grinds away at their gutstrings in dies irae , i have two objectives; 1; They should be heared! 2. I should also be able to join the party without beeing afraid to destroy with too many decibels.. But!; Your way is good too !..the vienna phil. for instance which always are able to balance and restrain their sound without loosing the “life” in the tone..
Gabe !
Talking about light and heavy instruments ! My 70H is eh.. both!! the bell section is very thinwalled, lightweight and lightly braced.. at the same time the handslide section must be the heaviest/sturdiest that have been produced in the USA !! Almost the opposite from what is more usual today.. in sonic terms this means that the sound is anything but diffuse !….heavy and “grounded”with a huge presence in all dynamics! The lightweight bell means that it always has all the overtones on tap , and always sound resonant…In combination with the narrower bell throat it reach the point of ” rasp ” on an earlier point which mean that the sound keeps exciting on a lower level!! My “subjective” view anyway!
Trond, from my perspective at Shires I am seeing a trend returning to the heavy slide/light bell combination. At the very least, lighter weight bells are becoming much more popular. In fact, we have taken an order for a custom slide-tuning tenor, and based on how it goes we might very well expand our offerings to include slide-tuning basses. We’ll see!
Dibs on the first slide-tuning bass!