Trombone Hero

Nice parody on the famous console game guitar hero. T-shirts are available on: http://www.redbubble.com/people/crazytees/t-shirts/3741035-2-trombone-hero

I don't think that Activision will bring out a trombone controller on the market very soon, maybe when the popularity of trombones exceeds the guitar frenzy. Let's all hope that it will come to that :-)

Voodoo trombone quartet

I stumbled on these cool flash animations when surfing on the web and they all have a tune from the voodoo trombone quartet to accompany them. The voodoo trombone quartet started as a cool hobby thing in 2004, but it soon came so popular that the band was able to bring out a CD. You can join their mailing list to keep up to date!

For more about the quarter: http://www.voodootrombonequartet.com/

For more animations: http://eclectech.co.uk/animation-search.php?t79=1

Director shot

Stigma, stigma, stigma ... After the myth of the slide-shooting-firecracker-trombone, we have this. From my experiences trombone players are very pacifistic and they wouldn't hurt a fly. But I must say that it looks great fun for the audience and brings in some nice variation to a concert.

Clipart (3)

Another 2 drawings that can be used as clipart, this time of trombonists. The first is more a cartoon figure, the second a kind of logo.

Slide Factory 2009 DVD

For the die hard fans that can't get enough from the Slide Factory festival, the European trombone fest this year (see slide-factory).

You can now buy the dvd from this website: http://www.newtrombonecollective.com/shop/NL/index1.html

Russian Hymn

This is my first youtube video ever, if it seems that there are not that much negative comments I'll keep posting videos from time to time. It was quite fun to make this and see the result. Below you see the score for this song. It's written in D major and has a Russian origin, but that is all I know about it. Maybe someone knows more? It comes from the book Prelude (see post What I've been playing and my trombone)

Clipart (2)

Some more free to use clipart I found on various websites. Enjoy!

Super Mario Bros.

My dad gave me a NES console when I was about 6 or 7 years old. And off course the first game I played was Super Mario Bros. The main tune from this game is an evergreen among all the other video game songs. I still love the game today for its nostalgic charm and character. My NES is a piece of antique now, but playing it brings back warm memories.

The embedded video is from a preformance by the Maniacal 4 Trombone Quartet. They have their own website at http://www.maniacal4.com/live/ and have recently won the quartet competition at the International Trombone Festival in Denmark.

This post I also want to link to an arrangement for trombone written by slick07 on Youtube.
http://sites.google.com/site/hotbrainwash/Home/SMB_Trombone_Duet.zip?attredirects=0

Back to the blog

Last months I have not found the time to produce some good posts on my blog. But there was a good reason: my masterthesis. Now that I have finished it, its time to pay some attention to my blogging. So expect some new post within a few days!

Swing low, Sweet Chariot - free arrangement

From wikipedia:

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was composed by Wallis Willis, a Choctaw freedman in the old Indian Territory, sometime before 1862. He was inspired by the Red River which reminded him of the Jordan River and of the Prophet Elijah being taken to heaven by a chariot.

I have found an arrangement for trombone and piano in pdf format. Just follow the following link:
http://www.janwolters.nl/blad/swinglow-trb.pdf
It is taken from the site of Jan Wolters, a Dutch arranger, who makes free music avaliable on his website http://www.janwolters.nl/jwgratis.htm.

Nickle allergy

I didn't realise that people suffering from nickle-allergy have a big problem when playing a nickle-plated trombone. A part of the trombone touches the left shoulder and when wearing some comfortably t-shirts the trombone will touch your skin. I know my mom has a nickle allergy, but luckely she doesn't have to come near my trombone.

For all you tromboneplayers or other brass players with nickle allergies. There are cheap alternatives to buying a trombone without the nickle. Cozies exist that shield your skin from the trombone at your shoulder. It consists of a piece of strong cloth with velcro that wraps around the tubing. http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/trombonecozy

Trombone Kazoo

Everybody knows the kazoo as the buzzing instrument you play with your voice. Well, they come in all shapes and sizes. The website kazoos.com sells trombone kazoos with a working slide, so it is possible to lower the tune with this slide and not only with your voice. It looks like a nice sidekick thing to have when preforming with a live band. It will bring some humor into your performances!

Black Trombone

This song from the French songwriter, poet, composer and artist Serge Gainsbourg features a jazzy trombone. It is the second song from his 1962 LP calles 'No. 4'. But other cd's also have this song on their tracklist.

The song goes about a woman driving him a bit mad in a night-life setting. He describes her womanly attributes and her effect on his mind and feelings. This song is of a poetic nature and the musical style serves the meaning of the song very well. When I hear this song I image a story. I see myself sitting in a metropolitan nightclub some 40 years ago. People talking and whispering, the smoke of cigars and fine cigarettes in the air. And amidst them all there is one woman catching my eye. Wearing a black dress that comes to her knees. She has a dark red lipstick, black hair and eyes that can enamour a man.

I walk to her, but when blogging I leave the rest to my imagination.
Dear reader I hope you can follow me in this setting ;-).

The animated video is made with blender. Its a freeware program you can find on http://www.blender.org/ but it gives a server 500 error when I surf to this link (strange, I think they will fix it soon).

A grasp of Serge Gainsbourg on the web:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Gainsbourg
http://gainsbarre.typepad.com/
http://www.gainsbourg.org/
http://www.myspace.com/forserge
http://www.francevision.com/nsltr/vf14/gains.htm
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006092/
http://www.slipcue.com/music/pop/france/gainsbourg.html

Trombone in french also means paper clip

A concept from the russian design studio of Art Lebedev gives a "trombone" shaped paper clip. It looks much cooler than your normal bureau paper clip. It adds something extra to your file management! Photo copyright: Art. Lebedev studio
It goes by the name of skrepkus and can be bought through this website: http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/skrepkus/

The point maybe is that in the French language trombone not only means trombone (instrument), but also paper clip.
http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour/2005/02/un_trombone.html

Recap of two years playing

It has been almost 2 years since my first trombone lesson and it has been a good investment of time. Already I'm able to play some 2nd trombone parts in the concert band where I also play timpani. Being able to play at marching occasions is the first goal I've set when I started, and I'm getting closer and closer to achieving that. Next Wednesday 10 June is my first official appearance on the streets with my trombone. It's a small event, but it is acquainted for in my head. Hopefully we will have some nice weather. I'm eager to preform, but some examinations at university lie in my path first.

http://www.jacobgarchik.com/

The trombonist from whom the website in the title is, caught my eye in the tromboneforum.org. Most of the music he makes is not very open to the whole public, not even to me. But it grabbed me in a certain way, enough to share it on my blog. I think jazz is someting I want to explore more and has to be seen in a broad musical context. It is good that there are "experimental" and daring composers out there to try to expand the vocabulary of music, and this not only in jazz! From a musicians perspective you have to appriciate this. In the embedden song, the parts for the drums and piano make the playing an interwoven object where every instrument knows his place.

Air on a G string

There is a perfect explanation why this tune is called after a single violin string. Wikipedia says:

The original piece is part of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, written for his patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt sometime between the years 1717 and 1723.

The title comes from violinist Wilhelmj's late 19th century arrangement of the piece for violin and piano. By transposing the key of the piece from its original D major to C major and transposing the melody down an octave, Wilhelmj was able to play the piece on only one string of his violin, the G string.

The video shows a very nice performance of this tune by four trombones. They adapted the original arrangement a bit by playing the first repeat of the score on two trombones rather than the written four.
To get the arrangement for four trombones follow the link below, it's public domain and can be ditributed for free:

http://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/BachJS/BWV1068/air-tromb/air-tromb-a4.pdf

Trombonestreet

I wondered if there are any streets called trombone or trombonestraat (straat = dutch word for street, quite obvious). And how would you know, there are streets called after this cool instrument.

According to google maps there is a street in the Netherlands called trombone. Also a lot of others are named trombonestraat. There is no street called trombone in Belgium according to google maps.

Trombone

5231 's-Hertogenbosch, Nederland

In the States you have more names like Trombone drive, lane, ...

Trombone Rd, Newark, New Castle, DE 19713

Trombone Ct, Vienna, Fairfax County, VA 22182

Trombone Ln, Henderson, Clark, NV 89074

Trombone Ct, Aldie, Loudoun, VA 20105

Trombone eCard

Emailed cards are fun to send because for every occasion there is somewhere a card to find. Some sites offering the possibility to send free eCards related to trombones are listed here.

BCC National Orchestra of Wales
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/now/imageresource/pages/trombone.shtml

Jib-Jab Rusty Trombone
http://sendables.jibjab.com/sendables/107799/rusty_trombone

Fishpie
http://www.fishpie.com/ecards/trombone-ecards.shtml

How it's made - Trombone

The famous series of Discovery Channel made a part about custom made S.A. Shires trombones. It's very educating and gives a brief introduction on how much craftsmanship it takes to make a good trombone. The skill that is needed to make trombones has not changed over the years, but I must always think on how they managed to do this in the past without the modern equipment of today like those acetylene burners. Coal-fired like a blacksmith makes his iron stuff?

Range progress

Since a few days my range has expanded to the high Bb on the first position. Sometimes I can hit the C too, but it is still uncontrollable. I have been doing range exercises as a warmup almost everytime I practice. I think it is a good way to prepare your lips for an intense practise session. My low range gets better too. When practising my range I try not to change my mouth position, just rather increase the tension on my lips. To get a fatter sound on the pedal notes I have noticed that it can be handy to lower the lower lip, but it does not train your embouchure that much.

Last Wednesday we had a marching session with the concert band. Normally I play a snare drum when we march, but for the first time I marched with my trombone. I have to say that it is quite hard to read the music when playing and walking at the same time. Some study will be needed to learn the marches by hard and to use the score as a mere reminder.

Futomomo Satisfaction - Girl Bikini Trombone Band

This Japanese trombone trio preforms in bikini and plays their own pop/indie like music, as well as covers. The three girls are the main performers off course, but they are accompanied by 7 other good musicians. They myspace profile is www.myspace.com/futomomosatisfaction and some videos can be found on youtube. I must that they play the trombone better than they sing. It sounds like true japanese karaoke english. It is quite obvious that some off their fame is simply accorded to the fact that they dress only in bikini, but I can relate that it gets quite hot when you are standing beneath those heat radiating spotlights on stage.

Youtube profile: http://www.youtube.com/user/futomomosatisfaction
For people who can read japanese, their website: http://futomomo.nomaki.jp/suzu.html

What I find more musically interesting is the "solo" project of Suzuyakko called suzumiki, where she plays more integer music with only a guitarist as accompanist. Still she wears a rather silly costume which she changes with every new performance.

iBone - Trombone applet for iPhone

I don't have an iPhone, but I know you can do more with it than make some calls. This applet can be downloaded on iTunes, but the homepage is http://ibone.spoonjack.com/. I don't think that it is worth buying an iPhone for nor that it is any help in improving your trombone playing (except for practicing slide positions and notes), but it looks fun to try it. I can imagine that it is cool to have even for people that are not involved with music and such. The guy in this video is pretty handy with it.

Hands on music - Barbara Ivey

This oilpainting is made by Barbara Ivey as part of a series called hands on music. It is a very realistic painting and if you look very well you can see a very detailed reflection on the bell of the instrument. It looks like a great plain landscape and the stretched relfection of the trombone player. I find the sense of realism very intriguing.

Barbara Ivey states on her bio/c.v. that she has a strong Native-American heritage. You can see the strong influence of this fact through her works. If you want to see pictures of the whole set, go to http://www.barbaraiveyart.com/.

Flamethrower Trombone

This is a trombone that could intensify the myth of trombone deaths! Awesomely made, but not very handy if you need to play long parts.

Fisherman's Friend

I've playing is a bit hard because of a sour throat, I suggest you use a fisherman's friend or you will be playing on what feels an instrument like this for a while.

The large picture is available on http://adsoftheworld.com/node/34260

All the credits go to:

• Copywriter: Vanboon Sankhavadhana
• Photographer: 68 Studio co., Ltd.
• Designer / Illustration: Chaiyaporn Benyakusol
• Retouching: Somporn Inthong
• Other additional credit: Wareemon Benjapong

In da club - 50 Cent

This song is probably the best known song of rapper 50 cent. A fat beat with a cool base and some strings playing bombom.....bombom.............bombom. This is played by the trombone as G Ab F G Ab G.
I find this video funny, especially the guy in the back acting crazy :-)

Saxtrombone

The picture above is one of a six piston trombone invented by the famous Belgian instrumentmaker Adolphe Sax (1814 - 1894). (Taken from WikiCommons) Off course he is best known for the invention of the saxophone, but beside the saxophone he has experimented much in making other instruments like saxtrombas, valved bugles, saxhorns and so on. The six pistons of the saxtrombone make it possible to play all the six positions without a slide. There was an improvement on the correctness in play compared to other valved trombones from those days. In Belgium the six valved trombone has been a part of the official music education. It has also been used in various orchestras and the opera of Brussels for quite a while.

Bob Beecher: Variation on the trombone

A nice site that has been in use since 2000-2001 is the site of Bob Beecher where he describes the historical variations on the trombone that are made by men during the ages. It's worth checking out. The picture shows trombones in Syntagma Musicum (1614) by Michael Praetorius

http://home.att.net/~bobbeecher/trombone/trombone.html

International Trombone Week

The International Trombone Association declares the week of 5 - 12 April as their annual international trombone week. For events check this site: http://www.trombone.net/events/itw2009.asp. Sadly there are no events near where I live.

Personally I'm going to take some more practice time than normally this week. Maybe I want to finish my learning book soon, that would be a nice goal.

Trombone Icon - Snapfiles

This is made by me with Greenfish Icon Editor. It's a freeware program available on http://www.snapfiles.com. You can find lots of other freeware programs there as well and review them. A good audio editing program is Audacity which I use whenever I record some off my playing at home. It suits me, but don't expect pro software like Sound Studio (Apple).

A free scoreviewer is Notation Player. I tried it a few times, but because I have an old copy of Finale I use that to view midi and scores. I know Sibelius is also very reknown, but costly.

Glissando chart

On the website http://www.youngcomposers.com I found this interesting trombone slide chart which composers can use to know what slurs and slides a trombonist can make sound good.
The direct links is: http://www.abearnamedflint.com/trombone-gliss.pdf (400kb)

Take a look at it and distribute it to composers you know!

I can make good glissando's on my tenor trombone in range from the low F (6th position) to the F 2 octaves higher (1st or 4th position). The hardest part of glissando's for me is following the pitch with my lips when I go from low to high. The other way around is easier. I think that when my range in the high notes starts to get better this will get better too. For glissando specifically I'm practicing it by playing the glissando from A (6th position) to F (1st position) faster and faster.

Sad trombone button

If you ever need a failure sound, go to http://www.sadtrombone.com. Already more than 8 million failures are recorded. This website is created for whenever boredom strikes at the office, just like http://www.instantrimshot.com.

I must say these websites are just cheaply made, but when used in the right context they can add a funny tone to the situation.

Trombone Clipart - Own creation (first try)

Simply made in MS Paint, later this week (if I have time) I'll try to make another. Feel free to use.

Clipart

If you ever need some clipart/pictures of trombone and trombonists to spice up booklets, articles, etc., than use the first two who are part of the public domain. The rest below is for personal use only. They are taken form the site: http://www.clipartheaven.com/. For the more graphical talented among us: its also fun to draw some yourself and scan them. I'm planning to explore how good I'm in doing this!

Music and poetry

Recently I have found this website to a solo project that combines poetry and trombone playing: http://trombonepoetry.com/. The trombone playing is free and slightly experimental. This project shows that it is possible to use the trombone in so many different styles of music and expression. It is worth checking out!

You can see trombone poetry preform on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/trombonepoetry?gl=GB&hl=en-GB

Bayrische Polka

Yesterday my teacher spoke of a polka called the "Bayrische Polka". He said that is was a very challenging solo to play for trombone and that it still will take a while for me to get to a level high enough to play such music. Indeed I must say that he is very right, the bayrische polka is a nice song but difficult for a (beginning) student like me.

The Bayrische polka is an Austrian-German folk dance that is related to the Schottisch and the Rheinländer. Its related to the area of Bavaria. The polka my teacher was talking about is the one written by Georg Lohmann. My first search for information regarding this composer was without result.

Score: https://www.notenbuch.de/displayimage.aspx?img=images/FWF222-POS-SOLO.jpg


Bayrische Polka on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUv76QcT_5c&feature=related - Very funny because the director slides the trombone for of the musician who keeps playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXA5TJ7mN0&feature=related - Only brass. Nice solo playing, but not as good as the previous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfVyqNOXcqY&feature=relate - Nice playing, but bad recording

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxwlXmtheNU&feature=related - Good recording, fooling around at the end :-)

Henry Fillmore

Last week in my search for some new trombone scores I came across a composer named Henry Fillmore. Strangely I had never heard of him before. He was a talented American trombonist who lived in the early 1900's. The music he made was mainly for fanfare, he is most known for his marches and rag-times.

By searching some more I found that there are 4 scores part of the Public Domain now. Theses scores are made available for everybody by the IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library. Follow the link below to get to the scores. For now I'm studying on "Lassus trombone".

Four full scores on imslp:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Fillmore,_Henry

General info on Henry Fillmore:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fillmore

Slide Factory

It seems there is a giant European trombone festival in Rotterdam calles Slide Factory. Today is the first time I have read something abou it and I want to share this on my blog. It goes on from 26 March 2009 till 29 March 2009 in the Doelen at Rotterdam

From their site: Slidefactory.nl

The New Trombone Collective proudly presents under the title “Meet the World”:
Slide Factory 2009, European Trombone Festival

This is the festival:

• where the best of world class trombonists will be present;
• where all musical genres meet: classical, jazz, ancient music, contemporary and world music;
• where everyone can find something to suit his taste: from young to old, from music enthusiasts in general to brass players or trombonists in particular;
• where you can have a “meet & greet” with all the stars at the festival;
• where you yourself can play.

In short, Slide Factory 2009 is a festival that you can’t miss. Come to Rotterdam in March and Meet the World of the trombone!

-This blog is really a good means to get me into more and more trombone research on the internet and broaden my knowledge.-

What I've been playing and my trombone

My first teaching book was a dutch originated book called "Horen, lezen, spelen 1" published by deHaske. You get a playalong cd with it and the lessons are just fine for a someone new to trombone playing. So the first pieces I ever played on my trombone came from this book.
At a certain moment I saw that the progress I made by teaching myself became inappropriate to get my playing skills to a higher level. This is when I decided to take courses in a local musicshool. I knew the director of the band where I play percussion and timpani was a former tromboneplayer and teached at this musicschool. I subscribed myself to take lessons and got an old method book from which my teacher studied too at young age. It is called "Prelude" and is written by Jan Van Beekum. Now about 1,5 years later I have almost finished the book.

Now for the introduction of something that is almost double my age: My trombone! It is a trombone made in England by Besson Internatonal (serial: 444024). Its a trombone I borrowed from a collegue musician from the band I play in. My guess is that it is an instrument made in the beginning of the sixties. It may be old, but is is a very nice beginner trombone and as you can see on the picture it can still shine.

Hello, I'm new to blogging

The reason for me to start this blog is a wonderfull instrument called the trombone that I play for about a year and a half now. In my search for new things to learn I have come along quite a few websites and have learned some things about getting tips on "how to play" through the internet. Also I have come along some cool scores to play and nice videos.
I hope this is my first post of many.

Greetings Jonathan