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.