TIPS FROM THE TOP your trombone, be sure to oil it frequently to keep its very tight tolerances well lubricated. Liberal use of valve oil will also help stave off corrosion of the valve that is an inevitable effect of warm breath going through the instrument.
Douglas Yeo with Yamaha YBL822G F/D bass trombone, 2011 Photo by Michael J. Lutch
can be played just as well with any configuration. I often tell my students that my teacher, Edward Kleinhammer - who played bass trombone in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 45 years from 1940 to 1985 - played through the entire Fritz Reiner era (including the orchestra’s many famous recordings under his baton) on a single valve Conn bass trombone. He managed just fine! In-line is not ‘easier’ than dependent; a C valve does not give you better low notes than a D valve. Fine players have preferences for every possible tuning of bass trombone valves. The important thing is whatever tuning you decide to embrace, use it. Don’t buy an in-line valve bass trombone if you’re never going to use the second valve by itself. Don’t buy a dependent valve bass trombone if you don’t take advantage of the smooth slurs that can be made between the open and double valve sides of the horn. Most of all, don’t buy any configuration because someone tells you it is ‘best’. There is no such thing. Remember: The trombone that is best for YOU is the one that is best for YOU. The same goes for the myriad valve designs themselves. For many years, a ‘standard’ rotary valve was the only option for any kind of bass trombone, from the old G/D bass to the modern bass trombone of the 1980s. The invention of the ‘axial flow valve’ by Orla Edward Thayer was the first of many revolutionary valve designs that attempted to reduce air turbulence through the valves. Thayer’s design was subsequently licensed and refined by a number of custom trombone manufacturers (such as Edwards and Shires), while the
Hagmann valve (favoured by makers like Rath and Thein) and specialised valves by Conn, Greenhoe, Kanstul and many other companies are now available. The venerable rotary valve continues to be improved on by Yamaha and other makers, and the debate rages as to whether a less turbulent flow of air through the valve and the associated bends of tubing is desirable or not. On one hand, less resistance in the valve section would intuitively seem to favour easier and a more relaxed sound in loud dynamics. On the other hand, having a little resistance for the air passing through the valve would seem to be helpful for soft playing. Scientific studies are as divided on this as is the experience of players. Fine trombonists make great music on every possible valve type and personal experience is the only guide. No matter what kind of valve you have on
If you began reading this article with the hope that I would give you a specific recommendation, then you are certainly disappointed. But I hope that I have given readers a new freedom - freedom to try and experiment, and freedom from advertising claims and dogmatism. Dennis Brain played Mozart on a garden hose with a funnel on the end and he sounded like Dennis Brain. Put a pBone in Jiggs Whigham’s hands and he sounds like Jiggs Whigham. A single valve bass trombone in the hands of Edward Kleinhammer sounded like... Edward Kleinhammer. Selection of equipment provides the icing on a cake that is already made up of sound fundamentals diligent practice and study. Your quest for the bass trombone valve and tuning that works best for you will tell you as much about yourself as the equipment you are testing. And, who knows, perhaps in the process, you may come up with a new idea and follow in the footsteps of those many people who over the last 100 years have given us the modern bass trombone. • • • Douglas Yeo (yeodoug.com) has been Bass Trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1985. In autumn 2012, he will take up the position of Professor of Trombone at Arizona State University.
Rath R9 F/Gb/D and R9D F/D bass trombones with Hagmann valves, 2012 Photo courtesy Michael Rath Trombones
THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 23