Brass · Slide
Trombone
A brass instrument with a telescopic slide instead of valves. Seven slide positions lower the pitch by up to six semitones.
- Family
- Brass · Slide
- Classification
- Aerophone · lip-vibrated
- Transposition
- None (concert pitch)
- Clefs
- Bass, tenor (alto in older music)
- Sounding range
- E2 – F5
Parts of the trombone
A tenor trombone with F attachment. Photo: Yamaha Corporation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Labels added by Musicians Tools.
Range
Pedal notes from B♭1 downward are possible. Most tenor trombones have an F attachment that fills most of the gap below E2. Playback uses a neutral tone, not the instrument's own sound.
Writing for the trombone
- Reads bass clef and tenor clef for higher passages.
- Passages that jump between distant slide positions (for example 1st and 7th) are awkward at speed.
- A true glissando is possible only between notes in the same harmonic, within a span of up to six semitones.
- Legato needs a soft “legato tongue”, because the slide moves continuously.
- Trombone chords are among the most powerful sounds in the orchestra, but they are equally beautiful very soft.
History
The trombone descends from the Renaissance sackbut and has changed less than almost any other orchestral instrument. For centuries it was tied to church and ceremonial music; Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (1808) is an early landmark of its use in the symphony orchestra.
Listen
Key works featuring the trombone. Each link opens a YouTube search, so you can pick the recording you like.
- Ravel – Boléro (trombone solo)
- Mozart – Requiem, Tuba mirum
- Mahler – Symphony No. 3, 1st movement
- Rimsky-Korsakov – Trombone Concerto