Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 196
Scan 196
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
10 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 176. See the scan on archive.org.
1seven different positions (like the shifts employed in the violin). These positions, as practically employed, enable, in the case of the B♭ instrument, the execution of the following series:—
3The family of trombones consists in the present day of the alto in e♭ or f, the tenor in B♭, and the bass in G or F. The F bass trombone is in constant use in Germany, but unfortunately is little employed in this country.
5The trombone has not altered materially the shape which it had in the 16th century. A novel instrument was brought out by the French maker Halary, about 1830, with the view of facilitating the execution of passages requiring a rapid interchange of positions, and also to diminish the length of the slide, which in the larger instruments was very great, and caused a considerable amount of manual labour to the executant. In Halary's instrument the slide was made double, and thereby required to be lengthened only half the distance necessary to the ordinary trombone to procure the same result. This application of a double slide has been improved upon by various makers, first by Sax, then by Gustav Besson and Distin, and lastly by Mr. Goodison.
7The trombone with double slides becomes, however, a different instrument, and requires a different method. For although the length of the shifts is short, and consequently rapid passages, impossible upon the ordinary trombone, can be executed with comparative ease, yet it must be remembered that new difficulties are presented, and faults of intonation are necessarily increased in proportion. The difficulty of keeping the double slide air-tight is very great.
9The application of the slide to the trumpet is believed to have been made during the last century. Accurate information upon this point cannot be obtained; the instrument, nevertheless, is mentioned by Altenburg (Versuch einer Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter
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