Books › The instruments of the modern orchestra & early records of the precursors of the violin family, with over 500 illustrations and plates;, 1910 › scan 125
Scan 125
The instruments of the modern orchestra & early records of the precursors of the violin family, with over 500 illustrations and plates;, 1910
10 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 75. See the scan on archive.org.
1twice upon itself, with a wide bell at one end, and at the other a cup-shaped mouthpiece which varies in diameter according to the lip of the player (who choses one to suit him), and the pitch of the instrument. The bore is cylindrical except for the bell joint, in which it is conical. The tubes forming the middle section, or slide, are made double, and are connected at the lower end by a hemispherical tube. The outer tube, therefore, slides upon the inner, opening a greater length of tube proportionate to the depth of pitch required. The slide is held by a little bar across the upper portion, and is manipulated by the right hand.
3Production of Sound. Notes are produced on the trombone, as on the horn, by overblowing; that is by the varying tension of the lips and pressure of breath, which give the harmonic series as far as the eighth or tenth upper partial; the fundamental tone or pedal note is hard to obtain and ineffective (as in the French horn). There are seven positions of the slide on the trombone, each giving a fundamental tone and its harmonic series, a semitone lower than the last; these positions are made by pulling out the slide a little more for each one, the first position being that in which the slide remains closed. The performer on the trombone is just as dependent on a correct ear as the performer on stringed instruments is, for these positions are found by ear. Appended is a table of the harmonics in general use for the seven positions, and the reader will perceive that a complete chromatic scale can thus be obtained in much the same way as by the positions of the violin.
5Seven positions on the B flat trombone (Tenor-bass).
7I. Position with closed slide.
9II. With the slide open about 3 1/8 inches.
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