The art of tenor/bass trombone doubling: An examination of the performance philosophies and practices of three selected trombonists.

Abstract

In conclusion, each of the participants interviewed had his own unique and individual approach to the art of tenor/bass trombone doubling. Responses to the questionnaire ranged from almost complete agreement with all three participants on one subject, to completely different responses and approaches on another subject. The author discovered there are many avenues a musician may use in learning a new instrument. Regardless of the differing or similar performance practices and philosophies employed by the study's participants, they all had the same goal in mind to perform successfully on both the tenor and bass trombones.

The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, it examined the performance philosophies utilized by three musicians who practice the art of tenor/bass trombone doubling. The second purpose of this study was to identify the performance practices of these three musicians. The three musicians who were interviewed for this study were Mr. Charles Vernon, bass trombonist with the Chicago Symphony, Dr. Donald Hildebrandt, low brass professor at The University of Delaware, and Mr. Brian Rogers, bass trombonist with the Rockford Symphony.

The study involved interviewing three prominent musicians who perform professionally on both the tenor and bass trombones. The principal method of acquiring this information was through a personal interview. The questionnaire asked the participant to address the topics of his musical experience, equipment usage, embouchure, warm-up, breathing, tone production, technical development, intonation, and their relationship to tenor/bass trombone doubling. The questionnaire responses were then examined to determine if the participants used similar or dissimilar performance philosophies/practices.