Valved Trombones, their faded glory
May 23, 2008 by Robert Medley
Filed under Brass, Post Civil War
I think the reasons we no longer see them is that they outlived their usefulness They came in many sizes and with different valve systems and at one time were very popular. I have my own theory on this subject and I actually played an Eb tenor valved trombone in the 1970s for a period of about 5 years. I acquired it in Kiel Wisconsin at an antique store. It was a refugee from an estate sale that did’nt sell and was consigned to languish away in an obscure corner of the shop. Mine came with its original coffin case, a lyre and original mouthpiece. There was also a crook to put it in the key of C. All things considered, it played rather well and research indicated that it belonged to a William Voss of Kiel Wisconsin. It has string action rotary valves that appear to have been made in New York or the New England states shortly after the Civil War.
Now, to my theory of why valved trombones are no longer used. I think they were used in lieu of slide trombones when the regimental bands were in vogue. They were much more durable than slide trombones and took the rough handling of a field band. Add to that the number of regimental bands that were mounted on horseback and required the musician to hold reins in one hand and play with the other, and you have the answer! European Bands still have bands mounted on horseback, and I would wager that some of them, especially British bands may occasionally still use a valved trombone rather than a Bb tenor horn.
Is there anybody out there that has another view of the valved trombones exit from todays brass bands?
I don’t believe that the valve trombone was ever all that popular. It always had to share the stage with another horn playing the same range. First it was the tenor horn, and later it was the slide trombone.
Of course the grand daddy of them all is the slide trombone. It went from being a religious instrument and later a orchestral instrument.. But it had trouble making it as a popular amateur instrument
In the early 19th century the inventors came along and developed valves. Then Adolphe Sax defined the brass ensemble with a family of valved instruments. And, those two ideas in combination caught the public imagination and affordable instruments became available to amateur players. And, like many technological developments, they became the fad [think of all the things that are now going digital, including TV ], and older instruments based on different designs and technologies were shunned (trombones, French Horns)
But before we can speculate on why they fell out of favor, we should probably talk about why they would have ever been popular. So, back to the saxhorns.
The soprano saxhorn at one time was a bell up instrument, but it was short lived in that configuration, because, I believe, its role was primarily as a solo voice and so the bell was pointed forward.
They then invented the solo alto with a bell forward cornet style design. Even the bass had a bell forward design in the helicon. In fact that the helicon design was tried for the higher voices, but never became all that popular – possibly because the horn was unnecessarily bulky and needed a huge case to transport it.
Other designs for tubas and baritones – such as the Lehnert Centennial “toilet seat” models where the players’ head inserts into the middle of the horn – were tried. The Centennial makes a very comfortable instrument to hold and play. (Much better balanced than the modern on the shoulder marching tubas).
So, I think the valve trombone was in fact the solo tenor configuration that was comfortable to play, easy to store, etc. The alto valve trombone was probably a “me too” copy of the tenor. There were also “baritone’ valve trombones made.
They seem to have been the most poplar in the late 19th century, and the use of slide trombones was still rather rare. But, as the wind band was transitioning from the cornet band to the concert band with the introduction of woodwinds; the valved trombone (and the tenor horn and the alto horn) was being transitioned out. The slide trombone and the French horn transitioned in. The concert band celebrated the different tonal colors of the instruments and abandoned the the brass choir sound of the saxhorn bands.
They are also criticized as being penetrating in tone and poor in intonation, but I believe that is just the rantings of the devotees of the slide horn. The slide trombones of the period were also pea shooters that have similar tone, and the intonation is probably typical of the period in which they were made.
But if you listen to the playing of jazz players such as Bob Brookmeyer, or Rob McConnell, you can hear that the horn has a wonderful voice.
Hello Kenton,
Your response is exactly what I am looking for in answering the question of why valved trombones faded. You have brought up some of the answers I thought might be the reason.
You have also brought up many that I never thought of and now I think my conceptions of why things were done in the era of valve development need to be reconsidered.
Another area that interests me is the application of the instrument at the time they were being invented that also had a hand in the paths of development.
Perhaps we should discuss this with a podcast and get some input from others.
Would you consider discussing this and other musical subjects in a podcast on this website?
Your input is cordially invited.
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I think that the valved alto trombone was more popular that it may seem at first, at least by total band percentage..
In the American town band, in the days before the valved “French” horn became the dominant alto voice, there were upright altos, solo altos, and alto valved trombones that provided this important inner voice of the brass band, particularly for marching bands.
I think that later in the 19th century, it was the alto utilizing Henry Lehnert’s conical mouthpipe that demonstrated great superiority in response, “slotting”, flexibility and intonation. Eventually, the upright bell altohorn using this design feature overtook even Lehnert’s own Centennial valve trombones due to their much greater availability.
Finally, valved horns (which were twice the length, but even smaller bore) overtook all of the altos, and gave rise to the Distin Altophone and then the mellophone as marching instruments.
I suspect the main use of the tenor valve trombone was in the band that required a bright tenor voice, but only had extra cornet players or euphonium players to fill in when a trained slide trombonist was not available and the conditions proved to be too rough. The double-belled euphonium was eventually created to perform just such a roll as well.
Slides required greater preparation and maintenance. Eventually, as bands became larger and required more time commitment, the more flexible slide trombone became much preferred as metallurgy and oils became available.
Just some thoughts.
Thanks for the input Michael. You raise some important points that Kenton and I did not mention. Hope to see you on the websites often and that you share your thoughts with us.