Trombone

A tenor trombone
Brass instrument
Classification	Wind Brass Aerophone
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	423.22 (Sliding aerophone sounded by lip movement)
Developed	from basic trumpets when the lost Roman Empire art of bending tubing was rediscovered in the 15th century. Until the early 18th century the instrument was called a sackbut
Playing range
Related instruments
Sackbut Buccin Trumpet Bass Trumpet Euphonium Tuba
More articles
List of classical trombonists List of jazz trombonists Types of trombone

The trombone (German: Posaune, Spanish: trombón) is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips (embouchure) cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Nearly all trombones have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. Instead of a slide, the valve trombone has three valves like those on a trumpet.

The word trombone derives from Italian tromba (trumpet) and -one (a suffix meaning "large"), so the name means "large trumpet". The trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like its valved counterpart the baritone horn and in contrast to its conical valved counterparts, the euphonium and the orchestral horn. The most frequently encountered trombones are the tenor trombone and bass trombone, while the E♭ alto trombone has become less common as tenor technique has extended the upper range of that instrument. The most common variant, the tenor, is pitched in B♭, an octave below the B♭ trumpet and an octave above the B♭ tuba. Trombone music, along with music for euphonium and tuba, is typically written in concert pitch, although exceptions do occur, notably in some brass band music where tenor trombone is presented as a B♭ transposing instrument.

A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist or trombone player.^[1]

Construction[link]

Basic trombone anatomy

tuning slide counterweight mouthpiece slide lock ring bell knob/bumper water key/spit valve main slide second slide brace/stay first slide brace/stay bell lock nut

A disassembled trombone. From left to right: mouthpiece, outer slide, bell section, inner slide.

The trombone consists of a roughly cylindrical tube bent into an elongated "S" shape. Rather than being truly cylindrical, the tube is a complex series of tapers with the smallest at the mouthpiece receiver and the largest just before the bell flare. The design of these tapers affects the intonation of the instrument. As with other brass instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through pursed lips producing a vibration that creates a standing wave in the instrument.

The detachable cup-shaped mouthpiece is similar to that of the baritone horn and closely related to that of the trumpet. It has the venturi: a small constriction of the air column that adds resistance greatly affecting the tone of the instrument, and is inserted into the mouthpiece receiver in the slide section. The slide section consists of a leadpipe, the inner and outer slide tubes, and the bracing, or stays. Modern stays are soldered, while sackbuts (medieval precursors to trombones) were made with loose, unsoldered stays (this remained the pattern for German trombones until the mid-20th century).

The 'slide', the most visible feature of the trombone (cf. valve trombone), allows the player to extend the length of the air column, lowering the pitch. To prevent friction from slowing the action of the slide, additional sleeves were developed during the Renaissance, and these stockings were soldered onto the ends of the inner slide tubes. Nowadays, the stockings are incorporated into the manufacturing process of the inner slide tubes and represent a fractional widening of the tube to accommodate the necessary method of alleviating friction. This part of the slide must be lubricated frequently. Additional tubing connects the slide to the bell of the instrument through a neckpipe, and bell or back bow (U-bend). The joint connecting the slide and bell sections is furnished with a ferrule to secure the connection of the two parts of the instrument, though older models from the early 20th century and before were usually equipped with friction joints and no ancillary mechanism to tighten the joint.

The adjustment of intonation is most often accomplished with a tuning slide that is a short slide between the neckpipe and the bell incorporating the bell bow (U-bend); this device was designed by the French maker François Riedlocker during the early 19th century and applied to French and British designs and later in the century to German and American models, though German trombones were built without tuning slides well into the 20th century. However, trombonists, unlike other instrumentalists, are not subject to the intonation issues resulting from valved or keyed instruments, since they can adjust intonation "on the fly" by subtly altering slide positions when necessary. For example, second position "A" is not in exactly the same place on the slide as second position "E." Many types of trombone also include one or more rotary valves used to increase the length of the instrument (and therefore lower its pitch) by directing the air flow through additional tubing.

Like the trumpet, the trombone is considered a cylindrical bore instrument since it has extensive sections of tubing, principally in the slide section, that are of continuous diameter. This contrasts with conical bore instruments like the cornet, euphonium, and tuba, whose only cylindrical tubing is in the valve section. Tenor trombones typically have a bore of 0.450" (small bore) to 0.547" (large or orchestral bore) after the leadpipe and through the slide. Some small bore jazz trombones, though, have two different diameters of tubing in the slide section to simulate a conical bore. Without this innovation, the trombone would sound extremely sharp and piercing. The bore expands through the backbore to the bell, which is typically between 7" and 8½". A number of common variations on trombone construction are noted below.

Etymology[link]

The word trombone originated between 1715–1725.^[2] The word trombone is from Italian, equivalent to tromb (a) trumpet and Old High German trumpa,trumba horn, trumpet.^[3]

History[link]

Renaissance and Baroque periods[link]

When the "sackbut" returned to common use again in England in the 18th century, Italian music was so influential that rather than being known by its original name the instrument was known as the "trombone",^[4] although other countries used the same name throughout the instrument's history, viz. Italian trombone and German Posaune. The 17th century trombone was built in slightly smaller dimensions than modern trombones, and had a bell that was more conical and less flared.

The instrument was used extensively across Europe from its appearance in the 15th century to a fading out in most places across the mid-late 17th century. It was used in outdoor events, in concert and in liturgical settings. The groups varied from alta capella, wind ensembles, with voices, and in the first 'orchestra'-type ensembles in religious settings like St Mark's Basilica in Venice in the early 17th century. Famous composers writing for the trombone in this period include Giovanni Gabrieli and his uncle Andrea Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz. There are also some solo pieces written specifically for trombone in the early 17th century.

During the later Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel used the trombone on a few occasions; Bach used it in combination with the cornett to evoke the stile antico in some of his many cantatas and Handel used it in the Dead March from Saul, Samson, and Israel in Egypt, all of which were examples of a new oratorio style, popular during the early 18th century.

Classical period[link]

The use of the trombone in this period was mostly limited to Austria.

The repertoire of trombone solo and chamber literature has its beginnings in Austria in the Classical Era where composers such as Leopold Mozart, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Johann Albrechtsberger and Johann Ernst Eberlin were featuring the instrument, often in partnership with a voice.

Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used the trombones in a number of their sacred works, including two extended duets with voice from Mozart, the best known being in the Tuba Mirum of his Requiem. Mozart also used trombones in several of his operas. The inspiration for many of these works is thought due to the virtuosic players in the courts at Vienna and Salzburg, including Thomas Gschladt and several members of a family named Christian.

The trombone retained its traditional associations with the opera house and the Church during the 18th century and was usually employed in the usual alto/tenor/bass trio to support the lower voices of the chorus, though Viennese court orchestra Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux rejected an application from a bass trombonist in 1726 and restricted the use of trombones to alto and tenor only, which remained the case almost until the turn of the 19th century in Vienna, after which time a second tenor trombone was added when necessary.

The construction of the trombone changed relatively little between the Baroque period and Classical period with the most obvious feature being the slightly more flared bell than was previously the custom.

The first use of the trombone in a symphony was in 1807 in the Symphony in E♭ by the Swedish composer Joachim Nicolas Eggert 1, although the composer usually credited with its introduction into the symphony orchestra was Ludwig van Beethoven, who used it in the last movement of his Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1808). Beethoven also used trombones in his Symphony No. 6 in F major ("Pastoral") and Symphony No. 9 ("Choral").

Romantic period[link]

19th-century orchestras[link]

Many composers were directly influenced by Beethoven's use of trombones, and the 19th century saw the trombones become fully integrated in the orchestra, particularly by the 1840s, as composers such as Franz Schubert, Franz Berwald, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin, Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Charles Gounod, César Franck, Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns and many others included trombones in their operas, symphonies and other orchestral compositions.

The 19th century also saw the erosion of the traditional alto/tenor/bass trombone trio in the orchestra. While the alto/tenor/bass trombone trio had been paired with one or two cornetts during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods, the disappearance of the cornett as a partner and eventual replacement by oboe and clarinet did not fundamentally alter the raison d'être for the trombones, which was to support the alto, tenor and bass voices of the chorus (typically in an ecclesiastical setting), whose harmonic moving lines were more difficult to pick out than the melodic soprano line. The introduction of the trombones into the orchestra, however, allied them more closely with the trumpets and it did not take long for tenor trombones to replace the alto and bass trombones, though the Germans and Austrians held on to the alto trombone and F or E♭ bass trombone somewhat longer than the French, who came to prefer a section of three tenor trombones until after the Second World War.

By the time the trombone gained a footing in the orchestra and opera, trombonists were no longer usually employed by a cathedral or court orchestra, and so were expected to provide their own instrument. Military musicians were provided with instruments, and instruments like the long F or E♭ bass trombone remained in military use until around the First World War. However, orchestral musicians adopted the trombone version with the widest range that they could easily apply to any of the three trombone parts that typically appeared in scores—the tenor trombone. The appearance of valve trombones in the mid-19th century did little to alter the make-up of the orchestral trombone section—and though it remained popular almost entirely to the exclusion of the slide instrument in countries such as Italy and Bohemia, the valve trombone was ousted from orchestras in Germany and France. The valve trombone retained popularity in Italy and Bohemia, and composers such as Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Bedřich Smetana, and Antonín Dvořák scored for a valve trombone section.

Especially with the ophicleide, or later the tuba subjoined to the trombone trio during the 19th century, parts scored for the bass trombone rarely descended as low as parts scored before the addition of either of these new low brass instruments. Only in the early 20th century did it regain a degree of independence. Experiments with different constitutions of the trombone section during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Richard Wagner's addition of a contrabass trombone in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Gustav Mahler's and Richard Strauss' occasional augmentation by adding a second bass trombone to the usual trio of two tenor trombones and one bass trombone, have not had any lasting effect; the majority of orchestral works are still scored for the usual mid- to late-19th-century low brass section of two tenor trombones, one bass trombone and one tuba.

19th-century wind bands[link]

Trombones have been a part of the large wind band since its inception as an ensemble during the French Revolution of 1791. Over the course of the 19th century, various wind band traditions were established in Europe and the United States, including military bands, brass bands (primarily in the UK), town bands (primarily in the United States), and circus bands. Some of these groups, especially military bands in Europe, made use of rear-facing trombones, where the bell section pointed behind the player's left shoulder.

These different wind bands all played a limited repertoire with few original compositions that consisted mainly of orchestral transcriptions, arrangements of popular and patriotic tunes, and feature pieces for soloists (usually cornetists, singers, and violinists). A notable work originally for wind band is Hector Berlioz's 1840 Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, which uses a trombone solo for the entire second movement.

Toward the end of the 19th century, trombone virtuosi began appearing as soloists in American wind bands. The most notable was Arthur Pryor, who played with the Sousa Band and later formed his own.

19th-century pedagogy[link]

In the Romantic era, Leipzig became a centre of trombone pedagogy. The trombone began to be taught at the new Musikhochschule founded by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Later, the Paris Conservatory and its yearly concours would also contribute to trombone education. At the Leipzig academy, Mendelssohn's bass trombonist, Karl Traugott Queisser, was the first in a long line of distinguished professors of trombone. Several composers penned works for Quiesser, including Ferdinand David (Mendelssohn's concertmaster) who wrote in 1837 the Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra, Ernst Sachse and Friedrich August Belcke, whose solo works all remain popular today in Germany. Queisser almost single-handedly helped to reestablish the reputation of the trombone in Germany and began a tradition in trombone playing that is still practised there today. He championed and popularised Christian Friedrich Sattler's new tenorbass trombone during the 1840s, leading to its widespread use in orchestras throughout Germany and Austria.

19th-century construction[link]

Sattler had a great influence on trombone design. He introduced a significant widening of the bore (the most important since the Renaissance), the innovations of Schlangenverzierungen (snake decorations), the bell garland, and the wide bell flare—features still found on German-made trombones today that were widely copied during the 19th century.

The trombone was further improved in the 19th century with the addition of "stockings" at the end of the inner slide to reduce friction, the development of the water key to expel condensation from the horn, and the occasional addition of a valve to increase the range of the tenor and bass trombones. Additionally, the valve trombone came around shortly after the invention of valves in the 1830s, and was in common use in Italy and Austria in the second half of the century.

Twentieth century[link]

20th-century orchestras[link]

In the 20th century the trombone maintained its important place in the orchestra with prominent parts in works by Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, Ottorino Respighi, Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, William Walton, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, Leoš Janáček, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and Béla Bartók.

With the rise of recorded music and music schools in the 20th century, orchestral trombone sections around the world began to have a more consistent idea of a standard trombone sound. British orchestras abandoned the use of small bore tenors and G basses in favor of an American/German approach of large bore tenors and B♭ basses in the 1940s. French orchestras did the same in the 1960s.

20th-century wind bands[link]

During the first half of the century, touring and community concert bands lost their popularity in the United States and greatly reduced in number. However, with the development of music education in the public school system, high school and university marching bands and concert bands became ubiquitous in the US.

A typical concert band trombone section consists of three tenor trombones and one bass trombone, but using multiple players per part is common practice, especially in public school settings.

20th-century solo and chamber music[link]

In the second half of the century, new composers began giving back to the trombone a level of importance in solo and chamber music. Pieces such as Edgard Varèse's Octandre, Paul Hindemith's Sonata, Charles Wuorinen's Trombone Trio and Luciano Berio's Sequenza V led the way for lesser-known composers to build a wider repertoire. Popular choices for recital music today include Stjepan Sulek's Vox Gabrieli, Jacques Casterède's Sonatine and Jean Michel Defaye's Deux Danses. Some well known trombone concertos from this period include works by Derek Bourgeois, Lars-Erik Larsson, Launy Grøndahl, Nino Rota, Christopher Rouse and Henri Tomasi. Jan Sandström composed two concertos to be performed by Christian Lindberg, his Trombone Concerto No. 1 (1990) is called Motorbike Odyssey or Motorbike Concerto.

Popular music[link]

Despite the public's waning interest in classical, then jazz music, the trombone has remained a relevant instrument, though not always a prominent one. Nearly all flavors of jazz have used one or more trombones throughout the century. Originating in the Caribbean, salsa and ska music almost always incorporates a horn section including trombones. Rock bands with horn sections are relatively less common, but make for a distinctive sound in groups such as Chicago; Blood, Sweat & Tears; and Tower of Power. In the 1970s and 1980s, groups in the New Orleans brass band tradition began adding elements of funk, hip hop, and bop to their repertoires, but kept the instrumentation of sousaphone, trombones, and trumpets.

20th-century construction[link]

Numerous changes in construction have occurred during the 20th century, including the use of different materials, increases in mouthpiece, bore and bell dimensions, new valve types and different mute types. The use of computer modeling in trombone manufacturing has allowed for better sonic construction and more consistency between individually produced instruments of the same model.

Contemporary use[link]

Today, the trombone can be found in wind ensembles/concert bands, symphony orchestras, marching bands, military bands, brass bands, and brass choirs. In chamber music, it is used in brass quintets, quartets, or trios, or trombone trios, quartets, or choirs. The size of a trombone choir can vary greatly from five or six to twenty or more members.

Trombones are also common in swing, jazz, merengue, salsa (Jimmy Bosch, Luis Bonilla, and Willie Colón serving as three prominent examples), rock (prominent examples: Bill Reichenbach and James Pankow), R&B, ska (prominent example: Don Drummond), and New Orleans brass bands (prominent example: Trombone Shorty).

Types[link]

The most frequently encountered trombones today are the tenor and bass, though as with many other Renaissance instruments, the trombone has been built in sizes from piccolo to contrabass.

Trombones are usually constructed with a slide that is used to change the pitch. Valve trombones use three valves (singly or in combination) instead of the slide. The valves follow the same schema as other valved instruments-the first valve lowers the pitch by 1 step, the second valve by 1/2 step, and the third valve by 1-1/2 steps.

Some slide trombones have one or (less frequently) two rotary valves operated by a left-hand thumb trigger. The single rotary valve is part of the F attachment, which adds a length of tubing to lower the instrument's fundamental pitch from B♭ to F. Some bass trombones have a second trigger with a different length of tubing. The second trigger facilitates playing the otherwise problematic low B.

Technique[link]

Trombone slide position "pedal tones".^[5]

The pedal tone on B♭ is frequently seen in commercial scoring but much less often in symphonic music while notes below that are called for only rarely as they, "become increasingly difficult to produce and insecure in quality" with A♭ or G being the bottom limit for most trombonists.^[5]

Trombone first position harmonic series, "where additional overtones may be used to stretch the upper range a bit higher."^[5]

As with all brass instruments, progressive tightening of the lips and increased air pressure allow the player to move to a different partial in the harmonic series. In the first or closed position on a B♭ trombone, the notes in the harmonic series begin with B♭2 (one octave higher than the pedal B♭1), F3 (a perfect fifth higher than the previous partial), B♭3 (a perfect fourth higher), D4 (a major third higher), F4 (a minor third higher), A♭4 (a minor third higher than the previous partial; this tone (the "seventh partial (sixth overtone)") is always 31 cents, about one sixth of a tone, flat of the twelve-tone equal temperament minor seventh, "however it can be brought into tune by an adjustment of the slide,"^[5] it may be avoided and played in an alternate position, though it has been the practice in Germany and Austria to play the note in position, see harmonic seventh and just intonation), B♭4 (a major second higher), C5 (a major second higher), D5 (a major second higher), E♭ (a minor second higher, but almost exactly a quarter tone higher than it would be in twelve-tone equal temperament), F5 (a major second higher). Very skilled players with a highly developed facial musculature can go even higher than this, to G5, A♭5, B♭5 and beyond.

In the lower range, significant movement of the slide is required between positions, which becomes more exaggerated on lower pitched trombones, but for higher notes the player need only use the first four positions of the slide since the partials are closer together, allowing higher notes in alternate positions. As an example, F4 (at the bottom of the treble clef) may be played in first, fourth or sixth position on a B♭ trombone. The note E1 (or the lowest E on a standard 88-key piano keyboard) is the lowest attainable note on a 9' B♭ tenor trombone, requiring a full 2.24 m of tubing. On trombones without an F attachment, there is a gap between B♭1 (the fundamental in first position) and E2 (the first harmonic in seventh position). Skilled players can produce "falset" notes between these, but the sound is relatively weak and not usually used in performance.

Trombone seventh position harmonic series.^[5]

Joseph Fröhlich, in 1811, described the modern system of seven chromatic slide positions rather than four diatonic ones, and a tenor trombone in B♭ rather than A.^[6] For ease of comparison (for example, in the old system contemporary 1st-position was considered "drawn past" then current 1st), the following chart may be helpful:^[6]

Glissando[link]

The trombone is one of the few wind instruments that can produce a true glissando, by moving the slide without interrupting the airflow. During a trombone glissando, the slide direction must not change or the sound breaks. Every pitch in a glissando must have the same harmonic number, and a tritone is the largest interval that can be performed as a glissando.^[7]

File:Trombone false glissando Berg Wozzeck.png

'False' glissandi in Act I, bar 269 of Alban Berg's Wozzeck.^[8]  play (help·info)

'Harmonic', 'inverted', 'broken' or 'false' glissandos are those that cross one or more harmonic series, requiring a simulated or faked glissando effect.^[8]

Trills[link]

Trills, though effortless with valves, are difficult on the slide trombone and are easiest between a second or third found on the same or between adjacent harmonic series and most convincing above the first octave and a half of the tenor's range.^[9]

Notation[link]

Unlike most other brass instruments in an orchestral setting, the trombone is not usually considered a transposing instrument. Prior to the invention of valve systems, most brass instruments were limited to playing one overtone series at a time; altering the pitch of the instrument required manually replacing a section of tubing (called a "crook") or picking up an instrument of different length. Their parts were transposed according to which crook or length-of-instrument they used at any given time, so that a particular note on the staff always corresponded to a particular partial on the instrument. Trombones, on the other hand, have used slides since their inception. As such, they have always been fully chromatic, so no such tradition took hold, and trombone parts have always been notated at concert pitch (with one exception, discussed below). Also, it was quite common for trombones to double choir parts; reading in concert pitch meant there was no need for dedicated trombone parts.

Trombone parts are typically notated in bass clef, though sometimes also written in tenor clef or alto clef. The use of alto clef is usually confined to orchestral first trombone parts intended for the alto trombone, with the second (tenor) trombone part written in tenor clef and the third (bass) part in bass clef. As the alto trombone declined in popularity during the 19th century, this practice was gradually abandoned and first trombone parts came to be notated in the tenor or bass clef. Some Russian and Eastern European composers wrote first and second tenor trombone parts on one alto clef staff (the German Robert Schumann was the first to do this). Examples of this practice are evident in scores by Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich. Trombone parts may contain both bass and tenor clef or bass and alto clef sections.

An accomplished performer today is expected to be proficient in reading parts notated in bass clef, tenor clef, alto clef, and (more rarely) treble clef in C, with the British brass band performer expected to handle treble clef in B♭ as well.

Brass bands[link]

In brass band music, the tenor trombone is treated as a transposing instrument in B♭ and reads the treble clef (while the bass trombone uses the bass clef in concert pitch, as in orchestral music). This puts the notes in exactly the same staff position as they would be if the music were written in a (non-transposing) tenor clef, although the key signature and some accidentals must be adjusted. This is no mere coincidence, for brass bands used to employ a section of alto, tenor and bass trombones in the early to mid-19th century, later replacing the alto with a tenor trombone, all the while notated in the corresponding clefs. Eventually, in the early 20th century, musicians decided to replace the tenor clef with the transposing B♭ treble clef to aid new starters to integrate more quickly and effectively into the brass band—though the bass trombone, then in G, remained notated in concert pitch bass clef. (Company bands used B♭ and E♭ treble clef notation for many instruments in the band to allow players to more easily switch instruments when personnel changed.)

Mutes[link]

A variety of mutes can be used with the trombone to alter its timbre. Many are held in place with the use of cork grips, including the straight, cup, harmon and pixie mutes. Some fit over the bell, like the bucket mute. In addition to this, mutes can be held in front of the bell and moved to cover more or less area for a wah-wah effect. Mutes used in this way include the "hat" (a metal mute shaped like a bowler) and plunger (which looks like, and often is, the rubber suction cup from a sink or toilet plunger), a sound featured as the voices of adults in the Peanuts cartoons.

Variations in construction[link]

Bells[link]

Trombone bells (and sometimes slides) may be constructed of different brass mixtures. Some believe that materials affect tone quality and timbre. The most common material is yellow brass (70% copper, 30% zinc), but other materials include rose brass (85% copper, 15% zinc) and red brass (90% copper, 10% zinc). Some manufacturers offer interchangeable bells. Tenor trombone bells are usually between 7 and 9 inches in diameter, the most common being sizes from 7½ to 8½ inches. The smallest sizes are found in small jazz trombones and older narrow-bore instruments, while the larger sizes are common in orchestral models. Bass trombone bells can be as large as 10½" or more, though usually either 9½ in or 10 in diameter. The bell may be constructed out of two separate brass sheets or out of one single piece of metal and hammered on a mandrel until the part is shaped correctly. The edge of the bell may be finished with or without a piece of bell wire to secure it, which also affects the tone quality; most bells are built with bell wire. Occasionally, trombone bells are made from solid sterling silver.

Valve attachments[link]

Valves[link]

A valve trombone

Some trombones have valves instead of a slide (see valve trombone). These may be rotary valves, piston valves, or disc valves. Disc valves are modern versions of a valve invented in the 1820s that was discarded in favour of the rotary and the Périnet (piston) valve.

Tubing[link]

More often than not, tenor trombones with an F attachment, or trigger, have a larger bore through the attachment than through the 'straight' section (the portion of the trombone through which the air flows when the attachment is not engaged). Typically, for orchestral instruments, the slide bore is 0.547" and the attachment tubing bore is 0.562". A wide variety of valve attachments and combinations are available. Valve attachment tubing usually incorporates a small tuning slide so that the attachment tubing can be tuned separately from the rest of the instrument. Most B♭/F tenor and bass trombones include a tuning slide long enough to lower the pitch to E with the valve tubing engaged, enabling the production of B2. Whereas older instruments fitted with valve attachments usually had the tubing coiled rather tightly in the bell section (closed wrap or traditional wrap), modern instruments usually have the tubing kept as free as possible of tight bends in the tubing (open wrap), resulting in a freer response with the valve attachment tubing engaged.

Tuning[link]

Some trombones are tuned through a mechanism in the slide section rather than via a separate tuning slide in the bell section. This method preserves a smoother expansion from the start of the bell section to the bell flare. The tuning slide in the bell section requires two portions of cylindrical tubing in an otherwise conical part of the instrument, which affects the tone quality.

Slides[link]

Common and popular bore sizes for trombone slides are 0.500", 0.508", 0.525" and 0.547" for tenor trombones, and 0.562" for bass trombones. The slide may also be built with a dual bore configuration, in which the bore of the second leg of the slide is slightly larger than the bore of the first leg, producing a step-wise conical effect. The most common dual bore combinations are 0.481"-0.491", 0.500"-0.508", 0.508"-0.525", 0.525"-0.547", 0.547"-0.562" for tenor trombones, and 0.562"-0.578" for bass trombones.

Mouthpiece[link]

The mouthpiece is a separate part of the trombone and can be interchanged with similarly sized trombones from different manufacturers. Available mouthpieces for trombone (as with all brass instruments) vary in material composition, length, diameter, rim shape, cup depth, throat entrance, venturi aperture, venturi profile, outside design and other factors. Variations in mouthpiece construction affect the individual player's ability to make a lip seal and produce a reliable tone, the timbre of that tone, its volume, the player's subjective level of comfort, and the instrument's playability in a given pitch range.

Mouthpiece selection is a highly personal decision. Thus, a symphonic trombonist might prefer a mouthpiece with a deeper cup and sharper inner rim shape in order to produce a rich symphonic tone quality, while a jazz trombonist might choose a shallower cup for brighter tone and easier production of higher notes. Further, for certain compositions, these choices between two such performers could easily be reversed.

Regional variations[link]

Germany and Austria[link]

German trombones have been built in a wide variety of bore and bell sizes. The traditional German Konzertposaune can differ substantially from American designs in many aspects. The mouthpiece is typically rather small and is placed into a slide section with a very long leadpipe of at least 12"-24". The whole instrument is often made of gold brass, and its sound is usually rather dull compared with British, French or American designs. While their bore sizes were considered large in the 19th century, German trombones have altered very little over the last 150 years and are now typically somewhat smaller than their American counterparts. Bell sizes remain very large in all sizes of German trombone and a bass trombone bell may exceed 10" in diameter. Valve attachments in tenor and bass trombones were traditionally engaged via a thumb-operated rotary valve, using a leather thong rather than a metal lever. While older models with this feature are still found, modern variants use the metal lever. As with other German and Austrian brass instruments, rotary valves are used to the exclusion of almost all other types of valve, even in valve trombones. Other features often found on German trombones include long water keys and snake decorations on the slide and bell U-bows.

Most trombones played in Germany today, especially by amateurs, are built in the American fashion, as those are much more widely available and thus far cheaper.

France[link]

French trombones were built in the very smallest bore sizes up to the end of the Second World War and whilst other sizes were made there, the French usually preferred the tenor trombone to any other size. French music, therefore, usually employed a section of three tenor trombones up to the mid-20th century. Tenor trombones produced in France during the 19th and early 20th centuries featured bore sizes of around 0.450", small bells of not more than 6" in diameter, as well as a funnel-shaped mouthpiece slightly larger than that of the cornet or horn. French tenor trombones were built in both C and B♭, altos in D♭, sopranos in F, piccolos in high B♭, basses in G and E♭, contrabasses in B♭.

Didactics[link]

In recent years, several makers have begun to market compact B♭/C trombones that are especially well suited for young children learning to play the trombone who cannot reach the outer slide positions of full-length instruments. The fundamental note of the unenhanced length is C, but the short valved attachment that puts the instrument in B♭ is open when the trigger is not depressed. While such instruments have no seventh slide position, C and B natural may be comfortably accessed on the first and second positions by using the trigger. A similar design ("Preacher model") was marketed by C.G. Conn in the 1920s, also under the Wurlitzer label. Currently, B♭/C trombones are available from many manufacturers, including German makers Günter Frost, Thein and Helmut Voigt, as well as the Yamaha Corporation.^[10]

Manufacturers[link]

Trombones in slide and valve configuration have been made by a vast array of musical instrument manufacturers. For the brass bands of the late 19th and early 20th century, prominent American manufacturers included Graves and Sons, E.G. Wright and Company, The Boston Musical Instrument Company, E.A. Couturier Co., Ltd., H.N. White Company, J.W. York, and C.G. Conn, Ltd.. In the 20th century, leading manufacturers of trombones included F.E. Olds, Vincent Bach, King Musical Instruments, Conn, F.A. Reynolds, Yamaha Musical Instruments, and recently Jupiter Band Instruments.

See also[link]

• Aequale
• Shout band
• Trombetto

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Adey, Christopher (1998). Orchestral Performance. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-17724-7. 
• Baines, Anthony (1980). Brass Instruments: Their History and Development. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-11571-3. 
• Bate, Philip (1978). The Trumpet and Trombone. London: Ernest Benn. ISBN 0-510-36413-6. 
• Blatter, Alfred (1997). Instrumentation and Orchestration. Belmont: Schirmer. ISBN 0-534-25187-0. 
• Herbert, Trevor and Wallace, John, ed. (1997). The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56522-7. 
• Del Mar, Norman (1983). Anatomy of the Orchestra. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-520-05062-2. 
• Bluhme, Friedrich, ed. (1962). Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Kassel: Bärenreiter. 
• Lavignac, Albert, ed. (1927). Encyclopédie de la musique et Dictionnaire du Conservatoire. Paris: Delagrave. 
• Gregory, Robin (1973). The Trombone: The Instrument and its Music. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-08816-3. 
• Herbert, Trevor (2006). The Trombone. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10095-7. 
• Kunitz, Hans (1959). Die Instrumentation: Teil 8 Posaune. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7330-0009-9. 
• Maxted, George (1970). Talking about the Trombone. London: John Baker. ISBN 0-212-98360-1. 
• Montagu, Jeremy (1979). The World of Baroque & Classical Musical Instruments. New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-089-7. 
• Montagu, Jeremy (1976). The World of Medieval & Renaissance Musical Instruments. New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-045-5. 
• Montagu, Jeremy (1981). The World of Romantic & Modern Musical Instruments. London: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7994-1. 
• Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John, ed. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-19-517067-9. 
• Wick, Denis (1984). Trombone Technique. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-322378-3. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trombones

Look up trombone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Trombone.

• Trombone History Timeline by Will Kimball Associate Professor of Trombone at Brigham Young University
• International Trombone Association
• Online Trombone Journal
• Sources for the Prescribed Sheet Music for the ABRSM practical exams
• Acoustics of Brass Instruments from Music Acoustics at the University of New South Wales.
• cdstrombone.com " Discs of trombone"
• About the Trombone from classicol.com
• NPR story about trombone bands (2003)
• Two Frequencies Trombone

Slide Positions[link]

• Antonio J. García. (1997). "Choosing Alternate Positions for Bebop Lines", GarciaMusic.com.

Troy Andrews may refer to:

• Troy Andrews (basketball), Australian basketball player
• Trombone Shorty (born 1986), musician

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Urbie Green
Jazzmen George Morrow and Urbie Green at the Village Jazz Lounge in Walt Disney World (photo by Laura Kolb)
Background information
Birth name	Urban Clifford Green
Also known as	Urbie Green
Born	(1926-08-08) August 8, 1926 (age 85)
Origin	Mobile, Alabama, United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Trombone
Labels	Vanguard, Bethlehem, Paramount, Command, Project 3
Associated acts	Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Jan Savitt, Frankie Carle, many others

Urban Clifford "Urbie" Green (born August 8, 1926) is an American jazz trombonist who toured with Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Jan Savitt, and Frankie Carle.^[1]

He has played on over 250 recordings and has released more than two dozen albums as a soloist and is highly respected by his fellow trombonists. Green's trombone sound is especially noted for its warm, mellow tone, even in the higher registers where he is more fluent than most trombonists. His technique is considered flawless by many in the music industry and has appeared in major jazz festivals, motion pictures, concert halls, nightclubs, radio, television and the White House. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995.

Early years and influences[link]

Born in Mobile, Alabama, Green was taught the piano as a child by his mother, jazz and popular tunes from the beginning. He picked up the trombone, which both older brothers played, when he was about 12. Although he listened to such trombone greats as Tommy Dorsey, J. C. Higginbotham, Jack Jenney, Jack Teagarden and Trummy Young he has said that he was more influenced by the styles of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. Urbie's trombone style was also influenced by vocalists such as Perry Como, and the vocal style of Louis Armstrong.

Green's father died when he was 15 and Urbie went straight into professional music, first joining the Tommy Reynolds Band in California before moving on to stints with Bob Strong, Jan Savitt, and Frankie Carle. Green also played with The Auburn Knights Orchestra, a college big band based in Auburn, Alabama while attending Auburn High School.^[2]

Professional career[link]

In 1947, Green joined Gene Krupa's band and quickly moved up to Woody Herman's third "Thundering Herd" Big Band in 1950 to play with his brother, Jack. His soaring ballad style was featured on such soloes as Hoagy Carmichael's "Skylark," and provided a contrast to Herman's previous First Herd rough-and-ready trombone star, Bill Harris (musician). In 1953 he moved to New York City, quickly establishing himself as the premier trombonist in the booming recording industry and in 1954 he was voted the "New Star" trombonist in the International Critics Poll from Down Beat magazine. His style was not as blues-influenced as others, in that he was among the few players who commanded the high tessitura favored by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Jack Jenney with an agility that was not shown by these previous trombonists in their recordings. Some of his soloes provided the highlights on one-hit wonder albums from Verve Records, such as that of organist Walter Wanderly, as well as established artists like Herbie Mann.

He was voted "Most Valuable Player" several times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.^{[citation needed]} He recorded with virtually all of the major jazz musicians of the 1950s and 1960s and led his own groups while also joining tours as a featured performer, including a three-month tour leading the Benny Goodman Orchestra and fronting the Tommy Dorsey orchestra after Dorsey's death in 1956.

He collaborated with innovative producer Enoch Light for the Command and Project 3 labels, producing what are probably his most notable recordings, such as the two-volume sets The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green and 21 Trombones.

In the 1970s Green began making innovations with his instrument. He designed a signature mouthpiece for Jet Tone and collaborated with Martin Brass on practical improvements to trombone design, including modifications of the hand brace and slide, water valve, and finish. Urbie also began experimenting with the "Green Monster", a King trombone using a King Vox Amp pickup in the mouthpiece connected to an octave doubler and reverb unit. Some of his best recordings of the 70s were with Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, Dick Hyman, Maynard Ferguson and Doc Severinsen. After the very productive Enoch Light years, Green's style changed slightly. His recordings under the CTI label contained much more music by Urbie's band and fewer solos by Urbie.^{[citation needed]}

The 1980s and beyond saw a slowing down of Urbie Green's recording career. Both albums recorded by him during this period are live, straight jazz works; Just Friends, and Sea Jam Blues.

Personal life[link]

He now spends most of his time with his second wife Kathy, a jazz singer, at their home in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania. The couple have two children, Jesse and Casey. Jesse is a jazz pianist and lives nearby, while Casey is a director/editor in Los Angeles, California. Urbie's first wife was Darlein Dietz and they had two children, Urban Clifford Green and James Preston Green. Urban has a daughter, Gretchen Alexandra Pöelker-Green, and lives in Sea Cliff, Long Island. James lives in Tallahasse, Florida, and has a son named Vincent.

In 1995 he was elected into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Urbie Green still plays live at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Festival every September, just miles down the road from his home.

Discography[link]

As Leader[link]

• 1953 New Faces, New Sounds (Blue Note)
• 1954 Urbie Green Septet (Blue Note)
• 1955 Blues and Other Shades of Green (Blue Note)
• 1955 The Melodic Tones of Urbie Green (Bethlehem)
• 1955 East Coast Jazz, Volume 6 (Bethlehem)
• 1955 The Lyrical Language of Urbie Green (Bethlehem)
• 1955 The Melodic Tones of Urbie Green (Vanguard)
• 1955 Urbie Green and His Band (Vanguard)
• 1955 Blues and Other Shades of Green (Paramount)
• 1956 All About Urbie Green (Paramount)
• 1957 Urbie Green Octet / Slidin' Swing (Jazztone)
• 1957 Let's Face the Music and Dance (RCA)
• 1958 Best of New Broadway Show Hits (RCA)
• 1960 The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green (Command)
• 1961 The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green Volume 2 (Command)
• 1963 Urbie Green and His 6-Tet. (Command)
• 1967 21 Trombones (Project 3)
• 1967 21 Trombones Volume 2 (Project 3)
• 1971 Green Power (Project 3)
• 1972 Bein' Green (Project 3)
• 1973 Old Time Modern (RCA) (recorded in 1954)
• 1974 Urbie Green's Big Beautiful Band (Project 3)
• 1976 The Fox (CTI)
• 1977 Señor Blues (CTI)
• 1978 Live at Rick's Cafe American (Flying Fish)
• 1981 Just Friends (E.J.)
• 1995 Sea Jam Blues (Chiaroscuro)

As sideman[link]

With Manny Albam

• Jazz Goes to the Movies (Impulse!, 1963)

With The Count Basie Orchestra

• Ella and Basie! (Verve, 1963)
• Basie Land (Verve, 1964)

With Paul Desmond

• Summertime (A&M/CTI, 1968)

With Bill Evans

• Symbiosis (MPS, 1974)

With Gil Evans

• Into the Hot (Impulse!, 1961)

With Aretha Franklin

• Soul '69 (Atlantic, 1969)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Gillespiana (Verve, 1960)
• Perceptions (Verve, 1961)

With Coleman Hawkins

• Wrapped Tight (Impulse!, 1965)

With Billy Holiday

• Lady in Satin (Columbia, 1958)

With Bobby Hutcherson

• Conception: The Gift of Love (Columbia, 1979)

With Milt Jackson

• Ray Brown / Milt Jackson with Ray Brown (Verve, 1965)

With Antonio Carlos Jobim

• Wave (CTI, 1967)

With Blue Mitchell

• Smooth as the Wind (Riverside, 1961)

With Wes Montgomery

• Movin' Wes (Verve, 1964)

With Mark Murphy

• Rah! (Riverside, 1961)

With Oliver Nelson

• The Spirit of '67 with Pee Wee Russell (Impulse!, 1967)

With Chico O'Farrill

• Nine Flags (Impulse!, 1966)

With Henri Rene

• Compulsion to Swing (RCA Victor, 1959)

With Lalo Schifrin

• New Fantasy (Verve, 1964)
• Towering Toccata (CTI, 1976)

With Shirley Scott

• Great Scott!! (Impulse!, 1964)

With Frank Sinatra

• L.A. Is My Lady (Qwest, 1984)

With Jimmy Smith

• Bashin': The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith (Verve, 1962)
• The Cat (Verve, 1964)

With Dinah Washington

• The Swingin' Miss "D" (EmArcy, 1956)

With Steve Lawrence

• Swingin' West

References[link]

External links[link]

• - Official Web Site
• Urbie Green at the Trombone Page of the World
• A Tribute to Urbie Green
• Biography at Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
• Biography at WindSong Press
• Profile at Verve Music
• Official website of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame

• Urbie Green at the Internet Movie Database

Marshall Gilkes (born September 30, 1978) is an American jazz trombonist and composer.

Biography[link]

Marshall Gilkes was born in Camp Springs, Maryland to a musical family; his mother was a classical vocalist and pianist and his father was a conductor of the Air Force Academy Band. Due to his father's military profession, Gilkes had a rather itinerant upbringing in Washington, D.C., New Hampshire, New Jersey, Alabama, Illinois, and Colorado.

Gilkes received his early musical training at the Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Northern Colorado, and William Patterson University. He holds a bachelor's of music degree from the Juilliard School. His teachers include Joseph Alessi, Conrad Herwig, Bud Baker, Ed Neumeister, and Wycliffe Gordon.

In 2003, Marshall Gilkes was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition.^[1]

Gilkes currently plays in the Maria Schneider Orchestra^[2] and David Berger's Sultans of Swing. He is also a member of the internationally acclaimed Edmar Castañeda Trio. His performance experience encompasses a wide range of musical styles; he has performed with the Village Vanguard Orchestra,^[2] Duke Ellington Orchestra, Stanley Turrentine, and Benny Golson. In the Latin music community, he's performed with Machito,^[2] Giovanni Hidalgo, Chico O’Farrell, Tito Nieves, Big 3 Palladium Orchestra, Raulin Rosendo, Ray Sepulveda, Eddie Santiago, José Alberto, and Iroko La Banda. Additionally, he played in the 2000-2001 National and Japanese tours of the Broadway show "Swing!."

Gilkes has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, and South America. Previous performance engagements include the Umbria Jazz Festival, Vienna Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival, Telluride Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center, Tokyo's Orchard Hall, and the Moscow Conservatory. In March 2008, Gilkes was invited to perform with legendary jazz drummer Billy Cobham and the Adelaide Philharmonic at the Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts in Australia. He was a guest performer at the International Trombone Festival May 28–31, 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

With the exception of one track, Marshall Gilkes composed all new original material for his 2004 record, "Edenderry." The album received excellent reviews from, among others, Jazz Times, All About Jazz,^[1] and the Trombone Journal.

Discography[link]

• Edenderry (2004)
• John Fedchock New York Big Band "Up and Running" (2007)
• Ryan Keberle "Double Quartet" (2007)
• Maria Schneider "Sky Blue" (2007)
• Edmar Castaneda "Cuarto de Colores" (2005)
• David Berger & the Sultans of Swing "Marlowe" (2004)
• The Big 3 Palladium Orchestra "Live at the Blue Note" (2004)
• Lost Words (2008)^[3]
• [[Sound Stories]] (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• "Edenderry" by Michael P. Gladstone, www.allaboutjazz.com.
• "Edenderry" - Reviews at CD Baby
• "Profiles in Greatness"
• "My Podcast Debut" by Laura Palotie, Peeking through the curtain.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011)

Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk and Norma Zimmer, 1961.
Born	(1903-03-11)March 11, 1903 Strasburg, North Dakota
Died	May 17, 1992(1992-05-17) (aged 89) Santa Monica, California
Occupation	Musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Fern Renner (m.1931-1992; his death)
Children	Shirley Welk, Donna Welk, Lawrence "Larry" Welk, Jr.
Website
Welk Musical Family

Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music".

In 1996, Welk was ranked #43 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.^[1]

Early life[link]

Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota. He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana (Schwahn) Welk, ethnic Germans who emigrated to America in 1892 from Selz, Kutschurgan District, in the German-speaking area north of Odessa (now Odessa, Ukraine, but then in southwestern Russia).

The family lived on a homestead that today is a tourist attraction. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year under an upturned wagon covered in sod.^{[citation needed]}

Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion for $400 (equivalent to $4,641 as of 2012)^[2][3]. He promised his father that he would work on the farm until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Any money he made elsewhere during that time, doing farmwork or performing, would go to his family.

A common misconception is that Welk did not learn English until he was 21. In fact, he began learning English as soon as he started school. The part of North Dakota where he lived had been settled largely by Germans from Russia; even his teachers spoke English as a second language. Welk thus acquired his trademark accent, a combination of the Russian and German accents. He took elocution lessons in the 1950s and could speak almost accent-free, but he realized his public expected to hear him say: "A-one, an-a-two" and "Wunnerful, Wunnerful!" When he was asked about his ancestry, he would always reply "Alsace-Lorraine, Germany," from where his forebears had emigrated to Russia (and which, at the time of Welk's birth in 1903, had become part of the German Empire).

Early career[link]

On his 21st birthday, having fulfilled his promise to his father, Welk left the family farm to pursue a career in music, which he loved. During the 1920s, he performed with the Luke Witkowski, Lincoln Boulds, and George T. Kelly bands before starting his own orchestra. He led big bands in North Dakota and eastern South Dakota. These included the Hotsy Totsy Boys and later the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra.^[4] His band was also the station band for popular radio station WNAX in Yankton, South Dakota. In 1927, he graduated from the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[5]

Photo of Welk in Chicago, 1944.

Although many associate Welk's music with a style quite separate from jazz, he did record one notable song in a ragtime style in November 1928 for Indiana-based Gennett Records. "Spiked Beer" featured Welk and his Novelty Orchestra.

During the 1930s, Welk led a traveling big band that specialized in dance tunes and "sweet" music. Initially, the band traveled around the country by car. They were too poor to rent rooms, so they usually slept and changed clothes in their cars. The term "Champagne Music" was derived from an engagement at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, when a dancer referred to his band's sound as "light and bubbly as champagne." The hotel also lays claim to the original "bubble machine," a prop left over from a 1920s movie premiere. Welk described his band's sound, saying "We still play music with the champagne style, which means light and rhythmic. We place the stress on melody; the chords are played pretty much the way the composer wrote them. We play with a steady beat so that dancers can follow it."^[6]

Welk's big band performed across the country but particularly in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. In the early 1940s, the band began a 10-year stint at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago, regularly drawing crowds of nearly 7,000. His orchestra also performed frequently at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City during the late 1940s. In 1944 and 1945, Welk led his orchestra in many motion picture "Soundies," considered to be the early pioneers of music videos.^{[citation needed]} Welk collaborated with Western artist Red Foley to record a version of Spade Cooley's "Shame on You" in 1945. The record (Decca 18698) was #4 to Cooley's #5 on Billboard's September 15 "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing.^[7] From 1949 through 1951, the band had its own national radio program on ABC, sponsored by "The Champagne of Bottle Beer" Miller High Life.

Recordings[link]

In addition to the above mentioned "Spiked Beer", Welk's territory band made occasional trips to Richmond, Indiana and to Grafton, Wisconsin to record a handful of sessions for the Gennett and Paramount companies. In November, 1928, he recorded 4 sides for Gennett spread over two days (1 side was rejected) and in 1931, he recorded 8 sides for Paramount (during two sessions) that were issued on the Broadway and Lyric labels. These records are quite rare and highly valued.

From 1938 to 1940, he recorded frequently in New York and Chicago for the Vocalion label. He signed with Decca in 1941, recorded for Mercury and Coral before moving to Dot in the early 1950s.

[edit] The Lawrence Welk Show

In 1951, Welk settled in Los Angeles. The same year, he began producing The Lawrence Welk Show on KTLA in Los Angeles, where it was broadcast from the Aragon Ballroom in Venice Beach. The show became a local hit and was picked up by ABC in June 1955.

During its first year on the air, the Welk hour instituted several regular features. To make Welk's "Champagne Music" tagline visual, the production crew engineered a "bubble machine" that spouted streams of large soap bubbles across the bandstand. Whenever the orchestra played a polka or waltz, Welk himself would dance with the band's female vocalist, the "Champagne Lady." His first Champagne Lady was Jayne Walton Rosen (real name: Dorothy Jayne Flanagan). Jayne left Welk's show after her marriage and later pregnancy. After Welk and his band went on television, she appeared as a guest on the show, where she sang Latin American songs and favorites that were popular when she was traveling with the Welk band. Novelty numbers would usually be sung by Rocky Rockwell. Welk also reserved one number for himself to solo on his accordion.

Since Welk's show targeted an audience of mature, middle-aged viewers, the band would rarely play tunes from the current charts except strictly as novelty numbers. On December 8, 1956, two examples on the same broadcast were "Nuttin' for Christmas," which became a vehicle for Rocky Rockwell dressed in a child's outfit, and Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel," which was sung by violinist Bob Lido, wearing fake Presley-style sideburns. This stood in comparison to the contemporary American Bandstand, which catered to a youth audience and played new music.

Welk never lost his affection for the jazz numbers he had played in the 1920s, and when a Dixieland tune was scheduled, he enthusiastically led the band.

Befitting the target audience, the type of music on The Lawrence Welk Show was almost always conservative, concentrating on popular music standards, polkas, and novelty songs, delivered in a smooth, calm, good-humored easy listening style and "family-oriented" manner. Although described by one critic as "the squarest music this side of Euclid,"^{[cite this quote]}, this strategy proved commercially successful and the show remained on the air for 31 years.

Much of the show's appeal was Welk himself. His unusual accent appealed to the audience. While Welk's English was passable, he never did grasp the English "idiom" completely and was thus famous for his "Welk-isms," such as "George, I want to see you when you have a minute, right now" and "Now for my accordion solo; Myron, will you join me?" His TV show was recorded as if it were a live performance, and it was sometimes quite free-wheeling. Another famous "Welk-ism" was his trademark count-off, "A one and a two . . . ," which was immortalized on his California automobile license plate that read "A1ANA2." This plate is visible on the front of a Model A Ford in one of the shows from 1980.

Musical satirist Stan Freberg and his frequent collaborator, arranger Billy May, recorded a scathing 1957 parody of the Welk TV show titled "Wun'erful! Wun'erful!" featuring Freberg, voice actor Daws Butler and members of Jud Conlon's Rhythmairs, mocking the show's corny nature, the band's more predictable arrangements and Welk's own mediocre accordion work. Studio musicians on the session included top Hollywood jazz players, many of whom scorned Welk's music and eagerly participated in the parody. After several "performances" and frequent asides from Freberg of "turn off the bubble machine," the machine spun out of control, sending the Aragon Ballroom floating out to sea. Welk was not pleased with Freberg's parody (a hit single that year) and denied he ever used the phrase "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" though it later became the title of his autobiography.

He often took women from the audience for a turn around the dance floor. During one show, Welk brought a cameraman out to dance with one of the women and took over the camera himself.

Welk's musicians were always top quality, including accordionist Myron Floren, concert violinist Dick Kesner, guitarist Buddy Merrill, and New Orleans Dixieland clarinetist Pete Fountain. Though Welk was occasionally rumored to be very tight with a dollar, he paid his regular band members top scale - a very good living for a working musician. Long tenure was very common among the regulars. For example, Floren was the band's assistant conductor throughout the show's run. He was noted for spotlighting individual members of his band and show. His band was well disciplined and had excellent arrangements in all styles.^{[citation needed]} One notable showcase was his album with the noted jazz saxophonist Johnny Hodges.

Welk had a number of instrumental hits, including a cover of the song "Yellow Bird." His highest charting record was "Calcutta", which achieved hit status in 1961.^[8] Welk himself was indifferent to the tune, but his musical director, George Cates, said that if Welk did not wish to record the song, he (Cates) would. Welk replied, "Well, if it's good enough for you, George, I guess it's good enough for me."^{[cite this quote]} Despite the emergence of rock and roll, "Calcutta" reached number 1 on the U.S. pop charts in 1961; it was recorded in only one take.^{[citation needed]} The tune knocked the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" out of the #1 position, and it kept the Miracles' "Shop Around" from becoming the group's first #1 hit, holding their recording at #2. It sold more than one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.^[9] The album "Calcutta" also achieved number-one status. The albums "Last Date," "Yellow Bird," "Moon River," "Young World" and "Baby Elephant Walk and Theme from the Brothers Grimm," produced in the early 60s, were in Billboard's top ten; nine more albums produced between 1956 and 1963 were in the top twenty. His albums continued to chart through 1973.^[8]

Welk's insistence on wholesome entertainment led him to be a somewhat stern taskmaster at times. For example, he fired Alice Lon, at the time the show's "Champagne Lady," because he believed she was showing too much leg.^[10] Welk told the audience that he would not tolerate such "cheesecake" performances on his show; he later tried unsuccessfully to rehire the singer after fan mail indicated overwhelmingly that viewers disagreed with her dismissal. He then had a series of short-term "Champagne Ladies" before Norma Zimmer filled that spot on a permanent basis. Highly involved with his stars' personal lives, he often arbitrated their marriage disputes.^[10]

Despite its staid reputation, The Lawrence Welk Show nonetheless did keep up with the times and never limited itself strictly to big-band era music. During the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, the show incorporated material by the contemporary sources The Beatles, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, The Everly Brothers and Paul Williams and so on, all redone in a format that was digestible to older viewers. Originally produced in black and white, in 1957 the show began being recorded on videotape, and it switched to color for the fall 1965 season. In time, it featured synthesized music and, toward the end of its run, early chroma key technology added a new dimension to the story settings sometimes used for the musical numbers. Welk referred to his blue-screen effect in one episode as "the magic of television."^{[citation needed]}

During its network run, The Lawrence Welk Show aired on ABC on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. (Eastern Time), moving up a half-hour to 8:30 p.m. in the fall of 1963. In fact, Welk headlined two weekly prime-time shows on ABC for three years. From 1956 to 1958, he hosted a show titled Top Tunes and New Talent, which aired on Monday nights. The series moved to Wednesdays in Fall 1958 and was renamed The Plymouth Show, which ended in May 1959. During that time, the Saturday show was also known as The Dodge Dancing Party. ABC dropped the show in 1971 on the grounds that its audience was mostly over the age of 45 and they couldn't advertise products targeted at youth on it. Welk thanked ABC and the sponsors at the end of the last network show. The Lawrence Welk Show continued on as a first-run syndicated show on 250 stations across the country until the final original show was produced in 1982.

Personal life[link]

Welk was married for 61 years, until his death, to Fern Renner (August 26, 1903 - February 13, 2002), with whom he had three children. One of his sons, Lawrence Welk Jr., married fellow Lawrence Welk Show performer Tanya Falan; they later divorced. Welk had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of them, grandson Lawrence Welk III, who usually goes by "Larry Welk," is a reporter and helicopter traffic pilot for KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. One of the great-grandchildren, Nate Fredricks, reportedly enjoys the same love for music as his great-grandfather did and plays guitar in a band.

Known as an excellent businessman, Welk had investments in real estate and music publishing. Welk was the general partner in a commercial real estate development located at 100 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, California. The 21-story tall white tower is the tallest building in Santa Monica and is located on the bluffs overlooking Santa Monica Bay. It was informally named "The Lawrence Welk Champagne Tower."

Welk enjoyed playing golf, which he first took up in the late 1950s, and was often a regular at many celebrity pro-ams such as the Bob Hope Desert Classic.

A devout, life-long Roman Catholic, Welk was a daily communicant, which is corroborated in numerous biographies, by his autobiography and by his family and his many staff, friends and associates throughout the years^[11]

Later years[link]

Welk's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

After retiring from his show and from the road in 1982, Welk continued to air reruns of his shows, which were repackaged first for syndication and, starting in 1986, for public television. He also starred in and produced a pair of Christmas specials in 1984 and 1985.

Welk died from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, in 1992 at age 89 and was buried in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.

Singles[link]

• "Moritat (A Theme from 'The Three Penny Opera')" (US #17, March 1956)
• "The Poor People of Paris" (US #17, April 1956)
• "On the Street Where You Live" (US #96, June 1956)
• "Weary Blues" (US #32, August 1956)
• "In the Alps" (US #63, August 1956)
• "Tonight You Belong to Me" featuring The Lennon Sisters (US #15, November 1956)
• "When the White Lilacs Bloom Again" (US #70, November 1956)
• "Liechtenstein Polka" (US #48, December 1957)
• "Last Date" (US #21, December 1960)
• "Calcutta" (US #1, February 1961)
• "Theme From My Three Sons" (US #55, April 1961)
• "Yellow Bird" (US #71, July 1961)
• "Riders in the Sky" (US #87, October 1961)
• "One A-Two A-Cha Cha Cha" (US #117, December 1961)
• "Runaway" (US #56, May 1962)
• "Baby Elephant Walk" (US #48, September 1962, AC #10, 1962)
• "Zero-Zero" (US #98, December 1962)
• "Scarlett O'Hara" (US #89, June 1963)
• "Breakwater" (US #100, June 1963)
• "Blue Velvet" (US #103, October 1963)
• "Fiesta" (US #106, October 1963)
• "Stockholm" (US #91, March 1964)
• "Apples and Bananas" (US #75, April 1965, AC #17, 1965)
• "The Beat Goes On" (US #104, April 1967)
• "Green Tambourine" (AC #27, March 1968)
• "Southtown U.S.A." (AC #37, February 1970)

Sources: Billboard Top Pop Singles 1955-2006, Billboard Top Adult Songs 1961-2006, Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 1959-2004

Honors[link]

In 1961, he was inducted as a charter member of the Rough Rider Award from his native North Dakota.

He served as the Grand Marshal for the Rose Bowl's Tournament of Roses parade in 1972.

In 1994, he was inducted into the International Polka Music Hall Of Fame.

He has a star for Recording on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6613½ Hollywood Blvd. He has a second star at 1601 Vine Street for Television.

In 2007, he became a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana.

Legacy[link]

Welk's band continues to appear in a dedicated theater in Branson, Missouri. In addition, the television show has been repackaged for broadcast on PBS stations, with updates from show performers appearing as wraparounds where commercial breaks were during the original shows. The repackaged shows are broadcast at roughly the same Saturday-night time slot as the original ABC shows, and special longer Welk show rebroadcasts are often shown during individual stations' fund-raising periods. These repackaged shows are produced by the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority.^[12]

A resort community developed by Welk and promoted heavily by him on the show is named for him. Formerly known as "Lawrence Welk Village," the Welk Resort and Champagne Village are just off Interstate 15 north of Escondido, California, about 38 miles north of downtown San Diego. Lawrence Welk Village was where Welk actually lived in a rather affluent "cottage." The resort is open to the public and contains two golf courses, dozens of upscale timeshares, and a theater that contains a museum of Welk's life. The Welk Resort Theatre performs live Broadway musicals year round.

His organization, The Welk Group, consists of: his resort communities in Branson and Escondido; Welk Syndication, which broadcasts the show on public television; and the Welk Music Group, which operates record labels Sugar Hill, Vanguard and Ranwood. From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, the Welk Group was known as "Teleklew," in which tele stood for television and klew was Welk spelled backwards.

The "Live Lawrence Welk Show" makes annual concert tours across the United States and Canada, featuring stars from the television series, including Ralna English, Mary Lou Metzger, Jack Imel, Gail Farrell, Anacani and Big Tiny Little.

Welk's variety show has been parodied in a recurring 2000s sketch on Saturday Night Live, in which he is portrayed by Fred Armisen.

See also[link]

• The Lennon Sisters - mainstay singers for Welk from 1955 to 1968
• Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park)

Books[link]

All books written with Bernice McGeehan and published by Prentice Hall (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), except where indicated:

• Wunnerful, Wunnerful: The Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, 1971, ISBN 0-13-971515-0
• Ah-One, Ah-Two! Life with My Musical Family, 1974, ISBN 0-13-020990-2
• My America, Your America, 1976, ISBN 0-13-608414-1
• Lawrence Welk's Musical Family Album, 1977, ISBN 0-13-526624-6
• Welk with McGeehan, illustrated by Carol Bryan, Lawrence Welk's Bunny Rabbit Concert, Indianapolis: Youth Publications/Saturday Evening Post Co., 1977, ISBN 0-89387-501-5 (children's book)
• This I Believe, 1979, ISBN 0-13-919092-9
• You're Never Too Young, 1981, ISBN 0-13-977181-6

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lawrence Welk at the Internet Movie Database
• Lawrence Welk's recordings in the 1920s and 1930s, along with other info
• "Spiked Beer," from the aforementioned website
• Lawrence Welk's Best Kept Secret
• Welk Musical Family website
• WelkNotes fansite
• "Old Fans Still Bubble Along to Lawrence Welk" article (The New York Times)
• Welk Musical Family blog
• Lawrence Welk at Find a Grave
• Lawrence Welk Collection at North Dakota State University