Trombone pet peeves

[BrassSection]

Twenty buck tuners…Grandson tuned his bass guitar with the one at the bass guitar spot, just to “Try it once”. He usually tunes by ear, smart aleck kid has perfect pitch. First song at practice I was using my trombone. All my other horns have valves, never had an actual official trombone lesson in my life. Man did something sound BAD, thought I was having a senior moment with the slide positions, then I realized the bass guitar was flat, real flat! Drummer was second to notice…he’s a band director. Then grandson realized HE was the problem, retuned by ear and all was well with the world, including the new name of “Pancake” for my grandson! The leader noted the other bass player had trouble with that tuner.

Speaking of slide positions, band director loaned a trombone to somebody that played in high school that wanted to practice up and join our ensemble to play in. After practicing at home a few days, she reported the slide positions don’t seem to be right, could somebody check this horn? Band director checked out the horn, it was fine. Said volunteer backed out.

[ghmerrill]

The leader noted the other bass player had trouble with that tuner.

That might be the tuner, or it might be the tuner user.

All the tuners I've used allow you to set your tuner to tune to a given "standard" pitch. Various ensembles (especially depending on which continent you're on) may tune to different pitches. And of course in the past instruments were made to (by default) play to different pitches than they do today (where most usually A=440Hz). Pitch wasn't standardized to any degree until the early 20th century. When I got my almost 100 year old Buescher tuba, it was pitched (by the factory) at A=435 (and "low pitch" was engraved on the second valve cylinder). Instruments were commonly made and sold as "high pitch," "low pitch", and "dual pitch". And in addition each of "high pitch" and "low pitch" could mean one of several different pitches.

If you're either not aware of this, or you're not careful, or something odd happens while you're messing with the tuner, you can set your tuning pitch to be other than 440 -- and then when you tune with that tuner you'll be out of tune with everyone who tuned to 440. People tend to forget about this when they're using a tuner and may not be aware if it gets set to something odd. Or they may be careless in pushing buttons on the tuner and accidentally change their tuning pitch. Also, some tuners just don't work at all well in a bass or contra-bass range although they seem fine above that.

So MAYBE this is what happened that caused people to have "trouble with that tuner". Otherwise, I've found good tuners (TASCAM, Korg, etc.) to be rock solid. But I've had the guy who tunes my wife's piano (several times a year) express very skeptical views of tuner apps. So some care must be taken in using these devices.

[atopper333]

Just found a new one…AI generated descriptions in posts for trombones for sale. Especially the ones that say things like: ‘exceptionally well crafted’ on stencil horns, or ‘in excellent working condition’ when the entire bell section is in pieces…etc…

…but then again, they can be humorous to read…

[Richard3rd]

Scooping notes. Drives me nuts. It is almost as if players are not sure of where the notes are. I've had to stop tunes and ask the section if they can actually play notes without that. They don't even realize they all do it.

Even worse than that is when it is done and the target note is not quite reached, leaving the final tone flat.

[baileyman]

...I play in professional big bands and a community big band. In the community big band the lead trumpet player constantly plays behind the beat and with big, fat notes. It drags the whole band down in tempo. The rhythm section slows to match the trumpets, and then the trumpets lay back on the beat to slow it down further, in a death spiral loop. I swear, if the tunes went on long enough they'd all come to dead stops.
...

Come to Boston. You can have get the same experience in a full pro band. And you'll wonder where the section blend went, too.

[iranzi]

deleted

[Mamaposaune]

My pet peeve is with section mates that move around excessively during rehearsals and performances. It might be rocking back and forth, conducting motions, foot-tapping, etc. It's distracting.

[ghmerrill]

I kind of appreciate the guys who finger-count the measures in lengthy rests. It means that I can think of other things, mess with my mutes, etc., and still come in where I'm supposed to.

[harrisonreed]

I kind of appreciate the guys who finger-count the measures in lengthy rests. It means that I can think of other things, mess with my mutes, etc., and still come in where I'm supposed to.

I do this. I keep getting arrangements where they don't break rests into phrases or anything that makes sense. 19 bars of rest, etc. I don't care if I look stupid.

[tbdana]

I kind of appreciate the guys who finger-count the measures in lengthy rests. It means that I can think of other things, mess with my mutes, etc., and still come in where I'm supposed to.

Yeah, I do this too. I'm just too stupid and easily distracted to count 175 measures rest in my head. So I have a system of finger counting. It's subtle. No one can see it. And if my mind wanders and I lose count, I just see where my fingers are positioned and I know where I am up to 99 measures rest.

[ghmerrill]

I used to do this for long rests in concert band. Now my mind starts to wander at about measure 4. So I'm totally dependent on the 3rd trombone and his finger count if I don't know the phrasing yet. Otherwise, one of the trumpet players does this visibly enough that I can see it. But he's often wrong (they seem to have trouble counting to four, and sometimes to two, and definitely to 3).

[tbdana]

From a friend: "Counting rests? That's what the second trombone player is for."

[AtomicClock]

I kind of appreciate the guys who finger-count the measures in lengthy rests. It means that I can think of other things, mess with my mutes, etc., and still come in where I'm supposed to.

Sometimes I finger-count in binary. Does that help?

[BGuttman]

I kind of appreciate the guys who finger-count the measures in lengthy rests. It means that I can think of other things, mess with my mutes, etc., and still come in where I'm supposed to.

Sometimes I finger-count in binary. Does that help?

Octal is more fun

[AtomicClock]

Octal is more fun

Hmm. BCD is probably the most practical. I'll give it a try.

[AtomicClock]

I don't actually mind applause in between movements. But I'm really bothered when applause starts too soon. The final release needs time to ring through the hall.

[Posaunus]

I don't actually mind applause in between movements. But I'm really bothered when applause starts too soon. The final release needs time to ring through the hall.

I am annoyed by applause between movements.
And I really hate when some jerk in the audience starts yelling "Bravo" while the last notes are still being played.
(Is this a New York phenomenon?)

On the other hand, I attended a Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance of Mahler 5 in Boston Symphony Hall in ~1972 - - the ending of the symphony was so moving that the audience was literally stunned; it seemed like a minute of total silence (probably only ~30 seconds) before the hall erupted. I'll never forget that concert - the best musical experience of my life!

[brassmedic]

From a friend: "Counting rests? That's what the second trombone player is for."

You only have to give them the wrong count once and that will cure them from ever asking again.