Blog
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Where do you come up with this stuff?
One of the most commonly-asked questions resulting from this site is “Where do you come up with this stuff?” (read: “Why don’t you get a life?”). The reply is that I enjoy collecting this stuff, and, like a lot of collectors, I don’t mind a little browsing and detective work. It...
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Trombone History: 17th Century Ensemble
Added the image below to the 17th Century (first half) timeline. Seems like the trombone’s always in the back…(see also here).
1600s—Italy: An anonymous Italian painting portrays an instrumental ensemble with diverse dress and a mixed grouping of winds, strings, and keybo...
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Jazz Trombone History: Miff Mole
Added the following to the 20th Century Trombone History Timeline:
1922—New York trombonist Miff Mole records with the Original Memphis Five, of which he is an early member. He later becomes one of the most active freelancers in New York City, eventually joining the NBC Orc...
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Practice Strategies
Below are some basic practice ideas I put together a few years ago for my college students. They apply, in most cases, to players at every level.
Daily Practice
What should I practice?
1) Warm-up/fundamentals
2) Range exersize/soft practice (alternating days)
3) Method...
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Updated Design
Updated the website design a couple of days ago. It looks fairly similar, with a few upgrades. Hopefully it’s still an intuitive, clear layout, which is important to me! Let me know if you have comments…
I also renamed some of the pages, mostly so that search engines have a bet...
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Trombone History: 17th Century Timeline
I finally had to break up the 17th century of the Trombone History Timeline into 2 parts, first half and second half, because it was getting too big. I also added in some of the images that I had included in the blog (trombone images) but not in the timeline.
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Jazz Trombone History: Zue Robertson, Herb Flemming, Tom Brown
Added three more early jazz trombone history entries to the 20th Century Timeline:
c. 1910—C. Alvin “Zue” Robertson, a New Orleans native, tours with the band that accompanies the famous Kit Carson Wild West Show. He becomes a member of the well-known Olympia Brass Band by th...
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Trombone History: Trombone with 16th Century Wind Band
Added color version of Pinturicchio’s fresco (see below) to the 16th Century Trombone History Timeline. The painting provides one of the earliest examples of trombone iconography showing the instrument in a wind band setting (called pifferi in Italy). The color version of the...
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Trombone History: 18th Century Image
Found a really striking painting today by Felice Torelli and posted it in the 18th Century Trombone History Timeline. I have not seen this painting in any of the standard trombone or brass sources. As I note in an earlier post, the 18th century is a little late for depictions...
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Trombone History: Early Jazz Trombonists
Added the following 2 entries to the 19th (2nd half) and 20th century timelines, based on information from Kurt Dietrich’s excellent Jazz ‘Bones: The World of Jazz Trombone:
c. 1895—New Orleans, Louisiana: Trombonist William Cornish joins trumpeter Buddy Bolden’s band as...
