I just added this caption and picture to the Trombone History Timeline (19th century—1st half). You can also see it in the post Serpent & Ophicleide: History and Images. 1821—George IV, King of England, Entering Dublin, a painting by…
military band images
The Valve Trombone in Iconography
A friend of mine, Ken Shifrin, recently emailed me with a historical question about valve trombone images. As a result, I put this little collection together. I have a few others I will be posting as I get more complete…
More Rear-Facing Trombones, and a Generalization
Today I added the below caption and image to the Trombone History Timeline (19th century, first half). The images expands quite a bit if you click on it. The slide grip of both trombonists, you will notice, is awkward (to…
Serpents & Ophicleides: 16 New Historical Images
I recently added 16 more images of serpents and ophicleides to the post Serpents & Ophicleides: History and Images, bringing the total to 120 images. I’m not sure if you can find that many historical pictures of serpents and ophicleides…
Paper Serpents
As I mentioned in an earlier post on paper trombonists, an interesting little subset of music history images exists in the form of contemporary 19th-century military figurines. These figurines include military musicians, and, more specifically, serpent players. Although a number…
Hi Ho, Brass! Trombones on Horseback
Ever tried playing the trombone on horseback? A pretty contorted affair, one would think. There are, however, several visual depictions throughout trombone history of trombonists on horseback. I recently added one such image of a military musician to the 19th…
Kilts in the Military: Not Just for Bagpipers
Added the below image/entry to the 19th century timeline (2nd half). The image is related to a fairly large set of military images from the 19th and 20th centuries, many of which contain trombones. c. 1885—Scotland: Military musicians from the…
Bassoonist Does Battle
Another off-topic post, again about an image that I couldn’t pass up from Cassin-Scott and Fabb’s Military Bands and Their Uniforms (London: Blandford Press, 1978): We occasionally hear stories about military musicians pressed into actual combat situations. This picture, a…
Bandmaster Cigarettes–A Different Era
This is off-topic, but I came across this authentic cigarette advertisement from c. 1900 in Cassin-Scott and Fabb’s Military Bands and Their Uniforms (London: Blandford Press, 1978, p. 93) (see below image; public domain). There are several things here that…
Trombone Images from 19th Century London Newspapers
I have recently added quite a few trombone images to the 19th century timeline (1st half, 2nd half). Many of them originate from London. Collected below are all the pictures from the 19th century timeline that come from London. As…