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Daniel Speer describes trombone technique in his treatise, Vierfaches Musikalisches Kleeblatt: “Because the alto, tenor, and bass parts can be played on the tenor trombone, it should be described first…As mentioned with the trumpets, trills are made with the chin. Some slur the trombone’s sound with the breath, but it comes out better and livelier when it is cleanly articulated with the tongue. Control in loud and soft [playing] is made with the breath, as in all wind instruments. This instrument requires no special physical vigor. It can be learned quite soundly by a boy eight, nine, or ten years old, because he has enough physical strength to play a tenor trombone—especially on a bass part, as this requires only a normal amount of air” (Speer Vierfaches 174-7). His description and position charts show four diatonically-numbered positions and indicate that, at this time, tenor trombone is probably pitched in A, alto in D, and bass in D. Also of interest is that, although trombone pedal notes do not appear in written music until many years later (1831), pedal A is notated in Speer’s slide position chart (Speer Vierfaches 175-8). The author provides, along with his trombone description, two 3-part sonatas for trombones (see below image for first page of first sonata; public domain) (Speer Vierfaches179-83). (Speer Vierfaches 179-83). In a separate section of the treatise, Speer discusses how to organize music performances in a small town, saying, “Since the middle voices (alto, tenor, and bass) are most commonly played on viols or trombones in the churches, the guild musicians suffer only the slightest disadvantage in their accustomed wages by the students playing these parts, though the guild musicians make many idle complaints” (Speer Vierfaches 204).