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Bass trombone (English name).
Labels the bass trombone in English-language scores, abbreviated B. Tbn., on its own staff or shared with the third trombone or the tuba. It is written in bass clef at sounding pitch. In three-trombone scores that do not name it, Trombone 3 is usually the bass trombone.
Abbreviations: B. Tbn.
Pitched in B-flat like the tenor but with a wider bore and two valve attachments, it fills in the low register down to about B-flat1, with powerful pedal tones below. It anchors brass chords, doubles the tuba an octave up, and gives the bottom of a brass chorale its weight. Low notes need time and air, so avoid long fast passages there, and remember it can also play quietly.
Bass Trombone is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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