Trombone

As Printed on a Score

Trombone (plural Tromboni) labels the trombone staff, abbreviated Trb., Trbn. or Tbn.; three trombones are often split as Tromboni Alto e Tenore on one staff and Trombone Basso (or III., with the tuba) on another. Trombones do not transpose: parts are written at sounding pitch in alto, tenor and bass clef. Tbn. against Tb. (tuba) is the abbreviation to read carefully.

Abbreviations: Trb., Trbn., Trbni., Tbn.

Also spelled: Tromboni, Trombones

How Composers Use It

The slide gives a full chromatic range from E2 to about F5 on the tenor, and glissandos no other brass can make. The traditional alto–tenor–bass section forms a noble, organ-like choir; in church music trombones doubled the choir (Mozart’s Requiem), and Beethoven brought them into the symphony in the finale of the Fifth. Soft, sustained trombone chords are as telling as fortissimo ones; favor smooth, mostly stepwise lines and allow time for large slide shifts.

Example

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”), second movement: one staff is labelled “Tromboni Alto e Tenore” and another “Trombone Basso”.