Trombone’

1. (It. and Fr. trombo’nes Ger. Posau'ne.) An orchestral wind in str. of metal, belonging to the trumpet family, with the distinctive feature of the slide-mechanism (see Séide), in which shape it dates probably from’ the 1sth century. It is constructed in 4 sizes (alto, tenor, ba , and the more recently added contraba ); the fen or trombone is the one in most general use. Gevaert suggests that the fromba da tirarsi of Bach's scores was ee a soprano tr., the place of which was usually supplied by the cornetio—It is a non-transposing instr., and is written in the C-clef (alto or tenor) for the alto and tenor instr.s, and in the F-clef for the ba and contraba . In playing, there are 7 positions, obtained on succe ive descending semitonic degrees by gradually drawing out the slide, the 1st pos. being when the slide is pushed completely in, i, e. when the tube is shortest; in each position the tones which can be regularly made to speak are the partials 2 to 8. Utilizing all 7 positions, the tenor trombone in Ap has a chromatic this is compa of the reg2 octaves, ular or from E to bly chestral compa , above which are the 4 difficult tones 4, 3, cf. and d?; while below, separated by a tritone from the rest of the scale, are the so-called pedal-tones " compa of the 3 alto trombone is A—ep; that of the da trombone Bitte valve trombone po e es greater agility than the slide-trombone, but is pegs be inferior to it in nes tone, (comp. art. Trumpet, sentence.)—2. In the organ, a powerful reed-stop (same as Posaune).