The oldest pedagogy book

[nbulgarino]

Hello TromboneChat!

I am in need of some help. I am looking for the oldest (or first) trombone method book for a class on 19th century performance practice. I have found some leads but no name of the book (or a book before 1850). Are there other keywords I could use other than "first trombone method book" or "oldest trombone method"?

I appreciate any help and I'll keep the community updated!

[BGuttman]

Older Method books might be called "School" or "Perceptor".

The trombone was invented around 1450, so the oldest method probably predates the 19th Century. In fact, there is some information on trombones in Praetorius' book.

Check with the Historic Brass Society -- they might have some useful things.

Check for the names of famous performers like Quiesser and Belcke. You might also want to check Sadtler, who was a prominent instrument maker of the early 19th Century.

[Kbiggs]

Yes, check with HBS. Look for articles by Howard Weiner on André Braun and Andreas Nemetz.

[BGuttman]

Howard Weiner is a member of Trombone Chat.

Also, look at the TTF Archive board "History of the Trombone". We may have some posts from the older Forum that can give you hints.

Also check the Online Trombone Journal (www.trombone.org).

[nbulgarino]

Thank you guys so much! The reason I'm looking for a pedagogy book is because we just looked at Louis Spohr's violin method from 1832. I was wondering if there was an older "standard" method book than Arban's (1936 I think).

[HowardW]

Howard Weiner is a member of Trombone Chat.

Also, look at the TTF Archive board "History of the Trombone". We may have some posts from the older Forum that can give you hints.

Also check the Online Trombone Journal (www.trombone.org).

Actually, a compilation of this information can now be found in
"Appendix 5: Early Didactic and Theoretical Works Relevant to Brass Instruments" (slide trombone on pp. 552-53; valve trombone on pp. 554)
in: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments, eds. Trevor Herbert, Arnold Myers, and John Wallace (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).

The CEBI was just published in November, so it still may not be available in many libraries.

Howard

[LeTromboniste]

The trombone was invented around 1450, so the oldest method probably predates the 19th Century. In fact, there is some information on trombones in Praetorius' book.

Yes and no. The idea of method book for specific instruments in a form that would be familiar to us, although not at all new (there are famous organ and recorder and viol methods earlier, but they are comparatively much fewer and further between) really took off and became widespread roughly in the mid-18th century, a time where the use of trombones was likely at a historical low and would only start picking up steam again roughly at the turn of the 19th century. So I wouldn't expect that we ever find a trombone method from very much before the 19th century.

Music treatises in the 16th and 17th centuries tend to be roughly of three types : comprehensive treatises about music theory and practice in general that may include, but are far from limited to, information on how various instruments are played; instruction books about specific musical aspects not exclusive to one instrument (very commonly, books on ornamentation); performance directions in the preface of music collections, which again are seldom specifically for one instrument and when so, usually for voice or organ, and don't in any way constitute an exhaustive method. One thing is that melodic instruments then were much less different than they are now in terms of what was demanded of them musically and technically, and everybody probably learned music through singing first.

There is tons of valuable infirmation applicable to trombone playing in many of these treatises, sometimes general information on performing music, sometimes specific to melodic instruments, sometimes specific to wind instruments, and very occasionally specific to trombone. But none of them is a "trombone method".

[nbulgarino]

I took a look at the Braun Method. Very interesting indeed! However, it does not seem complete. So far from what I have found it is the oldest trombone dedicated trombone method.

[Siver]

Thompson and Lemke might have some great info. They have researched the French materials. Do an online search or 2 with these names and "trombone method" maybe?