TromboneChat

 I just had a glance at the post regarding early trombone literature and I was wondering when the earliest documented trombone method was  prepared. What does it consist of?  Who wrote it?  What were the circumstances In which it was written?

Which period in the history of the trombone are you discussing? 

What's your point? 

There are chapters about the trombone in a number of early theoretical treatises, some of them with (generally very brief and limited) basic notions of how the instrument is played, but I don't think that qualifies as a ''method'' in the sense you mean. Trombone is also included (explicitly or implicitly) in general practical treatises. For instance, Rognoni's Selva de varii passaggi (1620) gives instructions on vocal ornaments, ''passaggi'' on various intervals and melodic patterns and at cadences for both singers and instrumentalists, bowings for strings, articulations for winds, etc, and includes several examples of fully ornamented pieces to illustrate how one can improvise diminutions over a preexisting madrigal or motet. One such piece is specifically labelled Modo di passegiar per il Violone Over Trombone alla Bastarda, and is coincidentally one of the earliest (or the earliest) extant solo pieces that specify trombone.


As far as I'm aware, the first method in the modern sense (as a ''school'' to learn an instrument) specifically for trombone is André Braun's Gammes et Méthode pour les trombonnes, published in Paris, presumably some time in the 1790's. Howard Weiner is the authority on this, hopefully he sees this thread and stops by. You can find articles by him about Braun (and also about other methods) in various issues of the Historic Brass Society Journal. Here is the first one about Braun's method : http://www.historicbrass.org/portals/0/documents/journal/1993/hbsj_1993_jl01_019_weiner.pdf Better to consult a hard copy though, there are quite a lot of scanning and word recognition errors in the digital version.

I have a Method by Karl Hampe (1st Trombone, Boston Symphony Orchestra, c1891-c1915) published around 1912.  I got it from his great-grandson, also Karl Hampe and also a trombone player (but not a professional).  I think this is the oldest American method book I have ever seen although there may be older ones.

Quote from: Le.Tromboniste on Mar 28, 2017, 05:55PMAs far as I'm aware, the first method in the modern sense (as a ''school'' to learn an instrument) specifically for trombone is André Braun's Gammes et Méthode pour les trombonnes, published in Paris, presumably some time in the 1790's. Howard Weiner is the authority on this, hopefully he sees this thread and stops by. You can find articles by him about Braun (and also about other methods) in various issues of the Historic Brass Society Journal.

The most recent issue of the Historical Brass Society Journal contains a new article on Braun and his Gammes et Méthode pour les Trombonnes. Fabien Guilloux, a French musicologist, found yet another early edition of Braun's method and also did archival work that I was not in a position to do 25 years ago when I wrote my articles. Thanks to Fabien, we now know that Braun's first name is not "André" but "Jean-Frédéric" (né Johann Friedrich).

Howard

Quote from: Le.Tromboniste on Mar 28, 2017, 05:55PMAs far as I'm aware, the first method in the modern sense (as a ''school'' to learn an instrument) specifically for trombone is André Braun's Gammes et Méthode pour les trombonnes, published in Paris, presumably some time in the 1790's. Howard Weiner is the authority on this, hopefully he sees this thread and stops by. You can find articles by him about Braun (and also about other methods) in various issues of the Historic Brass Society Journal.

The most recent issue of the Historical Brass Society Journal contains a new article on Braun and his Gammes et Méthode pour les Trombonnes. Fabien Guilloux, a French musicologist, found yet another early edition of Braun's method and also did archival work that I was not in a position to do 25 years ago when I wrote my articles. Thanks to Fabien, we now know that Braun's first name is not "André" but "Jean-Frédéric" (né Johann Friedrich).

Howard