Background on me: I am a classically trained trombonist who struggles with music theory.
I know that a trombone is in the key of Bb, but what does that mean? The key is determined by the piece your playing? Additionally, a trombone with an F trigger is shifted into the key of F when the trigger is depressed (same with the G trigger on bass trombone). What does that mean? For me it just means that first position is now 6th.
In: Other
I’m a classically trained Pianist and Violinist. I also played Trumpet in band for a couple of years.
Sound as people hear it, is actually just vibrations in the air around us that make it into our ear canal and are processed by our brain.
In music theory, notes correspond to pitch frequencies in the audible range for humans. For example, “Middle C” on a piano is actually 262 Hertz. Hertz is a unit of measurement of frequency, and it just means that there were 262 “vibrations” that occurred within 1 sec.
If you have ever played in orchestra, and listened to the Violins while tuning, they tune to a 440 Hertz “A”.
So when you ask “what does it mean for a trombone to be in the key of B flat”? It means that the agreed upon frequency for standard trombone tuning is a 466.164 Hz “B flat”. When you play a note without adjusting the slide at all, it would be equivalent to walking up to a piano and playing a B flat. Same as if I blew into my trumpet without pressing any of the valves.
If something shifts a trombone into key of F, then I would assume without adjusting the slide at all, and only activating the shift, it would be the equivalent of walking up to a piano and playing an “F” (349.228 Hertz).
To further cause confusion, in band they had what was called “Concert” tuning, and IIRC, it would just transpose the band’s arrangements into the key of C in order to make sight reading easier/less accidentals in the score.
Latest Answers