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
Ok so for brass instruments, they used to not have valves. They basically had tuning slides which would changed the fundamental note of the instrument (for you this would be your pedal Bb). The music would be written the same, but the notes would be different. They would only play notes in the harmonic series (all the notes in first position on your trombone). This somewhat outdated convention remains. Horn in F was common, so french horn is written in F. Their F sounds like a concert C. This is different from your trombone being in Bb, your F sounds like an F, the Bb just describes the fundamental note on the instrument.
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