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portunities of playing a concerto or sonata with piano, should cajole his accompanist into taping the piano part for him. The student can then play the piece with piano as often as he wishes, and the procedure is especially satisfactory if he amplifies the sound through his speakers at home. All that is required for this purpose is a patch cord, a matter of minimal cost. For purposes of this article, I have of course only explored the music possibilities of the tape recorder. But I cannot conclude without confessing that I use mine for the further purpose of dictating every single word that appears in print. On my trip around the world two years ago I surreptitiously recorded the inimitable oratory of

the soapbox prophets at Hyde Park in London David Ben-Gurion's permission, I taped every yJQ our memorable meeting at his house in Tel-Aviv some background commentary from Mrs. Ben-1 a unique personality in her own right. In Bangkok*' corded the sounds of Oriental music so vividly th' * smells of the floating market seem to emanate froi tape recorder whenever I play the tape. Perhap most vivid of all the tape-recorded experiences we wild, rhythmical dances of the natives in red skirts, by candlelight, in the unspoiled Yasawa Is north of the Fijis. Do you see why I am partial tol tape recorder?

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TENOI AND BASS TROMBONES Paul Tanner and Kenneth Sawl During a recent visit to Hawaii, Professor Paul Tanner and one of his students from UCLA, bass trombonist Kenneth Sawhill, presented a series of trombone clinics for the Oahu Band Directors' Association in connection with concert appearances. One of the works programmed on the concerts was the "Concert Duo for Tenor and Bass Trombone," written by Mr. Tanner and performed with the University of Hawaii Concert Band under the direction of Professor Richard Lum. The advent of such extensive use of the bass trombone caused considerable inquiry concerning the new importance of the bass trombone. One of the clinics led to the following discussion: Question: Professor Tanner, the performance of your Tanner: The bass trombone has surely come into composition was the first time we have witnessed such own and I feel it will continue to gain in imports extensive use of the bass trombone. Is this a coming When I go on a studio call in Hollywood now, if are three trombones, one is surely a bass. I am sure trend? soon, wherever there are two trombones used, one Paul Tanner is a member of the faculty of UCLA and a na- be a bass. This is not just in studio work; Ken and I '• tionally known concert performer and clinician. He received the B.A. and M.A. degrees at UCLA and in completing his doc- this more and more in all kinds of music around torate. He has been first trombonist with the American Broad- country, and of course this includes school bands. casting Company since 1951 and is in constant demand for Saichill: Could we put in a plea now that you dont JD motion picture and television work, as well as recording and put your least competent player on bass trombon| solo concert appearances. Mr. Tanner has written a number of books on music and is also the author of a book on the bass Choose one of your best players; he should notion trombone. Bass trombonist Kenneth Sawhill is a student of Mr. Tanner's at the university and is the son of Clarence Saw- want to play the bass, but should be as talented a J as anyone else in the section. hill, well-known director of bands at UCLA,

"Well, what's the difference between the ad the bass trombone?" There really is a great deal of confusion, not nong band and orchestra directors, and not only dealers and manufacturers, but also among Sfonists. We honestly consider them as two separate inents and the playing of each one is an art within |/Some fellows, at least for a while, were doubling pth; but playing the bass trombone has become art of its own now; doubling isn't really very actory, anyway. I am sure Paul agrees with me I say that we have a tendency to frown on douYes. The approach is really quite different. I the primary difference is the sound. One of the important aspects affecting the quality of the gd is the size of the bore. A typical tenor bore is ad .500, although you can find them as small as .or so. The typical bass trombone bore is around and over. tion: What is the bore size of your two trombones? er: Mine is .500. hill: Mine is .562—the biggest made by some manrers. Where a lot of the confusion comes is that e manufacturers call their horns tenor trombones Ifen the bore is as large as .547; yet they will have a ' trombone the same size. Some other manufacturer ' have an instrument they call a bass trombone and (Xmld be only .545 or even smaller. 'mer: Naturally, the larger the bore, the more tenIcy there is to consider the instrument a bass trom|e, but there are actually instruments called tenor nbones which have larger bores than some called is trombones. phill: Therefore, because of this overlapping, the Ire size cannot be the only determining factor. This is ly we say that the sound must be the main difference tween the two instruments and that this is not deter[pned by the bore size alone. anner: Manufacturers have a tendency to make the iger bore horns from thicker metal. estion: What does this do? inner: Well, the thinner the metal thickness, the lighter the sound. Now, by this I don't mean the hardss or softness of the metal—but the thickness. l: Three other important technical considerations the production of sound are the mouthpiece, the eader pipe, and the size of the bell. Of course, on the ass trombone all three of these are larger than on the trombone. Question: Would you each comment on your mouthpreferences? ?o.whill: I think that as far as the bass trombone is conaed, the first consideration should be that the mouth-

piece must be large enough to operate with ease between low B\) and pedal F and even lower. It should be large enough to allow the player to have quick response and maneuverability in this area. Never sacrifice the low tones for an easier upper register. A Bach 1%G or 2G, or their equivalents, would be my suggestion. Tanner: Even on the tenor, we don't feel that a player should sacrifice his lower register for the upper. On tenor, start a young player with a middle of the road mouthpiece—not too flat a rim so that the edge will be sharp, not too wide a rim where it will cost him flexibility, and a deep enough cup for good round sounds. I only know Bach numbers, so I can suggest a 7,11,12, or 15, or their equivalents, for tenor trombones. Question: I understand that both of those trombones are the same length; would you speak then about the different ranges you should expect players to play in? Tanner: It's true, they are the same length, and the length actually determines the pitch of an instrument. However, the larger bore and larger mouthpiece on the bass trombone make it easier to play low and harder to play high. Ken, why don't you go first? Sawhill: Well, in the first place, we think of developing range in just the opposite way than the tenor trombone players. We think of developing range downward, we start in a comfortable area and work down. The bass trombone must operate comfortably as far down as pedal E. He should be able to sound tones all the way down to pedal Bt). Iv

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One of the biggest practicing fallacies is that bass trombone players don't seem to practice much in the real bass trombone register. They should spend most of their practice time from low B\j on down, emphasizing those notes played with the trigger. 1

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Tanner: Now that the alto trombone is almost extinct, the tenor trombonist covers not only tenor parts, but also alto parts as well. There are reference books that show you that the top of the tenor trombone is B\) or C or D. '

bo " Actually, there really is no top, it is entirely up to the individual, and even this varies, depending upon how the individual feels at the moment. Personally, I keep a useable, workable G available. Now, nobody needs that G at all, but by having it, I then cut out the possibility of problems a fourth or a fifth lower, where I simply cannot afford to have any problems. If the C were my top note, I'd be working terribly hard most of the time.

Going the other direction, reference books will show that without the F attachment, we are not supposed to have any tones between low E and pedal B. However, we do practice in this area, it helps open up the sound all over the horn, so these notes can be sounded. Then we go on down from pedal J5|j to at least pedal E; some of us practice on down below that, I practice down to pedal C. I think you should expect your high school players to play at least up to C above middle C, higher for college players, and down to a pedal F.

Question: There has been mention about the trigger, the F attachment; is this another real difference between the tenor and bass? Tanner: Not really, not any more. There are now plenty of trombones, called tenors by manufacturers, which have the F attachment. Sawhill: The standard, not the only by any means, but the standard instrument today that is called a bass trombone is built in B\) like the tenor, and it has an attachment which lowers it a fourth into F and one means or another of getting it down another half a step into E. The biggest advantage is that the area between low E and pedal B\> is clear and strong—and this, of course, is a very important register for the bass trombone. It also helps us to go on down below pedal E with the feasible length of tubing for this register. There are other advantages too when you consider that anything played in

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Question: Mr. Tanner, with these obvious advan why don't you have an F attachment on your Tanner: Well, I think if I had it all to do over ae probably would. If I used it now, it would be mer stay out of sixth and seventh positions. I have ing those positions now for over 30 years and comfortable in them. The long arms help some. I j have to also work on matching the sound with and! out the trigger. This is a facet too often overlook^ players who use the trigger. But actually, I do thin a good thing on tenors. There are plenty of advant] The other problem is that too often a conductor see F attachment and puts the player on bass tror parts, whereas he may not have either the sound, ter, or technique for the low parts. His horn may : ly be too small for the bottom parts. Of course we> see it happening the other way around too; players| pretty big horns are sometimes really laboring to| first trombone parts that go up quite high. Sawhill: This brings us around to the only other ence I think we should mention, that is the diffe in repertoire. Tanner: Let me speak of the tenor repertoire first, i because most people know about this pretty well's old thought of trombones just playing bravura parts has long ago departed. We are now expect^ also play very lightly and delicate!}' all over our I would like to make one big pitch for the need fon players who can play very legato—we know that both possible and logical, it just takes a lot of work. Now, Ken, people really don't know a great < about bass trombone literature. Sawhill: In the past, bass trombone has been mainl| orchestral instrument playing more or less glorified