Beginnings

[gregwaits]

What was your first horn, first year of playing, your age when you started out on trombone.

Me. A Conn 6H. 1968. First year band in 6th grade USA. 12 years old.

I got it early that summer. The seller was in school with my older sister. He’d been kicked out band for drinking beer on the band bus…oops. Mom paid $125 for it…$25 a week.

He brought the horn by, showed me how to assemble and hold it, and how to buzz into it. I fooled around with it over the summer, picking out notes, etc. I think doing so gave my ears a chance to develop. Reading music came later.

I was very fortunate to get that early start on a non-student horn.

[MStarke]

Started on German baritone (rental instrument) at about 8 because I was to short for trombone.

Then got an (Elkhart) 88h at about 12. Absolutely wasn't aware of its quality and exchanged it 6 years later.

Had a great teacher from around 8 to 17 who really gave me a great foundation.

I got myself a modern 88ht and an Elkhart 88h about 20 years after selling the first one.
But not planning to buy a baritone again.

[walldaja]

Olds with TIS, friction fit. I eventually traded it for a Besson 10-10 which I played through high school. After HS I sold it to a friend for $50--I was done playing (i thought). Wish I still had that horn.

[Briande]

Some sort of late 1970s student Getzen with the push button spit valve! Nice horn in retrospect.

[Kevbach33]

After starting on tuba in 6th grade (on a Yamaha YBB103) I was asked to play trombone in 8th grade for the school's jazz band at 13. 4th chair on a Bach TB200F. It was the school's and taught me how to use the F attachment.

Very different from the first trombone I owned, a Besson 943GS (now gone) that I bought at 18.

[Mr412]

I was started out on an Elkhart Buescher ultra-small-bore trombone, with a very used Bach 12c mpc. Some years ago I acquired a nearly identical horn and conquered it with a 7C mpc, vindicating myself. It was actually a decent horn for the right adult to play, but it took some getting used to. It was murder on me as a child of seven, through my senior year in high school and it killed my interest in playing for over 40 years. I re-kindled my interest and am now happily jazzing it up on only one horn, a single-trigger bass with a 1.5G mpc. I have no desire to go small-bore again. But in retrospect, I do appreciate the effort that was made to introduce me to a trombone.

[MrHCinDE]

After a very quick go on trombone at about 7-8 years old, I started on a rental baritone/small euph from school because my arms were too short for trombone, and the school trombones were barely playable.

My first ‘own’ horn, thanks to generous and supportive parents, was a Boosey and Hawkes Imperial euphonium at about the age of 11-12. After a long break playing other euphs I’ve gone back to using it regularly, played it in a gig last Sunday.

I came back to trombone at about 17 years old so relatively speaking a late starter with slide.

[baroquetrombone]

I'm sure I've posted this somewhere on here before, but because I love answering the question, I'll do it again.

My first trombone was a Williams 6, sometime around 4th grade. When I got to 5th grade and the first band class, my trombone friends made fun of me because my trombone was so cheap, it didn't even have a weight.

I don't remember when, but eventually (still in middle school) I switched to a King 3bf, which I really liked and played into high school, when I got a Benge 175f because the band director really pushed for bigger instruments (he wanted everyone to have a Bach 42*, but...no).

My first student instrument (King 606) was bought for High School marching band.

When I got interested in bass trombone, I borrowed a King Duo Gravis for a couple years, then got my own Holton TR181 screw bell (does that make it a 182? 281? I forget).

It helps to have a dad who's a player.

We still have the Williams and the 3b. The DG was the university's, so it's probably been stolen by now and I sold the Benge (never really liked it) and the Holton (which I still regret) to buy an early Edwards in college. Since I make a living playing period trombones, it absolutely kills me that my dad had the bell cut off my 606 to have a hackbut. And I still have to see it.

*I currently have around 40 trombones and I've still never owned a Bach 42.

[atopper333]

Started out on an old school Yamaha 352 horn in the seventh grade. That poor horn went through the wringer before I got it. It was falling apart, but I could get a decent sound out of it. Quickly got ahold of a new Holton TR602F before the year was over…

[Finetales]

I started on euphonium in the 5th grade band, after completing my requisite year of recorder in 4th grade.

Picked up trombone when I got to high school because the jazz band director wouldn't let me play in the jazz band on euphonium. (Like the band geek I was, I brandished a CD of Rich Matteson euphonium jazz in front of him but it was no use!) I taught myself the basics on a school King 606. That didn't take long mostly because I had always sat right next to the trombones from day 1 of beginning band, so I had picked up some things along the way and had a general idea of how the slide worked.

Eventually (I want to say my junior year?) my band director upgraded me to one of the school's old straight Bach 42s, which was not really an upgrade for playing lead trombone in the jazz band! I used that for a while until I bought my first eBay instrument during my senior year, a 1966 Holton 66 Galaxy for $90. That was the first trombone that I owned, and I used it well into my undergrad. It also set me down the dark path of buying dirt cheap instruments online...

[BGuttman]

In 5th grade I started on the school's Getzen Super Deluxe (this one had all straight braces with an interesting hexagonal shape on the flange). We couldn't afford one of those, so my parents got me a Getzen Deluxe (it wasn't). The Deluxe was so bad I still have nightmares about it 65 years later. It's part of the reason I don't recommend Getzen horns; not that the new ones are bad, but it is difficult for me to endorse Getzen.

In High School I was given the school's early King Symphony. At the same time I got an Olds A-20 Ambassador with F (Los Angeles Olds).

I eventually sold the Getzen Deluxe and bought an Olds TIS from my cousin's landlady. It had been used in the 1930s by her uncle, a professional. The model is LM8 and mine has a chrome plated bell. Serial number dates to 1925. I didn't know how good it was until maybe 20 years ago when I had it overhauled by Bob Osmun (and Steve Shires worked on the slide). It may actually be the best trombone I own, even though I rarely play it because it has no slide lock and is friction fit.

[gregsundt]

My first horn was a Conn fiberglass sousaphone. First trombone: A 60s Reynolds Medalist. First "serious" trombone: A university-owned 88H that I played as a secondary. It was one of the old ones with no slide lock. Wish I could have kept that one! Instead, it probably still languishes in the basement of the music bldg. Pity, how many amazing horns literally never see the light of day...

[Kingfan]

King 605 student horn, late summer of 1968, age 11. The poor horn didn't last through my last year of high school marching band. I got a new King 4B-F about 1972-73. First bass t-bone I played was a school-owned Conn 72H around the same time.

[harrisonreed]

Started on some student Conn at age 10 in 1997. 6.5AL mouthpiece. So I've been playing for 25 years!

36B that was gifted to me a few years later, and I traded that in for an 88H in college. I just sold the 88H last year.

[Mamaposaune]

My first trombone was an ancient Olds that my dad rented for me when I was 12 because he finally realized that I wasn't going to give up my unrelenting campaigning for one. It soon got traded for a Bundy, and finally a Conn Connstellation when they realized I was serious about wanting to play.

[officermayo]

I started in 7th grade beginner band in 1972 on my father's 1940 King Liberty he played in the Marine Corps. Halfway through the school year I was promoted to the regular band (8th & 9th graders) and Dad bought me one of the last Connstellations to come out of Elkhart. Still have the King, but sadly I sold the Conn while I was a Marine Corps bandsman. Stupid move, but I needed the dough being married and having a kid.

[sirisobhakya]

2001, 12 years old, 6th grade, school’s Yamaha YSL-251.

But the first trombone of my own was bought 15 years later, Yamaha YBL-830.

[dukesboneman]

I started in 6th Grade at age 11 on a Buescher Aristocrat with a 12C
Started out left handed as the picture in the Breeze Easy Book was Backwards.

[meine]

I started learning in 2001 on a straight Yamaha tenor, don‘t know which model. Later I was told it‘s from the 1980‘s. My first real horn was a Courtois Challanger II which I got a year later. Good horn, but when I got my Conn 88HOSGX in 2009 I knew what a real good horn is
My first bass trombone was a Conn 110H designed by Larry Minnick I found out later. I got it in 2013 from the USA and it was beaten up horn. One inner handslide tube was broken once and the whole horn was… just bad. Got a dual Hagmann valve section installed and sold it. in 2014 before I bought me my first Thein Universal bass trombone.

[calcbone]

Started in 5th grade, was still 9 years old, 1992, on a YSL-354. Our entire beginner band was on a matching set of Yamaha instruments, aside from a few kids who got an instrument from a family member.

The 354 and included 12C mouthpiece were all I knew for the first 5 years…I upgraded to a Blessing B88 in 10th grade, and a 42BO my senior year, which I played until about halfway thru grad. school 8 years later.

[bigbandbone]

4th grade, Conn Director.

[KRRath]

In 1977, I started in 5th Grade at age 10 on a Conn 14H Director and a Bach 12C. I was the shortest guy in my class, but I could still reach 6th and 7th position (disproportionally long arms ).

Switched to a King 2103F in High School.

I didn't know what I wanted to play, but my father, the Elementary and Junior High Principal, said they were having problems finding trombone players. He was focused on building the arts in a small town (population 2200). While he was there, about 60% of the school body was in band or choir. My Bach 12C is buried with him.

[Dennis]

7th Grade at Hilo Intermediate School, on a new, school-owned Conn Director with an 11C mouthpiece (a West German copy of a Bach 11C). We had to choose between band or art and music. "Music" was singing and flute-o-phone (basically, a soprano recorder). I thought playing flute-o-phone was an absolutely disgusting idea, and "art" was no more appealing. We had to take a music skills test, and I aced everything except rhythm (I got a 23/25 on the rhythm section, and you had to score 24 or 25 to play drums). Mr Anderson asked me what I wanted to play, and I said that if I couldn't play drums I didn't know what I wanted to play. He said, "You're a big kid, and you have an excellent sense of pitch. Why don't you play trombone?" It stuck. Here I am, 55 years later and still playing.

[Trombo]

1974. Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I am 10 years old. German style Leningrad baritone.
I watched a program on TV about a children's wind band. I really liked the shiny brass instruments. I went to the nearest Pioneers Palace and signed up for a wind band. In the USSR, the Pioneers Palace is an institution of additional education for children (under 18 years old) with a large number of children's creative associations, studios, art groups, associations (circles and sections) of technical, scientific and technical creativity, environmental education, sports sections, military-patriotic associations, tourism and local history. Education was free, musical instruments were given for free.
The conductor of the orchestra looked at my teeth and gave me a clarinet. I didn't like the clarinet right away. It wasn't made of brass, and it gave off nasty squeaky notes in the upper register. I brought back the clarinet and said I wanted to play a brass instrument. Then I got a baritone, which I learned to play well. When I was 13 years old I was admitted to a special music school at the conservatory and my parents bought me a straight .525 bore B&S trombone made in the GDR. I still have this trombone.

[although]

It was 1974 ish... I was 10 years old, a Conn Director (don't know which particular model). The mouthpiece was that standard issue Conn 2? I've pretty much been a Conn guy ever since

[BrassSection]

1962 in 5th grade I followed my father’s Army band baritone days footsteps and took up a school issued Conn baritone. As I progressed thru Jr and Sr high the horns issued got newer and less abused. After graduating my playing basically came to an end until my son hit 5th grade and also chose to play baritone. School didn’t have a horn so they said he could start on trumpet. Bought a new Conn cornet for him, nice discount due to a solder blemish. Next school year there was a baritone available, so I practiced along side him on the cornet. 3 years later my daughter took up,French horn, so again I transposed and played the cornet along with her. Basically has a brass trio at home, daughter’s band director asked us to play at his church for Christmas. Picked up a decent baritone and an ugly but playable French horn for myself at a school auction. Happy to have a baritone again joined a church band, and so did my daughter. Always had a desire for a trombone, after asking around at work I scored a nice Maynard Ferguson trumpet and a King Cleveland Superior trombone in the early 90s. Love this horn, only one I’ve ever owned, and Dad’s vintage Bach 12 SC mouthpiece, the only one I ever used in baritones, makes this trombone a joy to play.

[Bonearzt]

Started off on a King 606 in 5th grade, probably with a 7C mpce, moved to a 6.5AL in 7th
Got a 4B when I hit 8th grade and started playing 4th in the jazz band
Got a Duo-Gravis sometime in high school which I played into college, where I got a Holton 181
Had that 181 stolen, but bought my Professors 181.

Still have the 4B and the 2nd 181, although I have modified the 181 quite a bit since then....

[deanmccarty]

My first horn was a King 605. The case had a red interior.

My next horn was a Conn 88H, then I moved to bass and played a King Duo Gravis.

[RobL]

King Cleveland in 1975.

My father's start is more interesting--on a King that his parents bought him for $15 in 1938.

[imsevimse]

"What was your first horn, first year of playing, your age when you started out on trombone."

Started on a "Getzen Eterna" in 1975 when I was 12 years old.

/Tom

[hyperbolica]

I started on a rental King Cleveland 605 in 1975. Well, after my red and white flutophone phase. Actually, my mom probably gave me piano lessons before that.

When my school gave us the demos from which we picked which instrument we wanted to play, I was drawn to the "slide trombone" and the "snare drum". My mom was a school music teacher, so I got my first choice.

Within a year, my parents bought me an 88h. There was another student from my school who was maybe 10 years ahead of me. He used to play trombone and his mother accompanied him on a Hammond organ. He suddenly died of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and his mother sold both his trombone and her organ to my mother for a ridiculous bargain. I was too small for a big horn, but I grew into it. I still have that 88h, and really love it. Despite living through Jr high and high school, it's in great shape.

[Reedman1]

My first horn was an old metal clarinet that I found in the attic when I was about 11, or so, which would be 1967. I moved on to a better clarinet pretty fast. Went through more clarinets, saxes, and even flutes, got to be a pretty acceptable player. But upon graduating from Berklee, when it was time to sink or swim, I sank. I managed to do some music directing for community musicals, but that didn’t pay, so I stopped.
Many years later, I was listening to King Oliver one day, and I realized that I wanted to play cornet, and I’d better hurry up and do it while I was still alive. So I did that. And added trumpet. And then my teeth started to really hurt. I just couldn’t play without pain. Fortunately, I had just bought a beat-up old Holton 602 (if I remember correctly). It was pretty much a POS, and I sounded bad and had no range. But I needed to play, and my teeth didn’t hurt, and I kept at it. A couple more horns and a truckload more mouthpieces down the road, I now play a Butler JJ, and I enjoy it.

[sacfxdx]

7th grade 1970 rental horn. Probably a yammer 354.
Soon father bought a 1961 King 3B SS from a friend of his. At the time I had no idea how nice it was. For me it was just silver and different from everyone else. I did make 1st chair until I graduated in 1975. I keep it and still have it. I started back after 40 years and had new respect for it.

Of course now I play bass (doesn’t everyone ).

[JeffBone44]

My first year of playing was as a sophomore in high school. I started out on trumpet in 4th grade. Transitioning to trombone felt natural. I liked the larger mouthpiece as it felt more comfortable, the instrument was more free-blowing, and I loved the range of the instrument. Started practicing an hour or two a day, qualified for regional jazz band and All-State symphonic band by the time I was a senior. My first trombone was a Bach 36BO, purchased at Goldie & Libro in New Haven, CT in 1995. I met a fantastic repairman there, and I still use him for maintaining my horns today.

[Cotboneman]

My first instrument in the 5th grade was actually a school-owned Olds Ambassador cornet, which made its way into my hands in 1967. In middle school I was asked to switch over to an Olds baritone horn, which I played through 8th grade. I continued playing on a King baritone through most of high school, though I had also acquired a nickel plated student straight tenor trombone (I don't precisely remember the brand), which I used to learn on and play in the high school jazz program. By the time I was admitted to college in 1975 I was full time on tenor trombone, playing on a new Selmer Bolero.

[Chronos91]

My first instrument that I owned was a bundy alto sax back in 2005. First trombone though was a Getzen 747 in 2021. I wasn't really aware of the distinction between small bore and large bore tenor trombones, but I knew that an f-attachment was the trombone equivalent of a 4th valve and wanted that functionality. I wonder if that had an effect on my development so far.

[gregwaits]

I was started out on an Elkhart Buescher ultra-small-bore trombone, with a very used Bach 12c mpc. Some years ago I acquired a nearly identical horn and conquered it with a 7C mpc, vindicating myself. It was actually a decent horn for the right adult to play, but it took some getting used to. It was murder on me as a child of seven, through my senior year in high school and it killed my interest in playing for over 40 years. I re-kindled my interest and am now happily jazzing it up on only one horn, a single-trigger bass with a 1.5G mpc. I have no desire to go small-bore again. But in retrospect, I do appreciate the effort that was made to introduce me to a trombone.

[rizzo67]

I must admit that I started with fluegelhorn from a trombone choir at the age of fifteen, then I changed to a yamaha trumpet but my tone didn't get any better for years.
At the age of seventeen the cantor of the church in a a town nearby listened to this squalor and his reaction was to give my a trombone - try this....
So with a an antique german horn with a hard to move slide and a blaeser fibel from 1951 I started my trombone career.
The first horn I bought was a Bundy from the "designed by Vincent Bach" era, that I still play as small tenor.

[OldWetOneCanoli]

I started in 7th grade band around 1973 when I was 12 or 13. We had a student horn lying around at the house - either a Holton or Bundy. At the end of my sophomore year in HS, my trombone teacher talked to my parents about getting me a large bore trombone with an F-attachment. They got me an 88H. When I was a sophomore in college, I bought a 42B. I also played a school 50B my senior year as the bass trombone in the symphony. I stopped playing after I got my B.S. and went to grad school for chemistry. 40 years later I started playing again. Since I play in a big band now, I recently picked up a cheap beater horn with a smaller bore for the times I play 2nd.