Here's my TL;DR argument: A trombone is like a drill motor or a wrench. It's a tool used to do a job, like drilling a hole or tightening a bolt. The tool itself is unimportant, except to the extent it is fit for its intended purpose. After all, you don't use a hack saw to drill a hole, so you need to find a drill and a bit that will drill the right size hole in the medium you're drilling into. As soon as you identify the proper tool for the job (e.g., the kind of music you're playing), and you find one of quality that fits your hand/mouth, that should pretty much be the end of the tool discussion if your purpose is accomplishing some job. The only time tools need to be discussed in depth are if you're a tool manufacturer and the tool is the purpose, or you're a collector steeped in the history of the tool, which again renders the tool the purpose, not the purpose the purpose.
Here's the full argument:
Musicians will say, "I use this audio equipment to listen to my music."
Audiophiles will say, "I use this music to listen to my audio equipment."
By the numbers, this website is focused more on the trombone metaphorical equivalent of the "audiophile." Posts about hardware far exceed posts about music. In the music related fora there is a collective total of 40,631 posts on all possible music related subjects. In the hardware related fora, which is focused solely on our instruments, the very first forum labeled "Instruments," by itself, has almost the same number of posts as all the music forums on this site, combined. And the busiest fora and the most active threads are about equipment.
That leads me to conclude that, in general and looking at this from a numbers basis, people here are more focused on what they play rather than how they play.
The obsession with hardware confounds me. It's a rabbit hole and an addiction for some. To my mind, 95% of playing the trombone is about your body, skills, knowledge and musicality, and only 5% is about the hardware, if that much. Following that, 95% of the posts should be about music and only 5% about equipment. Yet hardware dominates the forum, and dominates many folks' thoughts and approach. If there is a problem with playing, for many the first recourse is to equipment. "Oh, I must need a different mouthpiece," is a much more prevalent solution than, "Oh, I need to adjust something about how I play."
Personally, I give very little attention to hardware. I bought a couple good horns, found a couple mouthpieces that fit me, and from then on all focus, thoughts and discussion get pointed right at me. Problems are related to me, not to the equipment. Solutions come from me, not from the equipment. Style, fit, blend, range, musicality, interpretation, technique and playing are all about me and how I play, not about my equipment. I have a "symphony" horn and a "jazz" horn. I'm happy with them both. My feeling is that with those two instruments I should be able to play anything, anywhere, at a professional level. If there are problems to be solved or tweaks to be made, they are with my playing, not my equipment. That's my approach.
The one thing almost no one ever talks about here, though I'd argue it's the most important part of tromboning, is artistry and and becoming an artist. For their entire lives, most trombonists are focused on playing their instrument. But it seems to me that when you reach a certain level of proficiency, the goal should be to completely forget about playing the instrument and even your awareness of playing it, and focus simply on creating music. And yet in a couple searches of the website I didn't find a single thread about that ultimate goal. But OMG are there a gazillion threads about which mouthpiece will fix a problem, or what model trombone is made better, or the like.
Doubtless the equipment-focused folks, by far the majority here by the numbers, will take umbrage at my observations and argument, and get their feathers ruffled because I'm essentially saying their main focus shouldn't be the main focus. But really, if you're a musician rather than an audiophile-equivalent or a collector, shouldn't the vast percentage of all our focus and discussion be about the music and how we go about using the tool we've chosen?
Doesn't anyone else feel the way I do? ("No, Dana, it's just you....") Aw, not again! It figures. Dana is out of step once again.
But in April I'll be putting some things on tape to mark my 1-year anniversary of picking up the horn again, and I might post one or two of them here for all the raves, meh, snark, criticism, or whatever comes my way. I'm realistic about where I'm at and am up for the commentary. I think I'm still a decent player, though light years from when I was at my best, and I'm my own worst critic, so folks can bring it on.
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