HOW DID YOU CHOOSE TROMBONE?

[officermayo]

My story:

Ok, get a beverage and have a seat as this will be a bit long.....

1972 - my father retires after 20+ years as a Marine Band trombonist and we move back to the hometown where he and my mother grew up. And no - being the son of a professional trombonist had absolutely nothing to do with my choice of instrument. It was a girl. A gorgeous, blue eyed blond girl.......

Last day of 6th grade the band from the Jr High we fed into played a concert at our elementary school. The band members wore the usual tuxedo like concert uniform, but the majorettes wore their sexy sequined get-ups. This one particular majorette caught my eye and I stared at her through the entire concert.

After the concert, the band director (who later was our mayor for 28 years) asked who wanted to be in beginner band next year at the Jr High. Naturally I raised my hand, I HAD to meet that girl! He then asked about instrumentation to get an idea of what he'd be working with in the Fall. First, he said trumpet and EVSERYBODY raised their hand. Being the rebel who marched to beat of a different drummer, I didn't raise my hand. Next, he said drums. Well just about everybody who didn't raise their hand for trumpet put it up for drums. I did too as my older brother was a professional drummer and I thought that might give me a leg up, but when I saw all the other hands in the air, I put mine down. Finally, he gets to trombone AND NO ONE RAISED THEIR HAND, so I shot mine up in a heartbeat. I saw the slushpump as my ticket to getting close to that beautiful majorette.

A few hours later I get home, and Dad asked me how my day went. I told him I was signing up for band next year, Naturally, he was happy to hear that, but when I told him I'd picked trombone he was THRILLED thinking I was following in his footsteps. I saw no reason to burst his bubble, so I kept the fact it was all about a girl to myself. I did, however tell my mother the truth. She was amused and a bit sad that "her baby" was becoming a man.

Summer drug by very slowly that year and I did all the usual things a 12 year old does in the Summer - rode bikes, played sandlot baseball and all that jazz. FINALLY, the first day of Jr High rolled around, and armed with my father's USMC issued King Liberty I headed for the band room. The advanced band were coming out of the band hall as we newbies were filing in. I saw my dream girl and introduced myself. She was nice, but obviously annoyed by some punk 7th grader trying to chat her up. No problem. At least I knew her name.

Back home after school, my mother asked me how it had gone with my first day of band. I told her I'd met the babe and had gotten her name. My mother began to smile, then chuckle and then that became a full-on guffaw. "Honey, you can't date her. She's your cousin", she said. Turns out my dream girl was the daughter of my mother's cousin and even though this was in Alabama, the romance would have been frowned upon.

50 years later I became FB friends with that woman and told her the above story. She laughed until her gut hurt and was very touched by it and my puppy love adoration.

BTW - she's still hot, even as a senior citizen.

Ironically, many years later I ended up marrying another majorette from that Jr High school, but as we were in the same gran and not related, it's lasted up until this day.

So, that's how I ended up playing trombone. A combination of lust and stubbornness to NOT follow the crowd and play trumpet or drums.

[Burgerbob]

I already played euphonium, and my 3-years-younger sister started on trombone. I picked it up when she brought it home, and the rest is history.

[BGuttman]

In 4th grade we all learned Flutophone, a rather brash version of the recorder. At the end of the year we got a musical aptitude test and I guess I did OK because they put me in the 5th grade class that had Band.

At the beginning of the term they asked what we wanted to play. My friend had been taking trumpet lessons for a year, so I asked for trumpet so I could be in the section with him. Then they looked at me, at my musical aptitude scores, and said I had a good ear and long arms. They handed me a trombone. And thus it started.

[musicofnote]

Removed but cannot delete.

[chouston3]

I was at a youth program that the local symphony orchestra put on. They had an "instrument petting zoo" where kids could try out the different instruments. I wanted to play brass. I tried all the brass instruments and could get a sound. Then I went back to try them again and the only instrument I could get to play was trombone. That fall I started beginner band. I put trombone as my first choice out of three and got it. If my band director had not let me play trombone that year, I would be playing something else now.

[harrisonreed]

My uncle played in a MA band called "Brass Attack". He was awesome at the trombone. I was forced to play in band at age 10 so I chose it because of him. Other than a period in 2010-2012 where I was in various infantry schools and then in Afghanistan, I've played it nearly every day for 27 years.

I tried quitting in high school so I could focus on other classes, but for various reasons ... I couldn't. I definitely was going to quit before I started college, but I received a call from the band director at UMass after I did a solo in a park concert in Belchertown MA, and he offered what seemed to me an unbelievable scholarship to play in their marching band and concert band. I was like "no, I'm going there to study Japanese and linguistics, not major in music" but the scholarship was just for those two classes so I couldn't really say no. That summer I played Blue Bells of Scotland (you gotta start somewhere, I guess) with the community band and also did "A Short Ride on a Motorbike" for a recital of private teachers at the middle school there.

So I did marching band, concert band, and pep band for my scholarship, and why not, the trombone professor let me be in the studio so I did that too for some great lessons. Got paid to sub in the 5 College system's various orchestras because the students were on strike (but you paid to play in the orchestra?) Did the David Concerto with a local community orchestra. College is over before you know it, and now I'm trying to get into the state police because there are no jobs -- I can quit trombone now and focus on earning a living. "Good job, you got a 100% on the test. Unfortunately there are combat vets who did equally well but with their experience they got 110%. It's 2009 so ... Yeah good luck getting a job. We'll let you know..." Combat experience eh? Two years later I'm chilling on some family's roof with my squad waiting for school riots to start in Gardez, wondering how I got there. Get back and they have a big ceremony. The band is playing and my buddies are ripping hard on them. "Yeah, I can do that, man." "No you can't!" "You wanna bet?"

I was supposed to reclass into the CID but I won the bet and reclassed into the band instead. I am by no means a master musician, but it seems that I was just destined to be playing the trombone.

[VJOFan]

I am another one influenced by a sister. When I was in grade 2, my older sister played clarinet in high school (but maybe wanting to be a teacher some day?) tried out some different instruments. The weekend she brought home a trombone, I don't think she really got to touch it. Lying in the hallway, getting to the longer positions by using my foot, I was hooked for life. I feel happy just holding a trombone.

[baileyman]

Clarinet was for girls, so I got trombone. Told my kids, don't play THIS. Play anything else. It's too much trouble.

[mcphatty00]

I switched from euphonium to trombone the summer before high school. We happened to have what was probably an early version of a symphony Jupiter trombone at my school. In 1995 I chose between an 88H and a 42 and went with the 88H.

The 88H got me through high school and undergrad. In 2003 Edwards was all the rage. My best friend and roommate got one and I never liked it. Another roommate and myself were heading to grad school and made the trip from State College, PA to Massachusetts when Shires was still very small. We both tried parts as Steve handed different pieces and left with horns when Steve's trombones were only about $3000

[tbdana]

My father was a sheet metal worker at a shop that manufactured electrical signs for companies like Denny's, K-Mart, Chevron, etc. His boss, another blue collar sheet metal worker at the shop, had a son 5 years older than me who played tuba in a youth band.

Aside 1: Youth bands were wildly popular activities for kids at the time. They served as both marching and concert bands.

Aside 2: The boss' son who played tuba in the band was a kid named Matt Garbutt. You can read a little about him here: https://sdsomusicians.org/wp/retirement ... onducting/

Anyway, one day my dad's boss sold my dad two tickets to a joint concert of the Claudehoppers Youth Band and the San Fernando Valley Youth Band, both creations by Claude Lakey, who owned C&D Music. My mother was not pleased. She refused to go to the stupid kids' concert. My dad said he had to go, as his boss was pretty insistent. My mom was steadfast in her refusal and commanded my dad to "take the kid." So I went to my first ever concert, with no concept of what a concert was.

I was blown away.

Never in my young life had I any idea that anything like that was possible for kids near my age. It was magical, and I instantly became obsessed: I wanted to play with the San Fernando Valley Youth Band. It was my only goal in life.

Problem was, I didn't play an instrument. I had started piano at 5, but hated practicing and had quit by the time I was 6. Now I was 8 and needed to find an instrument.

My elementary school had an orchestra that would loan me an instrument. So I joined. They gave me a choice between two instruments, string bass and trombone. I asked if I could play string bass in the youth band, and they said no. So that left the trombone. I took it. But even though I was "tall" for my age, I could not yet reach 6th position.

Long story short, I studied with Ed Low (a trumpet player) at C&D Music, and got into the Claudehoppers Youth Band when I was 10, which was the junior band. I had to be 12 to get into the San Fernando Valley Youth Band. At 12 I did, and from that moment I spent every Saturday of my childhood at C&D music, studying trombone, playing in the bands, and learning conducting. I knew surely and completely at age 10 that I wanted to be a trombone player when I grew up. There simply was nothing else for me.

Fast forward to the late 1970s:

Bill Watrous had just gotten divorced and moved to L.A. He was starting a new big band, which he would call Refuge West. He came up to me at a freebie nightclub gig on Sunset Blvd that I did as a sub for a band led by Ted Nash (Dick Nash's son), and asked if I wanted to play in his new big band. Duh. Of course I did. The first rehearsal would be the following week at C&D Music. The same place that I had gotten my start, and that had launched Matt Garbutt's music career and dozens of others.

When I walked into that first rehearsal of Refuge West and played not just with Watrous, but with guys like Phil Teele, Mike Barone, and Al Vizutti, I thought back to the night in 1964 when my mother and father had a nasty little fight about having to go to a stupid kids' concert, and realized that we do not recognize the most significant moments in our lives when they are happening, and that everything happens in circles.

Claude Lakey died shortly after that, and C&D Music closed. Even today, somewhere deep inside me that I never talk about, I secretly think that somehow C&D Music magically existed solely bring me to a life playing the trombone, and that when the goal was reached, it up and disappeared.

[tbdana]

My uncle played in a MA band called "Brass Attack". He was awesome at the trombone. I was forced to play in band at age 10 so I chose it because of him. Other than a period in 2010-2012 where I was in various infantry schools and then in Afghanistan, I've played it nearly every day for 27 years.

I tried quitting in high school so I could focus on other classes, but for various reasons ... I couldn't. I definitely was going to quit before I started college, but I received a call from the band director at UMass after I did a solo in a park concert in Belchertown MA, and he offered what seemed to me an unbelievable scholarship to play in their marching band and concert band. I was like "no, I'm going there to study Japanese and linguistics, not major in music" but the scholarship was just for those two classes so I couldn't really say no. That summer I played Blue Bells of Scotland (you gotta start somewhere, I guess) with the community band and also did "A Short Ride on a Motorbike" for a recital of private teachers at the middle school there.

So I did marching band, concert band, and pep band for my scholarship, and why not, the trombone professor let me be in the studio so I did that too for some great lessons. Got paid to sub in the 5 College system's various orchestras because the students were on strike (but you paid to play in the orchestra?) Did the David Concerto with a local community orchestra. College is over before you know it, and now I'm trying to get into the state police because there are no jobs -- I can quit trombone now and focus on earning a living. "Good job, you got a 100% on the test. Unfortunately there are combat vets who did equally well but with their experience they got 110%. It's 2009 so ... Yeah good luck getting a job. We'll let you know..." Combat experience eh? Two years later I'm chilling on some family's roof with my squad waiting for school riots to start in Gardez, wondering how I got there. Get back and they have a big ceremony. The band is playing and my buddies are ripping hard on them. "Yeah, I can do that, man." "No you can't!" "You wanna bet?"

I was supposed to reclass into the CID but I won the bet and reclassed into the band instead. I am by no means a master musician, but it seems that I was just destined to be playing the trombone.

That was a fascinating story. Thanks.

[WGWTR180]

Went to school with my parents before 5th grade to try instruments. Narrowed it down to Sax and Trombone. I overheard the band director talking with my parents about costs. Trombone was cheaper by quite a bit. I, not my parents, chose trombone based on what it would cost my parents.

[Kbiggs]

Nothing so fantastical as revelatory concerts or bewitching girls in my story…

The school band director, Mr. Smart, gave a demonstration of band instruments to an assembly of 5th graders. I think 6th graders played the instruments while he explained the instruments and the program. He handed out some information along with a permission slip to take home. We were to discuss this with our parents, complete the permission slip, and bring it back the next week.

I wanted to play trumpet. My oldest brother had played, but he wasn’t playing anymore, so I could just use his instrument—or so I thought. I listed trombone as my second. I only knew about the trombone because I’d heard some of my folks’ swing records with Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey, as well as an old Preservation Hall record featuring Turk Murphy.

I went to turn in the permission slip the next week. Mr. Smart looked at me, asked me to hold my arms out, and asked me to smile. Then he said, “We’ve got a lot of trumpet players already. You look like a strapping young lad. How’s about the trombone?” I was a little taller than most of my peers and, as I was raised to respect my elders, I said, “Sure.”

Thus began a 50-year relationship. It was chosen for me.

In retrospect, I believe Mr. Smart lived up to his name. Perhaps he saw something in this lanky, awkward kid that would make him more suitable to playing trombone. Besides, I don’t think I would ever have made a good trumpet player. Believe me—I’ve tried to play trumpet.

[JeffBone44]

I didn't choose the trombone. The trombone chose me.

I originally played trumpet from fourth grade through freshman year of high school, but when I entered the advanced symphonic band as a sophomore, there were already seven trumpet players besides me and only one trombone. So out of necessity I switched to trombone. It was a good match, as I took to it right way, and felt more comfortable on 'bone than trumpet. About two months after I started trombone, my high school jazz band went to see the Maynard Ferguson band in concert, and the one of the trombonists in the band (I believe it was Tom Garling) played the most amazing solo that I had ever heard at the time. That inspired me to practice like crazy and learn more about the trombone's role in all different kinds of music.

[tbdana]

About two months after I started trombone, my high school jazz band went to see the Maynard Ferguson band in concert, and the one of the trombonists in the band (I believe it was Tom Garling) played the most amazing solo that I had ever heard at the time. That inspired me to practice like crazy and learn more about the trombone's role in all different kinds of music.

It's amazing what one solo at one concert can do to change the world, or at least one person's part in it. If only Tom Garling knew what he did.

[JeffBone44]

About two months after I started trombone, my high school jazz band went to see the Maynard Ferguson band in concert, and the one of the trombonists in the band (I believe it was Tom Garling) played the most amazing solo that I had ever heard at the time. That inspired me to practice like crazy and learn more about the trombone's role in all different kinds of music.

It's amazing what one solo at one concert can do to change the world, or at least one person's part in it. If only Tom Garling knew what he did.

He's 58 now and that concert was around 1994, so he was probably only about 28 when I saw him play. I remember him playing for what seemed like 10 minutes all by himself, and I was completely in awe. Up until that point I wanted to be a track and long-distance running star, but my dreams changed to trombone playing that night. I should email him my story.

[tbdana]

It's amazing what one solo at one concert can do to change the world, or at least one person's part in it. If only Tom Garling knew what he did.

He's 58 now and that concert was around 1994, so he was probably only about 28 when I saw him play. I remember him playing for what seemed like 10 minutes all by himself, and I was completely in awe. Up until that point I wanted to be a track and long-distance running star, but my dreams changed to trombone playing that night. I should email him my story.

Yes, you should! I guarantee he would love to read it.

[bketch]

I was fourteen when a new community band started in our small rural town (pop 500). A group of parents got together when a teacher with concert band experience moved in and thought it would be a good thing for our community and local teenagers.

My father had played cornet, so that was the instrument I chose. It turned out I was very good at it and two years later a trombone player and I were given the position of musical directors of the newly formed junior band. When I conducted my friend would play my cornet and when he conducted I would play trombone. This lasted for one year as I left to attend University in a nearby city.

Many, many years later about 2019 I was one of 13 trumpets in a community concert band with one trombone player. The Music Director asked if anyone would want to take up trombone so I suggested to him that if he could put up with a few months of my attempts to play, I would switch over. I am now in first chair trombone in a section of 4 trombones. I had to learn to read bass clef which still causes problems when I lose concentration and start reading the music as treble clef!

[Dennis]

We lived in Hilo when I finished 6th grade. Going into Hilo Intermediate School 7th graders had one choice to make: band, or art (1 semester) and music (1 semester). Music was singing (which was okay by me) and flute-o-phone (which was not). Mr. Anderson gave us an aptitude test. My lowest score was in rhythm, and I was 1 point below the minimum required to be allowed to learn drums.

Mr Anderson gave me the bad news (because I wanted to learn drums) and asked what I wanted to play. I said, "I don't know. I wanted to learn drums."

He said, "Well, you have a really good ear--you got a perfect score on the pitch test, and you have long arms. Why don't you learn trombone?"

I said, "Okay." My parents signed me up for summer band, so I got a head start on it. Among the instruments the school owned were an Olds with a valve section, and an Olds Ambassador with F-attachment. I learned valves by taking the Olds with the valve section home and figuring out the fingerings.

We moved to Bakersfield before I started high school. I auditioned for the band and the orchestra. I preferred the orchestra, but I didn't play bass at the time. So I joined the band. Our conductor preferred to march a full rank of trombones followed by a full rank of baritones. We had 9 trombones and 7 baritones. Our conductor asked if any of the three freshmen knew valve fingerings. I admitted to knowing them, and I was moved to the baritones, and got some lessons from him (he had majored in euphonium in college).

Summer between my freshman and sophomore years I learned to play bass on an Olds O-20. I made the County Honor Band my sophomore year, the SCSBOA Honor Band my junior and senior years, and the CBDA Honor Band my senior year. I started taking private lessons when we moved from Bakersfield to Riverside (Dad was transferred and I was very unhappy) in the middle of my junior year.

The trombone stuck, where piano, violin, and guitar had not. I didn't play for an 8 year period in my first marriage, but I've played continuously since I picked it up again.

Thanks very much Mr Anderson, wherever you may be.

[tbdana]

Hilo to Bakersfield to Riverside. Ugh. Well, at least you got out of the rain.

[dbwhitaker]

I played trumpet in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades but my family moved to a new state just before I started 6th grade. At the first middle school band rehearsal I found myself in a section of 22 trumpets while the trombone "section" was only one kid. My oldest brother had just gone off to college and left his trombone behind (Olds Ambassador). Since I had easy access to a trombone I decided to make the switch.

(My only regret was that the other kid in the trombone section thought it was great fun to punch people in the arm. Repeatedly. He'd even do it while I was playing.)

[officermayo]

I had a bully like that in Jr High.

At out 10 yr High School reunion I ran into him. Keep in mind I took leave from my job as a Marine Corps Drill Instructor to attend the reunion.

He didn't recognize me (of course) ans since I was wearing Dress Blues I had no name tag (against regs). I introduced myself to him and punched him in the arm as he had dine me all those years ago. He dropped his drink as he hit the floor. The whole class cheered. Apparently he was still a bully and I wasn't his only victim. He'd been acting up earlier before I arrived.

Petty?

NO.

Staff Sergeant.

[BrassSection]

Born and bred a baritone player thanks to dad. My first baritone book (Breeze Easy book 1) also included trombone positions, so I memorized the equivalent slide positions as I learned baritone fingerings…don’t ask me why. At least dad recommended starting on bass clef and not treble. Growing up, dad played his Al Hirt trumpet record a lot. Buglers Holiday was one of my favorites, and of course Java. Played baritone all thru high school. Became a dad, son wanted to join the baritone ranks. No school horn available, so they started him on trumpet, which equaled treble clef, which I already knew. After one year he got a school baritone, so the new Conn cornet we bought him was available for my use. I was no Al Hirt! Thinking I’d just stick with low brass started I considering a trombone. Unfortunately, got pushed/pulled into playing trumpet. Never matched Al for Buglers Holiday, but held my own as needed. Became dad again, daughter decided to take up French horn. Transposed cornet on the fly to help her get started, then lucked into school French horn being auctioned off. Off goes my French horn playing. Wanted a better grade trumpet than the Conn student cornet, bought a nice Holton trumpet from a coworker. Love that horn. Still hadn’t scratched the decades old trombone itch, found and bought my Cleveland King Superior from another coworker. Within 2 weeks I was playing it in public. Out of all my horns, it probably gets the most play time, but deep down my euphonium is my favorite horn to play.

[BrassSection]

Oh yeah, also had some musical influence back in the early days of the British Invasion. (The sweet sounding, sweet handling machines from Norton, Triumph, Matchless, BSA etc with the gearshift lever on the right with first gear being up and the brake pedal on the left. That also required Whitworth wrenches and used the not so reliable Smith electrical system)

First group: The Tijuana Brass, on vinyl. Trumpets ok, I always payed attention to the trombone.
Second group: Chicago Transit Authority, which soon became simply Chicago, on 8 tracks. Whole group good, but loved the trombone!

Summary: Guess I’ve always been a low-life!

[Jhereg]

I'm another circumstantial/It chose me.

Was made to take piano lessons as a pre-teen and was pretty good, not great. In 3rd grade chose clarinet because "all my friends played it" or whatever. Parents rented me a clarinet.

My band director was a curmudgeony Vietnam War vet, super cranky and a bit scary. One day I came in for a clarinet lesson and he wasn't there yet so I sat at the piano and poked around a bit. He came in and was like "YOU CAN READ BASS CLEF." Went over to the band closet and came out with a trombone, thrust it into my hand and said, "You're gonna learn trombone!" I'm sure he needed low brass or whatever.

My parents, who had just rented me a clarinet, were PISSED when I brought home some random other instrument. But I guess they sorted it out with the school because I was VERY grudgingly allowed to keep playing the trombone. I had no feelings about it other than it was interesting because it was new.

Starting in the second year of high school there was the option to participate in band competitions. Despite being from a tiny Central PA coal town where the arts were last and least in all things, I had the great fortune of having a band director who had been an actual college music professor. She first asked which instrument I wanted to compete with and I said clarinet. But after listening to me play both instruments she insisted I audition on the trombone first.

Not to toot my own horn but what happened, happened: in my very first competition at the county level I absolutely swept it. A Senior kid got the principal chair, I got 2nd chair with only a four point gap between us...and there was a 28-point score gap between myself and the 3rd chair. Not only that, I went on to make it all the way to the All-State level as a sophomore and my first time doing ANY of these competitions. At state level no one cared but at the county, district, and regional levels in the area where I'm from, it caused an absolute UPROAR.

On one hand I didn't like it and it was scary. Not only did the young men playing alongside me threaten, bully, and harass me, several times their band directors or parents also had dirty looks or whispered threats for me. A few even mounted protests or demanded re-auditions. But my amazing band director ran interference for the vast majority of that at the adult level, and when I continued to place well in subsequent years people calmed down and the guys got used to my presence.

At some point in there I thought, "yooo I might actually be good at this!" and started really getting into what the trombone was about, how to produce the best sound on my dippy little King 606, discovering what music I liked, etc. And it was good that I developed a passion for it, because the majority of people around me were very pleased indeed to discourage and try to dissuade me at every opportunity.

I'll always be grateful to the cranky old dude who made me play the trombone; and my high school band director who saw something in me and decided to protect and nurture it instead of quash it. And to my mother, who NEVER ONCE wavered in her 100% full-hearted support of having a daughter who wanted to be a trombonist.

[bwgunia]

In the interest of saving space, here a link to a blog post I wrote some years back that will contribute my 2 cents to this thread.

https://brucegunia.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-tribe.html

[Finetales]

I chose euphonium in the 5th grade. I originally wanted to play trumpet, but when I found out that a full half of our small beginning band was trumpet players, I changed my mind!

I picked up trombone in high school to play in the jazz band. The director wouldn't let me play in the jazz band on euphonium, despite my band geek self brandishing a Rich Matteson jazz euphonium CD at him, so I checked out a King 606 from the school and started shedding. Got into the jazz band the next year, and picked up bass trombone the year after.

I've never had a moment where I put my foot down and proclaimed "trombone is my primary now!" I always considered euphonium and bass trombone to be equal primaries. But once I finished my degree in those two instruments, I stopped having opportunities to play euphonium (shocking, I know!). And thus I had accidentally become a full-time trombonist.

[MikeSweetsLord]

Not too exciting a story:

Grade Seven was the last year of our elementary school, and the high school teacher drops by to promote the concept of joining the band. You could take either Visual Art or Drama or Band. Apparently they're planning a joint trip with the very good school rugby team to Hawaii soon, and it would sure be great if they had a few more trombonists. So when the call went out to show an interest in an instrument, my long arm went straight up. He really taught us nothing about playing the instruments, but we watched what the older kids were doing and figured it out. He was one heck of an organizer though and three years later I'm on a six-week summer tour of New Zealand, which is where he was from. Actually did get get to stopover in Disneyland, Fiji and Hawaii as they had to refuel in those days for longer trips. Got to body surf one night wearing my suit with my buddies and kept shaking sand out of the trouser hems for the next six weeks! Thinking I had some skill I applied to the local college to study music, but they could tell before I played a note that i had never had a lesson just from my posture. Went a bit further afield to the university where they accepted me based my theory aptitude. So I ended up teaching school band to give kids the proper start that I had never had. Just before going off to Uni I got invited to play in a trad jazz band by an ex-pat Brit and that was a great adjunct to my "book-learning". Played in all sorts of jazz and blues groups in my spare time. Took a year off before my teaching degree to go on the road with a show band and put some money back into the coffers. There is something physically satisfying about the trombone that you don't get with other instruments. After 42 years of teaching I still poke around with piano and all the band instruments writing songs for my own fun on a DAW. Glad I picked trombone though!

[Jutty]

Like most, I started in the 5th grade band but I started on euphonium. My band director in my senior year of high school asked if I would like to try trombone so for the first time in my 17 years of life I picked it up. Now in college, I recently picked up the bass trombone in the fall of 2023 and I can say that I do not regret the decision. I hope to play and learn much more about the bass trombone.

[Cmillar]

Hah! I wanted to play trumpet in Grade 7 band, which was the first year available to do so. Herb Alpert was my hero.

But, I was last in line. The band director said all the trumpets are taken, looked at my crooked teeth and said I should try trombone.

Then fell in love with the trombone after my folks got a 'Trombones Unlimited' LP playing arrangements of pop tunes. (Still awesome to listen to....Mike Barone, Frank Rosolino, and Bobby Knight.)

The teeth haven't changed and I play trombone. And, thanks to Doug Elliott, I'm playing better than ever.

[imsevimse]

I did want to play trumpet but my mother choose the trombone for me. I wasn't very good at it, but I didn't know that. I struggled a lot and sometimes I wonder why I didn't give up. Father got a headache from my practice and both my mother and father asked me to stop playing. "Isn't it time? Haven't you played enough for this evening? We need to go sleep". I don't know really why I didn't quit because I didn't get much credit for my playing, and they were right because I sucked at it, but I was determined. In time I met with a teacher that helped me get on the right track and things started to happen. I improved, but had a lot to relearn. When I was 15 I started to get some credit for my efforts and I decided I wanted to become a musician like my grandfather. Went to a music program in high school and met the best teacher I've ever had and he helped me as he suggested I'd do a complete change of my emboushure. Did that in a year. After high school I was accepted to study at music college to be a trombone teacher/brass teacher, so I studied four years at the Royal Accademy of Music in Stockholm. It wasn't until after I graduated that I had fixed all the issues I had with my playing. With all the struggles I've had and all the things I have fixed I cannot ever quit now when my playing works

/Tom

[SamEdwTbone]

Because my mom didn't let me play sax

[whenuniquetbone]

Stuttered when I went to say trumpet, gave up and said trombone XD. Definitely happy with the decision though!!

[NorthWoodsEngineer]

Fifth grade rolled around and it was our opportunity to pick an instrument to learn. We had my grandfather's 2B silversonic hanging in the living room all growing up that he bought with his paper route money back in the 50's and that my mother also played in high school, so naturally I wanted to play that!

~13 years later here I am! I don't play that horn anymore, I rarely play jazz and the small bright sound just doesn't work for my playing, but it sparked a lifelong passion. Playing orchestra got me through undergrad, and now that I have more time in grad school I've been able to really work on my playing and it's my happy place.

As an aside, part of playing trombone is how it really is a whole body exercise. Never done well with finger twiddling valves, but playing the 'bone is almost like a dance!