Posted by js on March 31, 2003 at 08:48:25:
In Reply to: Re: "tromboning" posted by Doc on March 31, 2003 at 07:08:56:
I believe a lot of top-level players grow weary of (excessively) yanking slides on instruments, but they're smart enough not to run down their own instruments just in case they decide to sell them someday.
Of course, any top-level pro (and, I'd assume, hundreds of other folks too) who had a very nice-sounding instrument with a "dog" scale would be shopping (assuming available funding) for an easier-to-play instrument.
Given only 5 valves, changing the length of the 5th valve to accomodate the tuning of very low pitches for pieces in different keys is a "given". Roger Bobo has the 5th valves on most all of his instruments "triggered" for tuning on-the-fly. However, the necessity of treating the #1 slide like a trombone slide varies from brand-to-brand and from model-to-model.
I've "bought into" both the "sound is everything" and the "intonation is everything" camps in the past. Of course, neither can be "everything", and in addition to these there are other very important issues as well.
As we all spend significant amounts of money on our own cars/trucks/vans/SUV's, think how possibly inappropriate our personal vehicle choices would be if we shopped only with the satisfaction of one issue in mind.
As to "lipping", maybe its good not to tell a student to engage in this, but when I'm playing certain no-valves-down pitches on my about-as-in-tune-as-big-tubas-get (no 1st-valve slide manipulation required) tuba at extremely high volume levels with a professional symphony orchestra...I'm lipping or else I'm "sucking".