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Steve Trapani

Notes & Thoughts

Thoughts on how to play Tchaikovsky's bass trombone parts based on a study of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto as annotated by [Jeff Reynolds](https://www.facebook.com/jeff.reynolds.106?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARA9keZ0bC8s_mI97x73wl_57qRGQ8sxGdH_iPU747h1l8v8YSiY4ptT5u5eSnMXr2rOqW_iyMavIdQL&fref=mentions), former bass trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

This isn't the first Tchaikovsky piece that jumps into your head when you think of great bass trombone parts, but I think it is a terrific example of his writing for the instrument. It hadn't occurred to me until I sat down to play the piece with the LA Philharmonic recently (subbing for current LA Phil bass trombonist, [John Lofton](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005157768799&__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARCsQYrpUUqpm1J1idsdhAF-bZZ9f5lWDo80ufI4yTo1Lelydl2zvlSC5hSsL1qPRKg-7kGSM9SjEEvI&fref=mentions)) and I saw the part that Jeff must have played a thousand times with all of his markings and private jokes written throughout.

Jeff was my main teacher from 1989-1994 when I was a student at Long Beach State, and he's been a general life mentor and role model ever since. I've been subbing with the LA Phil for the past 10 years, and have had the opportunity to play some amazing pieces of music with this terrific orchestra.

Much of this education was from the perspective of the bass trombone chair, and specifically from the point of view of Jeff and his consummate musicianship. Jeff taught me that you play the excerpts differently within the orchestra than you would in an audition setting. He trained me to pick and choose those moments to "drive the bus", as you can do in a very specific way from the bass trombone chair. Equally, and perhaps more important, however, was knowing when to fade into the background and blend with the rest of the orchestra.

As I sat down for the first rehearsal of this set at the Hollywood Bowl I chuckled to myself. I saw Jeff's writing on the part and my eye was immediately drawn to the chromatic quarter note line starting on the Cb over which Jeff had written the word "Zolo", which according to the author of the instruction means "a sort of solo from the Steppes".

![Tchaikovsky](https://d23wefbieu87ia.cloudfront.net/Tchaikovsky_Page_1_3445c726ef.webp)

At first I misread the word and thought it said, "Zob", though, and when I showed the part to Sonny (2nd trombone) for clarification, he smiled and sang the lick, "zob, zob, zob, zob, zob". I knew what I had to do.

I was immediately taken back to my lessons with Jeff and could see him imitating a caveman as he described how loud to play certain things on the bass trombone in order to be heard out front. A few years ago I subbed on a Tchaik 5 concert with the Phil and Jeff had written "Oblitterato" over the lick in the 2nd movement. Only Jeff...

Getting back to the piano concerto. In addition to pointing out where to "drive the bus", Jeff is also careful to point out where to hold back when it would otherwise be easy to overpower the orchestra with non-melodic material. An example would be at the Alla Breve section after rehearsal letter K. You're pretty pumped up after playing letter K, but the show is over at that point with the bass trombone and it's necessary to come back within the texture at the Alla breve.

Another example of this would be in the last movement at the Molto Meno Mosso section before the end. After the second beat of the sixth bar he indicates to come back with a classic Jeff "meno" marking (I have these all over every solo or excerpt I ever studied with Jeff). Otherwise it would be too easy to just continue the FF dynamic with no regard to the line. Some people would do this instinctively, but some would only see the fortissimo mark, and with no further instruction, just go for it.

![Tchaikovsky](https://d23wefbieu87ia.cloudfront.net/Tchaikovsky_Page_2_b14168f06c.webp)

One thing that I've been able to observe as a former student of Jeff's and a current substitute musician with the LA Phil which is corroborated with this part is the way in which this trombone section would help each other out with executing challenging passages.

An example of this is in the last movement eight bars before rehearsal letter W. This eight bar passage is difficult to execute because there's nowhere to breathe. The guys solved this problem by having The second trombonist play the Gb eighth note on the downbeat of the fifth bar while the bass trombonist catches a quick breath. This makes the bass trombone lick a lot more playable. Same thing happens at rehearsal letter (lower case) a, but now it's an Ab.

They've done similar things in other pieces, including Dvorak 9 where the bass trombone player covers a note in the second trombone part towards the end of the first movement to make the breathing a little easier.

These guys must have liked each other.

As far as private jokes, Jeff has indicated to play the low E's at the end of the 1st movement in 7th position. This would make sense from a note quality stand point, but quickly devolves into a comical scene when you take into account the tempo of this particular passage. Additionally, at the end of the entire work there's a hard to catch entrance where Jeff has given to player two options in how to execute the lick: 1) loud and late or 2) soft and late.

At some point in the set, the librarians put out another, fresher, copy of the music and Jim [Miller](https://www.facebook.com/ncsajmiller?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARAfAP3lVgj9S8AAmRHgsNAE87zILozkRU571XhSIQUhupX6soPHvU_5OpvOPKAkWlKWTqICZJlKxUoU&fref=mentions) (assistant principal trombone) asked me if I wanted to use the new part. "No way", I said. I was having way too much fun with this older version and it's priceless markings. At the end of the set, Sonny told me, "Nice Zobs!" I was honored.

I present this part to you all now as a way for you to get a small glimpse of what Jeff had to teach as a bass trombonist, but mostly as a musician. He was a lot of fun to listen to live, and remains one of my favorite bass trombonists to listen to on orchestral recordings.

As an addendum to this, after communicating with Jeff about this post he pointed out that his predecessor, Charlie Bovington was responsible for the German remarks on the part such as "Immer Breiter". This dates this part to before 1968. Pretty cool.

Thoughts on Playing Tchaikovsky’s Bass Trombone Parts

Thoughts on Playing Tchaikovsky’s Bass Trombone Parts

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