David Mathie:  Brass Transcriptions
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Dr. David Mathie
Trombonist, Professor, Arranger

Picture

ALTERNATE POSITIONS ON THE TROMBONE

Alternate positions are used by trombone players to avoid awkward slide motion and make possible technical passages that might be unplayable using regular positions.  Since they are based on playing the same note on different partials of different overtone series, there are dozens of alternates available (high Bb can be played in 4 different places); this video covers the most common. 

​On this page are links to:

​
- My Video on this topic

Below that are links that will open up a PDF in a new window, to save or print:

- An Alternate Positions handout explaining the four most common alternates
- An Alternate Positions Exercise with a Christmas Carol packed full of alternates




Click the links below to download these as PDFs:
​
Alternate Positions

​Alternate Positions Exercise

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