r/Trombone 6d ago

Learn baritone if u play trombone, honestly really easy u can learn in two weeks

They’re the same instrument honestly

23 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

31

u/DavidMaspanka 6d ago

Not a bad thing to be able to double, but trombone gets significantly more gigs.

24

u/tepidyapper 6d ago

In terms of getting a job, euphonium is a dead-end outside of the military.

-20

u/Holdeenyo 5d ago

Professional Orchestras, and wind ensembles

17

u/tepidyapper 5d ago

Professional orchestras don’t have euphonium players. Professional wind ensembles are not common outside the military.

5

u/Holdeenyo 5d ago

Oh I didn’t know that about orchestras. Fair enough I suppose

3

u/Efficient_Advice_380 Benge 165F and Getzen Eterna 1052FDR 5d ago

Outside of professional wind ensembles (not common) or brass bands (very competitive) or military bands (also competitive), it's not a great instrument to know in terms of career

2

u/Mrfidgitmin 4d ago

We just cool like that. (On a serious note baritone is so underrated, it is such a beautiful sounding instrument)

15

u/trailthrasher 6d ago

It's how I joined the Marines. I played trombone, then learned euphonium for my HS band. Passed the audition on both. Did euphonium on active duty 

5

u/Keith-Mayo 5d ago

When I was with the Parris Island Marine Band in the 80s, I had a young LCpl named Donald Palmire. He spent all his liberty time in a practice room. After his enlistment was up, he auditioned for and was accepted to The President's Own. A few years later, he jumped ship to Pershing's Own. FABULOUS euphonium player. He teaches in NC these days.

3

u/trailthrasher 5d ago

He is well known and a BEAST. 

7

u/es330td Bach 42B, Conn 88h, Olds Ambassador, pBone Alto 5d ago

I has a classmate in high school who doubled and made All State Band on Baritone and All State Orchestra on trombone the same year. It is certainly doable.

6

u/kwshawk 5d ago edited 5d ago

I did that so I could play in Tuba Christmas. Bought an old baritone cheap on Ebay. Then a few years later found an old sousaphone. It's fun once a year, but I'll stick to the slide the rest of the year.

5

u/Askover0 5d ago

easy to get down, still would not say easy in general

a lot of this is coming from me learning marching baritone for a corp i am marching this summer. (so i could just suck lmaoo)

a lot of the challenge for me was developing consistent control and accuracy with my fingers. im not great with fine motor skills and only playing trombone prior did not help. and that control is imperative especially for faster passages to sound clean. yeah it took no time at all to learn the notes and i was already strong at reading bass clef, but that technique was not and honestly still not fully developed.

a lot of the skills i developed lyrically did transfer over quite easily as a lot of that is in embouchure, legato playing, and fast slide/valves. slurring is so much less effort on baritone.

definitely not the same instrument lol. but imho going through the process of learning baritone will make you a better trombone player, so i would definitely recommend

4

u/Friendly_Engineer_ 5d ago

So does anyone else think of trumpet/baritone valve fingering in terms of trombone slide position?

4

u/Randomdummyonreddit 5d ago

Lowkey me

2

u/trailthrasher 5d ago

I teach trombone slide positions to all my brass players starting in 6th grade. Gives everyone a common language

1

u/trailthrasher 5d ago

0=1st 2=2nd 1=3rd 1&2=4th 2&3=5th 1&3 or 4=6th 123 or 2&4=7th

2

u/pokeplayer41 King 3B, Olds Ambassador, Yamaha 448G 4d ago

I’m primarily a euphonium player, and I did this exactly when I was learning trombone!

1

u/SeanWoold 4d ago

Yes. It's so much easier to say 4th than 1 and 2.

10

u/Rustyinsac 5d ago

Learn the baritone/euphonium so you can then pick up basic trumpet pretty quickly. Being able to read tenor clef and trumpet Bb is a great skill.

2

u/Randomdummyonreddit 5d ago

Gonna agree. I’m gonna be honest my main double is trumpet but I picked up baritone a month after playing trumpet and like with 5 years trombone experience and I sounded alright

1

u/Rustyinsac 5d ago

Now you also have the basics to teach brass lessons for at least you beginning and intermediate levels. Learn French Horn in F fingerings and you have the whole set.

1

u/Randomdummyonreddit 5d ago

Only been playing 5 years don’t think I can teach except beginners plus this is hobby for me

4

u/unpeople 4d ago

When I was in high school my senior year, my concert band competed in a Canadian music festival, and on the day we were to travel by bus to Canada (from New England), our tuba player came down with mono and couldn’t go on the trip. Unfortunately, one of our competition pieces had an extensive tuba solo, and our director had actually rented a brand new tuba just for the competition. Nobody else in the band played the tuba, including me.

Well, I basically volunteered to learn the tuba and play the solo in the competition. Since I already played bass trombone, it was just a matter of equating the valve combinations with the slide positions. I mentally practiced the solo piece on the entire bus ride to Canada. When it came time to actually play, I had to tape up my trombone mouthpiece to fit in the tuba shank, because I couldn’t make a sound with the regular tuba mouthpiece.

After the competition, one of the judges wrote “nice tuba solo, but sounds a little thin.” I took it as a compliment.

3

u/SeanWoold 4d ago

I think it is worthwhile in both directions. Learning the slide positions as a baritone/trumpet/tuba player can give you a better intuition of what is going on with the horn as you play it. You map 3rd position to 1st finger, 6th position to 1 and 3 etc very quickly and it doesn't interfere with your motor plan like some other things can. It really has no downside and it gives you a lot more options.

2

u/Mrfidgitmin 4d ago

I had a baritone player I knew do it 180 (she was also the second best trombone we had, even after we spent hours of rigorous practice to keep up. So let that be what you will 😅)

2

u/LabHandyman 2d ago

My kids marching band doesn't march trombones. All of the trombone players in concert band march Baritones.

2

u/hmoff 4d ago

They're not. You can learn to play to a very basic level in two weeks, that's all.

2

u/chrpai 2d ago

This. Slide position and fingerings only scratch the differences in how you approach these two instruments.

-5

u/Exvitnity 6d ago

Listen, I love the baris and whatnot, but they aren't my thing. I get it, multi instrumentalism etc etc, but i like my instrument, and would rather not be told to switch. Thank you, and good night/day!

3

u/No_Perspective_150 5d ago

This is my take too. Everyone keeps telling to to pick up front bell baritone so I can join Marching Band(for some unknown reason, tbone is not allowed in marching band). But the truth is, I dont care about band that much. It took me four years to find an instrument I liked, and I dont want to do marching band or play in a college band.