Trombone Slide Position Chart

In this case, we are looking at how certain notes falls into place on the tenor trombone. This widget will help you to both hear and see the relationship between notes and their corresponding slide position on the instrument. It’s intended as a study tool that lets you see precisely which pitch fills one of the instrument’s seven regular slide positions.

Below the visualizer is the grid of buttons that are main point of interaction. These represent a note on the instrument in its practical range. Underneath the note names is a smaller number that tell you which slide position makes each note. When you click on one of these button, it will play the note and animate the slide into appropriate extension. This provides you with instant visual and audio feedback during your practice session.

How to Use the Trombone Widget

To add to the physical feel, you can also operate the widget with your computer keyboard. To navigate between buttons in sequence, just hit the Tab key. When a note button is highlighted, tap the Space bar or Enter key to play that note. This might be useful if you want to quickly test some muscle memory while reading sheet music elsewhere on your screen.

The diagram that animates above the grid is of the trombone slide. When you choose a note it will update to show how far to extend your slide depending on position number. So the further to the right it goes the further out of the trombone the position is. It goes from position 1, which is completely in, to position 7, which is fully out. This animation aids your understanding of how much arm you have to extend for every semitone change.

It also has a Play All button which plays the complete selection of notes on the chart quickly. It does so by automatically running all the way through each note, starting at the bottom and ascending up the chart. This allows you to listen to the timbral variation between various harmonics and registers. To halt the sequence partway, just re-click the button which will become a stop control.

In the top-right corner of the interface is where you find volume control. Here you can move the slider as desired to increase or decrease the volume of the computer-made trombone sound. This is useful when it’s late at night or if you prefer to concentrate on visual rather than the volume of what’s playing. Moving the slider here will change the volume for everything that the widget plays, both the Play All sequence and individual clicks.

Included in the interface is a handy shortcut: a How to play button that will expand a panel quickly summing up simple rules for slide placement. One position out moves the note down a semitone and so forth. This is a reminder that the relationship between the harmonic series and movement of slides can be complex. This is useful if you just want a reminder, but it is no substitute for a thorough grounding in music theory.

The Fullscreen button expands the widget for better viewing on a small screen. By removing all the elements around it and providing some breathing space, the chart also gets a bigger display. The note grid becomes much larger too. Ideal if you’re working on a laptop with limited screen space or touchscreen. To exit fullscreen, simply hit the same button again or press the Escape key on your keyboard.

This instrument can be used as a practice aid. Choosing two notes a step apart lets you hear how a tiny slide adjustment affects tone. If you look for every note called D (for example), it may show you where each is located, one octave above or below another. It supports the point that the trombone’s range are covered by both the slide and lip tension combined.

This widget can be used to play around with techniques on slides. You can try sequences or random combinations of notes going up and down the scale without any penalty for experimentation. This means you get instant auditory feedback that trains your ear to hear where each note should of been. It is a kind of digital assistant to your spatial awareness of the instrument.

Clicking on a few familiar notes will help you get a sense of how it works and start exploring it. When you feel confident, see if you can play around in a brief melodic phrase from memory without needing to use the keyboard controls at all. This is about establishing a back-and-forth link between what you hear and where you would place the slide.

Give your virtual trombone a run.