Half-valve effect (like trumpet)?

[Reedman1]

You know how trumpet players can hold one or more valves halfway done to alter the tone or to play long smears? Is anything like that possible on trombone - either to get that weird timbre or to play smears longer than a tritone? For examples, think of Rex Stewart or Cootie Williams.

[bus2]

Listen to Phil Wilson on the album "Sound of the Wasp." He freebuzzes while pulling his lips partway out of the mouthpiece. This "half-valve" effect starts at 1:05 and comes back a bunch later on. Dig the crazy multiphonics at the top of the tune.

[ghmerrill]

Is anything like that possible on trombone

Possible, yes. Easy, no. Worth it? Probably not -- except as a kind of demonstration of an arcane skill. This is done as a matter of course on PISTON valve trumpets. It CAN be done on ROTARY valve trumpets (and tubas and euphs) but is VERY difficult because you don't get the same linear effect with the rotary valve.

[VJOFan]

In his book Trombonisms Bill Watrous called this the lip appoggiatura. The book may or may not be available as a pirate download if you search for it. Or it still can be purchased. I bought it in high school and it is a great read with a look at doodle tongue, "fretting" and other techniques that Watrous used extensively.

If you have an F attachment it will make a bit of the sound you want. You can also make the pinch sound with just the lips or with mouth shape.

Just fool around with "wrong" ways to play. You'll find all sorts of cool sounds. Split tones are crazy for example. [Aim for exactly between two partials in one position (F-Bb is great) and force out a gross crackle.]

[Reedman1]

Listen to Phil Wilson on the album "Sound of the Wasp." He freebuzzes while pulling his lips partway out of the mouthpiece. This "half-valve" effect starts at 1:05 and comes back a bunch later on. Dig the crazy multiphonics at the top of the tune.

I knew Phil (a little bit) when I studied at Berklee in the early 80s. His free-buzz thing was distinctive, but weird. Not really like a half-valve. Does anybody else do that?

[Finetales]

The Phil Wilson thing is probably the closest thing we have to a half-valve. It's not difficult, just takes a bit of practice. The key is to keep one lip engaged on the mouthpiece while you pull the other lip just a bit off. If you pull it off too much, the free buzz isn't really going into the horn so it won't be audible. Phil's unmetered fast tonguing thing is harder to do than the gliss thing.

Another way to kind of do a half-valve type thing is a "smush tone", where you pucker your embouchure and make the sound more didgeridoo-like. This kind of breaks down the partials, so you can do gliss-like slides in combination with random slide movement.

Between these two techniques, I find that I can fake half-valving enough to do it when the trumpets are doing it, such as in long messy glisses up to a hit in a big band. The smush tone technique is also great for doing plunger-without-a-plunger wah effects in a solo.

Of course, if you have an F attachment you can just do an actual half-valve.