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International Trombone Week

Hello, trombone player! Thank you for bringing goodness to the world.

International Trombone Week’s official 2021 dates are April 11–18, but you know we’ll be celebrating allllllllll month. Everyone is welcome to participate. We’ll spotlight some of the activity so please let us know what you’re doing.

How can you participate? Here are a few ideas:

  • Stay healthy. Mask up and get your vaccine. Then go right back to lip slurs.
  • Encourage others. Follow the fun by visiting this page, and social media such as Twitter @tromboneweek.
  • Create something of your own, and share it. Scroll to the bottom of this page to tell us about what you’re doing.
  • Mostly, play your trombone. If you don’t know how to play the trombone yet, now is a fabulous time to learn.
  • Listen to great musicians playing great music. You can enjoy many recorded events from past ITWs, too.

Want more ideas? You’re in the right place. Let’s get started with the incomparable Sandra Boynton‘s wonderful animated gif-gift to celebrate ITW:

Many trombone ensembles share recordings like these:

Stay healthy. Connect and share with your community online this year. Whether you play the trombone, or just love its sound, there are many things you can do without a crowd.

Listen. Feed your ears well. Last year, many trombone players and ensembles shared special content during ITW.

  • Atlanta Trombone Ensemble unveiled an amazing performance of BoneWeek Fanfare #2.
  • Calgary Philharmonic’s Trombones hosted their annual ITW celebration called Slide Into Spring.
  • North Carolina Brass Band trombone section sent this performance of Longhorn by Michael Davis. Thank you to Seth Frack (tenor), Drew Leslie (tenor), Jeremy Marks (tenor), and Sean Devlin (bass)
  • Ryan Keberle, trombonist and composer, extended free resources and a special discount to help us celebrate International Trombone Week.
  • Wycliffe Gordon wished everyone a Happy International Trombone Week and shared videos and other resources.

Play. You can play whatever you like (as long as it’s the trombone). Here are some fantastic free options:

  • BoneWeek Fanfares: Celebratory trombone octets by Brad Edwards. This page lists the fanfares and includes at least one performance of each one.
  • Quartets by Nick Adams, Spencer Schaffer, and Patrick Cooper Sullivan (Patrick updated his fanfare for 2020)
  • Trios by David Caldwell and Colby Norton
  • Will Baker has built an extensive collection of exercises that will make you happy while improving your skills.
  • Justice Fanfare by William Pagan-Perez as part of Harmonic Revolution: Music for Change (Donn Schaefer, University of Utah).
  • Trombone features from BandMusic PDF Library
  • Solos including Doug Yeo’s arrangements of Bach’s Cello Suites
  • Brass Bandbook from The Preservation Hall Foundation
  • Song for Health by Steven Verhelst will help you play in appreciation of our health care heroes.

Create and learn. This could be your time to:

  • Practice a new scale, warm-up, or exercise each day. We played through Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian.
  • Dust off your instrument and pay a visit to your well-worn copy of Arban’s.
  • Have an impromptu garage concert for your neighborhood while practicing safe social-distancing. (Nice job, Will Baker!)
  • Call your grandmother and play her a jazz standard. How about Blue Skies?
  • Share a video of your recital or past performance.
  • Wish a front line healthcare hero a happy birthday.
  • Arrange something for your trombone-playing friend.
  • Learn to use some notation software.
  • Read a great article about alternate positions in bebop (I see you, Tony).
  • Record an excerpt using a multi-track video app (like Roger Cutts did).
  • Soak up some Will Kimball’s trombone history.
  • Share a painting or drawing of a trombone.
  • Do a daily trombone dance-of-joy or inside parade (Thank you, Sandra Boynton!).
  • Listen to a beautiful TinyDesk Concert with Ryan Keberle and Catharsis.
  • Write a poem about your trombone stand.
  • Post your favorite trombone-related quotation.
  • Take a moody photo of your favorite mute.
  • Pose a philosophical question to your trombone colleagues.
  • Go outside, be still, and meditate on trombone goodness.

Connect with us. Tell us what you’re doing and stay up-to-date.

Be kind. Play big. We’re (still) in this together.