Journal Publishing Guidelines


The ITA produces a quarterly journal. This glossy slick magazine includes several regular columns including:

  • A General News Column (compiled from news items submitted to the website by Ryan Webber)
  • An Orchestral Sectional Column
  • A Literature Review Column (compiled by Mike Hall and David Stern)
  • A Perspectives in Longevity Column (compiled by Natalie Mannix)
  • A Philosophies, Practices, and Pedagogies of Performing Professionals Column (compiled by M. Dee Stewart)
  • A Pedagogy Column (compiled by Josh Bynum)
  • A Literature Column (compiled by Karl Hinterbichler)
  • An Audio/Video Review Column (compiled by Micah Everett)

as well as other columns that may be added from time to time. In addition to these regular columns, the journal includes feature articles, scholarly articles, and other general interest articles – all designed to address the needs and interests of the broadly defined international trombone world of performers, teachers, and composers.

Unlike purely academic journals, the ITA Journal includes feature articles highlighting important people in the trombone world as well as other kinds of articles that deal with pedagogical issues of interest to educators. We also use the pages of the journal to highlight the details of the two ITA annual events:

  • The International Trombone Festival
  • International Trombone Week

We also use the pages of the journal to highlight the winners of the various awards and competitions sponsored by the ITA.

If you have written an article that you would like to be considered for publication in the ITA Journal – please note the following manuscript guidelines.

MLA STYLE
All of the ITA publications conform to the following guidelines in matters of style and grammar. Where not specifically addressed, you may find consulting the MLA (Modern Language Association) stylebook helpful. While any generally accepted modern English dictionary is fine to use, the editors of the ITA Journal generally refer to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary for spelling questions.

The ITA editors prefer that you use the MLA Style of documentation whenever writing articles that requires the documentation of sources. If you are unfamiliar with MLA Style, please consult any of the available grammar guidebooks that include a more complete discussion of this style. Two additional resources are

https://www.mla.org/Publications/Bookstore/Nonseries/MLA-Handbook-Ninth-Edition
If you wish to purchase the MLA stylebook

https://style.mla.org/sections/ask-the-mla/
For frequently asked questions about MLA style

CITATION FORMAT
When explanatory notes and citations are part of an article, the International Trombone Association Journal uses endnotes (not footnotes) formatted in the following manner. For citations of sources that are not discussed below, consult The Chicago Manual of Style.

Author names appear with first name followed by last name.Book and journal/magazine titles are italicized.

Article titles appear in quotation marks.

All citations end with a period (even in citations for URLs for which a period is not part of the URL).

Page number ranges are separated by an en-dash. For page number ranges fewer than 100, use the complete page numbers; for example, 21–29, not 21–9. For page number ranges that are 100 and higher, use the short form for the second page number; for example, 101–15, not 101–115.

A book with a single author or editor
1 Trevor Herbert, The Trombone (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 230–37.

A book with multiple authors
2 Murray Campbell, Clive Greated, and Arnold Myers, Musical Instruments: History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 187–93.

A book with one author plus and editor or translator
3 Alain Girard, Aerophor: A Documentation, trans. Howard Weiner (Basel: Verlag Johannes Petri, 2017), 62–69.

A book with an editor that contains multiple chapters by different authors
4 Monika Lustig, ed., Posaunen und Trompeteten: Geschichte–Akustik–Spieltechnik, (Michaelstein: Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein, 2000).

 A chapter in an edited book
5 Stewart Carter, “Trombone Pitch in the Eighteenth Century: An Overview,” in Posaunen und Trompeteten: Geschichte–Akustik–Spieltechnik, ed. Monika Lustig (Michaelstein: Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein, 2000), 53–66.

A journal/magazine article with a single author or editor 

The publication volume number appears immediately after the journal name, followed by the issue number (if any), followed by the date of the publication in parentheses.

6 Howard Weiner, “Further Thoughts on the Alto Trombone in the Solo Literature of the Eighteenth Century,” Historic Brass Society Journal 30 (2018), 11–28.

7 Douglas Yeo, “Evolution: The Double-Valve Bass Trombone,” International Trombone Association Journal 43, no. 3 (July 2015), 34–43.

A journal/magazine article with multiple authors
8 Benny Sluchin and Philippe Brandeis, “Paris Conservatory Contest Pieces for Sight-Reading: Brass Instruments, 1836–1930,” Historic Brass Society Journal 32 (2020), 69–92.

An article in a newspaper

Include the author of a newspaper article if it is known.

Because print newspapers are often printed in multiple editions throughout a day and pagination may differ from edition to edition, page numbers for newspaper citations should not be included.

Titles of newspapers appear in italics without the prefix “The.” Thus, New York Times, not The New York Times.

If the city of a newspaper’s publication is not in the newspaper’s title, include the city/state/province of publication in parentheses for clarification after the title of the newspaper.

If the location of a newspaper’s publication is in the newspaper’s title, clarify the location of the city by including the abbreviation for the state or province of the publication in parentheses after the name of the city.

9 William Hickey, “The Genie of the Golden Trombone,” Daily Express (London), March 22, 1954.

An article in a newspaper without an author
10 “Homer Rodeheaver and Entertainers Score a Hit,” Lancaster (PA) Daily Eagle, August 31, 1927.

A website for a corporation, institution, or individual

Website and web page URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) frequently change; provide adequate information so a reader can find the resource if the URL changes after publication.

Do not include the URL prefaces “https” or “www,” or a trailing “/” unless they are essential for the resource to load.

11 International Trombone Association, trombone.net.

An article on a website

Include the date the article was uploaded to the website (if known).

12 Alvin Curran, “The Trombone Comes Home,” New York Times, May 14, 2016, nytimes.com/2016/05/15/opinion/sunday/the-trombone-comes-home.html.

A blog post

The title of a blog appears in italics followed by the date of posting of the blog post (if known).

13 Micah Everett, “The Brass Player as Singer,” The Reforming Trombonist, September 24, 2022, thereformingtrombonist.com/2022/09/24/the-brass-player-as-singer.

Please use a single space after end punctuation. Many typing teachers taught students to use two spaces after a period, question mark, or other end punctuation. This is neither necessary nor useful with modern word processing. Use a SINGLE space.

Prepare your manuscript as a double spaced document with one inch margins on all four sides. Please submit your manuscript as an email attachment whenever possible. If that is not possible, then please submit your manuscript as both hard copy and as an electronic file saved to a disk. The ensures that the entire document is received and may be considered. The ITA strongly prefers that you use Microsoft Word as your word processing software, but we can often accommodate other word processing software packages. If you have a doubt, ask first.

ITA JOURNAL STYLE EXAMPLES
Email address and website URLs should be listed IN BOLD PRINT as follows

managingeditor@trombone.net
www.trombone.net

Please notice we generally do not include the “http://” designation at the beginning of website addresses (except in cases where leaving it out might cause confusion e.g. non-standard URL formats). Neither do we use the brackets or parentheses to enclose website or email addresses – please do not use -( ) < > [ ]
Please use the following formats:
online NOT on-line
website NOT web-site or Website
world wide web

We use a serial comma.
CORRECT Red, white, and blue
INCORRECT Red, white and blue

Note that a title, when following a name, is not capitalized. A title that appears before a name is capitalized.

CORRECT Ron Barron, principal trombonist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
INCORRECT Ron Barron, Principal Trombone with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

CORRECT Principal Trombonist Barron was available after the concert.
INCORRECT Principal trombonist Barron was available after the concert.

CORRECT Tom Brantley, professor of trombone at the University of South Florida, was not at the meeting.
INCORRECT Tom Brantley, Professor of Trombone at the University of South Florida, was not at the meeting.

CORRECT Tom Brantley is the trombone professor at the university.
CORRECT I saw Professor Brantley heading off to class.
INCORRECT Tom Brantley is Director of Jazz Studies at the university.
CORRECT Professor Brantley is director of jazz studies at the university.

We prefer to use ITA without periods. In the same way that NFL, FBI, and CBS are generally used without periods, we recognize that ITA has come to represent the organization as a name and not simply an abbreviation. We also use ITF and ITW for the same reason – without periods.

The titles of long works – symphonies, operas, concerti, book titles – should always be underlined or printed in italics.

The titles of short works – chapters of books, poems, movements from longer works, arias – should always be used with quotation marks

CORRECT Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony contains the wonderful fourth movement, which is known as “Ode to Joy.”
CORRECT Verdi’s Il Trovatore contains the famous tenor aria “Di quella pira.”
INCORRECT The David “Concertino” has been played to death.
CORRECT Mozart’s Requiem includes the oft-required “Tuba Mirum” trombone excerpt.

Numbers one through nine are written as words; numbers 10 and higher are written as figures.

Time is expressed as
4:30 p.m. 10:30 a.m.

Dates are always written as month date, and year
November 22, 1934

Telephone numbers are written
555 – 555 – 1212
+44 – 5555 – 123221

Life dates are written
1900 – 1945
1894 – 1934

Commas and periods are placed inside quotation marks.
Semicolons and colons are placed outside quotation marks.
Question marks, exclamation points, and dashes are placed outside the quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation.

Please write out musical notation – or use special characters to indicate sharps and flats.
E-flat Major or Eb
F-sharp minor
A-flat
C-sharp

Use traditional English form for place names such as Florence (not Firenze) and Munich (not Munchen).

Be careful to accurately represent accents and special characters in words in languages other than English.

COPYRIGHT
Publication of materials by ITA provides global recognition and distribution of each Author’s contribution through ITA’s printed journal, back issues and reprints availability program, and electronic publication and distribution program including but not limited to the ITA website.

In consideration of the International Trombone Association (ITA) publishing materials from an Author, the Author grants to ITA either the Exclusive or Non-exclusive right to use the material in any manner, including but not limited to publication in the printed and/or electronic versions of the ITA Journal, Journal Supplements, Compilations, or Reprints; CD-ROM; for access via the Internet; Non-ITA Reprint or Distribution Centers; or in any manner or means that ITA wishes, including by and through any media, whether now existing or hereinafter developed. ITA may use third parties to accomplish any part of its publication/distribution programs.

The Author is the original copyright owner of the materials or has provided written documentation of current copyright ownership. If the Author’s material incorporates text/musical/graphic/photographic/sound works or excerpts of other copyright owners, the Author agrees that, upon request by the ITA should the ITA deem it necessary to do so, the Author will provide to ITA written permission from each copyright owner, to the extent such releases can be obtained following a reasonable effort, prior to publication by ITA. The Author agrees to indemnify against any liability, and to reimburse ITA, its officers, or Publications Editor for any expenses or losses due to infringement of the intellectual property rights of others resulting from the publication of the Author’s work.

The Author agrees to allow ITA full use of the submitted materials without monetary compensation.

If the submitted materials include interviews, the Author agrees to provide a written release from each person interviewed.

SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE TO THE ITA JOURNAL
A scholarly article Managing Editor, Amy Maclean
managingeditor@trombone.net
A feature article on a jazz topic Associate Editor, Chris Glassman
chris@trombone.net
A feature article on a non-jazz topic Managing Editor, Amy Maclean
managingeditor@trombone.net
A CD or performance video for review Assistant Editor, Micah Everett
micah@trombone.net
A piece of published music (sheet music) Assistant Editor, Mike Hall
JHall@odu.edu
News items News Coordinator, Ryan Webber
news@trombone.net

News items from the ITA website are collected quarterly and comprise the General News column that appears in each issue of the ITA Journal. There is no need to make an additional submission to the Journal. If you have a news or event item to submit, please contact Taylor at the news@trombone.net address or submit your items through the ITA website at:

A news item for the ITA Website https://www.trombone.net/news/submit-news/
An event for the ITA Website https://www.trombone.net/eventsplaceholder/submit-event/

The mailing addresses and fax numbers of the editors are also available in the ITA Journal on the Table of Contents page (page one) of each issue.

Reviews are the sole opinion of the reviewer and do not necessarily represent the views of ITA or its members.

Corrections of factual information in a review, especially bibliographic information, are encouraged and will be printed in the next available journal.