Review

Charles E. Stacy
Technical Studies for the Slide Trombone: Vintage Brass Series

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2019
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Digital download of the original 1907 publication

Primary Genre: Study Material - method

Born in Ohio in 1873, little is known about Charles Stacy’s career as a trombonist apart from the fact that he wrote a two-part set of technical studies for trombone (Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1907) which is the subject of this review, and the three-part Stacy’s Successful Studies (Cincinnati: Fillmore Music House, 1916). He is perhaps better known for his exploits as an early aviation pioneer. Stacy died in 1926 on his way home from playing a concert with the Long Beach Municipal Band. Unsurprisingly, both of Stacy’s publications have been out of print for many years although Cherry Classics now makes them part of its catalog. Stacy’s Technical Studies fall into a genre of etude and method books written for trombone (and other instruments) in the early twentieth century that are mostly derivative, pedantic collections. Most include some faux Kopprasch exercises (intervals and articulations), some trill studies, lip slurs, and a few more bits lifted from Arban’s famous method. Stir in (sometimes) a slide position chart and (always) a few words of advice from the author and we see the model for a host of these kinds of books that were cranked out by the dozens, lived for a day, and then for the most part disappeared. It’s not likely that Stacy’s Technical Studies will find their way into many trombonists’ practice routine, given that other publications cover the same concepts more expertly, but certainly some players might find another set of technical studies to be of value in one way or another. However, readers should be aware that Stacy’s Technical Studies are available for free—legally—with the click of a computer mouse at archive.org, an online repository for a host of publications (including music) that are now in the public domain. Cherry’s publication of the Stacy Studies—like the one available at archive.org—is missing the bottom half of pages 29 and 30 in Book 1.