h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's funny but I was always told that pianissimo was a relative term if you were playing the trombone. The saxaphone players I knew were quite good at playing quietly.

Now the trombone, there's an instrument. So versatile and loud. Just my thing.

Well, I guess if you're a trombone player then the quietest a saxophone can manage is probably quite quiet to your ears, but in a quiet suburban area such as the one my partner and I live in it's not. Perhaps if we encouraged a few trombone players to move into the area we wouldn't feel we were quite so much of a disturbance.

I have to agree witht the other bloke, Saxophones are quite quiet. In ym big band, it takes 6 alto's and 2 tenors to get noticed playing forte, when there's only 3 trumpets and a trombone playing pianissimo (I'm not exagerating, here...much....)

As a fellow trombonist I agree 100% with your comments about the relative volume ranges of the trombone and saxophone. The trombone knocks the sax for six (or any other instrument for that matter) when it comes to ignoring the p's which some composers put underneath the music. Trombone's are just not designed to play quietly.

But the Sax is'nt designd to played in an ochestra, its supposted to smooth,
Yeeeeaaaaa.

Nice!

oooooooo, yeeeaaaahhhhhhh, those slow, seeeaaazzzyyy solo's.... Nice..... Yeah, I like the sax, in fact, I was gonna learn it a few years back, but there was no more spaces left in my school.....

As a trombonist I've been fortunate to play in many different kinds of ensembles but I'm always told I play too loud no matter what I do. With the exception of the tuba perhaps, I think we trombones have a bad reputation. In the band I played in at school, the horn players were always complaining about sitting in front of us and there were more of them. They said we gave them a headache.

I play Bass in my school band, and their always telling me to turn up.... But I just havn't got the confidence to play when people can actually hear me....

I used to be a bit like that. Then I was forced to play solo and all of a sudden playing at the back of a band takes on a whole new meaning!

I'd have a heart attack If I were to play my SAX solo. Has anyone heard a Jazz piece called "blue monk"?

Nope can't say that I have. But then, I've never been all that keen on jazz. Playing solo is only for the very very brave.

yeah, for the very brave.... My conductor wants me to do a drum/bass duet-solo for 50 odd bars....
Sorry, I havn't heard of Blue Monk... What's it sound like???

I don't understand why anyone would put themselves through it.

Fame? glory? Money?? good enough reasons?? Or just poor compensations for the embarassment of messing up at least once in every bar??? You decide...

By far the majority of people who are famous and make the serious money are not exactly what you would call talented though are they?

Just lucky, i guess. But don't knock them, or more appropriately, don't knock them in a few years time when I am one....

I certainly won't knock anyone for having ambition (unles your intention is to join a boy band in which case you need all the knocking you can get - don't stoop quite that low).

Luck certainly has a lot to do with it. Unless you want to be taken seriously when it takes a lot of hard work as well.

SOunds a bit like MAdMunk, only more low-down-and-out baby-left-me style

That was insightfull.... Into what, don't ask me...

If pianissimo is so great, how come all musicians keep so quiet about it?