I want to resurrect my idea put forth many years ago about an ITF that presented examples of every school of the playing before the world became a giant melting pot. What an interesting festival that would be! We would hear things like a section made up of an alto, tenor and F bass from Germany. A section made up of 2 narrow bore B&H tenors and a G bass from the UK. What a sound! Another section made up of 3 Selmer tenors from France. Also another section of valve trombones and Cimbasso from Italy. From there on an example of every major school of playing from Leningrad to Prague to Warsaw and beyond. Not only would it feature the equipment from earlier days, but an effort would have to be made to reproduce the unique styles that prevailed before YouTube and the recording industry condensed the world into one giant amorphous mass.

To go along with the performance aspect of the festival, there would also need to be an exhibition of the trombone worlds “strads.” Wouldn’t it be great to see other people’s treasures? In the violin world there are societies that loan precious instruments out to talented young players. The ITA should start a foundation that preserves our Strads for posterity.

Back to the future

In 1973 I played a recital and then recorded it for WFMT, our local classical music station. I have recently received a copy of that recital thanks to Jim Nolan, who recorded it 40 years ago from a broadcast. I have selected the last piece of that recital for my readers, Simon’s Atlantic Zephrys. My how styles change!