YouTube Videos That Will Help You Understand the Trombone Better

The trombone is active across all kinds of genres, including classical, jazz, and wind ensemble music.
Trumpets and saxophones often stand out by taking the melody line, but many people may find it hard to imagine what kind of sound the trombone can actually play.

The trombone is used in many situations such as solos, quartets, and brass quintets, and in this column, I will introduce YouTube videos featuring well-known songs that make it easy to understand the sound of the trombone.

■ “Jounetsu Tairiku” / Taro Hakase

The theme of Jounetsu Tairiku, a piece that it’s fair to say everyone knows.
Taro Hakase’s violin performance is famously original, and it’s a song that doesn’t really give much of an image of wind instruments, does it?
In the video, the counter-melody between the trombone and trumpet starting at 2:47 creates an interesting sound.
It’s a great study of wind instrument harmony.

Then, the 30-second-ish trombone solo starting at 3:00 has an outstanding atmosphere and feels very stylish.
Despite the irregular melody, it fits the song perfectly, and you can’t help but fall in love thinking, “I wish I could play like this.”

Furthermore, from 4:15, it locks in with the tuba to mark the rhythm, and the sense of running toward the finale becomes very tight and focused.
Even though it’s an instrument with continuously variable pitch, it can still play bass-like rhythmic patterns like this.

■ “Nada Sousou” / Ryoko Moriyama

This song is famous not only in its original version but also in covers by BEGIN and Rimi Natsukawa.

The trombone’s expressive range is wide, but it especially suits slow-paced, relaxed tones.
It plays the opening melody at 00:17, and its gentle, enveloping warmth is very comforting.

Since the video features a brass quintet, you can also enjoy the combination of the trombone with the other instruments.
It’s a good reference for ensemble playing, and making the entire piece a trombone solo would also be wonderful.

■ “Ito” / Miyuki Nakajima

This song is characterized by gentle lyrics and a somewhat melancholic melody, making it perfect for trombone performance.
Since it’s a quartet, trombone enthusiasts will find the performance irresistible.

The climax around 03:20 features a rich, powerful sound and is the song’s biggest highlight, but personally, I love the low tones for a few seconds around 01:37.

■ “Christmas Song” / back number

Back number’s Christmas Song has become a staple alongside songs by Tatsuro Yamashita and Yumi Matsutoya.
This version is not a wind instrument ensemble, but a performance of only the vocal melody on the trombone.

“Wait, it’s just tracing the melody?”

Don’t be disappointed.
If you listen carefully, you’ll notice that the trombone expresses the slightly languid singing style of vocalist Iyori Shimizu with its unique tone.

Part of this comes from the performer intentionally trying to reproduce the vocals accurately, but it’s also true that only the trombone could get this close to the vocal’s expression.

■ “Kaze ni Naritai” / THE BOOM

This is a trombone quartet performance video backed by a drum sequencer.

The solo starting at 01:42 features a classic trombone tone that is very appealing, but you should also listen to the low notes from 01:02 to 01:05.
As a low-note enthusiast, this is the part that hits me the most.

■ “Paprika” / Kenshi Yonezu

At one point, “Paprika” was everywhere—on TV, walking down the street—and it even reached the point where some people didn’t want to hear it anymore because of overexposure.

This performance is one that people tired of “Paprika” should definitely listen to!

The key point is that the arrangement is based on Kenshi Yonezu’s version.
This version is characterized by a slightly unstable sound in the melody line.
The source of this is the sudden appearance of a minor-key melody within the major key, and when the trombone plays this minor-key melody, the feeling is doubled.

■ “Detective Conan Main Theme”

This is a piece where the melody line is often heard as arranged for trumpet, but this version is a trombone quartet.
If the trumpet produces a crisp, bright sound, the trombone gives the whole piece a mellow tone, which is really nice.

Even though it’s mellow, the performance still conveys the tense atmosphere of Conan confronting the culprit, as well as the mature and cool scenes characteristic of Shinichi Kudo.

By the way, this channel, YMD Music, has uploaded many scores for wind instruments.
In addition to trombone, there are also scores for saxophone quintets and other arrangements, so it’s worth checking out.

■ “Takarajima” / T-SQUARE

“Takarajima” has become a standard piece in wind ensembles, but for those who came from a wind band, many may not even know that T-SQUARE is the original source—it has taken on a life of its own.

However, it is very rare to hear the melody of this piece almost entirely on trombone, and since it is performed by top-level trombonists, this video is especially valuable.

The original version plays the melody on a wind synthesizer, which gives a completely different impression, so if you haven’t listened to T-SQUARE before, it’s worth checking out.

Trombones played in wind ensembles typically cost around 100,000 to 200,000 yen.
Even if you watch this video and think, “Trombones sound so cool!” they are not exactly instruments you can just casually buy.

If you want to start with a light, “just try it out” attitude, I recommend the PLAYTECH series trombones.
They can be purchased from around 10,000 yen, and as reviews from buyers show, the quality exceeds the price.

Even if you later upgrade to a more expensive trombone, these can still be used as a spare or for outdoor performances, so they won’t go to waste.

⇒ PLAYTECH Trombone List

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