Gavin introduces the Bass Trombone:
The main tubing is the same length as the more familiar Tenor Trombone, but with a wide bore (thicker tubing), bigger bell and bigger mouthpiece, so it has a deeper, darker tone.
But the main difference is that the Bass Trombone has 2 additional lengths of tubing which can be opened by valves operated by the player’s left hand thumb and middle finger.
These additional lengths of tubing can make the instrument much longer than the Tenor Trombone, and allow much lower notes to be played. Gavin demonstrates this by playing a short extract of “The Elephant” from “The Carnival of the Animals” by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns from 1886 – see introductory video above.
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