The Saxobone: A Mix of Trombone and Saxophone

[EmeraldTheFox]

A few months back I tried to attach an alto saxophone mouthpiece to my trumpet just for the silly, and I found it worked, though it was a bit difficult to get good at. I then tried the same thing when I got my trombone last year and it worked, although it put the trombone in the key of D instead of Bb. I was wondering if y'all have any suggestions on how to maybe make this into an actual instrument? Even if it'd be impractical, or even just as kind of a gag instrument, I still think it'd be fun to mess around with. I was thinking maybe adding some cork to the mouthpiece receiver to create a seal between the sax mp and the trombone? Also an "octave" key mechanism would be nice, though I feel that would just work more like a partial shifter, similar to changing your embouchure on a brass mouthpiece. Any thoughts or ideas would be great!

[ghmerrill]

Well, you've got to stop putting the sax mouthpiece on cylindrical instruments. The saxophone is conical. So get a euphonium and put it on that. But the whole thing is pretty disturbing -- and I say that as a saxophone, trombone, and euphonium/tuba player.

[EmeraldTheFox]

I never thought about it like that! I wonder ehat tonal difference it'll make. Sadly, I don't have a euphonium or other conical instrument to put it on besides my two alto saxes. If I ever get my hands on another euph (the last time I did was when I played one in my Sophomore year of high school) I'll experiment with that!

[mbarbier]

Spent a little more time than mentally healthy on this subject. At the core, just mess around as there's a lot of variance between every instrument, but also follow the logic of what's meant for what. Ie, alto sax MP resonates a lot higher than the trombone so it tends to lead to a lot of unpredictable weirdness- tenor and bari sax MP pair a lot better. Clarinet MP leads to some interesting results.

However, I find there's a lot more control, reliability, and variety of sound with tenor sax MP on a euphonium. Funnily enough clarinet works well on bass trumpet.

In addition to pairing frequency ranges, the mode of connection makes a big difference and recommend just kinda messing around to find the best set-up that works with your horns. For mine, I milled out and threaded a mouthpiece and then screw my tenor and bari sax MP into that. You can also do the more traditional way of just plugging it into a mouthpiece and tacking it in with poster tack. For clarinet MP and bass trumpet, I find the mouthpiece just stuck around the lead pipe works best. Which is kinda funny given that both are connected the opposite way that they're intended. I can take a picture to post when I'm home.

The water key works really well. On some spots it functions like an octave key, on other like a fifth key. In a few other spots it does both, depending on how open it is.

Here's my most recent record that's mostly just a long solo for euphonium with tenor sax MP.

https://dinzuartefacts.bandcamp.com/al ... n-my-ribs

Here's a different record that has a version that's not 35 minutes

https://sofamusic.bandcamp.com/album/threads

Here's a few clips of the bass trumpet stuff:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFqeoyKSJq9 ... BiNWFlZA==

It's a fun rabbit hole that can really function well as a real instrument. Takes a lot of time, but is a good time

[mbarbier]

Oh oh sorry for the double post- forgot the label hosting for the second record doesn't have much available to preview. Here's the whole record, euphonium stuff is first and fourth track, I think.

https://on.soundcloud.com/yxfGQvbt7tnGVcp27

[Posaunus]

And there's also P.D.Q. Bach's tromboon - a musical instrument made up of the reed and bocal of a bassoon, attached to the body of a trombone in place of the trombone's mouthpiece. It combines the sound of double reeds and the slide for a distinctive and unusual instrument. The name of the instrument is a portmanteau of "trombone" and "bassoon". The sound quality of the instrument is best described as comical and loud.

The tromboon was developed by Peter Schickele, a skilled bassoonist himself, and featured in some of his live concert and recorded performances. Schickele called it "a hybrid – that's the nicer word – constructed from the parts of a bassoon and a trombone; it has all the disadvantages of both". This instrument is called for in the scores of P. D. Q. Bach's oratorio The Seasonings, as well as the Serenude (for devious instruments),  and Shepherd on the Rocks, With a Twist.

[harrisonreed]

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[ghmerrill]

Well, obviously the Russian bassoon and ophicleide are such wonderful instruments (both essentially woodwind -- keyed -- instruments with "brass" mouthpieces) that it's natural to see what a kind of "inverse" to them (brass instrument with woodwind mouthpiece) would be like. You might actually try to get some funding for this research, and definitely it's the sort of thing that could get you a DMA or a Ph.D. if you work it correctly.