Are conductors biased against trombones?

[tbdana]

Discuss.

[Posaunus]

Not in my experience. In fact, somewhat the opposite - the good conductors I've played for are sympathetic to trombones (and our long rest/counting periods without playing) and love to let us shine when our time comes.
Apparently not all conductors are so supportive.

Are you paranoid, Dana?

[robcat2075]

My college orchestra conductor (DMA, U of Iowa, '74) had a persistent buzzing and spraying problem. And armpits drenched in sweat.

The front desks in the strings got the worst of that. Back by the trombones and brass it was mostly safe.

[tbdana]

Are you paranoid, Dana?

Hey, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. Uh, huh.

[WilliamLang]

The bad ones are, because they can't hear well enough about what's going on and look for an easy and safe scapegoat.

[TomWest]

In the community band I’m part of there are 3 conductors, two of them are trombonists. They tell us to “play out, I want to hear you!”
It’s the alto saxes who get told to tone it down a step. Every one of them wears a hearing aid.

[harrisonreed]

Not in my experience. There are too many good recordings of monster trombone sections now. The conductors want you to sound like Chicago all the time. Maybe they are biased -- but too far in the other direction!

[LeTromboniste]

No. But many are incompetent.
It is extremely frequent to be told that XYZ are too loud, when in fact the solution is for someone to actually play louder. An example goes something like this:
1: a chord is not balanced because the 2nd trombone playing the third of the chord is a bit too soft
2: as a result, the chord doesn't ring and sounds off, even somewhat out of tune (even if it actually is in tune), because the balance of overtones is wrong.
3: the conductor hears something that sounds ugly.
4: their reflex is "I want less of that!".
5: they give you the hand.
Whereas the actual correct solution is to fix the balance, in this case more of the middle part, which technically means the section actually sounding louder (but balanced), and not softer.

"The hand" is the sign of a lazy conductor who just wants things that don't sound go to go away without wanting to find out what's actually wrong and how to fix it.

[Burgerbob]

Not the ones I've played with. In an orchestra with good enough strings, THEY actually have to play softer.

[blast]

No.

[GabrielRice]

Good conductors will react when trombone sections play late, out of balance with the ensemble, etc. That doesn't indicate bias.

I tell my students that a trombone section can make friends with conductors forever by being their ally. We have a lot of power, in large part because we're loud and in the back, so if we play well in time and well in tune it helps the whole orchestra sound better.

That means working - individually and together - on great intonation and...

...IMMEDIACY OF RESPONSE. In many cases, we are not late because of acoustic problems (though that does happen) but because we do not have good habits of starting the sound EXACTLY when we intend to. Check yourself very carefully, and you might very well find that the first note you play after picking up your instrument is a little late to a metronome or your tapping foot. Solve that, and you will not need to anticipate entrances nearly as often.

[BassBoneFL]

...IMMEDIACY OF RESPONSE. In many cases, we are not late because of acoustic problems (though that does happen) but because we do not have good habits of starting the sound EXACTLY when we intend to. Check yourself very carefully, and you might very well find that the first note you play after picking up your instrument is a little late to a metronome or your tapping foot. Solve that, and you will not need to anticipate entrances nearly as often.

THIS !!!!!!!!!

[WGWTR180]

I wouldn't say biased but I will say, in some cases like anyone else, they can have preconceived notions regarding trombones and certain rep. For instance the Mozart Requiem. No matter what volume a section plays many conductors always think and state "the trombones are too loud." Gabe's point above is absolutely spot on! But in addition to "immediacy of response" one must be mindful of the attack being used. One can play at a good and comfortable volume IF a proper attack is used while playing in time.