Originally Posted by
John Morgan
I tend to tune my 1st position Bb so that the slide is a wee bit out so that there is room to improve the intonation on 1st position notes with the slide.
There is a school of thought (adhered to fairly widely) that "tuning" the trombone should amount only to pushing the tuning slide all the way in and leaving it there. Doug Elliott, among others, plays this way. (This raises the separate question as to exactly what pitch that should yield, but let's ignore that.) Then you just play. I used to be quite resistant to this view, but recently have come to see the sense and utility in it, particularly with a double-valve bass.
Since a number of notes on a double-valve bass will be sharp in what we ambiguously call "1st position", you'd better get used to "1st position" being a relative concept -- which of course it is on a double-valve bass anyway (or even a single-valve horn, though often "method" approaches don't take exactly this perspective), or even a straight horn if you you think about intonation characteristics).
So now I tend to play with the main tuning slide all the way in (i.e., the open horn as sharp as it will go), and play (all of) the 1st-ish positions offset from that. I tune the 1st and 2nd valves based on that setting.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)