CJ Replay: Trombonists Speak Out

(An excerpt from the Choral Journal article, Choral-Orchestral Balance: A View from the Trombone Section, by Susan Dill Bruenger)

 

       Trombonists also resent the choir director who, busily conducting the ensemble, asks someone-anyone-to go out into the hall and listen for balance. Often the person will say, “The brass is too loud,” and it may well be. But if that person is unused to the live brass sonority, he or she may be startled by it and find it too loud, even if it is not. In some cases, when composers write ff or fff, they are seeking the effect of a prominent brass sound with the choir barely audible as part of the mass sonority. If uncertain about balance, the conductor should personally check on it by going out into the hall. Conductors should also tape rehearsals and performances to see if their perception of balance from the podium matches the balance heard in the hall. One thing trombonists learn from sitting in the back of the ensemble is the difficulty in judging sound projection (or lack of it) from on stage. Whether the room is empty or filled with an audience also makes a significant difference in balance. The trombonists interviewed all recall being toldthey were too loud by a conductor only to be informed by a musician in the audience that they were virtually inaudible in performance.