A delegation from the
One Handed Musical Instrument Trust recently visited the Horniman Museum to
examine a very unusual trombone. The Trust (www.OHMI.org.uk)
promotes the development of orchestral instruments that can be played with just
one hand, and this trombone has been adapted for just that purpose.
The instrument was
invented by Eric McGavin, pictured above. McGavin was employed by Boosey &
Hawkes from 1950 to 1970. He held a wide brief, overseeing the musical
instrument museum at the company’s Edgware factory, playing an active part in
instrument design, and leading a range of education programmes. This
double-slide trombone benefited from all these fields of expertise. Another
instrument in the Horniman collection, a double-slide contrabass trombone was
part of the B&H collection that McGavin curated, and this may have provided
an inspiration for his design.
McGavin’s trombone
today.
The team assembled to
examine the instrument included players, engineers and curators, and
the morning was spent assessing McGavin’s solutions to the problems posed. The
stand in the image above, which is probably a converted bassoon stand, does not
survive, but from the photograph it is difficult to imagine how such an
arrangement could be practical, given the forward and backward forces it would
have to withstand. Frank Myers, who is the Director of MERU (http://meru.org.uk), specialises in the design of
equipment for use by disabled children. As soon as he saw the instrument he was
coming up with his own ideas about how it could be harnessed and supported. So
look out for his alternative design in the near future.
The trumpeter Alison
Balsom was also present. She is an OHMI patron and has been advising on some of
the brass instrument designs under consideration.
Alison Balsom, Frank
Myers, Stephen Hetherington (founder of OHMI) and Mimi Waitzman (Deputy Keeper
of Musical Instruments at the Horniman).
Perfecting the
one-handed trombone posture.
After our visitors had
left, I couldn’t resist the chance to put the trombone through its paces. The
50-year-old slide was a bit creaky, and the double-slide arrangement only adds
to the problem by increasing the resistance. Then there is the issue of the
shortened slide positions. Anyway, excuses, excuses...I managed to get a tune
out of it, just.
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