Program Note:
PROFILES for trombone solo was commissioned to me by the International Competition for Young Performers, Vercelli, Italy, in 1978. In his book titled, The Life and The Music of Maya Badian, p. 80, biographer Fred Popovici stated, “Although each work represents a unique world on its own, Badian’s signature style is evident in all of her creative output. As for her works dedicated for solo instruments, consistent techniques for idiomatic writing are used to enrich the instrumental repertoire.”
In PROFILES, I exemplified the writing techniques by the logical structure of the trombone solo in building the macro-structure of the whole musical form.
PROFILES is structured in three movements: I. First Profile; II. Second Profile; III. Third Profile.
The melodic contours of all three movements are unified by the continued use of augmented fourths, sevenths, and semitones. The virtuoso performance required for this piece is entirely based on the characteristics, challenges, and the specific sound of the trombone.
Suggestions for Performance Practice follow:
- The trombone performer should feel free and confident on the stage, as if he was the composer, making the magic link from composer to audience. When a performer feels that the piece is his, then he will be able to detach himself from any other thoughts and be totally connected to the music
- When he enters the stage, he should not play until he "hears" total silence; the silence that he needs.
Totally concentrated, the piece will become a sort of the continuation of his inner thoughts that will be transmitted to the audience, through his trombone. From that moment, he will become more confident in himself. He should dare to start with the nuance of forte
- The performer can feel free to make the improvisation sections a little longer than indicated; the timing for the performer is about how he feels, at his convenience
- The three Profiles should be differently “coloured”, in accordance with the imagination of the performer.
• First Profile, the short and compact initial movement, does not easily fit into a traditional classification of forms. However, it is based on rhythmical patterns and specific motives that are to be performed in a free manner.
• Second Profile, marked Senza rigore, senza misura, is an improvisation in a free tempo. As well, I introduced several non-pitched effects, including kicks with the foot on the stage. The music is again structured on different melodic formulae, reiterated with various rhythmic patterns. However, the composition includes precise contrasting relationships, such as:
- Improvisation versus strict composition rules
- Slow versus fast tempos
- Low versus high registers
- Dynamic contrasts
- Timbre contrasts.
• Third Profile, the last movement, marked Alla Blues, following the contoured previous dialogue, completes the triadic form. The interpolation of blues-like music into the core of this section opens a new perspective to the whole piece, continuing the move into an improvisational universe.
This obviously is based on a complete other approach than that of the preceding movements.
The conclusion of PROFILES for Trombone Solo has an atmosphere that reminds the listener of the opening.

Profiles For Trombone by Maya Badian

The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, conducted by Rick Benjamin, performs 25 pieces of popular music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, using the original historic orchestrations and antique instruments. The album was recorded and produced by Judith Sherman.

Deuces Wild

Slim Trombone

Slim Trombone (comic one-step, 1918) - Henry Fillmore (feat. Rebecca Ciabattari)

Solo in a contemporary style for Trombone encompassing a riddle.
(N.B.My attention has been drawn to the fact that this piece may not be playable at this tempo by a real trombonist in which case I would advise a slower tempo e.g. 105-110bpm insteadof 120bpm)

The Pilgrims Walrus for Solo Trombone: A Nominal Riddle (Revised 4 December 2023 Tempo110bpm)

Niels-Ole Bo Johansen has recently discovered a hidden treasure of relatively unknown and forgotten works of Danish origin for the Trombone from the early 20th Century. This series of music will be subtitled The Danish Trombone Heritage and will be published by Cherry Classics over the next while. Below is Niels' description of Romance, Op. 13 by Joachim Bruun de Neergaard composed in 1915.

Anton Hansen's (father of the Danish School for Trombone) first meeting with Joachim Bruun de Neergaard (1877-1929) was rather a disastrous one. Hansen an extraordinary Trombonist, also a very fine pianist, was hired to play at a dinner dance at Skjoldnæsholm manor. A young man insisted on playing along with the tunes Hansen performed - on a terribly out -of-tune ocarina. Hansen writes in his memoirs that his first thought was that the young man was slightly retarded. As it turned out, he was the son of the family living in the manor, which made the situation even more awkward. That young man, Joachim Bruun de Neergaard was not the slightest bit retarded. He was on the contrary highly intelligent and managed, in addition to his composition studies, to attain a degree in law with the highest honors.

 The Romance for Trombone and Orchestra, here in the version for Trombone and Piano, reveals a composer with a very fine sense of the trombone’s singing qualities.

﻿This work is perfect for advanced intermediate performers and is almost 7 minutes in length.

Trombone soloist Johansen and his collaborator, Pianist Erik Kaltoft beautiifully perform Romance on their 2018 album The French Connection. ﻿Below is a sample of the work (available on Apple Music and as a CD).

Neegaard - Romance for Trombone and Piano

Fantasy for Trombone solo and Piano was written in 1981 as a Christmas present for Richard Raum while he and Elizabeth Raum were performing with the Regina Symphony. Ms. Raum is a highly respected Canadian composer with a catalog of outstanding compositions, many featuring brass instrument solos.

Fantasy for Trombone and Concert Band is beautifully arranged by composer/teacher Michael Nunes and was created for trombonist David Pell and the Ontario Provincial Honor Band.

﻿Fantasy is dramatic, lyrical and very expressive, making it an ideal choice for a solo feature with a concert band.

The work has gained immense popularity since its debut, having been performed and recorded by major artists worldwide. It is 6 1/2 minutes in length and appropriate for advanced performers.

Raum - Fantasy for Trombone and Concert Band

This recording is from the premiere performance on 12 May 2024 in Huntsville, Alabama, by Dr. David Spencer and the Twickenham Winds.

This piece for trombone solo with symphonic band is a reflection on that "most disconnected" of times – the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone's experience was different and yet, I suspect the vast majority of people would share my sentiment of feeling disconnected from other people for a time.

My personal experience of this was in Malaysia, where I was serving as an academic dean at a private university. We had a heads-up on a Monday afternoon in mid-March, in the middle of a semester, that we would not be allowed on campus after Tuesday evening. Like so many around the world, we had to adopt a new paradigm at the drop of a dime (see what I did there?).

My wife was caught out of the country at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown and was not allowed to return for another 3.5 months. During this period, my only human contact was through a computer monitor or in the grocery store. My wife finally was allowed to return in early July, and the country even opened up for internal travel. You will hear this happier time in the middle section of the music.

Of course, this was followed by another strict lockdown a couple of months later, reflected in the music's return to the original theme.

This piece is dedicated to those friends and family who did not survive the pandemic. We still feel that disconnect.

Disconnected

1940s-style jazz song with female vocalist, trumpet and trombone solos.

Shit or Get Off the Pot

Arioso for Trombone and Organ by Bengt Wilhelm Hallberg has been beautifully edited by Niels-Ole Bo Johansen as part of his Danish Trombone Heritage Series. 
This 4-minute work for advanced-intermediate performers is truly a gem with its expressive, Romantic feel. It includes a short cadenza and has moderate technical and range challenges....a perfect work for a less experienced performer.

The stunningly beautiful performance is by Niels-Ole Bo Johansen from his album The Danish Trombone Heritage.

Hallberg - Arioso for Trombone and Organ

'Truly’ was a debut solo single by Lionel Richie in 1982 and gained a Grammy Award for best male pop vocal performance. This sumptuous arrangement has been expertly crafted by the incredible hand of Sammy Nestico. The soloist, Cpl Fraser Wilkes, demonstrates immense control and demonstrates the silky sounds and incredible range of the instrument with an effortless ability.

Recorded at Chandlers Ford Methodist Church 26th-28th February 2024 by the Band of His Majesty's Royal Marines Portsmouth (The Royal Band) by Music House Productions, www.musichouseproductions.co.uk/. Catalogue number MHP 324.

The product will be available to purchase in early July from The Blue Band Shop, operated by The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity,
https://www.royalmarinesbands.co.uk/shop/

Truly - Lionel Richie arr. Sammy Nestico

Tres Piezas para trombón solo by Mexican composer Leonardo Velázquez is a 3-movement work for unaccompanied trombone.
Movement 1. Allegro scherando is playful with contrasting loud and soft sections that throw rhythmic curveballs to the listener with the odd 5/8 bar mixed in with 6/8 time.
Movement 2. Andantino quasi lento is a slow lyrical movement
Movement 3. Allegro moderato is sarcastic and march-like with off-balance rhythms including a 2-voice middle section that challenges the performer to convince the listener that there are two lines....a syncopated bass line and upper melody line.
This outstanding work by Velázquez is about 5 1/2 minutes in length, appropriate for advanced performers.

Velazquez - Tres Piezas para trombón solo 1995 (Three Pieces for solo Trombone)

A clip of theme & my solo from one of the songs - the Dave Samuels latinsong Sadie's Dance - my jazzband played as part of an examination-concert recently on the music-university we're attending.

BAND:
Altosax - Theodor Boäng
Trombone - me
Piano - Johan Tegheim
Electric Bass - Hannes Eliasson
Drums -  @jacobjohnson8734  

Thumbnail: Hannes Eliasson & Theodor Boäng

► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linus.friman/
► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@linus.friman

My Trombone solo on the Dave Samuels latin song Sadie's Dance!

A live recording from one of our family band's concerts this summer in which we played the jazz ballad Nadalin by Bobby Shew.

Trombone - Linus
Violin - Tova
Guitar -  @klasfriman  
Cello - Camilla

Playing the jazz ballad Nadalin with the family band

M A T I Z IV for solo trombone (2013) 
Rodrigo Lima - composer
Carlos Freitas - trombone

M A T I Z IV for solo trombone (2013) Carlos Freitas

"Dualabilis III" for trombone and electronics (2023)

Performed by:
Wojciech Jeliński - trombone, Paweł Hendrich - electronics

Recording: Łukasz Myszyński
Mix: Łukasz Myszyński
Mastering: Paweł Hendrich

Latin 'dualis' — 'twin' from duo — 'two',
late Latin 'labilis' — 'wavering, impermanent, temporal’.

The word "dualism" has many meanings. In philosophy, it is the idea that certain wholes are created out of two irreducible, incompatible or complimentary components. In physics, dualism most often refers to the twin nature of quantum objects, such as photons and electrons. Meanwhile, in ontology dualism represents the body and soul, and in theology - good and evil.

In the composition titled Dualabilis dualism is found in the relation between the acoustic layer and electronics, between composition and improvisation, and often also between musicians and their instruments which either compete with or complement each other. The musical material is also juxtaposed in terms of separateness and independence, or else complementarity. It is not only the content of the composition, which contains dualistic aspects. Its form is also divided into sections, which are polarised between each other — being opposed to each other as separate sound phenomena shaped in accordance with diverse types of narration.

The second section of the title refers to the idea of instability, changeability, the shift towards extreme states. In this composition most of the phenomena evolves or else suddenly transforms and shifts into new and often extremely different states (dynamic, agogic, textured, timbral).

Dualabilis III

I. Allegro Moderato - Hermann Schroeder (Premiere Recording)

II. Andante - Hermann Schroeder (Premiere Recording)

III. Vivace - Hermann Schroeder (Premiere Recording)

Dr. Maya Badian is a Contemporary Classical Music Canadian Composer of Romanian Origin. 
Maya Badian has more than 100 published original compositions including symphonies, orchestral music, concertos, cantatas, chamber music, music for multimedia, and musicology and pedagogy works. All her works are published and internationally distributed by Lucian Badian Editions. Her musical output is part of the collections of international libraries, such as Library and Archives Canada, The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Bibliothèque Božidar Kantušer, Paris, France, and of many music libraries across Canada, the USA, Europe, Australia, Japan, and National Library of New Zealand. 
”Maya Badian is an important composer, if it does not use some of the extreme devices discovered by earlier 20th century composers, Badian’s music does reflect the accumulated wisdom of a century of experiment and invention.” – The Ottawa Citizen
Dr. Maya Badian have her life and achievements reflected in an international biography work: The Life and The Music of Maya Badian, A Privilege to Soar by Fred Popovici, Pro ARS Publications, Ottawa, 2010.
“An internationally acclaimed composer” – as described in Orchestral Works CD Review, Winnipeg Sun, 1999.
Dr. Badian is a member of the Canadian Music Center, Canadian League of Composers, Association of Canadian Women Composers, Ottawa New Music Creators, Romanian Union of Composers and Musicologists, Union of Composers and Musicologists of Moldova.

Paweł Hendrich was born in 1979 in Wrocław (Poland). After studying engineering and economics at the Wrocław University of Economics he studied composition at the K. Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław (prof. Grażyna Pstrokońska Nawratil) and at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne (prof. York Höller). 

The works of Paweł Hendrich have been performed at concerts and festivals in Austria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United States of America.

The composer has received commissions from: Warsaw Autumn Festival (Ensemble Musikfabrik, Basel Sinfonietta), Deutschlandfunk (Kwartludium), Goethe-Institut, BHF BANK Stiftung and Ensemble Modern, The Municipality of Wrocław (NOSPR), Polish Institute in Madrid (PluralEnsemble), Institute of Music and Dance, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Chain Ensemble, The Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra, National Forum of Music (Lutosławski Quartet, LutosAir Quintet, NFM Leopoldinum String Trio), ZAiKS Polish Authors' Association as well as from the Polish Composers' Union (Pablostrom, Orkest de Ereprijs).

For several years now, he has been programming, composing and performing live electroacoustic music. With Cezary Duchnowski and Sławomir Kupczak he founded the electroacoustic group Phonos ek Mechanes. So far, trio has performed at festivals of improvised, contemporary and electroacoustic music, and at concerts in Poland and abroad.

In 2010 DUX released Paweł Hendrich's monographic record Chamber Works and in 2017 second one called Metaforma. In 2012 Bôłt Records released Phonos ek Mechanes’ first CD called C+-. Furthermore his music is also released on over a dozen other CDs.

Tiziano is an exceptional trombonist with a distinguished solo career and performances alongside world-renowned artists like Hans Zimmer and Alligatoah. A former Associate Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he has performed internationally and contributed to recordings for prestigious labels such as SONY Classical and Alpha Classics. With many notable achievements and a passion for pushing musical boundaries, Tiziano continues to inspire through his performances, masterclasses, and innovative projects

Founded by conductor/historian Rick Benjamin in 1986, the PRO is the world's foremost champion of early American music. The Orchestra tours worldwide, performs for movies, radio, and TV, and has a large and growing discography.

Brazilian composer, Rodrigo Lima is one of the most active composers of his generation, his music has been performed at festivals and concert halls in Latin America, Europe and the USA. His production includes orchestral music, chamber music, solo instruments, vocal music and works for choir.

In 2008, he was resident composer of the 5th International Forum of Young Composers in Paris with Ensemble Aleph. In 2015, his work Antiphonas for saxophone and ensemble premiered at the 17th World Saxophone Congress & Festival  in Strasbourg (France). In 2016, he received the order from the Festival International des Arts de Bordeaux (France) to compose the work Txury-ò: ‘caminho por onde vai o sol’ inspired by the cosmology of the Karajá Indians and dedicated to the french ensemble Proxima Centauri.

He has obtained some prizes in National and International Competitions:

·   Prize International Iberoamericano Rodolfo Halffter of Composition 2008 in Mexico.

·   Prize ‘Francisco Guerreiro Martín’ at the ‘XVII Premio Jóvenes Compositores 2006 Fundación Autor-CDMC’ in Madrid, Spain.

·   Prize for Classical Composition of the National Arts Foundation (FUNARTE) 2010 in Brazil.

·   1ºst Prize of the National Competition Camargo Guarnieri of Composition 2005 in Brazil.

·   1ºst Prize Camargo Guarnieri of Composition, Campos do Jordão International Winter Music Festival 2009 in Brazil, and others.

Lima’s Music has been performed by the Ensemble Aleph (France), Ensemble Linea (France), Proxima Centauri (France), Abstrai Ensemble (Brazil), Camerata de las Amércicas (Mexico), Sonor Ensemble (Spain), Orchestutropica (Lisboa-Portugal), Abstrai Ensemble (Brazil), Camerata Aberta (Brazil), University of São Paulo Symphony (Brazil), Claudio Santoro National Theater Symphony Orchestra (Brazil) and conductors Claudio Cruz (Brazil), Guillaume Bourgogne (France), Luis Aguirre (Spain), Cesário Costa (Portugal), Kirk Trevor (England) and Claudia Feres (Brazil). 

His main composition teachers were Estércio Marquez Cunha, Sergio Nogueira, Conrado Silva and Silvio Ferraz. Bachelor in Musical Composition Degree at the Department of Music University of Brasília and Masters in "Creative Processes" at the University of Campinas State in São Paulo. He also took courses with composers Stefano Gervasoni (Italy), Claude Ledoux (Belgium) and Emmanuel Nunes (Portugal). 

             Rodrigo Lima is teacher of composition at the 'EMESP’- School of Music of São Paulo State. Lima is a member of the General Society of Authors and Editors ‘Sociedade General de Autores y Editores (SGAE)’ in Spain.

Composer & Trombonist
Retired Professor of Music

Professional Musician, Trombonist, Teacher, Arranger, Publisher.
Graduate of Eastman School of Music
Retired Principal Trombonist of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and CBC Radio Orchestra. Formerly National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Retired University of British Columbia Department of Music

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