pHistory
In 2007, Steve, Hugh & Chris of Warwick Music set out to design an affordable, fun and great-sounding plastic trombone. Their aim was to solve the issues with a traditional brass trombone for children, and make it more accessible. A brass trombone was easy to dent and damage, heavy and cumbersome to hold, and expensive for parents to buy! They were successful, and delivered the award winning pBone, and this pBone guide will tell you all you need to know!
This innovative trombone was unbelievably light, incredibly tough and robust, easy to hold, easy to put together, and most importantly, the patented design materials deliver an unbelievable sound quality. Oh, and they’re really fun and colourful!
pModels
The pBone is much lighter (around 4 kilos!) than traditional brass trombones. The light weight aids your child’s ability to develop good technique and posture and means their arms won’t get tired as quickly; they can enjoy playing for longer and progress faster! And for adults, you can still achieve the tone & projection of that of a traditional brass trombone…..but you can easily dance with it and throw it around with a load of colour options!
The pBones come in a traditional sized model, plus the pBone Mini which a plastic version of an Alto Trombone in the key of Eb.
pTutorial
The wonderful people at Warwick Music Group have provided an extensive set of tutorials and free resources to help you on your pBone performance journey; How to Play These include;
- How to play trombone; breathing, buzz & play, and hand position
- Types of trombone
- What is a trombone
- Basic music terminology
- Free resources; such as tuner, music lessons, sheet music etc.
pMaintain
How do I lubricate the slide? Apply a small amount of slide cream to the stockings or apply oil/liquid slide lube to the inner slide top, allowing the oil/lube to run down to the stockings. Spray inner slides with water and work up and down to distribute the cream/oil/lube. Just be careful to only use a small amount as otherwise it will clog up and just make the slide slower. A lot of pBoners simply use water to lubricate the slide and that works great on its own!
How do I clean it? To maintain your instrument’s finish, never clean with hot water, chemical agents or harsh detergents or solvents. Use only lukewarm water for cleaning purposes. The coloured parts can be cleaned with a soft cloth. The glass fibre outer slides may be cleaned with warm soapy water and then lightly dressed with vegetable oil to restore the look of the surface.
pDurable
Brass trombones are easily dented, damaged and high maintenance. Because our pBone is made from plastic it is extremely durable and strong, and can withstand the inevitable rough treatment it may receive wherever you take it! Low maintenance and robust the pBone is a worry free, dependable and fun trombone.
You can see how tough they are here;
pPurchase
The pBone is fantastic value for money, costing around a quarter of the price of beginner brass trombones. It comes with everything your child needs to play straight away: a smart carry bag which is perfect for rushing between lessons/school/band, two plastic mouthpieces (6.5AL and 11C, although it’s also compatible with any small shank trombone mouthpiece) and an array of supporting online learning resources should you need them.
pExtras
If you are unfortunate enough to lose a piece of your pBone, or by some miraculous feat of strength break a bit off (?) i.e. run over it in a tank(!), the just give us a call and we can source you the necessary spare part.
If you fancy a change of mouthpiece (they do come supplied with 2 you know!) we do have a selection of the lastic mouthpoieces in 6.5 AL or the smaller bore 11C.
pStake
So there you have it…the amazing, world beating pBone! It’s time you invested in a pBone.
The pBone has a lot in common with me??
They look great, they sound great, they have lots of bright attractive colours (mine are mainly grey, white, freckled and ruddy!) and neither of us have hair!! And, both can be found at Normans Musical Instruments!
