The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Trombone Day a big hit with students
It was everything trombone as band director Brett Tomko’s held his signature event: Trombone Day.
Think you know a thing or two about trombones?
Even so, you’d likely still learn plenty about this venerable brass instrument in all of its incarnations by way of Madison Schools band director Brett Tomko’s signature event: Trombone Day.
It played out March 31 at Madison High School for six middle and high school band class periods.
Tomko, who said he’s been playing the trombone since elementary school, initiated the event last year during an extended-substitute stint at Mayfield Schools. He since landed his current gig and brought all of his trombones with him.
Tomko’s presentation features classic, show-andtell style demonstrations featuring trombones made out of everything from silver to plastic, their accessories and how they all sound.
For example, did you know there are plastic trombones that actually play? How about the fact that there’s a tiny version — called a piccolo trombone — small enough to serve as a paperweight on a standard-sized desk? Then, of course, there’s the fact that the voice-over artist for every adult part ever played on a Charlie Brown television adaptation was, in fact, a trombone with the rubber end of a toilet plunger manipulated accordingly over the its bell.
He said the event, the proposal of which was an integral part of his job interview, is a great way for students to blow off steam during a time when they’re engaged in tests and other academic rigmarole.
“About this time of year, things get kind of crazy,” he said.
“It’s right before spring break. There are tests and all that going on. So this is a good way for the students to still learn something. But it’s not something they’re going to see in a regular classroom.”
During his presentation, Tomko breaks out a trombone arsenal that features a representative from each octave, including plastic players and a tiny trombone to which the audience delivered a heartfelt “AWWW!” as if it were a puppy.
Tomko said he gets similar responses from pretty much everyone in his classes when he breaks out his favorite pieces of brass.
“Most of the time, if they don’t want them, they want to know all about them,” he said. “I mean, how often do you see a plastic trombone or a slide trumpet?”
But the day goes way beyond just trumpets. It also introduces ideas that transcend the band room.
During Trombone Day, Tomko talks about everything from the instrument’s place in entertainment history and its applications therein, to the metallurgy affecting traditional trombones’ sound and a number of other tenets of trombonism. He said anyone who’s ever witnessed it has recognized something he or she has loved about it.
“The Charlie Brown thing always goes over well, no matter what age,” Tomko said.
His backup — a woodwind, herself — agreed.
“I told (Tomko) earlier this morning that I learned a lot,” said Kitty Tout, assistant band director and a 10-year veteran Madison Schools music educator. “I thought it was awesome.”
A clarinet enthusiast, Stout said students have started asking her about a day dedicated to her favorite piece.
“The kids have even asked” ‘When’s Clarinet Day?’ But that one’s pretty cost-prohibitive,” she said, adding that there are about a dozen different clarinet variations. “I actually have an all-silver clarinet that’s pretty uncommon. They don’t make them anymore, of course, and I’ll bring that in every now and again and the kids seem to enjoy that.”
She said it’s always fun to share anything out of the ordinary with fellow musicians of any age.
“Anything fun, different, out of the ordinary keeps them interested,” she said.
Tomko, who admitted a few of his examples were borrowed, said he plans to maintain the Trombone Day tradition throughout the years to come.