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THE TROMBETTO FROM THE GHETTO

By

Nelson E. Harrison, Ph. D.

What is ten inches long, weighs five pounds, vibrates a full six octaves and is known as the horniest little horn in existence?  It is a one-of-a-kind brass instrument custom-made for me from several components and spare parts by brass technician, Ted Weir*.  I named this instrument “The Trombetto from the Ghetto” and it is well on its way to becoming the most famous horn in the world.

Its journey began in December, 1980, in the window of Gelman Loan Company in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty area on Frankstown Avenue at Lincoln.  This block is historic in that it once hosted Johnny Brown’s lounge and Local 471 of the American Federation of Musicians on the east and the Tree-Inn Chicken Shack that Stanley Turrentine canonized in his tune, “Take me back to the Chicken Shack,” on the west.  In the adjacent block due east is Lincoln Elementary School where you can see a Historical Marker placed in honor of its most famous student Mary Lou Williams.  During Pittsburgh’s reign as a capital city of jazz music in the 1940s and 50s, some of the best jazz and legendary jam sessions took place within a two-block area of Gelman Loan, the last standing business in the block from that era.  It might accurately be said that the TFTG was discovered in a “Pawn shop (near) a corner in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.”

A former trumpet and baritone horn-player-turned-trombonist, I was looking for a gimmick to augment my combo presentations when the horn in the window caught my eye.  It turned out to be a pocket cornet made by Amati, equipped with two extension lead pipes (one for Bb and a longer one for A) and a cornet mouthpiece.  The sound had a tin-horn timbre that would not be taken seriously in musical circles.  The second time I removed it from its case the breakthrough discovery occurred.  I wondered if my trombone mouthpiece would fit the lead pipe where the extension tubes go.  It worked.  Not only was it in tune (in Bb) but the timbre was velvety-rich like a French horn/fluglehorn combination.  The sound was delightful and I knew I had discovered much more than a gimmick.  It rapidly garnered attention at gigs and jam sessions everywhere I went.

There was a slight problem, however.  In using the trombone mouthpiece I was only able to play about two octaves in chromatic sequence upwards from E concert in the bass clef.   The horn, on the other hand,  could be played higher than the normal range for the mouthpiece.  Nevertheless, playing in a limited two-octave range was interesting and challenging.  It helped to strengthen my high register on the trombone up to high F… sometimes G.  However, the horn could not play the complete lower register where the mouthpiece was better suited to play.  I thought to myself, “One day I’ll have something added to enable chromatic access to the lower register.”

In 1990 I consulted Ted Weir, master brass technician of the Brass & Woodwind Shop in Carnegie, PA.  We discussed the possibility of adding a fourth valve and

additional tubing for the purpose of completing the horn’s lower registry capability.  The rest of the story is all due to the genius of Ted Weir, who accomplished the task with some carefully selected spare parts that he hand-crafted to solve the problem.  Six months later he called me and said to come get my horn.

The result is the trombetto, a name I chose in 1980.  People are fascinated by the horn and have suggested that I patent it and reproduce it.  Mr. Weir assured me that patents are not applicable to brass instruments today since everything imaginable was tried in the evolution of modern brass instruments in the 1700s and 1800s only to wind up, through the process of elimination, with the instruments of today's standard symphony orchestra.  Even the elevated bell of Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet had been tried by someone circa 1850. There were even wooden trumpets in Africa long before that time.

Naming it the trombetto is a bit problematic since people consistently mispronounce it, calling it the “trumpetta," "trumpito," "trombetta," "trumbino," etc.  Others have suggested I call it the “NelsonE” (pronounced “Nelsown”) since it is my own, one-of-a-kind and derived from my middle initial, E, added to my first name.  A recent suggestion to call it the “Trombetto from the Ghetto” so that people could better pronounce it has resulted in the title of this article.

The trombetto has been a delight to play and it has many yet to be discovered possibilities. Exploring those possibilities has been both a challenge and enjoyment.  Having the bell only fourteen inches from my ear makes me want to cuddle it when I play.  The fourth valve allows me to fill the chromatic gaps in the lower octaves very similarly to the way an F-attachment on a bass trombone works.  In the middle octaves the fourth valve lets me trill on any note since it barely changes the pitch at all.  It also allows me to simplify the most difficult trill of all for a trumpet – concert A ~ B -  below the treble staff.  In the highest registers the valves are not so important.   Using the same mouthpiece on the trombetto as I do on the trombone has kept me from having to build an entirely new embouchure in order to switch easily from one to another while strengthening my trombone chops.  The diaphragmatic strength needed to play the trombone is an aid in playing the trombetto.  The rest is up to the embouchure.  It took me another eight years to develop the embouchure to explore the highest trumpet registers but I have now succeeded in being able to play melodies in the highest octave (up to concert F two octaves above the treble staff and chromatically down to concert Eb, one octave and one-third below the bass staff.  The next challenge is working on my diaphragm for more pedal power and on my embouchure for breadth of timbre in the highest octaves.

Its uniqueness as a serious instrument has been appreciated by some of the most respected musicians who have had an opportunity to hear it.  So far I have demonstrated it for Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Bill Steinmeyer, Earl May, Dr. Karlton Hester, Keter Betts, Freddy Cole, James Moody, Ahmad Jamal, Gerald Wilson, Slide Hampton, Dennis Wilson, Neal Tate, John Clayton, Jr., Dr. David Baker, Lew Soloff, Joe Lovano, Winston Byrd, Sammy Nestico, Stanley Turrentine, T. S. Monk, Jimmy Owens, Freddie Redd, Dr. Donald Byrd, Maynard Ferguson, Kim Richmond, Dr. Larry Ridley, Mickey Bass, John Heard, Mike Vax and Bob Flanigan to name a few.

What started out as a search for a gimmick has resulted in the creation of a serious instrument that is also a curiousity.  It blends well in harmony with other horns and it adapts well to the application of mutes and plungers for expressive effects.  Electrified or played into a microphone it can produce an amazing range of color and dynamics.  My claim that I can play six octaves chromatically often results in skepticism to which I gladly reply, “Allow me to demonstrate.” 

Its commercial recording career is just beginning.  The first available are the indie CDs “Schism & Blues” and “Root Rot,” recorded by The Blues Orphans at Heid Pro Audio in Aspinwall, PA in 2003 and 2007 respectively.  Both can be obtained by emailing andygabig@comcast.net or Bob Gabig by phone at 412-761-8860.

*Note: Ted Weir presently works in the instrument repair department of Volkwein’s Music in Pittsburgh, PA.

The above article is posted on the following web sites:

http://trombetto.peopleaggregator.net

http://www.aainnovators.com

Not long ago I read a report that made the astonishing claim that the leading cause of death in the US is the American medical system. Medicare's recent announcement that it will no longer reimburse hospitals for the cost of treating certain "serious preventable events," such as an object left in a patient's body after an operation or giving a patient the wrong kind of blood, and particular infections amounts to a frightening acknowledgement of how bad things have gotten in mainstream health care.

Authors of the report on causes of death, published in Life Extension magazine, attributed nearly 800,000 deaths each year to medical interventions, in contrast to approximately 650,000 deaths from heart disease and 550,000 from cancer. The methodology they used to calculate that number didn't stand up to our analysis, so I don't think the numbers are quite so high. However, it did get my attention since the figures came from credible sources including peer-reviewed medical journals, citing for instance, 106,000 deaths annually from adverse drug reactions, 98,000 from medical errors and 88,000 from infections. This compares with 160,000 deaths from lung cancer anticipated for 2007, for instance. Death can't be held off forever, of course -- but preventable deaths from hospital-acquired infections, especially if due to poor hygiene such as those transmitted by not washing hands, are particularly egregious.

For greater insight into the risks we face, I spoke with David J. Sherer, MD, a board-certified anesthesiologist in Falls Church, Virginia, and the coauthor of Dr. David Sherer's Hospital Survival Guide: 100 Ways to Make Your Hospital Stay Safe and Comfortable (Claren). He said that although this report is controversial and somewhat alarmist, it has elements of truth. Numbers can always be crunched and interpreted in different ways, but the indisputable point here is that medical errors and complications or adverse effects from medical interventions have reached a crisis point in this country -- one that needs to be addressed. That's beginning to happen.

Dr. Sherer and I discussed what's behind this alarming trend and how we can protect ourselves.

BEHIND THE RISE IN MEDICAL-RELATED DEATHS

First of all, the problem is not that medical practitioners have suddenly and inexplicably become sloppy and careless. That's far too simplistic an explanation. Instead, Dr. Sherer chalks up the alarming statistics to a number of different factors:

• The American public is getting older and sicker. Growing numbers of graying baby boomers are developing the diseases of aging -- heart disease, diabetes, orthopedic problems, etc. In the meantime, in people of all ages, ballooning rates of obesity contribute to these same health challenges. More sick people mean more medical interventions... and in hard numbers, that adds up to more mistakes or complications.
• In a kind of medical "perfect storm," just as more Americans are developing serious health problems, we're struggling with a shortage of medical support personnel including nurses, which decreases the attention paid to patient needs and details of treatment. Also, managed care has meant doctors have less time to devote to patients during office visits and, as a result, are less likely to know the particulars of their history. Dr. Sherer warns that this sets up a system ripe for errors.
• Americans today take more medications than anyone else in the world -- and drug companies are working hard to get us to take even more. Spending on direct-to-consumer drug advertising has increased over 300% in nearly a decade, to $4.2 billion in 2005 from $1.1 billion in 1997. With that much money aimed at advertising drugs not just to save lives, but to enhance mood or correct erectile dysfunction or alleviate restless legs syndrome, Dr. Sherer points out that drugs are often being taken by people who don't need them. More drugs mean more drug reactions and interactions to juggle than ever before... again, many more opportunities for errors.
• We're paying closer attention to medical errors and preventable complications and -- paradoxically, the harder we look for them, the more we find. This makes the numbers look terrible in the short run, but in the long run this increased vigilance and accountability should result in improved care.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF

Forewarned is forearmed: There are many proactive steps you can take to shield yourself and your loved ones from this epidemic of deaths related to medical interventions. At the doctor's office or in the hospital, Dr. Sherer recommends...

• Bring an up-to-date list of all medications you take. Make sure that you list not only prescr i ption drugs, but also over-the-counter medications, herbal remedies, vitamins and other dietary supplements. These can all react with one another. Also list the condition for which you take each drug.
• Include correct name, spelling, usage and dosage. Dr. Sherer cautions that many drugs -- for example, Xanax (for anxiety) and Zantac (to treat ulcers) -- sound similar. A comprehensive and accurate list that includes the condition for which a drug or supplement has been prescribed will help ward off confusion and errors. This is especially important when dealing with health-care professionals who don't speak English as their first language.
• Tell practitioners about any drug allergies or sensitivities and all pre-existing conditions. For example, perhaps you are allergic to penicillin. While this information should appear on your chart, don't take for granted that it does. Reminding health-care providers of your medical history, including drug allergies, is a simple and effective way to avoid potentially life-threatening medical errors.
• Do your homework. If you are scheduled to take a new drug or undergo a test or procedure, first research it at reliable government, hospital or university-based Web sites such as www.medlineplus.gov or www.mayoclinic.com or www.jhu.edu (Johns Hopkins). Peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (jama.ama-assn.org) and the New England Journal of Medicine (content.nejm.org) can also be excellent sources of information. An objective non-biased drug assessment database is available through both print and on-line subscr i ption (www.factsandcomparisons.com/) -- ask your health-care provider and/or pharmacist whether they use it.
• Speak up. Ask your doctor the right questions. Why do I need this drug/test/procedure? What are the risks versus benefits? Is this the best drug/test/procedure for my condition? What about side effects? In the case of tests, are the results typically straightforward or subject to interpretation? How often is this test/procedure performed at your facility? How often does the surgeon or other medical practitioner perform it? In both cases, the more often, the better. Will there be pain or discomfort? If your physician can't or won't take the time to answer your questions, it's time to get a new physician.
• Designate a friend or family member to be your advocate. When you're ill, it's all too easy to become nervous and forget the questions you want to ask, or fail to recall your physician's advice. It's not only comforting to have a trusted advocate by your side at such moments, it also contributes to a better understanding of the situation on your part, and more accountability on the part of your caregivers. If you're in the hospital, try to have someone with you or visiting frequently so that they can get help/nurse's attention if need be.
• Take personal responsibility. In the long run, you remain in charge of your own health. Responsibility includes not just your interactions with medical practitioners, but also making lifestyle changes that reduce your risk of illness.

No doubt we will continue to hear more about this vitally important health topic -- and I'll continue to cover it in upcoming issues of Daily Health News. Given that hospitals will now have to absorb the costs of their mistakes due to Medicare's refusal to provide coverage for "serious preventable events," with a stipulation that prevents billing patients for them, too, it's clear that they will focus intently on reducing these events, which can only be good news. And meanwhile, Medicare's new hospital inpatient provisions will result not only in an estimated savings for the government of more than $20 million annually -- but, we can only hope, the saving of many lives as well.

Source(s):

David J. Sherer, MD, a board-certified anesthesiologist in clinical practice at Falls Church Ambulatory Surgery Center in Falls Church, Virginia, affiliated with Mid-Atlantic Permanente Group. He is coauthor of Dr. David Sherer's Hospital Survival Guide: 100 Ways to Make Your Hospital Stay Safe and Comfortable (Claren).