Sackbut modern orchestra sounds out of tune, but it tunes perfectly well on in a sackbut choir if everyone plays natural harmonics. Plenty of musical understanding can be gathered from reading the original music print. Publishers such as SPES and Arnaldo Forni Edition provide facsimile copies of plenty of music for trombone from this era. To read these it one needs to become familiar with the old clefs, time signatures, ligatures and notational conventions of the era. The sound of sackbuts (and trombones) has long been thought especially solemn and noble, had an association with death and the afterlife. The instrument
Keith Hill (musical instrument maker) of workshops on the craft of musical communication at conservatories and schools of music in Europe and the United States. In 2008 Hill established the Acoustical Technology Trainee program that is specific to the technical craft of enhancing sound, not instrument making, and has now taught keyboard instrument acoustics to a number of professional musicians and luthiers. Hill maintains a violin making workshop in Nashville, Tennessee. Keyboard instruments continue to be made in the larger Michigan workshop. Hill's instruments, which are known for their full tone, have been used in performances and recordings by keyboard artists such as Elizabeth Farr