Trombone so the name means "large trumpet". The trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like its valved counterpart the baritone and in contrast to its conical valved counterparts, the cornet, the euphonium, and the French horn. The most frequently encountered trombones are the tenor trombone and bass trombone. The most common variant, the tenor, is a non-transposing instrument pitched in B, an octave below the B trumpet and an octave above the pedal B tuba. The once common E alto trombone became less widely used as improvements in technique extended the upper range of the tenor, but it is now enjoying
Subcontrabass tuba Subcontrabass tuba The subcontrabass tuba is an extension of the tuba family within the modern contrabass tuba. At least five known examples have been created, all pitched in BBBb, sounding a full octave lower than standard BBb contrabass tubas. Music for them is written in bass clef sounding a full octave lower than notated. The first existence of an instrument of this sort was designed by the Parisian instrument innovator Adolphe Sax (1814–1894), the inventor of the saxophone, who dubbed it the subcontrabass saxhorn. These instruments were all very rare and never received a great deal of attention. The first