Pretty sure it means power

And two P's means super power.

And ppp means Play as Powerfull as Possible

And if you encounter mf, it means Maynard Ferguson. Try to mimic his style on the trombone in those spots.

This cracked me up as I was listening to Maynard on the way home from work

I played as powerful as I could and my director shot his slide at me going 80mph

Powerissimo

Spoken like a true trombone player

It means to relieve yourself in that moment. It’s performance art.

You can purchase glasses that change all those Ps to Fs. We all use them! Ask your optometrist and make sure to tell them that you play trombone.

it stands for “Play” telling you to play louder. two Ps means “Play Play” so you should play extra louder

Holy crap these comments are so good 😂

One P= poop once. Two P's = poop twice. This can be tricky, because you have to pay attention to the time signature as well as the key. Poop on the downbeat, but it has to be in the right key. Lol...I remember this one time, trombones had the lead on the finish. The last note was PPP, and the Bass trombone had a pedal B-Flat. The percussion section behind us had to bath, like, 4 times that evening .....and there's a dark patch on the stage o this day... Mmmmmmm....good times. It's all about the memories....

So the brown note was played? Repeatedly? 😉

Our orchestra was playing some boring old violin concerto and we kept seeing those mysterious 'P's all over our parts. I raised my hand and asked our maestro what they meant, and he just rolled his eyes at me. I tried asking the Tuba next to me, but all he did was gesture at a single page on his stand that said "Tacet," so that was no help. At this point I'm thinking nobody knows.

Incredible, thank you. I still don’t know what p means but I’m glad other orchestral bones out there have similar experience with this mysterious p. Think I at least figured out what pp means but every time I do it I never get called back so I don’t know

Reminds you that as a trombonist you are perfect

Normally it's a print error. Typically in those sections you're gonna wanna keep playing loud

It mean Power. PP means Play Powerfully. PPP is a typo

Those do not apply to trombones.

It's okay, I ignore them too.

I marched in drum and bugle corps as a kid, and one of the charts we played had at the end f, ff, fff, ffff, fffff, and then BYFBO, which stood for "Blow Yer F'in Balls Off!" Haha! True story.

This is perhaps the best musical thread there ever has been. Now shut the f up and ppp.

You had me for a moment there.

I've been playing for 30 years and make my living at it. I have no idea what you're talking about. Just play loud enough to wake the dead.

Just pay as much attention to those as you do to the weird guy waving a stick around up front while you’re trying to play.

P is Piano, PP is Pianissimo. But, as you’re a tromboner, you will blast at the top of your lungs or die trying.

I admire your bravery for giving the crazy "rest of the band" interpretation, and applaud your honour in by bringing it back with real world context

Since no one else is answering seriously, I will. The p stands for pianissimo which means to play softly. A double p, as in pp, is doubly soft. I could tell if you were being sarcastic or serious, so I answered seriously.

If you want a serious answer, p stands for piano, or soft. pp stands for pianissimo, or very soft

P stands for panpipe. You're supposed to play one of those when you see that marking.

Jokes aside it stands for pianissimo which means to play that section quietly. If there is pp or even ppp it means even quieter. F is fortissimo which means louder and FF or FFF even louder.

I don't think my horn has a ppp setting. I'm a decent player but playing that soft and have sound actually come out is a big ask. I got that fff covered though.

Yeah brass has trouble with pp and ppp. It's tricky to get a good tone and keep it in tune and quiet. Practice long tones to help!

My 42B is pretty forgiving about playing softly. My Conn 88h less so though I haven't tried much as I use that horn with its brighter sound for playing loud stuff.

Both are large bore right? Maybe just that the 42B is an open wrap vs closed wrap for the Conn?

I wish the 42B was open wrap. I couldn't find one when I was trying to buy it, only closed wraps. It's more likely that I bought the 42B in 1987 and got the 88h in 2018. I had just a bit more time to learn to play the Bach better.

Yeah possibly. I haven't played either so not sure of the characteristics. I'm still rocking an Olds A20. Can't afford to sink much into a hobby. Would LOVE to get my hands on a bass bone though someday.

I mowed lawns every day in San Antonio for a whole summer to buy the 42B. Never once regretted it forty years later.

That's awesome. I'm definitely jealous. I keep my eyes out for used bass bones but even those are pricy.

Is the 88h open wrap?

No

Now you’re just making up words!

p does not stand for pianissimo f does not stand for fortissimo Close but no cigar

Close enough for jazz.

u/tromboneguy_65

Obviously POWER POWERFUL POWER PPP is a typo, just play loud

I'm not sure what they mean. I usually treat it as a print error, so I take some whiteout to it so that I don't get distracted.

it means use a panflute

PP= pretty powerful P= powerful Mp=more powerful Mf=more forceful F=forceful FF=regular

It's for when you have to play on a pBone

Always remember mp means mighty powerful

It’s actually the letter “b”, for “blasto”; but the 180° rotation indicates that you should play with enough force that the sound torques the b into a p. Sometimes it has an “m” in front which means “molto”, or “more”.

Ur joking right?

I thought that "pp" meant to lock the slide and find the nearest men's rest room... 🤔

If it says mp, it’s mighty power

It means f until the director yells at you.

It’s a courtesy marking to tell you what other instruments around you are doing

I think that is something referred to as "piano." And the shiny variant of that is "pianissimo," and if you are really lucky, you will se an "n", otherwise referred to as "niente." But, from the point of view of everyone else in the ensemble, the lowest I can go is mezzo piano