Here’s a YouTube video I recently came across showing trombonist Jack Teagarden performing his water glass trick. He removes his trombone slide and uses the water glass as a replacement to the bell.
Try it out on your own. It’s not as easy as he makes it look.
How does one remove that much tubing from an instrument and still manage to keep it in tune?!?!? And what a killer tone.
I noticed that his slide movement and range were limited. I loved the way he swaggered away after he was done! Nicely played, Jack!
The majority of the bell only provides resistance, which is replaced by the drinking glass. As for limited range, Teagarden from an early age played many things in false positions and used every trick in the book to squeeze more into less. As for intonation (in tune), the possibilities of adjusting pitch on trombone are endless. I have been searching for a video of this “trick” by Teagarden and was really happy to find this. Thanks much!