The valve trombone is a brass instrument in the trombone family that has a set of valves to vary the pitch instead of a slide. Although it has been built in sizes from alto to contrabass, it is the tenor valve trombone pitched in B♭ which has seen the most widespread use.
The most common valve trombone has three piston valves, and plays just like a trumpet but an octave lower. They are built in either short or long form.
Valve (tenor) trombone in B♭
Six-valved cavalry trombone by Adolphe Sax, ca. 1863. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Former trombonist of ska punk band We Are the Union performs on a valve trombone
A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin and Greek elements meaning 'lip' and 'sound'.
Six high brass instruments Left, from top: A reproduction baroque trumpet in D, a modern trumpet in B♭, a modern trumpet in D, a piccolo trumpet in B♭ (octave higher), and a flugelhorn in B♭. Right: a cornet in B♭.
A tenor horn (alto horn) in E♭, baritone horn in B♭, and euphonium in B♭
Brass instrument piston valves
Flugelhorn with three pistons and a trigger
