Google Analytics Tidbits: Sneaking up on 2,000
November 3, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
At the end of every month I get a website report from Google called “Google Analytics.” It details all sorts of things, including how many visits the site had that month, which pages are getting viewed most, which countries people are visiting from, which keywords people are using to find the site, how long people are staying on the site, etc. I’m always intrigued, in my own nerdy little way. Number of visits has been increasing pretty steadily since the site’s inception; October’s total was 1,982—sneaking up on 2,000!
Here are a few interesting tidbits:
•Number of visits from each of the last 5 months: 764, 1091, 1149, 1482, 1982.
•Most popular pages: home page, trombone timeline, alto trombone, blog (trombone history category), blog (general).
•Most common keywords people use to find the site: alto trombone, trombone history, will kimball trombone, will kimball, trombone history timeline.
•Traffic sources: search engines (64%), referring sites (28%), direct traffic (8%).
•Most frequent countries to access the site: US, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany.
•Other countries to access site (most visits to least): Spain, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Brazil, France, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Philippines, Czech Republic, Norway, Russia, Latvia, Sweden, Indonesia, Portugal, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, Ireland, Taiwan, Austria, Finland, China, and many more (78 countries total).
•Percentage new visits: 72.7
•Average time on site: 3:15
Trombone History: Beethoven’s Drei Equali
July 28, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
Added the entry below to the Alto Trombone History Timeline. It includes information from a firsthand witness about Beethoven’s Drei Equali, arguably one of the most important works in the history of the trombone. Among the noteworthy observations about the alto trombone is Glöggl’s note that, although his father’s collection included soprano and quart trombones, the instruments commonly used in Austria were alto, tenor, and bass trombones. Son of the Linz kapellmeister who commissioned the work, the younger Glöggl stayed in the music field, eventually becoming a music publisher in Vienna. His recollections were made specifically for publication in Thayer’s Life of Beethoven (for source, see Alto Trombone Bibliography).
1812—Linz, Austria: Beethoven writes his Drei Equale for 4 trombones, a work commissioned by Kappelmeister Glöggl of the Linz cathedral. Glöggl’s son, who later becomes a music publisher in Vienna, verifies that alto, tenor and bass are the instruments commonly in use, mentioning that in his father’s “collection of old instruments he had a soprano and a quart trombone, whereas only alto, tenor and bass trombones were commonly used.” He continues, “Beethoven wanted to hear an Aequale such as was played at funerals in Linz, and one afternoon when Beethoven was expected to dine with us, my father appointed three trombone players and had them play an Aequale as desired…” (Thayer 541).
Alto in Treatises
July 6, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment

Trombone History: Added a new page, Alto in Treatises, that gives quotations from more than 45 treatises, dictionaries, and methods, most of them primary sources. It is arranged chronologically and spans from 1600 through the first quarter of the 20th century, offering a compelling view of the role of the alto trombone in trombone history. The sources, taken as a whole, strongly suggest 1) a relatively common instrument, 2) an instrument pitched in the E-flat orbit (D, E-flat, F), and 3) an instrument closely correlated with alto clef.
Facing image: Alto trombone position chart from Albrechtsberger’s treatise, translated by Novello. Positions are shown in reverse order, 6th to 1st.




