Johann Michael Haydn

The trombone was still a relatively new instrument, having only developed from the sackbut sometime in the late 1600's/early 1700's, when Michael Haydn composed his Serenade. Because of how new the instrument was the trombone was rarely featured as a solo instrument, but, when it was, it was often the alto trombone that was given the solo. Of the four types of trombones used at the time: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, the alto projected the best and had the clearest sound.

Detaching the bass line from the melody and using repeated notes instead of contrapuntal ideas was a compositional technique commonly used in 18th century galant style music. This excerpt shows a bass line that is doing just that. Often the bass repeats the same note throughout an entire bar, while the melody moves above without directly interacting with it.