Michael Rath Trombones

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Michael Rath Trombones
IndustryMusical instrument manufacturing
Founded1996
FounderMichael Rath
Headquarters Honley, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Area served
North America, South America, Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan
Productstenor, bass, contrabass, alto trombones and accessories
Number of employees
12
Website rathtrombones.com

Michael Rath Trombones is a British manufacturer of retail and custom hand-made trombones. Rath offers artist-quality and student instruments in its line of tenor, bass, contrabass and alto trombones. Rath Trombones was founded in 1996 by instrument technician Michael Rath, and is Britain's only trombone manufacturer. [1] Rath's 12 craftspeople create as many as 500 trombones per year, exporting instruments through 25 distributors in North and South America, Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan.

Trombone Type of brass instrument

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. As on all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips (embouchure) cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Nearly all trombones have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. Many modern trombone models also use a valve attachment to lower the pitch of the instrument. Variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves similar to those on the trumpet.

Contents

History

Company founder Michael Rath (b. 1963 in Slough, Berkshire, England) studied musical instrument technology at Merton Technical College in South London. He finished at Merton in 1981 and for the next nine years served an apprenticeship with Paxman Musical Instruments, a Covent Garden-based manufacturer of (French) horns. Himself a brass player – he began on tuba at age 11 – Rath opened his own brass instrument shop in West Yorkshire, specialising in repairs and customisation. His clientele grew to include professional musicians, particularly trombonists, from throughout Europe.

Slough Large town in Berkshire, UK

Slough is a large town in Berkshire, England, 20 miles (32 km) west of central London and 17 miles (27 km) north-east of Reading, in the Thames Valley at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. Slough had a population of 164,000 in 2017.

Paxman Musical Instruments

Paxman Musical Instruments Ltd is a British manufacturer of horns. Paxman is the instrument of choice of a number of leading British players, including Michael Thompson. Paxman was established at the turn of the twentieth century by Harry Paxman, but did not start production of horns until 1945, when no more than twelve instruments a year were made.

Covent Garden district in London, England

Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, which itself may be referred to as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

In 1995, British jazz trombonist Mark Nightingale asked Rath to create a bespoke instrument. Completed in 1996 after nearly two years of prototyping, this tenor instrument became the first Rath trombone.

Mark Nightingale British musician

Mark Daryl Nightingale is an English jazz trombonist/studio musician/composer/arranger.

With tenor trombones in steady production, Michael Rath, along with technicians Andy Hutchinson and Adrian Davison, began development of a full trombone line. Hutchinson crafted bells, Davison the hands slides, and Rath did the remainder himself. Over the next decade the Rath catalogue grew to include small-bore jazz trombones, large bore symphonic instruments, bass, contrabass and alto models. Rath instruments grew increasingly popular in Europe, while less known in the U.S. Rath Trombones faced setbacks, including cash-flow problems and the increasing demands of production on what began as a three-person shop. Another blow came in 2006, when respected trombone slide specialist Adrian Davison died at the age of 28 in a motorcycle accident.

Today, Rath trombones are popular with solo artists and brass band, symphony and jazz trombone sections around the world. [1] Their reputation has been enhanced with representation at regional and international trade shows and conventions of musicians and music educators, and a growing roster of high-profile endorsing artists. A line of student-level instruments, JP/Rath Trombones, was introduced in 2014 in collaboration with UK instrument distributor John Packer, and is manufactured by Rath-trained technicians.

Brass band musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments

A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands, but may more correctly termed military bands, concert bands, or "brass and reed" bands.

The Rath Trombones shop is located in Honley, Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. In 2015, the shop was selected from hundreds of UK businesses for a visit by Anne, Britain's Princess Royal. [2]

Honley village in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England

Honley is a large village in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated near to Holmfirth and Huddersfield, and on the banks of the River Holme in the Holme Valley. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 6,474, a growth of 577 from the 2001 Census

Huddersfield Town in West Yorkshire, England

Huddersfield is a large market and university town in West Yorkshire, England. It is the 11th largest town in the United Kingdom, with a population of 162,949 at the 2011 census. It lies 14 miles (23 km) southwest of Leeds and 24 miles (39 km) northeast of Manchester.

Anne, Princess Royal Daughter of Queen Elizabeth II

Anne, Princess Royal, is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her mother – then Princess Elizabeth – and elder brother, Charles. She rose to second after her mother's accession, but is 14th in line as of August 2019.

Rath sections

Ensembles that have used Rath trombones include:

United Kingdom: Central Band of the Royal Air Force, Royal Military School of Music, Scots Guards, Royal Marines Band Service, Black Dyke Band, Salvation Army International Staff Band, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Grimethorpe Colliery Band

Central Band of the Royal Air Force

The Central Band of the Royal Air Force is an RAF regular band and is part of Royal Air Force Music Services. The motto of the band is Aere Invicti.

Black Dyke Band band

Black Dyke Band, formerly John Foster & Son Black Dyke Mills Band, is one of the oldest and best-known brass bands in the world. The band has won many prizes and competitions over the years. In 2014, the band won the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain for a record 23rd time, and the British Open Championship for another record 30th time. They have also won the European Championships a record thirteen times, most recently in 2015.

London Philharmonic Orchestra London based symphony orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British Orchestra and a one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Europe: Staatskapelle Berlin

Asia: China Philharmonic Orchestra

United States: Count Basie Orchestra

Rath artists

Rath's international roster of endorsing trombone artists includes Bert Boeren, Jimmy Bosch, Isrea Butler, Simon Chappell (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic), Bruce Collings, Michael Dease, Wes Funderburk, Marc Godfroid, Kelsley Grant, André Hayward, Frederik Heirman, Conrad Herwig, John Higginbotham, Carol Jarvis, René Laanen, Xiaonan Li (China Philharmonic Orchestra), Shuchang Liu (China Philharmonic Orchestra), Don Lucas, Lyndon Meredith (London Philharmonic Orchestra), Lode Mertens, Kevin Morgan (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra), Mark Nightingale, Catherine Noblet, John Rojak, Dennis Rollins, Ramón Luis Serra (Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra), Rick Simerly, Alan Swain (Welsh National Opera), Robb Tooley (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra), Papo Vazquez, Csaba Wagner (Staatskapelle Berlin) and Annie Whitehead.

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References

  1. 1 2 Vine, Andrew. "Top brass – and made in Yorkshire". The Yorkshire Post. Johnston Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  2. Glover, Chloe (24 February 2015). "Anne Princess Royal sounds the horn of Honley trombone maker Michael Rath". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Trinity Mirror Northwest. Retrieved 10 July 2015.