Donald S. Reinhardt
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Donald S. Reinhardt (1908–1989) was an American
trombonist The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...
and
brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
teacher. He authored several books for brass players, including the ''Pivot System for Trumpet and Trombone: A Complete Manual With Studies'' and the ''Encyclopedia of the Pivot System''.


Life and career

Donald Shelley Reinhardt was born in
Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...
, on January 22, 1908. Reinhardt began his formal musical studies as a
violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists * List of contemporary classical violinists * List of jazz violinists * List of popular music violinists * List of Indian violinists * List of Persian violinists * Li ...
but eventually moved to studying the trombone. In spite of some initial success, he struggled and sought help from eighteen different instructors, none of whom were able to help him work through his technical limitations. After an accident damaged his trombone he sent it to be repaired; however it was returned to him with the counterweight still removed. When he went to play the instrument with the counterweight still off, he ended up with a lower horn angle than he had previously played and he noticed that his range had dramatically improved. Some experimentation led him to discover that in order to perform well he needed to play in some ways that were quite different from how most other fine brass musicians played. This led to an interest in studying the physical mechanics of brass technique. Reinhardt studied music at the Curtis Institute of Music, graduating in 1943 and earned a doctorate from Combs College of Music in 1960. In the 1930s Reinhardt performed as a trombonist in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
for the Fox Theater,
Philadelphia Grand Opera The Philadelphia Grand Opera Company was the name of four different American opera companies active at the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the twentieth century. The last and best known of the ...
, and Philadelphia Civic Opera. In 1939 the Fox Theater fired the orchestra. Reinhardt took this opportunity to travel with his wife for the next five months. During this trip, he met in Kansas a young trombone student, whom he gave a brief lesson to, sparking his interest in becoming a teacher. For the next two years, Reinhardt gave free instructions to brass students in order to test and develop his teaching ideas. In 1954 Reinhardt established a teaching studio in Philadelphia. In 1956 he was appointed Director of Bands at
La Salle College High School La Salle College High School is a Catholic, all-male college preparatory school located in Wyndmoor, a community in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. La Salle is within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and i ...
in Philadelphia, a position he held until 1973. By the mid-1980s years Reinhardt developed serious health problems. He died of cancer on May 26, 1989.


Teaching

Reinhardt termed his approach to teaching the Pivot System, a term he borrowed from golf. He originally defined a pivot as transferring pressure from one lip to another while changing registers on a brass instrument. He later changed this definition to mean the pushing and pulling of a player's mouthpiece and lips together, as a single unit, up or down along the teeth while changing registers. According to Reinhardt, the three primary playing factors of brass technique were correct breathing, tonguing, and
embouchure Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece (woodwind), mouthpiece of a woodwind or brass instrument. The word is of French lan ...
. Reinhardt felt that each player's unique anatomical features required each player to perform differently and based his teaching on establishing the correct method for each individual student. He noted and categorized eight different tonguing types and four basic embouchure types with five subtypes. Each student would receive a personalized routine that took into account the student's embouchure and tonguing types. One of his pupils was
Fred Stone Fred Andrew Stone (August 19, 1873 – March 6, 1959) was an American actor. Stone began his career as a performer in circuses and minstrel shows, went on to act in vaudeville, and became a star on Broadway and in feature films, which earned hi ...
.


References


External links


The Reinhardt Foundation
(dissolved 2018. )
An Introduction to Donald S. Reinhardt's Pivot System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Donald S. 1908 births 1989 deaths American trombonists