What's an ALTO trombone?

This guide is primarily intended for individuals buying a first "starter" trombone for a young beginning student. There are more geprehensive pages on the web with additional information for experienced players who areseriously looking to buy an alto trombone.
If you are buying a trombone for a beginning student or even a more experienced player, you want a TENOR trombone, usually called just "trombone." These are the standard slide trombones played everywhere from beginning school bands to professional jazz gigs and symphony orchestra concerts. They are pitched in the key of B-flat, and any qualified school band director should be familiar with teaching students to play tenor trombone. B-flat tenors are the universal trombones.
Alto trombones are specialized instruments for unusual circumstances. While they can certainly be used to play jazz or any other style of music, an alto trombone is used mostly for the first trombone parts in a symphony orchestra in the Classic and Romantic era "classical" repertoire. If you don't do these things, you probably don't want an alto trombone. Do you already read ALTO CLEF? If not, you might bebuying the wrong instrument!Additionally, slide position charts in standard B-flat tenor trombone band method books won't work with an E-flat alto trombone. For example, on a tenor trombone the note E-flat is played in third position on the slide, on an E-flat alto trombone it is played in first position, because the tenor and alto trombones are built in defferent keys. Also, most school band teachers have never even seen an alto trombone and refuse to teach it in their school bands. They're really quite rare, unless you're a College-level Music Major or a Symphony trombonist.
SEVERAL CHINESE TROMBONE MANUFACTURERS ERRONEOUSLY (FRAUDULENTLY??) LABEL SOME OF THEIR TROMBONE MODELS AS ALTO TROMBONES WHEN THEY ARE ACTUALLY SMALL-BORE B-FLAT TENOR TROMBONES!!!! MAKE SURE YOU ARE BIDDING ON THE INSTRUMENT YOU ACTUALLY WANT!!!!!! If you are in doubt, ask the seller if it's an E-flat alto or B-flat tenor trombone BEFORE bidding. If the seller tries to argue with you or berates you, they were either misinformed by the manufacturer or intentionally being misleading in their listing. Frequently,someof the"alto" trombone listings on okay are wrong, however the ones labeled "Selman" (or sometimes "Maestro") are real E-flat altos. This confusion regarding small-bore tenor trombones versus alto trombones by some Asian manufacturers and some okay sellers is quite odd, considering there is a MUCH larger market for tenor trombones! They seem to be hurting their own sales by claiming their instruments to be ALTO trombones!
REMEMBER, THERE IS NO SUCH INSTRUMENT AS A B-FLAT ALTO TROMBONE!!!!!!! PERIOD!!!!!!
E.M. Winston, Weril and Amati make moderately priced E-flat alto trombones suitable for the advanced amateur or even the professional who only wants to use it occasionally. Bach, Yamaha, Conn, Kuhnel and Hoyer, Curtois, and several custom builders sell fine professional (expensive) models. My favorite professional alto is a Bach Model 39. For more useful information on buying a B-flat tenor trombone, see the okay guide specifically dedicated to buying these instruments.

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I have been asked recently if an alto trombone might be a good choice for a young player with short arms. Probably not. Please review the issues related to school bands and the alto trombone above. Also, many young players, especially in elementary school bands, have a VERY strong sense of conformity. If one kid's instrument is smaller than the other trombones, it will be just one more excuse for the beginning player to quit or demand a new instrument.As a private trombone teacher,I have had young students who start lessons on "Grandpa's old horn,"frequently a fine professional instrument,insist on a "brand new" importedbeginners instrument just because it's "shinier" and "that's what all the other kids play!"