Starship Asterisk*

owlice wrote:
Well, *I* need painkillers after reading the thread on possessives, so I'm hoping woda73CD30 will share!

And, constant stars, in them I read such art
As truth and beauty shall together thrive ~ Man from Stratford

owlice wrote:
Obviously, he needed a better writing instrument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackbut wrote:

<<The sackbut is a trombone from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, i.e., a musical instrument in the brass family similar to the trumpet except characterised by a telescopic slide with which the player varies the length of the tube to change pitches, thus allowing them to obtain chromaticism, as well as easy and accurate doubling of voices. There are two theories for the sources: it is either derived from the Middle French sacquer (to push) and bouter (to pull) or from the Spanish sacar (to draw or pull) and bucha (a tube or pipe). The term survives in numerous English spelling variations including sacbut, sackbutte, sagbut, shagbolt, sacabushe and shakbusshe. In Italy it was (and remains) trombone, which derived from trumpet in the Latin tromba or drompten, used in the Low Countries. The first records of it being used are around 1440, but its not clear whether this was just a nickname for a trumpet player. In 1487 a writer links the words trompone and sacqueboute and mentions the instrument as playing the contratenor part in a danceband. More delicately constructed than their modern counterparts, and featuring a softer, more flexible sound, they attracted a more sizeable repertoire of original chamber and vocal music than many instruments contemporary with them. It was one of the most important instruments in Baroque polychoral works, along with the cornetto and organ.

There are various uses of sackbut-like words in the Bible, which has led to a faulty translation from the Latin bible that suggested the trombones date back as far as 600 BC, but there is no evidence of slides at this time. From 1375 the iconography sees trumpets being made with bends, and some in 'S' shapes. Around 1400 we see the 'loop' shaped trumpet appear in paintings and at some point in the 15th century, a single slide was added. This slide trumpet was known as a 'trompette des ménestrels' in the alta capella bands. The earliest clear evidence of a double slide instrument is in a fresco painting by Filippino Lippi in Rome - The Assumption of the Virgin, dating from 1488-1493. From the 15th to the 19th centuries, the instrument designs changed very little overall, apart from a slight widening of the bell in classical era. Since the 19th century, trombone bore sizes and bells have increased significantly.>>