Everybody knows what the sad trombone is - Wah Wah Waah Waaaahhhhh (and you can go to sadtrombone.com if you don’t).
My question is, what’s the earliest known instance of it? Can we trace back to sad-trombone-zero, as it were?
Will this Wikipedia article on “wah-wah” suffice? It’s not specifically about trombones but it points to sad-trumpet-zero.
I suspect the OP wants to know who first used the “sad trombone” sound to punctuate a failure. I know I do.
Surely it predates The Price Is Right variant, correct?
Wouldn’t be complete without this…
Well, if we can accept that article’s implication that early jazz created the “wah-wah” our earliest possible date for sad trombone is the 20th century.
At some point, this had to become a “meme” - those 4 notes are understood to punctuate a failure. It became more than just 4 notes.
*Bozo *and The Price is Right both debuted about the same time, but I don’t know when either started using the sad trombone, and don’t know how to find out. I’m pretty sure I’m not inventing a memory that the *Flintstones *used the sound in their original run, so it’s at least that old.
Urban Dictionary claims it was around since the Vaudville days.
It would be interesting to know if there is something innate about the sound that conveys sadness or failure, or whether it is a culturally ingrained perception. I suppose one would need to expose people from other cultures to the cadence and conduct a survey afterwards. Doubtful that any formal study has been done in this clearly important field of research, but who knows?
Yes, yes, yes, a federal grant. Also date the use of the slurr for football kickoffs.
Yes, that’s an interesting question too.
I’m not much for scatalogical humor, but the flatulent sound of the wah-wah is undeniable. Also, the descending notes denoting a ‘letdown’ are also seen in the ‘sad slide-whistle’ noise. So I suspect it’s innate, at least partly. But it’s been so well codified - there are four notes exactly, the last one stretched out. The four notes are always the same. Where did that come from?