Sonata for Trombone and Percussion was first performed in 1967 by Herbert Ausman, Ruth Cahn, Edward Small, and William Cahn, conducted by John Beck at the Eastman School of Music. Dedicated to William G. Street, the percussion professor at the Eastman School from the 1920s to 1967, the piece is in five movements – Allegro, Adagio, Scherzo, Largo, and Allegro Vivo – each of which presents a distinct mood. The large ensemble consists mainly of the standard Western orchestral percussion instruments – drums (timpani, tom toms, snare and bass drums, etc.), keyboards (xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone), and small idiophones (tambourine, castanets, triangles, Chinese temple block, etc.).
