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David K. Israel
The instrument behind the adults on the Peanuts
by David K. Israel - March 12, 2009 - 7:58 AM
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Ever wonder what instrument was used to make that funny sound of the adults talking on the Peanuts cartoons? It’s a trombone with the rubber end of a toilet plunger over the instrument’s bell. By opening and closing the plunger with the hand, thereby allowing more or less air out of the trombone’s bell, the trombonist is able to get a wah-wah effect, which the directors were able to use to mimic the rise and fall of our voice patterns, exaggerated, of course.

Here’s a demonstration by Wycliffe Gordon:

My favorite adult on the Peanuts was always Linus van Pelt’s schoolteacher/crush, Miss Othmar.

Check out the below clip (about 1:30 into it) for some classic Miss Othmar trombone.

Check out past On Music posts here >>

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Comments (5)

  1. My family absolutely loves Charlie Brown. My 9 year old watches the cartoons on his iPOD every trip.

    I so want that Linus and Lucy dance for a ring tone!

    posted by Karen on 3-12-2009 at 8:19 am

  2. @Karen: Ringtone should be pretty easy to find. The name of the song is “Linus and Lucy”, by Vince Guaraldi.

    posted by Jonathan on 3-12-2009 at 10:10 am

  3. The trombonist who did the sessions for the “Peanuts” cartoons is named Dean Hubbard, a San Francisco-based studio musician. He’s also worked with Linda Ronstadt, Aaron Neville, and a host of others. He also provided the trombone version of “Flight of the Bumble Bee” for an episode Garfield where Garfield is chasing a butterfly.

    posted by Chris on 3-12-2009 at 4:35 pm

  4. It’s called a plunger mute. See the Wikipedia entry for “plunger mute” under the “brass” section for more detailed info.
    Brass players have used them for quite some time. They are sold at music supply stores…you don’t even have to remove the stick. ;)

    posted by Laura on 3-12-2009 at 6:42 pm

  5. To further clarify Chris’ comment above, it was Dean Hubbard that did the teachers voice, BUT he did not use a plunger. It was an old style mute called a “Solotone.” You covered up the open end of the mute with your hand to get the wah-wah effect.

    I got that tidbit direct from Dean, and he should know!

    posted by WaltTrombone on 3-12-2009 at 8:32 pm

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