“Headchopper” routine by high school trombone players steals spotlight

Woah! I actually have never seen anything quite like this before.

Liberty High School band posted a video on YouTube that has now earned them nearly one million views. But…it’s technically not the trombones that make the video.

And while you might imagine that it involves some talented trombone playing, the video is less than 2 minutes long and doesn’t involve a single note emanating from a trombone.

So what’s the deal?

Hyping up the crowd
While we’re sure they’re all talented musicians, this particular routine was designed to hype up the crowd with choreography.

In fact, the only band members playing their instruments are the percussionists.

As the drumline neatly bangs away, the trombonists perform what’s known as a “head-chopping” routine.
Headchoppers are a routine in which the trombones are used as props instead of musical instruments.

Liberty’s marching band has been posting these types of videos for years, and their trombone players are specially trained. But this is the first of their videos to go viral.

Performing a head-chopping routine involves a line of trombone players standing shoulder to shoulder, taking turns bending, squatting, and turning.

There’s a risk of bonking one another with a trombone if there’s even the slightest mistake on the part of a player, so it requires quite a bit of practice.