The Roles of the Less Common Instruments. The life of the soprano trombone has been patchy at best. It saw wide use in orchestral music in the late 18th century, but was edged out in the 19th century, first by keyed, then valved instruments.
http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/trbhist/tbonehist.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/7875/Instruments.html. The most generic keys for the trombone are or have been: the soprano in B flat, the alto in G, F or E flat, the tenor in A or B flat, the bass in B flat\F, D or G, and the contrabass in BB flat.
http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/trbhist/tbonehist.htm
The versatility of the trombone has ensured its inclusion in orchestras, smaller musical ensembles and choirs consisting entirely of trombones. The trombone also is used in chamber music, and small trombone ensembles such as trombone trios and trombone quartets are often formed. The trombone has been used in popular music, jazz, swing and salsa, while many different types of orchestral pieces feature trombone music.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-trombone-music.htm
In brass-band music, the tenor trombone is treated as a transposing instrument in B ♭ and reads the treble clef (while the bass trombone uses the bass clef in concert pitch, as in orchestral and concert-band music).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trombone
Trombone music also is played by trombone choirs, ensembles consisting entirely of trombones that celebrate the range and versatility of the instrument by performing adaptations of classical and popular works.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-trombone-music.htm
By this time, though the role of the trombone in band and classical music was pretty much set, by the end of the 19th century the trombone found itself in the hands of early jazz musicians, in New Orleans, USA.
http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/trbhist/tbonehist.htm
Gluck, Gossec and Mozart wrote passages for the trombone intended to be spiritual or supernatural; Gluck commonly used three members of the trombone family-altos, tenors and basses.
http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/trbhist/tbonehist.htm
Bass trombones also very commonly have F-attachments, which serve exactly the same function as on the tenor trombone. Some single valve bass trombones have E-attachments instead of F-attachments, or sometimes there is extra tubing on the F-Attachment to allow it to be used as an E-attachment if desired.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trombone
Trombone is the Italian word for the sackbut, the earliest common form of trombone, and is 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 it is not clear whether this was just a nickname for a trumpet player.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trombone
More often than not, tenor trombones with an F attachment, or trigger, have a larger bore through the attachment than through the 'straight' section (the portion of the trombone through which the air flows when the attachment is not engaged).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trombone
what music is the trombone commonly used in
The trombone is used in orchestral music.