getting started on bass trombone

I have a new development! I might be a bass trombonist soon. I was kind of pushed into it. Here is how it happened. I walked into the music building one day to practice. When I got near my locker, one of the other trombonists thrust a piece of music into my hands and told me to go audition for jazz band. Now is a good time for some background on me. I went to a small school and played in a small band. There weren't enough people to have a jazz band even if we wanted to. I spent my Sunday afternoons playing in the Memphis youth symphony with the kids who went to the arts high school. I was first trombone for two of my three years in it. It was great to actually play in a real section. Those are some of the happiest memories I have of high school. At region band I was generally rated at dead middle. I was often at the bottom of the top half of people who made it. My junior year things changed. I got first at all region. Shortly after, I made a major embouchure change and as a result, I made second to last at all-state. The next year I got my act together in time to make first at all region again. I then made 1st chair all-state. After the embouchure change I found my low range was much better and my sound improved immensely. I can play great in the middle and low range. However, my high range never really returned. I have a functional high range but not anything special. Now, back to how I got into bass trombone. I auditioned for the jazz band on my tenor trombone. I basically sight read the audition. The guy who ran the audition was the one of the coolest people on the planet. I came back to see my name on the list as 4th trombone. There was a specific bass trombone on the list so I didn't suspect anything yet. The bass trombonist had other plans for his life so he dropped jazz band leaving me. The jazz band is actually set up to have two bass trombones. One on each side to give a "stereophonic bass sound." I got my parts the first day of class. They said 4th trombone. There nothing really super low in it. I still thought I was just 4th trombone not bass. I then started to get more music. these were real bass trombone parts complete with low D's and the occasional C. I played all this on my tenor at first. I then learned that the school owned a bass trombone. I whipped it out and discovered that bass trombone parts are a LOT easier to play on a bass trombone. I then brought the bass into my weekly lesson. My teacher liked the way I sounded on it and gave me some music to work on for next week. I came back the next week and was told that I sound better on bass than on tenor. Next semester I will be mostly bass trombone. In the mean time, I have to play bass and tenor trombone.