Continuing our series about instruments in the Western Orchestra, this month we explore the brass section, typically made up of horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba.
These various instruments are linked by the way they produce sound, and although the section is called the “brass” section, instruments can also be made from other materials.
The brass section and the woodwind section are sometimes grouped together into the “wind” section.
History of the brass family
The first predecessors to modern-day brass instruments existed thousands of years ago. There are multiple examples of civilisations in different parts of the world using animal horns or shells with a hole in one end to create sound. These were not used as musical instruments, but as a means of sending messages over long distances, often by hunters or soldiers.
From the Middle Ages, brass instruments like trumpets began to feature in ceremonial events. The instruments were further developed during the Renaissance period, and in 1597 Giovanni Gabrieli composed “Sonata pian’ e forte”, the first known piece written for particular brass instruments, played here on modern brass instruments.
During the 19th Century the brass family went through a major evolution, with changes in their design including the introduction of valves. In response to these changes, many composers began to include more brass instruments in their works.
Creating sound on brass instruments
Brass instruments are essentially long pieces of metal tubing – the mouthpiece is at one end, and at the other is the “bell” where the metal flares out.
The sound on a brass instrument is created by the player vibrating their lips (or buzzing) against a mouthpiece. The formation of the mouth against the mouthpiece – including the position of the lips, tongue and teeth – is called an “embouchure”. By changing their embouchure, players change the vibration they produce, and therefore change the pitch. Due to the way the sound is created, the term “labrosone” is also sometimes used for this group of instruments, from the Latin words meaning "lip" and "sound".
Modern instruments also have valves or slides to help change the pitch.
Horns
BenP, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The horn is sometimes known as the “French horn”, despite it being invented in Germany in the mid-1800s. It has a distinctive appearance, with the tubing bent into a circular shape.
As well as changing the pitch using the embouchure, horn players also use rotary valves to change the length of the tube, impacting the pitch. It is also the only instrument to use a technique called “hand stopping”, where the musician puts their hand inside the flared bell to make the tubing longer or shorter, changing the pitch. This technique was developed before the horn had valves, so is not strictly necessary today, but it does impact the sound of the instrument, which is why some players still use it.
The instrument has a distinctive mellow tone and is used both as a member of the orchestra and as a solo instrument. In modern orchestras, there are typically four horns in the section, split into two groups. Horn players 1 and 3 typically play the higher pitched parts, while players 2 and 4 play the lower pitched parts.
The number of horns required changes from one piece to another, with some Classical works only needing 2 horns and some Romantic and 20th Century works needing 8.
Trumpet
The history of the trumpet dates back to Ancient Egypt, where instruments made of silver or bronze were used from 1500 BCE. These were straight tubes, with the mouthpiece at one end and the flared bell at the other.
The name “trumpet” was first used in English in the late 1300s. It was inspired by the French word “trompette”, which comes from “trompe”, meaning “long, tube-like musical wind instrument”.
The tubing on the modern trumpet is bent twice into a rounded oblong shape, and the pitch is changed by modifying the embouchure and using piston valves.
Within the orchestra, there are usually two or three trumpets, but other members of the trumpet family are sometimes used. For example, the piccolo trumpet is a smaller, higher pitched instrument and a bass trumpet is bigger and lower pitched.
The cornet is also sometimes found in the modern orchestra. This is similar to a trumpet in shape and size, but the tubing is more conical, giving a more mellow sound.
Trombone
The trombone is the only modern brass orchestral instrument that uses a slide instead of valves to change the pitch. As the name suggests, the slide “slides” up and down to change the note – as the slide comes closer to the body, the pitch gets higher and as it moves away from the body, the pitch get lower as the tube extends.
The name trombone comes from the Italian “tromba” (trumpet) and “-one” (a suffix meaning “large”), so it is a “large trumpet”.
Early trombones in England were called Sackbuts in the Renaissance period, changing from the word “shakbusshe” or “sacabuche” in Spain and “sauqboute” in France. These instruments were often used to play religious music.
The modern orchestra usually has three trombones – two of the standard trombones, called tenor trombones, plus a bass trombone, which is a larger, lower pitched version of the instrument. Some pieces call for a contrabass trombone which is even larger and lower pitched.
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and therefore lowest pitched of the modern brass orchestral instruments. A typical orchestral tuba would be nearly 18 feet long, or over five metres.
Like the trumpet, the tuba has piston valves to change the pitch along with changes to the embouchure.
Two of the tuba’s ancestors are the serpent and the ophicleide. The serpent, from the Renaissance era, was a long, wooden conical bore instrument with loops, which looked like a snake – hence the name. It had holes similar to a recorder to change the pitch. The ophicleide, which was invented in 1817, had a bent tube and was similar in shape to a bassoon (from the woodwind family).
The modern tuba was granted a patent on 12th September 1835 in Berlin, having been invented by the military bandmaster Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht and the instrument maker Johann Gottfried Moritz. This instrument was then adapted and modified by many other makers including Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone.
On occasion, the tuba is joined in the orchestra by its smaller relative – the euphonium – which is most commonly found in brass bands.
And for the sound of massed brass instruments - The Cory Band performing a popular classic ...
Further Reading
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