Brass Musical Instruments

What Piano Players Should Know About Brass Musical Instruments 

By Duane Shinn

Modern brass instruments include trumpet, trombone, baritone, sousaphone (tuba), and French horn. These instruments create a wide variety of tones by the player forcing air into the instrument causing it to resonate in different ways (at different frequencies).

There are two different types of brass instruments, valved and slide. Brass instruments with valves include cornet, trumpet, and French horn. They utilize piston valves (cornet), or rotary valves (French horn). Slide brass instruments use a slide to change the length of tubing and thus the tone of the instrument. Some brass instruments need to be transposed for piano. Music for brass ensembles (four to six brass instruments) often uses the piano as the accompanying instrument. Big bands (swing, dance, and jazz) contain a number of brass instrument and most, if not all, also include a piano.

The pianist helps provides the chord structure, rhythm, and sometimes the melody of the piece. Interestingly, many brass instruments are not made of brass at all. Many brass instruments are silver plated (and they produce a distinctive sound because of this

Musical Instruments Bring Music to Life

By Jennifer R Scott 

The world of musical instruments is as vast as it is old. Man has been making music since he first banged rocks together; and since that time music has become a large part of the human experience. It is the focal point of many human activities and the instruments used to create our music are continually evolving.

Drums are arguably the oldest of musical instruments. They the most primal of any existing group of instruments, but have continually been a staple of most genres of music. Their use can be documented all over the world, and in nearly every culture and in every era. Today, drums are the heart of most popular music, whether they be acoustic drums or electronic.

Stringed instruments have been used by humans for millennia. Evidence of these musical instruments can be found dating as far back as Ancient Greece and earlier. This group of instruments has evolved to include a great many variations, ranging from the violin to the guitar, with each sub-category including even more variations. The guitar, for instance, can be found in acoustic, electric and hybrid configurations. The invention of electronic effects processors and other types of synthesizers have only served to increase the variety within this group.

Finally, there are the wind instruments. This group of musical instruments can be broken down into two main categories; brass and woodwind. Brass instruments get their name because they are almost always made from metal, and that metal is often brass. Sound is produced by vibrating the lips against a mouthpiece, and this vibration is amplified through the tubing of the instrument. Examples of brass instruments include trumpets, trombones and tubas; just to name a few.

Woodwinds are members of the wind group of musical instruments, but their name is a bit of a misnomer. Woodwinds aren't always made from wood. Their name most often has to do with the fact that they require the use of a wooden reed in order to produce sound, but even this aspect is not universal to the group. Flutes, for example, are not only made from metal (although they can be made of wood, and most were for centuries) but they also do not use a reed of any kind. Saxophones are also made from metal, but they do require a wooden reed.

Jennifer R. Scott has been writing for over ten years on a broad range of topics. She has a background that includes such diverse areas as environmentalism, cooking, animal care, and technology. If you would like more information on music, please visit musical instruments, a supplier of quality instruments and accessories for the musician in your life.

Other post you may interested in reading: Woodwind Musical Instruments