Brass Instruments

of the Orchestra
TRUMPET
FRENCH HORN
TROMBONE
TUBA

The trumpet is a musical

instrument with the
highest register in the
brass family. Trumpets
are among the oldest
musical instruments,
dating back to at least
1500 BC. They are
constructed of brass
tubing bent twice into an
oblong shape, and are
played by blowing air
through closed lips,
producing a "buzzing"
sound which starts a
standing wave vibration
in the air column inside
the trumpet.

Trumpet
to hear the sound of a trumpet click here

The horn is a brass

instrument consisting of
about 12 feet of tubing
wrapped into a coil with a
flared bell. It is descended
from the natural horn and
is informally known as the
French horn
Most horns have fingeroperated rotary valves. A
horn without valves is
known as a natural horn.
Three rotary valves control
the flow of air in the single
horn, which is tuned to F
or less commonly B-flat.
The more common double
horn has a fourth valve,
usually operated by the
thumb, which routes the
air to one set of tubing
tuned to F or the second
set of tubing tuned to Bflat.

French horn
to hear the sound of a French horn click here

The trombone is a musical

instrument in the brass family.
Like all brass instruments, it is a
lip-reed aero phone: sound is
produced when the players
vibrating lips (embouchure)
cause the air column inside the
instrument to vibrate. The
trombone is usually
characterized by a telescopic
slide with which the player varies
the length of the tube to change
pitches.
The word trombone derives from
Italian tromba (trumpet) and
-one (a suffix meaning "large"),
so the name literally means
"large trumpet". Trombones and
trumpets share the important
characteristic of having
predominantly cylindrical bores.
Therefore, the most frequently
encountered trombones the
tenor and bass trombone are
the tenor and bass counterparts
of the trumpet. They are both
pitched in B with the slide all
the way in, the notes of the
harmonic series based on B can
be played but trombones
generally read music in concert
pitch.

Trombone
to hear the sound of a trombone click here

The tuba is the largest

and lowest pitched brass
instrument. Sound is
produced by vibrating or
"buzzing" the lips into a
large cupped
mouthpiece. It is one of
the most recent
additions to the modern
symphony orchestra,
first appearing in the
mid-19th century, when
it largely replaced the
ophicleide. Tuba is Latin
for trumpet or horn. The
horn referred to would
most likely resemble
what we know as a
Baroque trumpet.

Tuba
to hear the sound of a tuba click here

Trumpet

The sound of a trumpet

French horn

The sound of a French horn

Trombone

The sound of a trombone

Tuba

The sound of a tuba