Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
-Brass: The brass instrument family is comprised of those instruments constructed on a tube
which would have a bell on one side and a mouthpiece on the other. Sound is produced by a
vibration of a persons lips when pressed into a mouthpiece. Acoustically open tube instrument.
-Overtone series: first 16 partials (C, C, G, C, E, G, Bb, C, D, E, F#, G, A, Bb, B, C)
-the longer the tube, the lower the fundamental (first partial)
-The first overtone=second partial
-mouthpiece=pitched more accurate and easier
-funnel/bell=amplifies sound and improves tone
-no brass instrument will ever be completely in tune
-All brass can get the partials, starting at different notes depending on the instrument
-valves and slides fill in the gaps between partials
-three valves (each one brings down the pitch by one half step)=7 possible lengths
-7 half steps are enough to fill in the gaps between overtones (which is why trombone slides
have 7 positions
-sound is created when lips vibrate on mouthpiece
-pitch is created by how fast the lips vibrate
-256=middle C
-faster air=louder tone
History
-trumpet=conch shell, long silver ones in Egypt, etc
-trumpets were used to military stuff, not for music
-baroque period-brass for music!
-finally valves are created and so other pitches can happen
-trombone=sackbut
-used to double vocal lines
-only brass instrument at the time that was chromatic
-horn--could do harmonic lower neighbors by placing hand in the bell
Breathing
-good posture, string through head and body from ceiling
-roll shoulders, then squeeze shoulder blades. Shoulders should be back and down so chest
can be open
-when standing, feet comfortably apart, weight evenly distributed
-instrument to player, not player to instrument
-relax, tension is bad
-breath in through your mouth with an open throat (HOH sound). Shoulders dont rise. Should fill
lungs from the bottom up.
-do this multiple times to feel what full capacity feels like
-breathe around the mouthpiece, dont breathe into the mouthpiece and dont move your face
away (unless tuba, then move your lower lip away)
-exhale--relax, release warm moist air, focus air into a tight stream, avoid tension, practice
varying air flow
Trombone
-first instrument to get to its modern form
-9 ft
-transposition--a P4 up
Compensating Devices
-alternate fingerings sometimes make a note more in tune
-lipping the note, meaning using the embouchure to make a note go up or down in pitch
-Trumpet---has movable 1st and 3rd slides. When notes are sharp, can extend slides. When
notes are flat, youre screwed.
-Horn--by moving your hand a little more in or out of the bell, you can change the intonation (in,
lower. out, higher.)
-trombone--just move the slide!
-tuba/euphonium--4th and 5th valves are sometimes built in to offer alternate fingerings to put
the instrument more in tune. Some have slides by the valves, like a trumpet.
Euphonium and Baritone
-Euphonium is shaped like a tuba, but is half the length, so it is an octave up.
-like a tenor trombone
-generally bass clef, but when reading treble, it sound a 9th below where written
-euphonium and baritone are super similar. The euphonium tends to have 4 valves though
compared with the baritones 3. Also bore diameter (euphonium is larger) and bell shape are
different. Same length and fundamental though.