Lesson 15: Intro to Instruments part IV: Brass

Reading sheet music is like reading a foreign language. There are rules and patterns that must be followed for the music to sound pleasing to the ear and so the musician can interpret the music correctly in order to perform it.

Before we get to the music, we must first know how to write it correctly, understand the notes, and know how to organize it.

To learn about how to correctly label a note, head to: http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-is-c4.html

To learn about clefs, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2012/12/lesson-2-staffs-clefs-and-lines-oh-my.html

To learn about the major scale and whole and half steps, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-3-major-and-minor-scale.html

To learn about key signatures, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-4-key-signatures.html

To learn about notes and their rhythms in simple meter, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-5-notes-and-rhythm-part-i.html

To learn about simple time signatures, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-6-simple-time-signatures.html

To learn about rests in simple time, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-7-rests.html

To learn about ties and slurs, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-8-ties-and-slurs.html

To learn about dotted notes and rests: head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-9-dotty-good-time.html

To learn about compound time, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-10-notes-and-rhythms-part-ii.html

To learn about the basics of sound, head to:http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/02/lesson-11-science-behind-sound.html

To learn about string instruments, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/02/lesson-12-intro-to-instruments-part-i.html

To learn about keyboard instruments, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/02/lesson-13-intro-to-instruments-part-ii.html

To learn about woodwind instruments, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/02/lesson-14-intro-to-instruments-part-iii.html

This lesson will introduce you to the brass family.

A brass instrument is made out of metal, usually brass, and has a cupped mouthpiece. To produce sound, the player buzzes their lips together while in the mouthpiece. They change the speed of buzzing and/or the position within the mouthpiece to change shelf(group of notes played with the same mouthpiece/buzzing setup) and press keys or buttons to play a specific note within that shelf. They can be tuned by pulling and pushing tuning slides to lengthen or shorten the tubing of the instrument.

The tuba is the biggest and lowest-sounding of the brass family. It is sat in the player's lap and then played through the mouthpiece. It's range is from D1 to F4.

 

The trombone is the next lowest-pitched instrument of the brass family. Unlike the rest of the brass instruments, it doesnt have valves and keys, it has a large slide on the front that you slide to different lengths, called positions, and play to a shelf to produce different notes. It's range is from E2 to F5.



The next instrument is the horn, (also known as the french horn). It is slightly different from the other brass instruments because you play it with your right fist in the bell of the horn. It's range is from B1 to F5.

The final brass instrument in todays lesson is one that probably everyone has seen and heard: the trumpet. It is one of the most commonly remembered instruments in band, and alot of the time, the loudest. It's range is from E3 to C6.

This concludes the lesson for today.