An Overview of the PerformaMembers of the Brass Family essays

An Overview of the PerformaMembers of the Brass Family essays 1. A Brief History of the Brass Family pg. 2-7 2. The Harmonic Series, Ranges, and Intonation pg. 7-12 3. The Breathing Process pg. 13-14 8. Transpositions and Clefs pg. 23-24 10. Mutes Brass instruments have been in use for over three thousand years, however the greatest achievements in design have occurred in the past three hundred years (Colwell and Goolsby 347). Originally, brasses were of varied shape and composition (bone, assorted metals, wood, etc.), and sounded only the natural harmonics of the tube (375). Chromatic notes were only available in the extreme upper harmonics of the instrument (Yates, History). This type of instrument is seen in the military bugle, a single tube-shaped trumpet with no valves or keys (Villanueva 1). As the complexity of music increased through the Medieval and Renaissance periods of music, composers and performers began to look for ways to increase the availability of pitches for the brasses (Ericson, Why). Three breakthroughs in brass design in this period were: the addition of crooks, or extra loops of tubing added to the instrument; adding keys to the tubing (like a woodwind); and the slide (Yates, History). Crooks added to the instrument extra length that altered the harmonic series of the instrument (higher or lower in overall pitch), which in turn allowed the performer to play in extended keys (Ibid.). The crooks were in use throughout the 19th century, but have been replaced by valves (Ibid.). The keyed bugle, invented in 1760 by Kolbel of St. Petersburg, was a hybrid of woodwind and brasswind technology (Colwell and Goolsby 376). The keys were placed along the length of the bugle and when opened they changed the tones of the instrument (Villanueva 7). Haydn and Hu mmel both composed concertos for the keyed bugle (Ibid.). The slide mechanism was developed for the slide trumpet...