History of Basic Brass PDF

**History of the Euphonium** The earliest forerunner of the euphonium as the tenor voice of the lip and reed family is generally thought to have been the serpent, deriving its name from its snake-like appearance. It was constructed of wood, brass, or silver and played with a deep-cup mouthpiece mad...

**History of the Euphonium** The earliest forerunner of the euphonium as the tenor voice of the lip and reed family is generally thought to have been the serpent, deriving its name from its snake-like appearance. It was constructed of wood, brass, or silver and played with a deep-cup mouthpiece made of horn or ivory. The serpent is cited as a forerunner of the euphonium because they have several aspects in common. They both produce a sound the same way using a deep-cupped mouthpiece and both instruments are conical in bore and similar in length. Thus their tone colour and tessitura are similar. Some significant composers used serpents in their works. However it is well documented that the serpent was a very difficult instrument to play, largely because the finger holes are so widely spaced. Charles Burney, a nineteenth century music historian likened the sound of the serpent to that of a \'hungry or rather angry essex calf\'! Few serpents were made after 1835, they eventually gave way to the more refined ophicleide. The ophicleide was first introduced in 1817 by instrument maker, Jean Hilaire Aste. It was listed as the lowest member of a patented group of keyed bugles. It was made of brass and shaped somewhat like a saxophone. Like the serpent and the euphonium it was played with a cupped mouthpiece and produced a deep tone. Unlike the serpent, the ophicleide developed into a solo instrument. Several musicians became famous ophicleide soloists. The ophicleide was a difficult instrument to master. The ophicleide would, however, soon be consumed by the advances of technology through the invention of the piston valve and the rapid growth of the brass band movement in Britain. The first piston valve was collaboratively patented in 1815 by Heinrich Stolzel and Friedrich Blumel. In 1823 William Wieprecht made a piston valved instrument called a Tenorbasshorn and in 1838 Carl Moritz of Berlin made a similar instrument called a tenor tuba. However, it was in 1843 that Sommer of Weimar designed and named a piston valved, tenor voiced instrument called a \"euphonion\". Its name is derived from the Greek word euphonos, meaning \"sweet-voiced\" and many consider this instrument to be the ancestor of the modern day euphonium. The euphonium and the ophicleide co-existed for at least five decades, but the euphonium was easier to play, and both cheaper and easier to manufacture in large quantities. Interestingly, three ophicleidists Hughes, Prospere and Phasey, the latter learned the euphonium and earned a good living for himself. Sam Hughes ignored the euphonium, and died in 1898 leaving his widow in grief and poverty. During the industrial revolution manufacturing techniques and production skills improved. The piston valve was a product of the revolution as were many other musical inventions. However, the most significant development relating to the emergence of the euphonium was the amateur brass band movement. Algernon Rose was informed that there were 40,000 brass bands in Britain by 1893 and in Herbert\'s and Myers\' book, \'The British Brass Band\', Arnold Myers states that brass band instrumentation had crystallized around the same period. This would mean that in the 50 or 60 years since Sommer invented the euphonium there were approximately 60,000 amateur euphoniumists in Britain. The meteoric popularity of the instrument can not be attributed solely to the Industrial Revolution or the formation of the brass band movement. Instrument manufacturers actively promoted the euphonium by offering them as prizes to the best ophicleidists at competitions. This divisive practice contributed to the demise of the Ophicleide. Whilst the euphonium was flourishing in the brass band movement in Britain it was also becoming established in military bands throughout Europe and the USA. This trend of including euphoniums in the military band continued until the euphonium occupied a permanent position in military bands Worldwide. Richard Franko Goldman, son of the famous American concert band conductor, Edwin Franko Goldman said, \"the euphonium is indispensable in wind bands\". The design and development of the euphonium benefited from the technological advances of the industrial revolution. Early virtuoso players also contributed to the instrument\'s development. Alfred Phasey, professor of euphonium at the Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, increased the size of the instrument\'s bore twice, in 1859 and 1870. The designing of the first short valve action euphonium in 1864, is also attributed to him. Despite these developments the instrument still had inherent problems of intonation, especially in the lower register. Some manufacturers overcame the problem by adding extra valves; some euphoniums had five and six valves. Other manufacturers designed instruments with accessible main tuning slides so the players could pull or push when required. None of these methods were totally successful. In 1874 Dr David Blaikley, of Boosey and Co. London devised an automatic compensating system which dramatically improved the euphonium\'s intonation. He patented the invention and describes how it works below: \'The tubing connected to the third valve is passed through the first and second, in such a way that, when the third piston is depressed, air passes through passages in the first and second valves, besides the two passages ordinarily designed in the third. Additional tubing is connected with the first and second pistons respectively, to add two air passages to each of their valves. When the first or second piston is depressed with the third, the length of the passage is increased. When all three are simultaneously depressed, the whole of the additional tubing is employed, compensating for the lowering of the pitch of the instrument which is caused by depressing the third valve.\' When the patent ceased in 1974 the system was copied by most leading euphonium manufacturers including: Yamaha, Miraphone, Wilson, Hirsbrunner and Sterling. This advance allowed players even more easily than before to develop their technique and virtuosity. A further development took place in 1964 when the brass band movement changed from high-pitch (A=452.5 vibrations per second) to low-pitch (A = 440 vibrations per second). This was an important development in terms of the euphonium becoming a recital instrument and it allowed it to experiment more accurately with alternative ensembles to the brass band. In 1891 a journalist from the Daily Telegraph suggested the sound of the euphonium was, \"enough to make a Quaker kick his mother-in-law\" and likened the instrument to a \"fog-horn\". Yet in 2004 a journalist from the Times suggested that the euphonium was \"as flexible and agile as the trumpet\" capable of producing a \"superbly focused glowing tone\". **History of the Single French Horn** Despite its name, the \"French\" horn is actually a German invention. The reason for this inaccurate naming is no longer known, but the name persists to this day. The modern french horn has its roots in the design of a beautiful but somewhat crude early instrument: the monotone hunting horn. These horns had a long tube bent into a circle with small flared ends. They were not heard in a performance setting until they began appearing occasionally in scores for operas in the 1500s, but their use was limited to creating a sound evocative of the hunt. Horns of this type drew their inspiration from the form and function of horns crafted from animal horns, which could be blown to make a loud, commanding tone. Eventually craftsmen began mimicking the shape and sound in metal, usually brass. However, these instruments could only produce one primary note plus that note\'s harmonic series with a range that depended on the skill of the hornist. Since each horn was tuned to just one primary note, changing keys meant using a different horn. It wasn\'t until the 18th century that the means to change the key of a specific horn, using removable horn sections called \"crooks,\" was invented by Anton Joseph Hampel, a German musician. Still, the horn player would have to physically switch out the crooks, so this effectively limited the player to one pitch series for each piece they played. One major breakthrough came when it was discovered (by an unknown pioneer) that covering the bell of the horn resulted in a lower tone. This move was called \"stopping.\" As the technique spread, most players did this by placing their right hand into the bell, which changed the length of the horn and allowed the production of a wider range of notes. In the 1800s, the valve was invented to replace the crooks. This was a key advancement that gave the horn player a completely chromatic instrument at last and made the modern single and double french horns possible. However, the name of the ultimate inventor of the valve is contested. Historians credit both Heinrich Stoelzel and Friedrich Bluhmel as the likeliest inventors of the valve. Early versions of valves or pistons were crude and unreliable. The idea alone ran against the popular taste for the use of horns in a musical setting, especially among players who had mastered the difficult monotone horns. Gradually, however, the capabilities of the new instrument sparked an evolution in player skills. Late in the 1800s, composers began to include chromatic lines for french horns in scores. The double french horn arrived after the single version in the late 19th century. Once again there are two inventors cited as the first, including Fritz Kruspe and Edmund Gumpert. Kruspe is more commonly given the nod for being first. The double french horn was designed to try and solve some of the acoustic challenges of the original single french horn. The upper registers of its pitch range are very tricky to perform accurately because the overtones are so close together. The double french horn adds a second, higher register horn (commonly a Bb horn) to the original F horn, allowing passages in that register to be played with greater ease and accuracy. **[History of the Trombone]** ========================================= History of the Trumpet ====================== **How well do you know the history of the trumpet?** The trumpet has been with us for a very long time: as early as 1500 BC or maybe even longer. Early man discovered that animal horns, open at both ends and played with pursed lips, would make loud, resonant sounds that carried long distances. Craftsmen decorated these prized horn and eventually began recreating them in metal and ceramic to form the earliest man made trumpets. By 1500 BC, trumpets were being crafted to high standards across the world in Africa, Europe and Asia from sheets of silver and bronze metal. Some were ceremonial trumpets and others were purely functional, so these instruments were made in a wide array of styles and decoration. Their intended purpose was mostly wartime signaling, warning sounds and religious ceremonies. It wasn\'t until the end of the Middle Ages that players began thinking of the trumpet as something with which to make music. At the time, trumpeters had a limited vocabulary, because the horns of the age were limited to one primary tone and that tone\'s related harmonic series. To change keys, the player had to select a different trumpet. Still, gifted trumpeters were able to produce pitches as high as the twentieth pitch in the overtone series. Also, by playing in a high register and using a variety of techniques, it was possible to play a wider range of pitches next to the harmonic series and perform melodies. The \"natural trumpet\" and its attendant Baroque period compositions by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and others represents the pinnacle of this sound, though the natural trumpet persisted through the Classical and Romantic periods. A new pitch changing idea came in the 18th century, when horns began to be outfitted with an invention called \"crooks\" or \"shanks.\" These were short sections of extra tubing that could be added to the trumpet to tune its primary note to a new pitch. One trumpet could now serve the use of many, though the player still had to stop playing and physically change the crook to choose a new primary tone. The keyed trumpet emerged at the end of the 18th century as the invention of Anton Weidinger, a Viennese trumpeter. This instrument was one of the first to allow the trumpeter to play a full chromatic scale in any register by manipulating keys that open and close tone holes along the trumpet\'s tube. Haydn in particular was an enthusiast of the keyed trumpet, though the nature of its design hampered the tone in comparison to that of the natural horn. Soon after, the invention of valves relegated the keyed trumpet to limited use. In 1818, a German horn player named Heinrich David Stolzel created the first working brass instrument valve in partnership with Friedrich Bluhmel. The modern valve trumpet was born. Once perfected, this invention allowed almost perfect intonation and beautiful tone across the full range of the trumpet. Remarkably, the natural horn (with crooks) continued to dominate orchestral use until the end of the 1800s, though the valve design was eventually to become the standard we know today. The recording age, which began with Edison in the early 20th century, was kind to the trumpet. Its sharp, piercing tone cut right through in recordings, so the trumpet became a favorite with arrangers and composers of the time. Big entertaining personalities like Louis Armstrong gave the trumpet a hip, fun image that persists to this day.