The Brass Family

Every brass instrument works on the same basic principle: the player buzzes their lips against a metal mouthpiece, and that buzz resonates through a length of coiled metal tubing that shapes it into a musical pitch.

How brass instruments change pitch

A tube of fixed length can only sound a limited set of notes, called the harmonic (or overtone) series - the notes a bugle plays. Brass players reach those notes by changing the tension of their lips. To fill in the gaps between them, the instrument needs a way to change the length of its tubing:

• Valves reroute the air through extra loops of tubing, making the tube longer and the pitch lower. The trumpet, French horn, and tuba all use valves.
• A slide does the same job by physically extending the tube - the trombone's slide gives it a uniquely smooth glide between pitches unavailable to valved instruments.

Players can also change the sound with mutes pushed into the bell, from a soft, distant tone to a nasal buzz or the "wah-wah" familiar from jazz.

The four main instruments

• Trumpet - the highest and most piercing voice in the section, historically associated with fanfares and military signals.
• French horn - the mellowest, most blended tone, often used to bridge brass and woodwind textures. Its long, coiled tube is played with the player's hand inside the bell.
• Trombone - noble and powerful, with that unique slide.
• Tuba - the largest and lowest, anchoring the section from below.

A typical symphony orchestra's brass section has around four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, and one tuba, seated near the back of the orchestra.

How the section grew

Before the 19th century, trumpets and horns had no valves. These natural instruments could play only the notes of the harmonic series, so composers mostly gave them fanfares, sustained notes, and music in a few keys. Skilled Baroque trumpeters could play elaborate melodies high in the instrument's range, where the notes of the series lie close together, and horn players learned to bend notes by moving a hand in the bell.

The trombone was long associated with church music, and Beethoven held three trombones in reserve in his Fifth Symphony, bringing them in only for its triumphant finale. Valves were invented in the 1810s, and the tuba followed in the 1830s. With fully chromatic brass at their disposal, Romantic composers like Wagner and Mahler built enormous brass sections, and the modern brass sound was born.

Using the power carefully

Because brass instruments can produce far more raw volume than strings or woodwinds, composers have historically used the section carefully, saving it for moments of real climax, ceremony, or power rather than constant use

• though the brass can also play with remarkable softness, as in a quiet chorale for horns or trombones.

Famous brass moments

• Trumpet - the opening sunrise fanfare of Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra, and the solo that opens Mahler's Fifth Symphony.
• French horn - the fanfare that opens Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, and the horn theme that launches the first movement of Dvořák's "New World."
• Trombone - the sly, sliding solo in Ravel's Boléro.
• Full section - Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.

Where to start listening: the brass fanfare at the heart of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man shows the section at its most direct and ceremonial. For the brass at their most heroic in a full orchestra, try the finale of Beethoven's Fifth.