Tadley Concert Brass

Cornet



The Cornet is a bit like a squashed up trumpet but the tone produced is (in my opinion) not so brash. The cornet (like most Brass Band instruments) has three valves which are pressed down in various combinations to increase the
length of tubing air is passed through, therefore lowering the tone of the sound produced. The cornet also has a "trigger" which is a means of increasing or decreasing the length of the third valve slide to compensate if there are tuning problems with the instrument when pressing this valve down. Cornets in general are pitched at Bb but it is normal to
find a Sorano cornet in a modern brass band. The Soprano (or "sop") is pitched four tones higher at Eb. The soprano cornet plays the highest of notes in the band, and usually has a difficult part which often contains a solo. At the time of writing, a Cornet can be purchased for anything from £140 for a Chinese JPStudent model, to £1865 for a Smith
Watkins Professional model.

Within the Brass Band, the Cornet is one of the highest and brightest sounding instruments within a Brass band. The Cornet players normally sit to the left of the conductor ( as you are looking at the
band). There are normally three music parts for the Cornet, which are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cornet
parts, the most difficult of which is the 1st Cornet part.
There is one Cornet player who sits at the left and nearest the audience. She or he is known as the "Principal Cornet" and is regarded (sometimes arguably!) as the best of the Cornet players in the
band. Most Cornet players aspire to be "Principal Cornet". In some bands, the Principal Cornet player leads the rest of the Band onto and off the Stage at concerts and contests, and indicates to the other members of the band what deportment is required.

Although it has been said previously that the Cornet is a bit like a trumpet, Brass Bands tend to frown upon Trumpets,
as their sound does not have the tone preferred by Brass Bands.

The Cornet was invented in the 1820's and had valves from the start, (whereas trumpets didn't). Cornets only had two valves at the time, and it is thought that the 3rd valve was introduced less than 10 years later. The cornet as we play it today, was first made by a company known as Antoine Courtois in 1855. The company still produces instruments today. Cornets are sometimes used in Jazz music as well as trumpets, and Louis Armstrong played the Cornet in the 1920's

Flugel Horn

The Flugel is actually a Flugelhorn which by nature of its name is a member of the Horn Family.
It is larger than the cornet, but the player adopts the same playing position. The Flugel is pitched the same as the Cornet (in B Flat), and normally has three valves, but it is known for some to have four (Getzen in Germany make 4 valve flugels.)

The Flugel is in fact a valved Bugle with a larger bore and wider bell. It is arguably one of the most difficult instruments to play in a Brass Band due to tuning problems and the fact that it is difficult to
play either loudly or quietly. Flugels cost from £120 for an Indian Tristar model, through to £1500 for a Bach Stradivarius 183s.

The Flugel player sometimes sits between the first ( or front row) cornets and the Horn section, but dependent on the Musical Director's preference, can also sit behind the Principal Cornet Player next to the Soprano Cornet player. The music played by the Flugel is extremely varied. Sometimes the Flugel
will be given intricate solos to play, and at other times will be given a corresponding part to the second Cornets. You will generally only see one Flugel in a Brass Band, although a Piece by Edward Gregson called Dance and Arias calls for two Flugels.

The Flugel descends from the Halbmond (c 1758). It is thought that the word Flugel either descends from the German word meaning wing (as the instrument that was sounded from the wing of the front rank of German bands) or from the Austrian word Flugln which was the word given to the paths cut through woods where the player would sound the instrument to warn hunting parties of the approach of game. The prototype of the modern Flugel was patented by
Joseph Halliday.

Tenor Horn



Known in the States as an alto horn , but in the UK as tenor horn , this brass instrument pitched in E ♭ has a conical
bore (gradually widening), and normally uses a deep, cornet-like mouthpiece. It is most commonly used in marching bands, brass bands and similar ensembles, whereas the horn tends to take the corresponding parts in symphonic groupings and classical brass ensembles. In the U.S. and Germany the name tenor horn is identical to baritone horn
as well as the Tuba and euphonium. To avoid confusion, the instrument is also occasionally referred to as an E ♭ horn .
The alto horn (in E ♭ (flat)) has a conical bore like the orchestral (French) horn (in F) and uses deep funnel or cup
shaped mouthpieces depending on the model. It is used in British Brass bands and is very rarely included in the orchestra where its place is taken by the orchestral horn. However, it is regularly found in concert bands, where it has
the same status as the French Horn. The conical bore and deep mouthpiece produces a mellow, rounded tone which
is most often used as a middle voice, supporting the melodies by the trumpets, cornets or flugelhorns, and fills in the
gap above the lower tenor and bass instruments (the trombone, baritone horn, euphonium and tuba). Solos for the alto horn are becoming more popular, and are usually taken by the solo horns. Most alto horns are pitched in E ♭ and are transposing instruments. Their typical range is from the A an octave and a minor third below middle C to the E ♭ an
octave and a minor third above middle C (A2 to E ♭ 5). The standard bell-up horn comes in two basic shapes, one with
the beginning of the bell looping over the top of the valves and the other looping below the valves.
The Tenor Horn was invented as the alto voice in the saxhorn family by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian who is best remembered for the saxophone. It has been made in various forms: most common is a sort of mini-tuba shape, with the bell pointing upward, which may help the voice blend before reaching the audience; the solo horn looks like
(and indeed effectively is ) an enlarged flugelhorn, with the bell pointing forward, projecting more toward the audience; another variant has the bell facing backward (for military marching bands that preceded the soldiers, thus helping them hear better and keep better time in marching). Of these types only the standard upright instrument is seen in UK brass bands and remains the most common configuration seen.

Other saxhorns include the baritone horn (which is generally known as the tenor horn in the US, and the baritone horn in the UK).

Baritone



The Baritone , is a tenor Saxhorn in B-flat, one octave below the B-flat trumpet. In the UK the baritone is found almost exclusively in brass bands. There has long been much confusion between Baritones and Euphoniums, primarily due to the old practice of American Euphonium manufacturers calling their professional models by their proper names, and branding entry-level student models as baritones. Although this practice has nearly stopped, confusion persists to this day.

A common misconception that all three-valve instruments are baritones and all four-valve instruments are euphoniums. This is due to the old practice of American instrument manufacturers calling their top models euphoniums and student models baritones. As noted above, this practice has nearly stopped. True baritone horns are sometimes called British-bore Baritones in the US to avoid this confusion. The differences between the baritone and the euphonium instruments are the shape of the bore and the physical size of the instrument. Although both produce partials of the
B-flat harmonic series, and both have a nine-foot-long main bugle, the baritone horn has a smaller bore and a tighter wrap, and is thus physically smaller. The baritone horn is closer in relation to the cornet which has nearly
cylindrical bore, while the euphonium is closer in nature to the flugelhorn or tuba with their conical bores

Euphonium



The euphonium derives its name from the Greek word euphonos , meaning "beautiful-sounding" or "sweet-voiced” The euphonium is a valved instrument; nearly all current models are piston valved, though rotary valved models do exist. A person who plays euphonium is sometimes called a euphoniumist or a euphonist , while British players often
colloquially refer to themselves as euphists. Similarly, the instrument itself is sometimes referred to as or euph .
Professional models have three top-action valves, played with the first three fingers of the right hand, plus a "compensating" fourth valve, generally found midway down the right side of the instrument, played with the left index
finger; Beginner models often have only the three top-action valves, while some intermediate "student" models may
have a fourth top-action valve, played with the fourth finger of the right hand. Compensating systems are expensive to build, and there is in general a wide discrepancy in price between compensating and non-compensating models.
Very generally speaking, the most popular professional models of euphonium in the United Kingdom are Besson Prestige and Sovereign models.
Despite confusion , the euphonium and the baritone are two different instruments. Some believe that the four-valved instrument is the euphonium, and that the three-valved instrument is the baritone horn, but this is not the case. Though they play in the same register, the baritone is significantly smaller in appearance, has a more masked tone, and most importantly, is cylindrical-bore, like trumpets and trombones As a tenor/baritone-voiced brass instrument, the
euphonium traces its ancestry to the ophicleide. The search for a satisfactory foundational wind instrument that could support masses of sound above it took some time; while the serpent was used for over two centuries dating back to the late Renaissance, it was notoriously difficult to control its pitch and tone quality due to its disproportionately small open finger holes. The ophicleide, which was used in bands and orchestras for a few decades in the early- to mid-nineteenth century, was unreliable, especially in the high register.
With the invention of the piston valve system c. 1818, the construction of brass instruments with an even sound and
facility of playing in all registers became possible. The euphonium is alleged to have been invented, as a "wide-bore, valved bugle of baritone range", by Ferdinand Sommer of Weimar in 1843, though Carl Moritz in 1838 and A
dolphe Sax in 1843 have also been credited. While Sax's family of saxhorns were invented at almost the same time and the bass saxhorn looks very similar to a euphonium, they are constructed differently. Saxhorns have a nearly cylindrical bore and do not allow the fundamental to be produced; thus, the bass saxhorn is more closely related to the baritone
than the euphonium.

The "British-style" compensating euphonium was developed by David Blaikley in 1874, and has been in use in
Britain ever since; since this time, the basic construction of the euphonium in Britain has changed little.

Trombone

The word trombone derives from Italian tromba (trumpet) and -one (a suffix meaning large), so a trombone is quite
literally a "large trumpet". Trombones and trumpets share the important characteristic of having predominantly
cylindrical bores. Therefore, the most frequently encountered trombones — the tenor and bass trombone — are the
tenor and bass counterparts of the trumpet. A person who plays the trombone is referred to as a trombonist.

Bass

Another name for the Bass is the Tuba. The tuba is one of the largest of low-brass instruments and is one of the most recent additions to the modern band, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the ophicleide.

Tubas are found in various pitches, most commonly Eb, or BBb in brass bands. The main bugle of BBb tubas is approximately 18 feet long, whilst that of Eb tubas is 13 feet, and F tubas 12 feet. Tubas are considered to be conical in shape as from their tapered bores, they steadily increase in diameter along their lengths. The Eb tuba is sometimes used for beginners as it is smaller in size.

A tuba with its tubing wrapped for placing the instrument on the player's lap is usually called a tuba or concert tuba. Some have a bell pointing forward as opposed to upward, which are often called
recording tubas because of their popularity in the early days of recorded music, as their sound could more easily be directed at the recording instrument. When wrapped to surround the body for marching, it is traditionally known as a hélicon. The modern sousaphone is a hélicon with a bell pointed up, and then curved to point forward. Tubas in Brass bands however, are of the upward facing bell type.

Bass clef music for tuba is usually in concert pitch, therefore tubists must know the correct fingerings
for their specific instrument. However, traditional brass band parts for the tuba are in the treble clef.

Though extremely rare, there have been larger BBBb subcontrabass tubas created. There were at
least four known examples created. The first two were built by the Gustav Besson on the suggestion of American Bandmaster John Philip Sousa. The monster instruments were not completed until just after Sousa's death.

Tubas generally have from three to six valves, though some rare exceptions exist. Three-valve tubas
are generally the least expensive and are almost exclusively used by beginners and amateurs, whilst most Brass Bands use 4 valve instruments.

Percussion



Bash Bash Bang Bang Clatter Clatter - Well it's not really like that! A pecussionist can add a real depth and atmosphere to a Brass Band which dramatically alters the audience's perception of the Sound. A percussionist's job is really difficult, because he has more than one instrument to play,
(Could be over a dozen) and he has to get them all to play in the right places. A percussionist is also resposible for playing the xylophone in some brass band pieces which is a feat in itself!