Road to Symphonia
Brass
In both appearance and sound, the brass section is the shiniest and most sparkling of the symphony orchestra. The virtuoso trumpet, the soft-toned French horn, the slide trombone and the growling tuba all contribute their distinctive colours to the orchestral palette. Their most important common feature is not that they are made of a thin metallic - primarily copper - alloy, but that each instrument produces sound through the vibration of the player's lips placed against a funnel-shaped mouthpiece. To make different pitches of sounds, you need different lengths of pipes. The trombone, for example, has for a long time operated with a telescopic mechanism that produces different lengths through its sliding pieces. For over a hundred years, the other brass instruments have been fitted with valves. These valves guide the air into the extension tubes of various dimensions, making it possible to play all kinds of sounds and therefore any melody.
Presenter: Zsolt Körmendy
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
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