Brass Instruments

Brass instruments refer to instruments made of metal – most often brass – that are played by blowing into a mouthpiece. The vibrations of the player’s lips cause the column of air inside the instrument to also vibrate, producing sound. By changing the tension on their lips and the pressure of their blow, the player can change the sound produced. Brass instruments come with tubes, flaps and valves of various shapes and sizes that are used to direct the air flow through various additional tubes and thus produce tones of various pitches. The slide trombone allows the player to shift the length of the tube with a hand-operated, telescopic slide.

Brass instrument staples are the French horn, the trumpets, the trombones, and the tuba.