The Brass Section

As brass instruments have many common characteristics and teThe Brass Section Glissandos. As brass instruments have many common characteristics and technical peculiarities, they can be considered as a unit for certain aspects of tone production. COMMON CHARACTERISTICS AND SPECIAL EFFECTS Breath Control Repeated Notes Proper breath control

ORCHESTRAL BRASS

Standardization of the brass section for the symphonic orchestra has been a gradual development over a period of several centuries. The final result is a somewhat flexible listing of horns, trumpets, trombones, and tuba, with occasional cornets. Composers still reserve the privilege of determining the number of brass instruments according to their specific needs.

The section is not a completely homogeneous grouping, as these instruments vary in construction and means of tone production. For practical purposes, two main divisions within the section can be noted. The horns form a complete unit and are superb in their blending potentials with both the strings and the wood-winds. The trumpets, trombones, and tuba may be classified together as a second unit and are somewhat less adaptable in their blending potentials. As cornets are not regular members of the section, they should be regarded as supplementary instruments. These divisions are the result of differences in construction affecting the bore or tube shape, and of variations in the size and shape of the mouthpiece for each instrument.

The method of tone production is, no doubt, familiar to most students of music. The player's lips, held against various types of cup-shaped mouthpieces, function as vibrating reeds. As the player forces an air stream through the lips, the air column within the tube is set in motion. Various kinds of articulation are brought about by controlled movements of the player's tongue. Thus, the brass player's technique includes a wellregulated coordination of these two human factors. The player's embouchure (position of the lips against the mouthpiece), plus the variants of tonguing (single, double, and triple), combine not only as the means of tone production but also in determining pitch and quality. These technicalities account for the negative as well as the positive aspects of brass playing. They help to explain why some players "crack" on extreme high notes, why very low tones are sometimes "fuzzy," and why attacks are either strong and clear or weak and insecure.

Horns and trumpets with valves and pistons did not become "acceptable" until the middle of the nineteenth century. Before this time composers relied on the old-fashioned "crooked" instruments, with their changing fundamentals and natural series of overtones. Small U-shaped tubings called "crooks," with varying lengths, were inserted in these instruments to change their fundamentals which, in turn, gave forth a welldefined series of overtones. However, all of the tones in these series were not accurate in pitch, nor did they include complete diatonic or chromatic scales. Scale tones not included in a particular series were playable for the horns as stopped notes, the hand of the player being inserted in the bell of the instrument to modify the pitch. The trumpets had no such pitch-modifying possibilities and were therefore limited to a halfdozen tones with each change of crooks. Trombones (slide) have always been free from this kind of scale limitation, as changes of fundamentals are arranged by means of altered slide positions. Cornets and tubas, being late nineteenth-century additions to the section, were equipped with pistons which permitted full chromatic scales from the outset. Figure B-l lists the orchestral brass instruments as they are now constituted.

HORNS IN F

1. All quarter notes indicating range extremes are possible but hazardous for inexperienced players.

2. The best tones are those indicated by whole notes.

3. All range divisions are comparative, being subject to the technical capacities of each performing group.

TRUMPETS

TROMBONES AND TUBA

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

As brass instruments have many common characteristics and technical peculiarities, they can be considered as a unit for certain aspects of tone production.

1. Repeated Notes. Notes in this category employ differing forms of tonguing and are practical at all dynamic levels. Some intonation insecurity and lack of incisiveness is possible in range extremes.

2. Trills. Although trills of minor and major seconds are playable, except for a few note combinations, their effectiveness varies with each instrument and player. Trombone trills are made by means of lip slurs while the other brasses use fingered combinations of valves and pistons. Brass trills are at best somewhat sluggish, blurry, boisterous, and generally lacking in clear intonation. They are of comparatively little value in the normal gamut of practical orchestration.

3. Glissandos. Horns and trombone glissandos are possible through the use of a lip slur, providing all of the notes are contained in a single series of overtones. Glissando effects, as used by jazz trumpeters, give only a starting note along with a short line indicating the direction of the slide and the word, rip. Horn glissandos have a boisterous, sweeping effect without being unmusical. When used with trombones, glissandos frequently sound vulgar and out of character.

4. Tonguing. All variations of tonguing — single, double, and triple — are essential parts of a brass player's technique. Single tongue strokes are used for all non-legato passages and accents, with double and triple tonguing employed for groupings with rapid, multiple-note repetitions. Flutter tonguing is a tremolo type which uses the same notation as that given for the unmeasured, bowed tremolo. It is a special effect reserved for highly evocative passages where a rather ugly sound seems appropriate (see Example 1-21).

5. Phrasing. Phrase markings for brass instruments follow the same general patterns as those advised for the wood-winds. All note combinations without slurs are played with separate tongue attacks for each note. Short slurs are preferable to long ones, although both forms have been used by composers, markedly so since the trend toward greater melodic importance for the brasses became established in the middle 1800s. Long slurs are found most frequently in solo passages for horns and trombones where a genuine cantabile is required. Phrasing is one phase of orchestration which provides the means of tonal articulation and inflection.

6. Breath Control. Proper breath control is a major factor in tone production for all brass instruments. Some idea of the relative importance of this problem may be realized from the fact that the air column in a horn travels some 9 to 18 feet while that for an oboe or clarinet is only slightly more than 2 feet. From this comparison it is obvious that the orchestrator must constantly be aware of this breath factor, especially for the heavier brass instruments. Suitable breaks for changes of breath should be provided and arranged so that they will not interrupt the natural flow of the parts nor disrupt their rhythmic significance.

7. Tonal Strengths. The variation of tonal strengths in the brass section is enormous, covering a dynamic range from an organ-like pianissimo to an ear-shattering/tfrto/mo. No other section of the orchestra, with the possible exception of the percussion, is so capable of making quick changes in dynamics heard and felt. Separately and collectively, the brass instruments have the strongest tonal strengths and weights in the orchestra — a constant factor in estimating the details of tonal balance. The everpresent danger of over-scoring for the section is one which the orchestrator must constantly evaluate within an orchestral perspective. There are limitations beyond which combined string and wood-wind sonorities become submerged by the tonal strength of the brass. The task is to unite these elements with good blendings for tonal balance based on the recognition of the comparative tonal strengths of each section.

8. Mutes. Theoretically, all brass parts can be muted.

Actually, mutes are not always available for horns and tubas, especially in most secondary orchestras. This fact should not be overlooked, since a single unmuted part, playing with a muted section, conspicuously alters the whole tonal effect. Mutes not only reduce volume; they also change tone quality. With them there is a tendency toward faulty intonation, especially with inexperienced players of horns and trombones. Although muted brass is capable of playing the softest possible dynamics, it can cut through string and wood-wind tuttis with little difficulty. Muted brass, now a commonplace effect, has musical value in indirect proportion to the frequency of its use.

9. Signatures. Limited scale tones for the natural horns and trumpets undoubtedly led to the practice of omitting key signatures for these instruments. All parts for them were written in C and accidentals added as needed. After valves and pistons were introduced, some theorists urged the abolition of the older form of notation in favor of using signatures for all the brass instruments and timpani. Yet it still remains an unsettled question as orchestrators continue to follow their own preferences.

Brass instrument players unfamiliar with key signatures are apt to overlook them, and, by playing in the wrong key, may inflict unintentional discords on the listener. However, if all brass and timpani parts were to be consistently written with signatures, the practice would soon alter the present confusion which has been inherited from more than two centuries of notation designed for instruments that are now obsolete. These remarks do not apply to cornets, trombones, and tubas, as they were never affected by the older notation practices.