Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Why are they called brass instruments?
The view of most scholars (see organology) is that the term "brass instrument" should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above, and not by whether the instrument is actually made of brass. Thus one finds brass instruments made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornett, the serpent and the didgeridoo, while some woodwind instruments are made of brass, like the saxophone.
A horn is any of a family of musical instruments made of a tube, usually made of metal and often curved in various ways, with one narrow end into which the musician blows, and a wide end from which sound emerges. In horns, unlike some other brass instruments such as the trumpet, the bore gradually increases in width through most of its length—that is to say, it is conical rather than cylindrical. In jazz and popular-music contexts, the word may be used loosely to refer to any wind instrument, and a section of brass or woodwind instruments, or a mixture of the two, is called a horn section in these contexts.
Natural brass instruments only play notes in the instrument's harmonic series. These include the bugle and older variants of the trumpet and horn. The trumpet was a natural brass instrument prior to about 1795, and the horn before about 1820. In the 18th century, makers developed interchangeable crooks of different lengths, which let players use a single instrument in more than one key. Natural instruments are still played for period performances and some ceremonial functions, and are occasionally found in more modern scores, such as those by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Keyed or Fingered brass instruments used holes along the body of the instrument, which were covered by fingers or by finger-operated pads (keys) in a similar way to a woodwind instrument. These included the cornett, serpent, ophicleide, keyed bugle and keyed trumpet. They are more difficult to play than valved instruments.
The keywork of most modern woodwinds, including wooden-bodied instruments, is also usually made of an alloy such as Nickel Silver/German Silver. Such alloys are stiffer and more durable than the brass used to construct the instrument bodies, but still workable with simple hand tools -- a boon to quick repairs. The mouthpieces of both brass instruments and, less commonly, woodwind instruments are often made of brass among other metals as well.
The baritone horn, or sometimes just called baritone, is a low-pitched brass instrument in the saxhorn family. It is a piston-valve brass instrument with a bore that is mostly conical, like the flugelhorn and alto (tenor) horn, but is narrower than the conical bore of the euphonium. It uses a wide-rimmed cup mouthpiece like that of its peers, the trombone and euphonium. Like the trombone and the euphonium, the baritone horn can be considered either a transposing or non-transposing instrument. 
Orsi Instrument Company, sometimes called Orsi Instruments or commonly just Orsi, is an Italian manufacturer of musical instruments, especially brass instruments. Its traditional logo is a galloping horse.
The Grammy winning Chestnut Brass Company is a Philadelphian brass quintet founded in 1977 with intent to advance the skill and artistry within musical performance, as well as the knowledge and understanding of musical history with particular regard to brass instruments. By presenting performances featuring brass music of all eras, the ensemble strives to reflect the tradition and spirit of brass instruments.
The quintet has earned international acclaim for performances on modern and historical brass instruments. Since beginning as a street band in Philadelphia in 1977, they have performed in North and South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia.
Wind instruments Drum and bugle corps (modern) Pitch of brass instruments Horn section Brass instrument valve
Interviews and recitals of the Chestnut Brass Company have been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Radiotimes and Performance Today programs; Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Bavarian State Radio and numerous radio and television stations across the United States. The Chestnut Brass Company has been featured in performance at the Juilliard School, the Chautauqua Institute, the Ambassador Series of Los Angeles, the Boston Museum of Art, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the Yale Collection of Instruments.
As curators of the sounds of ancient and antique brasses, the Chestnut Brass Company have been at the forefront of the period-instrument revival with performances on cornetti, sackbuts, keyed bugles and saxhorns. The quintet continues to collect antique brass instruments and to research the literature and performance practice of these instruments.
One interesting difference between a woodwind instrument and a brass instrument is that woodwind instruments are non-directional. This means that the sound produced propagates in all directions with approximately equal volume. Brass instruments, on the other hand, are highly directional, with most of the sound produced traveling straight outward from the bell. This difference makes it significantly more difficult to record a brass instrument accurately. It also plays a major role in some performance situations, such as in marching bands.
Certain low brass instruments such as trombone, tuba, euphonium, and alto horn are whole-tube and can play the fundamental tone of each harmonic series with relative ease. Furthermore, the low brass often use extra valves to extend their range uniformly, since the fundamental is chromatically discontinuous with the lowest 2nd harmonic reachable on a three-valve instrument or via the seven-position slide on a trombone. Trombone and tuba in particular are often called upon to play pedal notes (fundamental notes) and so-called "false harmonics" and "false tones" below their normal range.
Valved brass instruments use a set of valves (typically three or four but as many as seven or more in some cases) operated by the player's fingers that introduce additional tubing, or crooks, into the instrument, changing its overall length. This family includes all of the modern brass instruments except the trombone: the trumpet, horn (also called French horn), euphonium, and tuba, as well as the cornet, flugelhorn, tenor horn (alto horn), baritone horn, sousaphone, and the mellophone. As valved instruments are predominant among the brasses today, a more thorough discussion of their workings can be found below. The valves are usually piston valves, but can be rotary valves; the latter are the norm for the horn (except in France) and are also common on the tuba. Slide brass instruments use a slide to change the length of tubing. The main instruments in this category are the trombone family, though valve trombones are occasionally used, especially in jazz. The trombone family's ancestor, the sackbut, and the folk instrument bazooka are also in the slide family.
The brass section of the orchestra, concert band, and jazz ensemble consist of brass instruments, and is one of the main sections in all three ensembles. The British-style brass band contains only brass and percussion instruments.
Because the player of a brass instrument has direct control of the prime vibrator (the lips), brass instruments exploit the player's ability to select the harmonic at which the instrument's column of air vibrates. By making the instrument about twice as long as the equivalent woodwind instrument and starting with the second harmonic, players can get a good range of notes simply by varying the tension of their lips (see embouchure).
Marching brass instruments are brass instruments specially designed to be played while moving. Most instruments do not have a marching version - only the following have marching versions:
The task of adapting a composition for different musical ensembles is called arranging or orchestration, may be undertaken by the composer or separately by an arranger based on the composer's core composition. Based on such factors, composers, orchestrators and/or arrangers must decide upon the instrumentation of the original work. In the 2010s, the contemporary composer can virtually write for almost any combination of instruments, ranging from a string section, wind and brass sections used in standard orchestras to electronic instruments such as synthesizers. Some common group settings include music for full orchestra (consisting of strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion), concert band (which consists of larger sections and greater diversity of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments than are usually found in the orchestra), or a chamber group (a small number of instruments, but at least two). The composer may also choose to write for only one instrument, in which case this is called a solo. Solos may be unaccompanied, as with works for solo piano or solo cello, or solos may be accompanied by another instrument or by an ensemble.
A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments".[1]
A brass aerophone is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called "labrosones", literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments". There are several factors involved in producing different pitches on a brass instrument. Slides, valves, crooks, or keys are used to change vibratory length of tubing, thus changing the available harmonic series, while the player's embouchure, lip tension and air flow serve to select the specific harmonic produced from the available series.
Although woodwind instruments and string instruments have no theoretical upper limit to their range (subject to practical limits), they generally cannot go below their designated range. Brass instruments, on the other hand, can play beyond their designated ranges. Notes lower than the brass instrument's designated range are called pedal tones. The playing range of a brass instrument depends on both the technical limitations of the instrument and the skill of the player.
The pitch of a brass instrument is determined by its vibratory length, which determines the fundamental frequency of the open instrument and the frequencies of its overtones. Additional pitches are achieved by varying the length using the instrument's valve, slide, key or crook system. The fundamental frequency is not playable on some brass instruments. The table provides the pitch of the second overtone (an octave above the fundamental frequency) and length for some common brass instruments in descending order of pitch. This pitch is notated transpositionally as middle C for many of these brass instruments.
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularly in the context of New Orleans–style brass bands), but may more correctly termed military bands, concert bands, or "brass and reed" bands.
Brass instrument valves are valves used to change the length of tubing of a brass instrument allowing the player to reach the notes of various harmonic series. Each valve pressed diverts the air stream through additional tubing, individually or in conjunction with other valves. This lengthens the vibrating air column thus lowering the fundamental tone and associated harmonic series produced by the instrument.
Valves in brass instruments require regular maintenance and lubrication to ensure fast and reliable movement.
Cylindrical bore brass instruments are those in which approximately constant diameter tubing predominates. Cylindrical bore brass instruments are generally perceived as having a brighter, more penetrating tone quality compared to conical bore brass instruments. The trumpet, and all trombones are cylindrical bore. In particular, the slide design of the trombone necessitates this. Conical bore brass instruments are those in which tubing of constantly increasing diameter predominates. Conical bore instruments are generally perceived as having a more mellow tone quality than the cylindrical bore brass instruments. The "British brass band" group of instruments fall into this category. This includes the flugelhorn, cornet, tenor horn (alto horn), baritone horn, horn, euphonium and tuba. Some conical bore brass instruments are more conical than others. For example, the flugelhorn differs from the cornet by having a higher percentage of its tubing length conical than does the cornet, in addition to possessing a wider bore than the cornet. In the 1910s and 1920s, the E.A. Couturier company built brass band instruments utilizing a patent for a continuous conical bore without cylindrical portions even for the valves or tuning slide.
Initially Mr. Le Bihan was the only maker of the instrument, and he made them on only a very limited basis. Other makers soon filled the void, however, and instruments by makers such as Hervieux & Glet, Jean-Luc Ollivier and Eric Ollu began to fill the pistoñ role as well. Mr. Ollu objects strenuously to the use of the term "pistoñ". As he states on his website (translated): "I always call the instrument by its real name; oboe or baroque oboe. I suppose I could call it an Olluphone, tromblophone or some other fantastic name. Why in Brittany and only in Brittany do people call a Baroque oboe a pistoñ? One can only wonder that information available since the fifteenth century has not yet been received! Why give the name of a brass instrument to a woodwind?" (In French, "piston" occurs as a shortened form of "", the instrument known in English as a cornet.)
Brass instrument players can produce vibrato by repeatedly and rapidly altering the embouchure, or use and shaping of the lips and facial muscles, essentially repeatedly "bending" the note. This is called lip-vibrato, and is probably the most commonly used technique of vibrato on a lower brass instrument. It is also known to give the best sound and timbre on a brass instrument and is encouraged in upper-level or militaristic style brass ensembles.