Question

Why were ancient brass instruments difficult to play and not versatile? How have these problems been overcome in modern instruments?

Answer 1

Brass instruments are any tube that can be played with the lips.

The ancient brass instruments could not produce the complete chromatic scale. Any notes not in the harmonic series of a natural instrument are played by the manipulation of the lips and right hand, though often with only a limited success as the quality of such notes could be poor.

However, this was subsequently overcome by the invention of the three-valve instrument. The cornet à piston produced in France in 1830 was to become the cornopean in Britain after its introduction in 1834. By replacing the keyed bugle a fully chromatic scale was now possible.

Modern brass instruments produce sound through a metal mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is similar on most brass instruments, usually varying only in size. Sound is produced by placing the lips on the mouthpiece and blowing while vibrating the lips. The larger the mouthpiece, the lower the sound of the instrument.

Playing Different Notes: By tightening or loosening the lips, it is possible to produce different notes. However, few notes can be created this way. To overcome the problem, brass instruments have lots of tubes, which can be selected with valves in order to change the lenght of the instrument, and thus the pitch of the note. Instruments like the trombone directly modify the length of the instrument with an adjustable slide.