The Brass Family

Question 1

What does the brass section of the orchestra include?

Answer 1

The brass section of the orchestra includes trumpets, trombones, horns and tuba.

Question 2

What are the whole brass family made from?

Answer 2

They are all made from metal but not always from brass! They can be made from other metals too like silver. They make a sound when air is blown through them and vibrates through the instrument.

Question 3

What are the four members of the brass family?

Answer 3

Trumpet, horn, tuba, trombone

Question 4

What is the brass of the orchestra?

Answer 4

The brass is the powerhouse of the orchestra. This section demands attention

Question 5

What do the brass players do that no one else in the orchestra does?

Answer 5

Brass players are the only musicians in the orchestra who generate the sound they make. Instead of pulling bows over strings, blowing through reeds or hitting with sticks, they use their lips to make a vibrations, like a raspberry

Question 6

How fast can a brass player vibrate their lips?

Answer 6

Feasted than a humming bird can flap their wings

Question 7

What is the highest instrument in the brass family?

Answer 7

Trumpet, the most exciting sound in the orchestra. It can terrify you, it can make you smile, or it can soar above the orchestra and make your hair stand on end.

Question 8

What is the horn?

Answer 8

The horn is the hero

Question 9

What is the trombone?

Answer 9

The trombone is the boss

Question 10

What is the tuba?

Answer 10

The tuba is the lowest of the brass section. It makes a big velvety cushion of sound, that the rest of the brass section just sits on

Question 11

What are trumpets used in?

Answer 11

Trumpets are used in many different types of music including pop, jazz, orchestral and military.

Question 12

What does the trumpet have?

Answer 12

The trumpet has only 3 valves but it can play an amazing 45 notes

Question 13

Where was one bronze and silver trumpet found?

Answer 13

One bronze and one silver trumpet were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb when it was discovered in 1922

Question 14

What is a trumpet?

Answer 14

A trumpet is a long cylindrical tube that’s bent round to fit in a persons hand. When it stretched out it’s longer than an average height adult

Question 15

How do you blow into an instrument?

Answer 15

Puck your lips and blow into the instrument

Question 16

How do you have to play a trumpet?

Answer 16

Different techniques. You might have to play with your hand over the front, or a plunger

Question 17

What is the range of the trumpet?

Answer 17

From the bottom F sharp to a top F or G

Question 18

Why is it good to play low?

Answer 18

It gives your lip a good vibration which helps you play high

Question 19

How much smaller is a small trumpet compared to a big trumpet?

Answer 19

A small trumpet is exactly half the size of a regular trumpet meaning that it can play an octave higher.

Question 20

What is the musical name for a small trumpet?

Answer 20

A piccolo trumpet

Question 21

What is the trombone famous for?

Answer 21

The trombone is famous for having a slide which means it can play a glissando by smoothly moving the slide up or down.

Question 22

What are trombones usually made of?

Answer 22

Trombones are usually made of brass, but there are trombones which are made of plastic that come in almost any colour.

Question 23

What have trombones been used by?

Answer 23

Trombones have been used by composers to depict all sorts of scenes including thunder an lightning and even a head being chopped off

Question 24

What were early trombones called?

Answer 24

Early trombones were called sackbuts

Question 25

What is the oldest wind instrument?

Answer 25

The trombone. It has basically stayed in its original form

Question 26

How long is the trombones first position?

Answer 26

270cm, but obviously when you increase the slide it increases the size by about 180cm

Question 27

What is a glissando?

Answer 27

When you slide the slide down the trombone and back up

Question 28

What are a whole load of instruments jealous of the trombone for?

Answer 28

The sound of the glissando

Question 29

What happens when you press the vowel on the trombone?

Answer 29

It adds the other tube which adds another 50cm

Question 30

How big would a trombone be at its largest?

Answer 30

500cm : 5m

Question 31

In the orchestra, how many trombones are there?

Answer 31

3. Two tenner trombones and a base trombone which is the same length but the bell is bigger and the tubing is bigger as well and it has two vowels and and it plays the lower part.

Question 32

What is the same in the trombone and all brass instruments?

Answer 32

Like all brass instruments the trombone can change its notes just by using the muscles in the lips

Question 33

How many positions do you have on the trombone?

Answer 33

7, which gives us the whole range of notes

Question 34

What is the only instrument lower than the trombone?

Answer 34

The tuba, but even though trombones play at the bottom end they can play high notes and low notes

Question 35

What is the tuba?

Answer 35

The tuba is the youngest, largest and lowest sounding member of the brass family.

Question 36

When is International Tuba Day celebrated?

Answer 36

International Tuba Day is celebrated by tuba players all around the world on the First Friday in May every year.

Question 37

Why do some tubas rap around the player's body?

Answer 37

Some tubas wrap around the player's body so they can be played while riding a horse or marching

Question 38

How many tubas are there normally in an orchestra?

Answer 38

1

Question 39

What is the tuba just?

Answer 39

A long piece of tubing about 8m long in total, but it is all wrapped up

Question 40

How do you make sounds with the tuba?

Answer 40

By buzzing with the lips in the mouthpiece and the tuba acts like a loud speaker for what's going on

Question 41

What can you get without using the vowels?

Answer 41

You can get a series of notes called the harmonic series, by using the vowels you can get some notes in between

Question 42

What is the lowest instrument in the orchestra?

Answer 42

The tuba

Question 43

How can you play a really low note?

Answer 43

If you relax your lips

Question 44

How can you play high notes?

Answer 44

By tightening your lips

Question 45

How were the earliest horns played?

Answer 45

The earliest horns were played by blowing down an animal’s horn, particularly the horn of a ram

Question 46

How many horns are there usually in a symphony orchestra?

Answer 46

There are usually 4 or 5 horns in a symphony orchestra but one piece by a composer called Richard Strauss calls for 20 horns

Question 47

What were horns used for?

Answer 47

Horns were used for hunting as the sound could travel over long disasters and send messages

Question 48

Why was being a horn player on a hunt very dangerous?

Answer 48

Being a horn player on a hunt was a very dangerous job as riding and playing at the same time was very difficult to do and riders often fell and died

Question 49

What is the simplest way of thinking about a French horn?

Answer 49

Like a big pipe, a big bit of metal that is wrapped round and round and round

Question 50

How do you make a sound with the French horn?

Answer 50

You buzz in one end (basically making a raspberry sound)

Question 51

What is the French horn basically?

Answer 51

A hose pipe with a funnel on it, if you just changed tho hose pipe to metal it would be a proper French horn

Question 52

How can you go on a french horn?

Answer 52

You can go pretty high with a french horn but you can also go pretty low

Question 53

Name the brass instruments from highest to lowest?

Answer 53

Trumpet, horn, trombone, Tuba