Nov. 2, 2015: A Brass Quintet Crash Course
Are you ready for the Axiom Brass Quintet, the first CMC-hosted brass quintet since 1981? Keep reading to refresh your knowledge or learn something new about brass quintets!
A brass quintet performance will, in some ways, be very familiar to CMC fans: it’s a highly interactive team, arranged in a semi-circle so they can watch each other carefully and take cues from the first trumpet.
But what might not be so easily visible is that it is extremely physically demanding to play a brass instrument!
Who’s included in a brass quintet?
The brass quintet configuration is designed to cover the full range of brass instrument sounds:
Trumpets:
French horn:
Trombone:
Tuba (Latin for “trumpet”):
Is that spit?
Yes; the continual buzzing of the mouthpiece means that a certain amount of spit gets into the instrument. That is why the valve to empty it out is called the “spit valve”.
It’s a natural part of life for the musician and his chosen instrument. Lots of instruments have special maintenance requirements: think of woodwinds with their reeds, and stringed instruments with their rosin dust.
"Con sordino", please!
“With mute”: it is most commonly used by trumpets and trombones in jazz, but actually all brass instruments have mutes, even tubas.
How does it work? A mute, generally an aluminum or cardboard cone-shaped object, is placed in the bell of the instrument, usually held in place by friction with a lining of cork.
A mute lowers the volume, making it more soft, but it also changes the tone, providing a completely new variation in sound from the instrument.
As you might have guessed, the trumpets can be loud, but don’t be worried about the volume: a trumpet would not win in a volume contest with the pipe organ sitting in the back of the church!
How do brass quintets fit into the world of chamber music?
When you think of the most common all-brass or mostly-brass ensembles, you might think of:
But what was the origin of the brass quintet in the “classical” music world?
Today, most brass quintets play a mix of pieces written specifically for their configuration but also a lot of music rewritten for brass quintet, just like what the Axiom Brass Quintet does.
Thanks for reading, and see you at the concert!
A brass quintet performance will, in some ways, be very familiar to CMC fans: it’s a highly interactive team, arranged in a semi-circle so they can watch each other carefully and take cues from the first trumpet.
But what might not be so easily visible is that it is extremely physically demanding to play a brass instrument!
- It’s really a “wind” instrument, in the sense that if air isn’t moving, there’s no sound!
- All brass players “buzz” into their instrument; they compress the lips and blow air through them, which causes the lips to vibrate and make a sound, like a Bronx cheer or a raspberry. The air then moves through a long tube which is bent into circles and ovals.
- The valves (or, in the case of the trombone, the slide) work by changing the length of the tube, which then changes the note and pitch. But the sound also depends on the amount of air flow, the lip tension against the mouthpiece (a good brass player can make many different pitches just by buzzing), and the musician’s embouchure (the entire arrangement and tension of cheeks, jaw, lips, and even tongue and palate, which all must be properly set to make beautiful sound but also prevent strain or damage to the muscles).
Who’s included in a brass quintet?
The brass quintet configuration is designed to cover the full range of brass instrument sounds:
- The “high brass” section (two trumpets) plays on the treble clef and usually takes the melody line.
- The “low brass” section (trombone and tuba, larger and relatively more expensive instruments) usually takes the bass line and balances out the brightness of the trumpets.
- The French horn is in a grey area between “high” and “low” brass, and the horn player can play from both the treble and the bass clef. Additionally, the French horn somewhat straddles the brass and woodwind world, in that it is a standard instrument in the so-called woodwind quintet.
Trumpets:
- The trumpet, along with the trombone, is one of the most popular brass instruments and is often selected by musicians for its bright sound (and for taking the melody line, with its high register).
- The trumpet looks small, but if you un-bent the tube and straightened it out, it would be 4 feet 10 inches long!
- There are three valves, and when pressed down they lengthen the tubing, lowering the pitch.
French horn:
- Just call it the “horn”: you’ll sound like a professional!
- The horn has the widest range of brass instruments (up to 4 octaves!) due to its special mouthpiece, which is why sometimes you will see the horn player holding it off center.
- Unlike the trumpet, where the valves lengthen the tube, the valves on the horn actually reroute the air through different tubes, which aren’t all even tuned to the same key.
- The horn player is a real multi-tasker: press the valves, hold lip tension, raise the soft palate, position the tongue, lower the larynx, blow some air, and even place their hand in the bell. And don’t forget, he’s also reading the music and watching his colleagues!
Trombone:
- The instrument most like a human voice, it can be very sensitive and have a soulful expression unlike any other.
- Like the trumpet, the trombone was used in music as early as during the Renaissance. It was used by Bach and Handel in the Baroque period; in the Classical period in Austria, the trombone had a place in solo, chamber, and sacred works, as well as opera by Mozart. Beethoven is the one who brought the trombone to the symphony.
- French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz was a huge fan. He called the trombone “the true head of the family of wind instruments” and said “it possesses nobility and grandeur to the highest degree”.
Tuba (Latin for “trumpet”):
- Like the horn, it is a relatively young member of the family, invented in the 19th century.
- Don’t think it would be too big for you! A brass tuba usually weighs 20 to 30 pounds, but the left hand’s job is to support the tuba in your lap: you don’t hold it in your arms while sitting.
- The tuba has the lowest register of the brass instruments, and so it is no surprise that it wins the contest for longest tube: 12 to 18 feet long.
- In addition to tube length, tubas can also vary by tube width and also the number of valves. This variety of configurations makes the tuba unique among brass instruments; there are not usually so many configurations to choose from.
- Tubas (and tuba players) are relatively rare in the music world, so this is a special treat to enjoy the tuba’s deep, rich sound in person.
Is that spit?
Yes; the continual buzzing of the mouthpiece means that a certain amount of spit gets into the instrument. That is why the valve to empty it out is called the “spit valve”.
It’s a natural part of life for the musician and his chosen instrument. Lots of instruments have special maintenance requirements: think of woodwinds with their reeds, and stringed instruments with their rosin dust.
"Con sordino", please!
“With mute”: it is most commonly used by trumpets and trombones in jazz, but actually all brass instruments have mutes, even tubas.
How does it work? A mute, generally an aluminum or cardboard cone-shaped object, is placed in the bell of the instrument, usually held in place by friction with a lining of cork.
A mute lowers the volume, making it more soft, but it also changes the tone, providing a completely new variation in sound from the instrument.
As you might have guessed, the trumpets can be loud, but don’t be worried about the volume: a trumpet would not win in a volume contest with the pipe organ sitting in the back of the church!
How do brass quintets fit into the world of chamber music?
When you think of the most common all-brass or mostly-brass ensembles, you might think of:
- Victorian London musicians playing on the street in a Charles Dickens novel
- New Orleans, Big Band, swing, and jazz
- Military bands
But what was the origin of the brass quintet in the “classical” music world?
- The contemporary brass quintet first appeared in the 1940s, with the Chicago Brass Quintet.
- Brass quintets became a major hall attraction (i.e. Carnegie Hall main stage) in the 1970s with the group Canadian Brass, an international star that established both the popularity and style of the quintet medium.
Today, most brass quintets play a mix of pieces written specifically for their configuration but also a lot of music rewritten for brass quintet, just like what the Axiom Brass Quintet does.
Thanks for reading, and see you at the concert!
