Best Music Instruments

Brass

 

       
        Welcome back to another post of my music blog. My next favourite instrument is the trombone, which falls under the brass family of instruments. These instruments make up the bass and rhythm of the band and are made of mostly brass. I like these instruments because they are easy to clean, provide the rhythm and they are very simple to play. Brass is likely to be the most efficient instrument in terms of cleaning because of spit valves. Every brass instrument has a valve, which contains condensation or the collected spit and is usually, located farthest from the player. It is emptied regularly to prevent a bubbling sound while playing notes. The lower register instruments provide the beat and bass, and they are simple to play because all that is needed is a cup mouthpiece.

Trumpet

        Trumpets are probably the most recognizable brass instrument with the three buttons or valves, on the top, and have a small-sized bore. Bore is the size of the flare or the  at the end of the instrument.  This instrument was the favourite of soloists during the Jazz age and today, such as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis. The trumpets are made from brass and have a cork acting as a cushion for the spit valves and are primarily used in orchestras, military bands and Jazz music. Most trumpets today are played in the key of B flat, which is the note played without depressing any valves. There are two tuning slides on the trumpets which enable the player to raise or lower the pitch of the notes.  

Sousaphone

        The brass instruments provide the rhythm because rhythm is playing the beat. The sousaphone, also known as helicon, is a great example which uses the bass clef, the lower notes under middle C. The sounds of these instruments are hollow and deep like a timpani and are just as bulky. These lower register brass instruments have many pipes for the air to pass through, but they mostly have three valves on the instrument. Interestingly, the sousaphone has four vales on it, which allows the pitch to lower even more. The sousaphone is a type of tuba, which is carried around the body resting on the shoulder with the bell facing forward over the left shoulder and is incredibly heavy. Modern technology has solved this problem by making the bore out of fibreglass. The sousaphone is primarily used in school marching bands, and military bands. It was invented as request from the famous American composer John Phillip Sousa for which it was named after. 

Trombone

   

        The last reason which makes brass a great instrument is the fact that it is easy to play. My favourite instrument, the trombone, only uses a slide to play notes. However, the slide is not the only thing needed to play the instrument. Blowing air is not enough because the air and lips needs to vibrate while being blown so it can produce different notes. The trombone has the sound of horns and when played loud, can drown out other instruments. The trombone was created as an answer for composers in the mid fifteenth century, who wanted to start playing lower notes in their pieces. It evolved from an earlier version called the sackbutt which looked similar but has a small bore. Since the trombone has a slide instead of valves, the operation works differently. There are seven slide positions, each of which could play multiple notes. The size of the bore also changes in certain countries such as France and England, which uses a smaller to medium sized bore, and the U.S and Germany use large bores. 

Overall, my opinion on the trombone is that they don’t require much maintenance, and provide a monotone voice to the band. Most importantly, it is simple to learn since all that is needed is the instrument and its accompanying mouthpiece.

Works Cited

An Interview With Set Designer Emily Pugh. 4 February 2011. Online Photograph. Web. 27 May 2015.
http://lifeandstyle.alexandalexa.com/an-interview-with-set-designer-emily-pugh/

Estrella, Espie. History of the Trumpet. n.d. about education. Web. 27 May 2015. 

http://musiced.about.com/od/lessonsandtips/a/trumpethistory.htm

History and Origin of the Sousaphone. 2007. sousaphone.net. Web. 27 May 2015.

http://www.sousaphone.net/sousaphone-history.htm

Max Wade-Matthews, and Wendy Thompson. The Encyclopedia of Music. Reading, London: Hermes House, 2011. Print.

Monks, Greg. The History of the Trombone From The Sackbutt To The Present. n.d. Web. 27 May 2015.  

http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/trbhist/tbonehist.htm

Monks, Greg. The History of the Tuba. n.d. Web. 27 May 2015.
http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/tbahist/tubahist.htm

sousaphone The MyMusicTheory.com Blog. May 2011. Online Photograph. Web. 27 May 2015.
http://blog.mymusictheory.com/2011/the-mymusictheory-guide-to-orchestral-intruments-part-4-–-the-brass/sousaphone/

Trombones-Student Intermediate- Professional models available from KOHN. n.d. Online Photograph. Web. 27 May 2015.
http://www.kohnmusicstore.com/Trombones-student-intermediate-professionalmodels.htm

Trumpet 113mulhaq's Blog. 4 December 2009. Online Photograph. Web. 27 May 2015.
https://113mulhaq.wordpress.com/tag/trumpet/

Best Music Instruments

Percussion

        

        Anybody who has an interest in music knows there are plenty of instruments in the world to play such as the piano, guitar, saxophone, or trumpet to name a few. However, each musician has a certain liking for one instrument over another. In this case, my favourite instruments are, in descending order of least favoured to most favoured are drums, trombone, harmonica, and violin. Drums are great instruments because they act as a secondary conductor of the band, there are many variations of drums, and they sound great on a solo. Drummers keep the beat of the band and can be followed by players who are out of sync. Some people also think drum kits are the only type of percussion instrument available, but that isn't the case. Cymbals, tambourine, and triangle all fall into this category. On their own, drums have an excellent solo role which can play different sounds unique to percussion.

Drum Kit

        The congas are a small but noticeable instrument. These instruments have a distinct, hollow sound, and are primarily used in African music, jazz and salsa styles of music. The congas originated in Africa and were made of wood and rawhide. New technology allows congas to be made of fibreglass and synthetic plastics. Approximately two to five congas are used at a time to create different melodies.  

       

Congas        

        Most people may not consider the cymbals to be a good standalone instrument due to it being able to play only one sound. Most bands however would be incomplete without cymbals. The most common cymbals are crash, ride, and hi-hat. The materials to make cymbals were created in Mesopotamia and are known as bronze, but the first physical cymbals were made in the Ottoman Empire in present-day Turkey. Cymbals are mostly used in drum kits and orchestras for classical music, and in military bands.

       

        Crash Cymbals

        The sound of the kettledrums, or timpani, is instantly recognizable by its hollow, thunderous echo and deep voice of an orchestra and its large size. The timpani usually plays the bass and the rhythm for the orchestra and can have two to six timpanis in the band. The origins of the timpani started as a European military drum made of copper moulded into a bowl, with animal skin stretched overtop of it. In the past, the timpani was larger, but returned to a smaller size because composers didn't like the sound it produced.

       

Timpani

        Overall, by opinion on drums is that they are a very diverse family, with unique sounds and looks. Drums are also the loudest instruments in bands or orchestras, and are considered the second leaders.

See You Later

      

(Best drummer in the world, the late Buddy Rich)

Works Cited

Crash Cymbals Clipart Related Marching Cymbals. n.d. Online Photograph. Web. 22 May 2015.

http://picturequotes.info/images/crash-cymbals-clipart-related-marching-cymbals

DrummaAddict. "BUDDY RICH IMPOSSIBLE DRUM SOLO *HQ*." 17 January 2010. Youtube. Web. 22 May 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9esWG6A6g-k

Estrella, Espie. Profile of the Conga Drum. 2015. about education. Web. 22 May 2015.                                                                                                                                                         

http://musiced.about.com/od/percussions/p/congadrums.htm

History of Conga Drums. n.d. Artdrum. Web. 22 May 2015.      http://www.artdrum.com/HISTORY_OF_CONGA_DRUMS.htm

History of the timpani. 2015. Syncrat. Web. 22 May 2015. 

http://www.syncrat.com/posts/5254/history-of-the-timpani

Hutton, Scott. The History of Cymbals. n.d. articlecity. Web. 22 May 2015.

http://www.articlecity.com/articles/music_and_movies/article_1229.shtml

Matador Custom Wood Congas. n.d. Online Photograph. Web. 22 May 2015.

http://artdrum.com/CONGAS_MATADOR_CUSTOM_CONGA_DRUMS.htm

playing drums today with the all-inclusive FZH725C drum kit from Pearl. n.d. Online Photograph. Web. 21 May 2015.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--PEAFZH725C

Salloum, Trevor. "The Conga Drum in Jazz." Blog.Melbay.com. 6 February 2013. Web. 22  May 2015. 

http://blog.melbay.com/the-conga-drum-in-jazz/

Stylish Musical Notes Pic. 2015. Online Photograph. Web. 22 May 2015.

http://azcoloring.com/coloring-pages-of-music-notes (Image no Longer Exists on Page)

Timpani. 16 July 2013. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 22 May 2015.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/596339/timpani

Yamaha Standard Fiberglass Timpani Set 23, 26, 29, 32 inch w/Cover. n.d. Online Photograph. Web. 22 May 2015.

(Page no Longer Exists)