Brass instrument
A wind instrument in which a player’s vibrating lips excite the air column through a cup-shaped mouthpiece, usually amplified by a flared bell.
Lip vibration: Oscillation of the lips that periodically interrupts airflow and excites sound in a brass instrument. The player’s lips act as the vibrating sound source at the mouthpiece.
Brass instrument mouthpiece: A detachable cup-shaped component that supports lip vibration and couples it to a brass instrument’s air column. Its cup and rim form the interface between the player’s lips and the instrument.
Woodwind instrument: A wind instrument that produces sound with a reed, an edge-blown air jet, or another non-lip mechanism. Woodwinds are classified by their sound-producing mechanism, unlike lip-excited brass instruments.
Brass section: The group of brass instruments in an ensemble, commonly including trumpets, horns, trombones, and tubas. Brass instruments combine in sections to supply melody, harmony, and powerful accents.
Natural horn: A valveless horn whose pitches are produced from the harmonic series, with hand technique altering some notes. It was a major orchestral brass instrument before the widespread adoption of valves.
Harmonic series: A sequence of frequencies consisting of a fundamental frequency and its integer multiples. Brass players use resonances in the harmonic series to produce different notes.
Bore (wind instrument): The internal passage through which air travels in a wind instrument. Bore shape and size influence a brass instrument’s resistance, resonance, and tone.
Bugle: A valveless brass instrument whose available notes come mainly from its natural harmonic series. It shows the restricted pitch set possible without valves or a slide.
Brass band: An ensemble centered on brass instruments, often with percussion and a standardized instrument roster. The brass band tradition organizes a large family of brass instruments into a dedicated ensemble.
Invention of the valve: The development of mechanisms that redirect air through extra tubing to change a brass instrument’s pitch. The valve transformed brass instruments by making chromatic playing practical.