The existing classification assumes the following types of wind instruments - copper and wood. The main difference between them is the peculiarities of sound production.

Wind instruments, classification

Woodwind musical instruments differ in that their sound depends on the vibrations of the air that enters the hollow tube along with the cane. The pitch is adjusted by opening and closing small holes. The most popular types of woodwind instruments:

• the flute;
• clarinet;
• oboe;
• bassoon;
• saxophone.

Sound to brass wind instruments is served to the players directly through the mouthpiece, and the control takes place using a system of special valves. Wind instruments, the types of which are not known to everyone, have an extraordinary sound.

Such brass instruments are known:

• French horn;
• cornet;
• trombone;
• pipe;
• tuba.

The appearance of wind instruments changed from the moment of their appearance to today... That is why there is a division into wood and copper groups. Modern flutes, as well as saxophones, are often made of metal, and some parts of oboes and clarinets are made of plastic.

What is the purpose of wind instruments

Each group of tools has its own purpose. In an orchestra, they usually act as accompanists. Thanks to the wind instruments, the musical parts of the strings, as well as the entire orchestra as a whole, are supported, enhanced, and diluted.

Among other things, you can hear the solo sound of such instruments as the flute, oboe and clarinet during the performance of classical compositions.

The best jazz soloists are saxophone and trumpet.

Brass instruments in the orchestra occupy the back positions along with the drums, this is important so that their sound does not interrupt all other instruments. At the same time, woodwinds are placed right behind the strings.

Popular wind instruments

Naturally, the most popular and well-known wind instrument is the flute. The name itself speaks of a melodic sound, because in translation, a flute is a breath.

Some historians are sure that this instrument originated from the most common whistle and has existed for several millennia.

On the territory of Ancient Egypt, the flute had almost the same appearance as a modern instrument. It was made of wood and decorated in a rich manner, and also had a beveled edge. At the same time, such types of wind instruments as the block flute and transverse flute appeared.

There are many varieties of flutes - this is an ocarina (an instrument made of clay), and a pan flute (an instrument with several pipes), and a pipe, and a duduk (an instrument of Armenian origin having two reeds), and a whistle (a longitudinal instrument of Celtic origin).

Due to the sound of various wind instruments, any musical composition become more soulful and convey the most subtle mood swings. For example, the trumpets deafen and even frighten with their roar, and the gentle sound of the flute penetrates into the depths of the soul.

Video: Types of Brass Instruments

Instruments brass band... Wind instruments

The basis of the brass band is made up of wide-angle brass wind instruments with a conical channel: cornets, flugelhorns, euphoniums, altos, tenors, baritones, tubas. Another group is made up of narrow-gauge copper instruments with a cylindrical channel: trumpets, trombones, French horns. The group of woodwind instruments includes labial - flutes and lingual (reed) - clarinets, saxophones, oboes, bassoons. The group of basic percussion instruments includes timpani, big drum, cymbals, snare drum, triangle, tambourine, there and there. Jazz and Latin American drums are also used: rhythm cymbals, congo and bongos, tom-toms, haraves, tartaruga, agogo, maracas, castanets, pandeira, etc.

Brass Instruments Pipe Cornet French horn Trombone Tenor Baritone	Percussion instruments Snare drum Big drum Plates Timpani Tambourine and tambourine Wooden box Triangle
Woodwind instruments The flute Oboe Clarinet Saxophone Bassoon

Orchestra

Brass band - an orchestra, which includes wind (wood and brass or only brass) and percussion musical instruments, one of the mass performing groups. As a stable performing association, it was formed in a number of European countries in the 17th century. It appeared in Russia in the late 17th - early 18th centuries. (military brass bands at the regiments of the Russian army).

Instrumental composition of D. o. gradually improved. The modern brass band has 3 main types, which are orchestras mixed type: small (20), medium (30) and large (42-56 and more performers). The composition of the big D. about. includes: flutes, oboes (including alto), clarinets (including small, alto and bass clarinet), saxophones (soprano, altos, tenors, baritones), bassoons (including contrabassoon), French horns, trumpets, trombones, cornets, altos, tenors , baritones, basses (copper tubas and bowed double bass) and percussion instruments with a certain and without a certain pitch. When performing concert pieces in the D.O. the harp, celesta, piano and other instruments are occasionally introduced.

Contemporary D. o. carry out various concert and popularization activities. In their repertoire, almost everything outstanding works domestic and world musical classics... Among Soviet conductors Before. - S. A. Chernetsky, V. M. Blazhevich, F. I. Nikolaevsky, V. I. Agapkin.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Brass band structure

Main groups, their role and capabilities

The basis of the brass band is a group of instruments that exist under common name"Saxhorns". They are named after A. Saks, who invented them in the 1840s. Saxhorns were an improved type of instruments called byugles (byugelhorns). At present, in our USSR, this group is usually referred to as the main copper group. It includes: a) instruments of high tessitura - saxhorn-sopranino, saxhorn-soprano (cornet); b) middle register instruments - altos, tenors, baritones; c) instruments of low register - saxhorn-bass and saxhorn-contrabass.

The other two groups of the orchestra are woodwinds and percussion instruments. The saxhorn group, in fact, forms the small brass band of the brass band. With the addition of woodwind, as well as French horns, trumpets, trombones and percussion to this group, they form a small mixed and large mixed compositions.

In general, a group of saxhorns with a conical tube and a wide scale characteristic of these instruments have a fairly large, strong sound and rich technical capabilities. This especially applies to cornet, instruments of great technical mobility and bright, expressive sound. They are primarily entrusted with the main melodic material of the work.

The middle register instruments - altos, tenors, baritones - perform two important tasks in a brass band. Firstly, they fill the harmonic "middle", that is, they perform the main voices of harmony in a wide variety of forms of presentation (in the form of sustained sounds, figuration, repetitive notes, etc.). Secondly, they interact with other groups of the orchestra, first of all with the cornet (one of the usual combinations is the performance of the theme with cornet and tenors per octave), as well as with the basses, which are often "helped" by the baritone.

Directly to this group are brass instruments typical for a symphony orchestra - French horns, trumpets, trombones (according to the terminology of a brass band used in the USSR, the so-called "characteristic brass").

An important addition to the basic brass band is the woodwind group. These are flutes, clarinets with their main varieties, and in large composition also oboes, bassoons, saxophones. The introduction of wooden instruments (flutes, clarinets) into the orchestra can significantly expand its range: for example, the melody (as well as harmony) played by cornet, trumpets and tenors can be doubled one or two octaves up. In addition, the significance of woodwinds is that they, as M.I. Glinka wrote, “serve mainly for the color of the orchestra,” that is, contribute to the brilliance, brightness of its sound (Glinka, however, meant a symphony orchestra, but clearly that this definition is applicable to the wind orchestra).

Finally, it should be emphasized essential strike group in a brass band. With a very peculiar specifics of a brass band and, above all, a high density, massive sound, as well as frequent cases of playing in the open air, on a hike, with a significant predominance of marching and dance music in the repertoire, the organizing role of percussion rhythm is especially important. Therefore, a brass band, in comparison with a symphonic one, is characterized by a somewhat forced, accentuated sound of the percussion group (when we hear the sounds of a brass band coming from afar, we first of all perceive the rhythmic beats of the big drum, and then we begin to hear all the other voices).

Small mixed brass band

The decisive difference between the small brass and small mixed orchestra is the high-altitude factor: thanks to the participation of flutes and clarinets with their varieties, the orchestra gains access to the high register "zone". Consequently, the overall volume of the sound changes, which has a very great importance, since the fullness of the sound of the orchestra depends not so much on the absolute strength, but on the register latitude, volumetric arrangement. In addition, opportunities arise for juxtaposing the sound of a brass orchestra with a contrasting wood band. Hence, a certain reduction in the boundaries of the "activity" of the copper group itself, which to a certain extent loses its universality, which is natural in a small brass orchestra.

Thanks to the presence wood panel, as well as characteristic copper (French horns, trumpets), it becomes possible to introduce new timbres arising from the mixing of paints both in the wood and copper groups, and in the wood group itself.

Due to the great technical capabilities, the wooden "copper" is unloaded from the technical forcing, the overall sound of the orchestra becomes lighter, does not feel typical for the technique brass tools"Viscosity".

All this taken together makes it possible to expand the boundaries of the repertoire: a small mixed orchestra has access to a wider range of works of various genres.

Thus, a small mixed brass orchestra is a more perfect performing collective, and this, in turn, imposes broader responsibilities both on the orchestra members themselves (technique, ensemble harmony) and on the leader (conducting technique, selection of repertoire).

Large mixed brass band

The highest form of a brass band is a large mixed brass band, which can perform works of considerable complexity.

This composition is characterized primarily by the introduction of trombones, three or four (to oppose trombones to the "soft" group of saxhorns), three parts of trumpets, four parts of French horns. In addition, a large orchestra has significantly more full group woodwind, which consists of three flutes (two large and piccolo), two oboes (with the replacement of the second oboe with an English horn or with its independent part), a large group of clarinets with their varieties, two bassoons (sometimes with a contrabassoon) and saxophones.

In a large orchestra, helicons, as a rule, are replaced by tubas (their tuning, principles of playing, fingering are the same as those of helicons).

The percussion group is added by timpani, usually three: large, medium and small.

It is clear that a large orchestra, in comparison with a small one, has much greater colorful and dynamic capabilities. Typical for him is the use of more diverse playing techniques - extensive use of the technical capabilities of wood, the use of "closed" sounds (mute) in the copper group, a variety of timbre and harmonic combinations of instruments.

In a large orchestra, the opposition of trumpets and cornet is especially advisable, as well as the widespread use of divisi techniques in clarinets and cornet, and the division of each group can be brought up to 4-5 voices.

Naturally, a large mixed orchestra significantly surpasses small ensembles in terms of the number of musicians (if a small brass orchestra is 10-12 people, a small mixed orchestra 25-30 people, then a large mixed one includes 40-50 musicians and more).

Brass band. Brief outline... I. Gubarev. M .: Soviet composer, 1963

Wind instruments, photos of which can be found on the Internet without any problems, are huge group musical devices for playing sounds. What are these tools? These can be pipes, pipes made of metal or wood, with the presence a certain amount buttons on its surface. The air, which is in the very body of the pipe, is called a "column", due to pressing the keys, or overlapping the outer holes, the same column vibrates, and sound comes out of the pipe. This is how wind instruments work, simply differing from each other by the volume of the "column", the shape of the tube and the resulting final sound.
Wind instruments, photos of which we see in a copper or wooden guise, are indispensable in the work of any large orchestra. And it is very difficult to create a modern ordinary song without the sound of a trumpet. But there are also more modern wind instrument formats. They can even be made of plastic, with huge amount keys and even a certain kind of internal cylindrical labyrinths. And all because of the desire to "squeeze" something new and completely extraordinary out of an ordinary saxophone, clarinet or oboe. Keyboard wind instruments are an organ and such an unusual object as a harmonium.

Wind instruments: their names and methods of playing them

Modern wind instruments, the names of which surprise no less than their sound, are indispensable in the creation of music. The low, but at the same time very deep and interesting sound that they make is impossible to get with any other musical device. It is also very important what the instrument is made of, the period of its work and, of course, the skill of the musician himself.
Wind instruments, the names of which are given below, belong to the wood group. These are flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, zurna and a balaban, which is rare today. All of them are shaped like a thin tube, which has buttons and holes on the surface, after pressing / closing of which the game is carried out directly.
Trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba - this is already classical copper. Sometimes, however, these wind instruments can be cast in silver or brass. The final sound also depends on this. All these are bent pipes, differing in shape, weight, dimensions.
The saxophone is a separate niche in the group of wind instruments, because it also belongs to the class of reed and reed instruments. It is used both in a large orchestra and in a small ensemble and even solo. Jazz would not have such popularity if it were not for the play of famous saxophonists. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the saxophone has become one of the most popular objects, which novice musicians dream of learning to play.

Wind instruments - a list of the most unusual

Wind instruments, the list of which is long and long, never cease to be modernized. Even though no one will succeed in inventing a new saxophone or trumpet, you can find examples of the most unusual instruments of this class.
For example, an alpine horn. Isn't it a wind musical instrument? It works on the principle of an ordinary pipe, it belongs to the subspecies of wooden ones. By outward appearance this horn is not a horn at all, but a whole horn, which is very difficult for one person to hold in his hands. It is used in mountainous areas to alert the entire population of an incident.
Wind instruments, the list of which also contains very non-standard ones, contains a wakrapuk. This is the oldest pipe, which is bent in several places and looks more like an ordinary snake. Wakrapuku is made from an alloy of metal and cattle horns and is still used in Africa at local festivals and festivities, as musical accompaniment.
The history of the musical wind instrument called the didgeridoo is 1500 years old. Interestingly, it reproduces something more like a hum. The ancient peoples believed that a eucalyptus pipe conveys to a living person what spirits say in the other world.

Wind instruments are very different in their structure and sonority from all other instruments, and they have stood out in the music of all cultures since prehistoric times. The classification of these instruments reflects well the relationship and differences between different kinds wind instruments.

How are wind instruments arranged?

The wind instrument consists of resonators of a certain type(usually in the form of tubes). They vibrate in a column of air, which the player blows into the wind instrument, and as a result, the sound is amplified.

The sound range of a wind instrument is determined by the size of its resonators. For example, the sound emitted from a thick tube is low because the length of its air channel contributes to the low-frequency oscillation of the air flow. And the sound of a thin flute will be high due to the narrower shape of the instrument, and, accordingly, the smaller volume of the resonator: under such conditions, the column of air more often vibrates against its walls, therefore, the sound becomes higher.

It is possible to increase the frequency of oscillation of the column by accelerating the injection of air, that is, if you create a faster and sharper air stream.

Classification of wind instruments

Wind instruments are divided into two groups:

• brass instruments;
• woodwind instruments;
• keyboard wind instruments.

Initially, such a distribution arose due to the materials used to make one or another instrument, but later it became more related to the method of extracting sound from it. The material of tools made in our time is not limited to copper and wood and can be very diverse - from metal to plastic, from brass to glass, but these tools will still be assigned to one of the above groups.

When you play them, the sound is produced by changing the length of the air column. This can be achieved by opening special holes that are on the instrument, and which ones exactly depends on the distance at which these holes are from each other.

Woodwind instruments are divided into two subgroups: labial and reed. The distribution depends on how the air is blown into the instrument.

V labial air is blown in through a transverse slot located on the head of the tool itself: thanks to this, the air jet is cut and promotes the internal oscillation of the air.

The labial wind instruments include the pipe, as well as the flute and its varieties.

V reed blowing in occurs with the help of a tongue - a thin plate at the top of the tool, as a result of which the air column vibrates.

Reed wind instruments include: saxophone, clarinet, bassoon and their varieties, as well as instruments such as balaban and zurna.

The method of sound production, caused by a certain position of the lips on the instrument and the force of the blowing of the air stream, determines whether the instrument belongs to copper wind instruments. These wind instruments used to be copper, later brass, and sometimes silver.

Brass instruments are also divided into subgroups.

Peculiarity valve tools lies in the fact that they are, in fact, equipped with three or four valves, which are controlled by the player with his fingers. They are needed in order to increase the length of the air stream by increasing the length of the instrument itself and thus lower the sound. This happens when the valve is pressed, when an additional crown is included in the tube and the instrument is additionally lengthened.

Valve instruments include: trumpet, French horn, tuba, saxhorn and others.

But at natural there are no additional pipes for wind instruments at all: they extract sounds only from a natural scale and are not able to play melodic lines, therefore they practically ceased to be used even in early XIX century. This subgroup includes a bugle, fanfare, hunting horn, and similar instruments.

An extension U-shaped telescopic tube called curtain, characterizes such a type of brass horns as a trombone. The movement of this tube affects the length of the air flow and thus the tone of the sound.

Keyboard wind instruments

Keyboard wind instruments are distinguished separately in this classification. Their peculiarity is that in their structure there are reed and movable tubes - air is pumped into them through special furs.

Among them, there are two subgroups:

• reed - harmonium, accordion, melody, button accordion;
• pneumatic - an organ and some of its types.

Symphony Orchestra Wind Instruments

Flute, bassoon, oboe, tuba, French horn, trombone, clarinet and trumpet are those wind instruments that make up a symphony orchestra. Let's consider some of them.

The flute

Initially, the flute was actually made of wood, but later, in the 19th century, silver became the main material for this instrument. The very word "flute" has its roots in ancient times; then this name applied to all wind instruments without exception. It is believed that the flute is one of the most ancient musical instruments in principle - the first ancestors of this instrument appeared already about 43 thousand years ago.

Previously, there was a longitudinal flute, which the musician holds in front of him like a pipe, but in the period after the Baroque era, it was replaced by a transverse flute, which is held from the side, taking his hands to the side. It is the transverse version that most people imagine when they hear the concept of "flute". V symphony orchestra mainly two flutes are involved. The flute is used most often for classical pieces... Among other wind instruments, flute mastering is best for most people, and learning flute sheet music is no more difficult than piano or guitar sheet music.

Trombone

The trombone is the only brass wind instrument that has not undergone any changes after centuries of its existence, and has remained the same as the ancient musicians knew it. The trombone is the only instrument that does not transpose, that is, the pitch of the real sound matches the pitch of the musical notation. The word "trombone" is usually understood as a kind of tenor trombone. There are also alto and bass trombones, but they are rarely used.

A symphony orchestra usually features three trombones. Most often, a trombone is found in such musical genres like jazz and ska punk.

Oboe

The form that the oboe has now, it acquired in the 18th century. Since ancient times, its predecessors were instruments such as avlos, zurna, bagpipes and others. The oboe is characterized by a melodious timbre, similar to the human voice. It itself has a conical shape and a set of twenty-three cupronickel valves on the body.

The symphony orchestra consists of two oboes. Works of the era of classicism and baroque are the main repertoire of this instrument.

Pipe

Among brass instruments, it is the trumpet that can sound the highest. It is made from materials such as brass, copper or silver. She is one of the most ancient instruments. It was originally used as a signaling instrument, but with 17th century she became an element of the symphony orchestra.

A symphony orchestra uses three trumpets. This instrument is used in a wide variety of genres: classical, jazz, etc.

Tuba

The tuba, in contrast to the trumpet, on the contrary, is the lowest sounding element. In addition, the size and weight of the tuba also exceeds all other brass instruments. Because of this, it is often played while standing, which, among other things, implies the appropriate physical fitness musician. It is an invention of the Belgian Adolphe Sachs of the XIX century. Like a pipe, a tuba is a valve instrument.

The orchestra mainly uses a single tuba.

A more or less serious level of playing any wind instrument can be achieved in three to four years of systematic practice. Developing an ear for music will help accelerate progress. Woodwinds are said to be a little easier to learn than brass; and the most difficult for the students is the French horn and trombone.

It will be easier to explain to little children what brass instruments are with the help of a video. We suggest watching the following video:

Most wind instruments involve the use of human breathing. This is where their name comes from: old Russian word Spirit means air. The sounding body of any wind instrument is a column of air enclosed in the barrel bore.

The classification of musical instruments is based on their separation according to the nature and conditions of use of the sounding bodies. According to the method of sound production, according to the type of vibrator that vibrates the column of air, wind instruments are divided into flute, reed and mouthpiece. Flute (labial or sibilant)
The vibrator of these instruments is a stream of air, dissecting against the sharp edge of the labial opening or the wall of the barrel. Flutes include:

• ocariform instruments - various ceramic whistles with playing holes;

longitudinal flutes:

• open - tools, the trunk of which is open at both ends;
• multi-barreled - tools, which are a set of tubes of various sizes, with one of the ends of each tube closed, the other open;
• whistle - instruments, into the upper end (head) of the barrel of which a sleeve, lip or tongue of the performer is inserted, forming a gap through which a stream of air is directed to the sharp edge of the whistle hole;
• transverse flutes are instruments with one closed end (head), where there is a sound hole, to the edge of which a stream of air is directed.

Reed

The vibrator for this group of instruments is an elastic plate - an interrupter (cane, peep). This group includes:

• instruments with a free tongue: in the form of a birch bark plate, a grass leaf, etc .;
• instruments with a single or double breakable tongue;
• instruments with a slip tongue: harmonics, harmoniums, etc.

Mouthpiece

The vibrator of these instruments is the appropriately closed and collected lips of the performer. The position, degree of elasticity and flexibility of the performer's labial and facial muscles, their fitness, endurance and strength when playing a wind instrument are usually called an ear cushion. Performers on mouthpiece instruments press their lips tightly against the mouthpiece, and the jet of air sent out causes them to vibrate. Thus, unlike all other wind instruments in mouthpiece ear pads, it not only participates in the process of sound formation, but is a direct exciter of vibrations - a vibrator. And although performers on flute and reed instruments must also have an ear cushion (the flutist uses it to direct a stream of air to the cut of the instrument, the player on a reed instrument, covering the reed with his lips, controls its vibration with the help of an ear cushion), it is the mouthpiece instruments that are called ear cushions.

Flute and reed instruments used in professional performance are usually called woodwinds, despite the fact that wood is not always the material for their manufacture; mouthpiece - with brass instruments.

The oscillation frequency of a column of air enclosed in a wind instrument tube (pitch) depends on the length of the tube. With an increase in its length, the vibration frequency decreases (the pitch decreases), with a decrease in length, the vibration frequency increases (the pitch rises). In addition, by increasing the tension of the ear pad and the speed of the blown air (blowing), the air column can be made to vibrate not only as a whole, but also divided into 2, 3, 4, etc. equal parts. The entire column of air gives the main tone. A column of air, divided into two equal parts, sounds an octave above the main tone, into three equal parts - duodecim above the main tone, into four equal parts - two octaves above the main tone, etc. This sequence of sounds produced on a wind instrument by blowing , is called the natural scale, and the sounds themselves are called natural or overtones. On the oboe, clarinet, bassoon, overblowing occurs with the help of special "octave" valves. For clarity, we present a natural scale, built from sound to a large octave (see example 1).

As already mentioned, the absolute pitch of the main tone depends on the length of the instrument tube, but the intervals between overtones do not depend on the absolute pitch of the main tone, but always remain constant: between the first and second overtone - a pure octave, between the second and third - a pure fifth, between the third and the fourth - a pure fourth, etc. The intervals between the overtones do not correspond to the intervals of the same name of the equal-tempered scale, but this discrepancy is not so great as not to use natural sounds in practice. The exception is the seventh, eleventh, thirteenth and fourteenth overtones, which are so different from the corresponding sounds of an equal-tempered scale that they are perceived by ear as fake. Despite this, before the invention of chromatic instruments, they were widely used for playing natural horns and trumpets.

Wind instruments have been known since prehistoric times. Presumably in the Paleolithic era (approximately 80-13 thousand years BC) the flute, trumpet, shell-trumpet appeared; in the Neolithic era (approximately 5-2 thousand years BC) flute with playing holes, Pan's flute, transverse flute, transverse pipe, pipes with a single reed, nose flute, metal pipe, pipes with double reeds.

Flute and reed wind instruments are hollow tubes of cylindrical or conical, and sometimes reverse-conical section. The simplest flute and reed instruments made it possible to extract only a small amount of natural sounds. On the Pan flute, the progressiveness of the sound scale was achieved by means of pipes of different sizes (the shorter the pipe, the higher the sound). However, their change in the course of the game made it difficult to perform the technique. The idea arose to try to vary the length of the air column within one tube by drilling holes in it. The open hole allowed the air sent by the performer into the instrument to exit the tube before it ended, which shortened the air column and thus increased the sound. The hole, closed with a finger, restored the integrity of the tube.

The flute became widespread in Ancient egypt(meme is a longitudinal flute with five playing holes and sebi is a transverse flute), Palestine (ugab is a longitudinal open flute), in China (paixiao is a type of Pan flute; xiao is a longitudinal bamboo flute with six playing holes; di is a bamboo transverse flute with six playing holes, four holes for adjustment and one for coloring the timbre; xuan - longitudinal clay flute with six playing holes), India (wansha - transverse flute and layu - longitudinal). To a much lesser extent, the instrument was widespread in Ancient Greece and Rome. These are the varieties of the syrinx (flute): the harmonic (high-register variety of the longitudinal flute) with playing holes and the Pan flute.
In countries Of the ancient world in addition to flutes, reed instruments were widespread. In ancient Greece, one of the most beloved instruments was the aulos. The instrument was a cylindrical or conical tube with 3-4 or 6 playing holes and a double cane. The performer usually used two avlos at the same time. On one the melody sounded, on the other - the unchanging tone accompanying it. V last century BC Avlos was improved. The number of playing holes increased to 15. Some of them were closed with rotating rings, which facilitated the execution process. Avlos accompanied theatrical performances, gymnastic exercises, it was also used as a military instrument in military campaigns. The Pythian (low) and choral (high) aulos were popular. In Rome, aulos was called tibia.

In ancient Egypt, argul became widespread. The instrument consisted of two interconnected tubes having different lengths and beak-shaped mouthpieces with single tongues. The short tube had 6 play holes, and the longer one had only a hole for sending air. We played two pipes at the same time, like an aulos. Unlike argul, the Arabian tsummar had play holes on both pipes. In China, instruments of the oboe type, guan and son, were used.

The emergence of the European oboe is associated with two medieval types of oriental oboe. These are Indian zurna and Arabic zurna. European musicians used the oriental way of playing: the reed of the instrument was completely immersed in the mouth and vibrated freely, which made the sound very loud and monotonous. In the Middle Ages, an offshoot of the oboe group arose - a family of Western European pipes with a tapered barrel. Treble and soprano pipes were called shalmey, alto and tenor pipes - pommers, bass - bombards or big bass pommers. These instruments had a diatonic scale of almost two octaves and had different tunings. The total range of the pipe family was by the end of the 16th century. five and a half octaves: from f of the controctave to si third.

The improvement of woodwind instruments is associated primarily with the increase in the number of playing holes. Located at certain distances from each other, they began to be divided into main ones and into openings with valves. The latter, in turn, were divided into openings with valves initially in the closed position and into openings with valves initially located in open position.

The main holes made it possible to get the main diatonic scale of the instrument. As a rule, they are covered with rings (glasses) connected to special corrective valves. Holes with valves that are closed and open by pushing down allow altered tones to be produced on the instrument. Openings with valves open and close when pressed are used to produce the lowest instrument sounds.

The oboe, clarinet and bassoon also have octave valves. They are located on the opposite side of the main holes and help the performer to carry out overblowing. For the octave overtone, the same fingering is used as for the main tone (more complicated on the bassoon), only the entire scale of the instrument will sound an octave higher.

Flute, oboe and bassoon are octave instruments. They give both even and odd overtones. The clarinet is a "quinting" instrument, since when blown over, it immediately gives a fifth one octave from the main tone. Even overtones cannot be obtained on it.

The precursors of modern brass instruments were shells and horns dating back to prehistoric times. Simple horns made from animal horns and even elephant tusks were widely used when it was necessary to emit a signal that was superior in strength human voice... They produced several natural sounds, timbrally inexpressive, with a predominance of low overtones.

In Ancient Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Rome, a straight metal natural pipe was widely used as a military and signal instrument. V Ancient China used bronze pipes da-chun-ku (with a large bell) and xiao-chung-ku (with a small bell). V Ancient India were widespread: the most ancient wind instrument shankha (pipe from a sea shell) and rana-sringa (horn).

In a primitive communal society, Slavic squads had the simplest musical instruments. To gather the squads and give military signals, turkey horns were used. In the annals of the X-XI centuries. trumpets and tambourines are mentioned, and on the frescoes of the Kiev Sophia Cathedral (XI century) there are images of flutes and straight trumpets. In the Ipatiev Chronicle of 1151, it is said that the movement of troops in the Kiev squads began to the sound of trumpets. During the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky (90s of the XI century - 1157), the number of troops was determined by the number of banners and the corresponding number of trumpets and tambourines.

In the XII century. there was a separation between trumpets and horns. Pipes began to be used in military practice, horns were used as guard, hunting and pastoral use. In the era of the Crusades, pipes became the property of the privileged classes (1096-1270), in terms of their importance they were equated to weapons.

Simple horns were used by many peoples of Europe until the Middle Ages. Three types of horns were distinguished: small (zinc), medium and full, or half. They were made from buffalo horn. In the XIV century. the trunk of the horns began to bend. Thus, circularly curved hunting or forest horns were created, and at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries, signal (post) horns were somewhat smaller. At the beginning of the XVI century. in Germany, hunting horns appeared in three turns.

Further improvement of brass instruments is associated primarily with the replenishment of their natural scale. As a result, on long, narrow-scale 12 instruments, it became possible to extract a natural scale from the second to sixteenth overtone, and on short wide-scale instruments - from the second to sixth to eighth overtones. Along with the improvement of brass wind instruments, the performing technique also improved. So, at the end of the XVII - early XVIII v. emerged new technique games - clarino (from lat.clarus - clear). It consisted in the maximum use of the upper section of the natural scale, where the sequence of sounds produced becomes incremental. The constant use of the upper register of the instrument (trumpet or French horn) demanded the highest skill from the performer. The highest achievements of this technique were reflected in the works of composers A. Vivaldi (1678-1741), G. Handel (1685-1759) and I.-S. Bach (1685-1750).

Searches related to the creation of chromatic brass instruments are most clearly traced in the example of the improvement of the French horn (see French horn). Sometimes these searches led to completely unexpected results. Thus, the experience of creating a French horn with valves, undertaken in 1760 by F. Kelbel, led to the creation of byugelhorns - wide-range instruments with valves, which became widespread in brass bands.

The valve mechanism, invented at the beginning of the 19th century, significantly expanded the capabilities of brass instruments, although in terms of timbre, natural instruments were superior to chromatic ones. The valve mechanism is of two types: pump (piston) and rotating. The pump was first used by the Berlin masters F. Blumel and G. Stölzel in 1814 for the French horn. The design of the rotary valve was created in 1832 by P. Riedl from Vienna. The valve mechanism consists of several additional tubes or crowns of various lengths. Each of the crowns corresponds to a double valve, which includes the crown in the main tube and accordingly lowers the entire tuning of the instrument.

All chromatic brass instruments, except for the trombone, have three main valves. The first valve lowers the entire pitch of the instrument by 1 tone, the second by 1/2 tone, the third by 2.5 tones. All three valves pressed together will lower the pitch of the instrument by 3 tones. Thus, all the intervals between natural sounds (except for the octave between I and II) are chromatically filled. It should be borne in mind that when the crowns are turned on separately, the scale of the main tube decreases exactly by the required amount: to lower it by 1/2 a tone, the length of the main tube should be increased by 1/15 of its length, to lower it by a tone - by 1/8, to decrease by one and a half tones - by 1/5. When you turn on two or three crowns at the same time, the ratio will change dramatically. So, if you press the third valve simultaneously with the first, the length of its crown will no longer be 1/5 of the length of the main tube, but a slightly smaller value, since the length of the first crown has already been added to the length of the main tube. When all three krones are turned on simultaneously, this difference will become even more noticeable (instead of decreasing by 3 tones, the total scale will decrease by 2.3 / 4 tones). Therefore, each crown is made slightly longer than the calculated one, which only slightly reduces the sounds when any one valve is pressed. But with a combination of valves, intonationally cleaner sounds are obtained. However, in combinations involving a third valve, the calculated ratios between the main and auxiliary pipes change significantly.

The use of a fourth valve (quarter valve) on some instruments makes it possible to chromatically fill the intervals between I and II overtones, but almost all sounds taken with the help of valve combinations sound much higher, and when all four valves are pressed simultaneously, instead of decreasing by 5.1 / 2 the main scale will decrease by only 5 tones. However, using a quarter valve simplifies valve combinations. In addition, using a quarter valve increases the range of the instrument by a large third down.

The rocker mechanism has only one instrument - a trombone (