1.
Woodwind instrument
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Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the more general category of wind instruments. There are two types of woodwind instruments, flutes and reed instruments. What differentiates these instruments from other instruments is the way in which they produce their sound. Examples are a saxophone, a bassoon and a piccolo, flutes produce sound by directing a focused stream of air below the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube. The flute family can be divided into two sub-families, open flutes and closed flutes, to produce a sound with an open flute, the player is required to blow a stream of air across a sharp edge that then splits the airstream. This split airstream then acts upon the air contained within the flutes hollow causing it to vibrate. Examples of open flutes are the flute, panpipes and shakuhachi. Ancient flutes of this variety were often made from sections of plants such as grasses, reeds. Later, flutes were made of such as tin, copper. Modern concert flutes are made of high-grade metal alloys, usually containing nickel, silver, copper. To produce a sound with a flute, the player is required to blow air into a duct. This duct acts as a channel bringing the air to a sharp edge, as with the open flutes, the air is then split, this causes the column of air within the closed flute to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of this type of include the recorder, ocarina. Reed instruments produce sound by focusing air into a mouthpiece which then causes a reed, or reeds, similar to flutes, Reed pipes are also further divided into two types, single reed and double reed. Single-reed woodwinds produce sound by placing a reed onto the opening of a mouthpiece, when air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed causes the air column in the instrument to vibrate and produce its unique sound. Single reed instruments include the clarinet, saxophone, and others such as the chalumeau, double-reed instruments use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane bound together at the base. This form of production has been estimated to have originated in the middle to late Neolithic period. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the instrument and vibrates as air is forced between the two pieces and this family of reed pipes is subdivided further into another two sub-families, exposed double reed, and capped double reed instruments
2.
Musical instrument classification
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Throughout history, various methods of musical instrument classification have been used. The most commonly used system divides instruments into string instruments, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and percussion instruments, the oldest known scheme of classifying instruments is Chinese and dates from the 3rd millennium BC. It grouped instruments according to the materials they are made of. However, the Chou-Li, an anonymous treatise compiled from sources in about the 2nd century BC, had the following order, metal, stone, clay, leather, silk, wood, gourd. The same order was presented in the Tso Chuan, attributed to Tso Chiu-Ming, more usually, instruments are classified according to how the sound is initially produced. The modern system divides instruments into wind, strings and percussion, the scheme was later expanded by Martin Agricola, who distinguished plucked string instruments, such as guitars, from bowed string instruments, such as violins. Classical musicians today do not always maintain this division, but distinguish between wind instruments with a reed and those where the air is set in motion directly by the lips, many instruments do not fit very neatly into this scheme. The serpent, for example, ought to be classified as a brass instrument, however, it looks more like a woodwind instrument, and is closer to one in many ways, having finger-holes to control pitch, rather than valves. Keyboard instruments do not fit easily into this scheme, for example, the piano has strings, but they are struck by hammers, so it is not clear whether it should be classified as a string instrument or a percussion instrument. Ottoman encyclopedist Hadji Khalifa also recognized the three classes in his Kashf al-Zunun an Asami al-Kutub wa al-Funun, a treatise on the origin. The division pervades Tboli thought about cosmology, social characters of men and women, victor-Charles Mahillon later adopted a system very similar to this. This scheme was taken up by Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs who published an extensive new scheme for classication in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. Their scheme is used today, and is most often known as the Hornbostel-Sachs system. Electrophones, such as the guitar or electric bass, which produce sound through electricity and is required to be plugged in to an amplifier. Later Sachs added a category, electrophones, such as theremins. Modern synthesizers and electronic instruments fall in this category, within each category are many subgroups. The system has been criticised and revised over the years, in 1932, comparative musicologist André Schaeffner developed a new classification scheme that was exhaustive, potentially covering all real and conceivable instruments. The Kpelle of West Africa also use this system and they distinguish the struck, including both beaten and plucked, and the blown
3.
Wind instrument
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The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air. In the case of wind instruments, sound is produced by blowing through a reed. Using different air columns for different tones, such as in the pan flute and this method is used on nearly all brass instruments. Changing the length of the air column by lengthening and/or shortening the tube using a sliding mechanism. This method is used on the trombone and the slide whistle, changing the frequency of vibration through opening or closing holes in the side of the tube. This can be done by covering the holes with fingers or pressing a key which then closes the hole and this method is used in nearly all woodwind instruments. Making the column of air vibrate at different harmonics without changing the length of the column of air, almost all wind instruments use the last method, often in combination with one of the others, to extend their register. A more accurate way to determine whether an instrument is brass or woodwind is to examine how the player produces sound, in brass instruments, the players lips vibrate, causing the air within the instrument to vibrate. For example, the saxophone is typically made of brass, but is classified as an instrument because it produces sound with a vibrating reed. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, wind instruments are classed as aerophones, sound production in all wind instruments depends on the entry of air into a flow-control valve attached to a resonant chamber. The resonator is typically a long cylindrical or conical tube, open at the far end, a pulse of high pressure from the valve will travel down the tube at the speed of sound. It will be reflected from the end as a return pulse of low pressure. Under suitable conditions, the valve will reflect the pulse back, with increased energy, Reed instruments such as the clarinet or oboe have a flexible reed or reeds at the mouthpiece, forming a pressure-controlled valve. Standing waves inside the tube will be odd multiples of a quarter-wavelength, with a pressure anti-node at the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates at a rate determined by the resonator. For Lip Reed instruments, the controls the tension in their lips so that they vibrate under the influence of the air flow through them. They adjust the vibration so that the lips are most closed, and the air flow is lowest, standing waves inside the tube will be odd multiples of a quarter-wavelength, with a pressure anti-node at the mouthpiece, and a pressure node at the open end. For Air Reed instruments, the thin grazing air sheet flowing across an opening in the pipe interacts with an edge to generate sound. The jet is generated by the player, when blowing through a thin slit, for recorders and flue organ pipes this slit is manufactured by the instrument maker and has a fixed geometry
4.
Aerophone
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Aerophones categorically comprise the largest and most complex group of instruments in the Americas. The first class includes instruments which, when played, do not contain the vibrating air and this class includes free reed instruments, such as the harmonica, but also many instruments unlikely to be called wind instruments at all by most people, such as sirens and whips. The second class includes instruments which contain the air when being played. This class includes almost all instruments generally called wind instruments — including the didgeridoo, brass instruments, additionally, very loud sounds can be made by explosions directed into, or being detonated inside of resonant cavities. Detonations inside the calliope, as well as the pyrophone might thus be considered as class 42 instruments, according to Ardal Powell, flute is a simple instrument found in numerous ancient cultures. There are three legendary and archeologically verifiable birthplace sites of flutes, Egypt, Greece and India, of these, the transverse flute appeared only in ancient India, while the fipple flutes are found in all three. It is likely, states Powell, that the modern Indian bansuri has not changed much since the medieval era. Archaeological studies have found examples of globular flutes in ancient Mexico, Colombia and Peru, the use of shells of Conches as an aerophone have also been found to be prevalent in areas such as Central America and Peru. Examples of aerophone type instruments in China can be dated back to the Neolithic period, fragments of bone flutes can be found at the burial sites of the Jiahu settlements of ancient China, and they represent some of the earliest known examples of playable instruments. The instruments were carved from the wing bone of the red-crowned crane. The flutes were efficient enough to sound in a nearly accurate octave. Examples of flutes made out of bamboo in China date back to 2nd Century BC and these flutes were known as Dizis or simply Di and typically had 6 holes for playing melodies that were framed by scale-modes. Flutes including the famous Bansuri, have been a part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC. A major deity of Hinduism, Krishna, has been associated with the flute, some early flutes were made out of tibias. Free aerophones are instruments where the air is not enclosed by the instrument itself. The air-stream meets a sharp edge, or an edge is moved through the air. Occasionally called percussive aerophones, plosive aerophones are sounded by percussion caused by a single compression, an example of a plosive aerophone is the scraper flute which has tubes with ridged or serrated edges so that they can be scraped with a rod to produce sound. Non-free aerophones are instruments where the air is contained within the instrument
5.
Single-reed instrument
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A single-reed instrument is a woodwind instrument that uses only one reed to produce sound. The very earliest single-reed instruments were documented in ancient Egypt, as well as the Middle East, Greece, the earliest types of single-reed instruments used idioglottal reeds, where the vibrating reed is a tongue cut and shaped on the tube of cane. Much later, single-reed instruments started using heteroglottal reeds, where a reed is cut and separated from the tube of cane, by contrast, in a double reed instrument, there is no mouthpiece, the two parts of the reed vibrate against one another. Reeds are traditionally made of cane and produce sound when air is blown across or through them, most single-reed instruments are descended from single-reed idioglot instruments called memet, found in Egypt as early as 2700 BCE. Due to their fragility, no instruments from antiquity were preserved, during the Old Kingdom in Egypt, memets were depicted on the reliefs of seven tombs at Saqqarra, six tombs at Giza, and the pyramids of Queen Khentkaus. Most memets were double-clarinets, where two reed tubes were tied or glued together to one instrument. Multiple pipes were used to sound or generate a strong beat-tone with slight variations in tuning among the pipes. One of the tubes usually functioned as a drone, but the design of these simple instruments varied endlessly, the entire reed entered the mouth, meaning that the player could not easily articulate so melodies were defined by quick movement of the fingers on the tone holes. These types of double-clarinets are still prevalent today, but also developed into simplified single-clarinets, modern-day idioglots found in Egypt include the arghul and the zummara. Examples include clarinets, saxophones, and some bagpipes, see links to other examples below. Single reed instruments fall under three Hornbostel–Sachs classes,412.13 Free reeds,422.2 Single reed instruments, The pipe has a single reed consisting of a percussion lamella. These are the percussion reeds including clarinets and saxophones,422.3 Reedpipes with free reeds, The reed vibrates through a closely fitted frame, and there are fingerholes
6.
Key (instrument)
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A key is a specific part of a musical instrument. The purpose and function of the part in question depends on the instrument, on instruments equipped with tuning machines, violins and guitars, for example, a key is part of a tuning machine. It is a gear with a key shaped end used to turn a cog. The key is used to make adjustments to a string. With other instruments, zithers and drums, for example, a key is essentially a small wrench used to turn a tuning machine or lug. On woodwind instruments such as a flute or saxophone, keys are finger operated levers used to open or close tone holes, the keys of an accordion direct the air flow from a manually operated bellows across various tuned vibrating reeds
7.
Adolphe Sax
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Antoine-Joseph Adolphe Sax was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in 1846. He played the flute and clarinet, and his inventions are the saxotromba, saxhorn. Antoine-Joseph Sax was born on 6 November 1814, in Dinant, Belgium, to Charles-Joseph Sax, while his first name was Antoine, he was referred to as Adolphe from childhood. His father and mother were instrument designers themselves, who made changes to the design of the horn. Adolphe began to make his own instruments at an early age and he subsequently studied performance on those two instruments as well as voice at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. According to the biography of Adolphe Sax published on the city of Dinants website and his neighbors called him little Sax, the ghost. After leaving the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Sax began to experiment with new instrument designs, adolphes first important invention was an improvement of the bass clarinet design, which he patented at the age of 24. Sax relocated permanently to Paris in 1841 and began working on a new set of instruments exhibited there in 1844. These were valved bugles, and although he had not invented the instrument itself, his examples were more successful than those of his rivals. They came in seven different sizes, and paved the path to the creation of the flugelhorn. Today, saxhorns are sometimes used in bands and orchestras. The saxhorn also laid the groundwork for the modern euphonium, Sax also developed the saxotromba family, valved brass instruments with narrower bore than the saxhorns, in 1845, though they survived only briefly. The saxhorn valves were accepted as state-of-the-art and are largely unchanged today, the advances made by Adolphe Sax were soon followed by the British brass band movement which exclusively adopted the saxhorn range. The Jedforest Instrumental Band formed in 1854 and The Hawick Saxhorn Band formed in 1855, within the Scottish Borders, the period around 1840 saw Sax inventing the clarinette-bourdon, an early unsuccessful design of contrabass clarinet. Around this time he developed the instrument for which he is best known. The saxophone was invented for use in orchestras and concert bands. Composer Hector Berlioz wrote approvingly of the new instrument in 1842, by 1846 Sax had designed, on paper, a full range of saxophones. Although they never became standard orchestral instruments, the made his reputation and secured him a job
8.
Range (music)
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In music, the range of a musical instrument is the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch it can play. For a singing voice, the equivalent is vocal range, the range of a musical part is the distance between its lowest and highest note. The terms sounding range, written range, designated range, duration range, a piccolo, for example, typically has a sounding range one octave higher than its written range. The designated range is the set of notes the player should or can achieve while playing, all instruments have a designated range, and all pitched instruments have a playing range. Timbre, dynamics, and duration ranges are interrelated and one may achieve registral range at the expense of timbre, the designated range is thus the range in which a player is expected to have comfortable control of all aspects. The duration range is the difference between the shortest and longest rhythm used, dynamic range is the difference between the quietest and loudest volume of an instrument, part or piece of music. Although woodwind instruments and string instruments have no upper limit to their range. Brass instruments, on the hand, can play beyond their designated ranges. Notes lower than the brass instruments designated range are called pedal tones, the playing range of a brass instrument depends on both the technical limitations of the instrument and the skill of the player. Classical arrangements seldom make woodwind or brass instruments play beyond their designed range, string musicians play the bottom of their ranges very frequently, but the top of a string instruments range is rather fuzzy, and it is unusual for a string player to exceed the designated range. It is quite rare for wind musicians to play the extremes of their instruments, the most common exception is that in many 20th century works, pedal tones are called for in bass trombones. This chart uses standard numberings for octaves where middle C corresponds to C4, in the MIDI language middle C is referred to as MIDI note number 60. The lowest note that an organ can sound is C−1. However, if acoustic combination counts, the lowest note is C−2, *This chart only displays down to C0, though some pipe organs, such as the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ, extend down to C−1. Also, the frequency of the subcontrabass tuba is B♭−1
9.
Musical instrument
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A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument, the history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have used for ritual, such as a trumpet to signal success on the hunt. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment, Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications. The date and origin of the first device considered an instrument is disputed. The oldest object that some refer to as a musical instrument. Some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago, many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood, and other non-durable materials. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world, however, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. By the Middle Ages, instruments from Mesopotamia were in maritime Southeast Asia, development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North, Central, and South America shared musical instruments. By 1400, musical instrument development slowed in areas and was dominated by the Occident. Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, Instruments can be classified by their effective range, their material composition, their size, etc. However, the most common method, Hornbostel-Sachs, uses the means by which they produce sound. The academic study of instruments is called organology. Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies—for example, by using objects to create music from sounds. Primitive instruments were designed to emulate natural sounds, and their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment. The concept of melody and the pursuit of musical composition were unknown to early players of musical instruments. A player sounding a flute to signal the start of a hunt does so without thought of the notion of making music. Musical instruments are constructed in an array of styles and shapes
10.
Military band
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A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments, the conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music. Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of marching band in the world. Military bands also play a part in funeral ceremonies. There are two types of traditions in military bands. The first is military field music and this type of music includes bugles, bagpipes, or fifes and almost always drums. This type of music was used to control troops on the battlefield as well as for entertainment, following the development of instruments such as the keyed trumpet or the saxhorn family of brass instruments, a second tradition of the brass and woodwind military band was formed. 11th century book Divânu Lügatit-Türk mentions prototype of Mehtaran, as a nevbet, 17th century traveler Evliya Çelebi noted that the Ottoman Empire had 40 guilds of musicians in 1670s Istanbul. Ottoman military bands influenced European equivalents, each regiment in the British Army maintained its own military band. Until 1749 bandsmen were civilians hired at the expense of the colonel commanding a regiment, instruments during the 18th century included fifes, drums, the oboe, French horn, clarinet and bassoon. Drummers summoned men from their farms and ranches to muster for duty, in the chaotic environment of the battlefield, musical instruments were the only means of commanding the men to advance, stand or retire. In the mid 19th century each smaller unit had their own fifer and drummer, when units massed for battle a band of musicians was formed for the whole. The American military band traditions date from the British era, from the American Revolutionary War onward military bands marched in the same manner as their French counterparts. During the American Civil War most Union regiments had both types of groups within the unit and these performed in a concert setting for entertainment, as well as continued to perform drill and martial events. Field music is popular with many organizations such as police, fire. Indeed, Russia has a tradition of military bands and so many military marches have been composed by various composers through the years. The military bands also provide musical support in civil and military events, in a wide range of groups. Some can even continue the old Russian military band traditions by donning the old imperial military uniforms of the Russian Empire, todays French Armed Forces bands are also of the headquarters element from the regimental or brigade level onward and can also provide musical elements for civil and military events
11.
Sopranino saxophone
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The sopranino saxophone is one of the smallest members of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E♭, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone, due to their small size, sopraninos are not usually curved like other saxophones. Orsi, however, does make curved sopranino saxophones, the original patented saxophone family, as developed by Adolphe Sax, included sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass, and subcontrabass instruments. Thus, the E♭ sopranino, originally the smallest size of saxophone, the most notable use of the sopranino is in the orchestral work Boléro by Maurice Ravel. Although Ravel called for a saxophone in F, this member of the concert family of saxophones never gained popularity and is no longer in existence. The sopranino saxophone is used in the six-member Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra
12.
Soprano saxophone
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The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, a transposing instrument pitched in the key of B♭, modern soprano saxophones with a high F♯ key have a range from A♭3 to E6 and are therefore pitched one octave above the tenor saxophone. Some saxophones have additional keys, allowing them to play an additional F♯ and these extra keys are commonly found on more modern saxophones. Additionally, skilled players can make use of the altissimo register, there is also a soprano pitched in C, which is less common and until recently had not been made since around 1940. The soprano saxophone can be compared to the B♭ clarinet, although the clarinet can play a fourth lower and over a fifth higher. Professional players will use the technique of voicing to fix problems with intonation, due to its similarity in tone to the oboe, the soprano saxophone is sometimes used as a substitute for it. In addition to straight sopranos, there are also slightly and fully curved sopranos, the fully curved variety looks much like a small alto saxophone with a straighter crook. There is some debate over the effect of the straight and curved neck, with some believing that a curved neck on a soprano gives it a warmer. The soprano has all the keys of other models and some may have a top G key next to the F♯ key. Soprano saxophone mouthpieces are available in various designs, allowing players to tailor their tone as required, in 2001, François Louis created the aulochrome, a woodwind instrument made of two joined soprano saxophones, which can be played either in unison or in harmony. The soprano saxophone is used as a solo and chamber instrument in classical music. It is included in the quartet and plays a lead role. Many solo pieces have been written for it by such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alan Hovhaness, Jennifer Higdon, Takashi Yoshimatsu. As an orchestral instrument, it has used in several compositions. It was used by Richard Strauss in his Sinfonia Domestica, where included in the music are parts for four saxophones and it is also used in Maurice Ravels Bolero and has a featured solo directly following the tenor saxophones solo. Vincent dIndy includes a soprano in his opera Fervaal, greats of the jazz soprano sax include 1930s virtuoso Sidney Bechet, 1950s innovator Steve Lacy, and, beginning with his landmark 1960 album My Favorite Things, John Coltrane. Other notable soprano saxophonists include Jay Beckenstein, Dave Koz, Grover Washington, Jr. Ronnie Laws, and Nigerian Afrobeat multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti
13.
Alto saxophone
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The alto saxophone, also referred to as alto sax, is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, and patented in 1846. It is pitched in E♭, and is smaller than the tenor, the alto sax is the most common saxophone and is commonly used in classical music, military bands, marching bands, and jazz. The alto saxophone was also commonplace in music from the 1980s. The saxophone fingerings are all universal, so a player can play any type of saxophone. The range of the saxophone is from concert A♭3 to concert A♭5. As with most types of saxophones, the standard range is B♭3 to F6. Above that, the altissimo register begins at F♯6 and extends upwards, the saxophones altissimo register is more difficult to control than that of other woodwinds and is usually only expected from advanced players. By covering or partially covering the bell of the saxophone when playing B♭3, also of note is Kadri Gopalnath, a pioneer of Carnatic music, plays a modified alto saxophone. Some companies that currently produce saxophones are Buffet Crampon, KHS/Jupiter, Conn-Selmer, Selmer Paris, Yamaha, Leblanc/Vito, Keilwerth, Cannonball, new alto saxophones range in price between €250 for lower quality student models to over €6000 for professional models. The alto saxophone has a classical solo repertoire that includes solos with orchestra, piano. Two of the most well-known solo compositions are Jacques Iberts Concertino da Camera, also, the alto saxophone is part of the standard instrumentation of concert bands and saxophone quartets. The alto saxophone is also used in orchestral compositions. Several orchestral examples are listed below, georges Bizet features it in the Minuet from the second suite of music from LArlésienne. He also includes it in his Suite No.1 and Suite No.2, maurice Ravel uses the saxophone prominently in his orchestration of Modest Moussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition, most notably as the soloist in Il vecchio castello. Alban Berg uses the saxophone in his orchestral works, most notably Der Wein, Lulu. Sergei Rachmaninoff uses the saxophone in his Symphonic Dances as a soloist in the first movement, george Gershwin includes it in a few pieces, such as Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. Pierre Boulez wrote for 2 alto saxes in his composition Pli selon pli, benjamin Britten calls for an alto in his Sinfonia da Requiem and The Prince of the Pagodas. Leonard Bernstein includes an alto sax in his Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, vincent dIndy enlists two altos in his opera Fervaal
14.
Baritone saxophone
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The baritone saxophone or bari sax is one of the largest members of the saxophone family, only being smaller than the bass, contrabass and subcontrabass saxophones. The baritone saxophone is used in classical music, military bands, marching bands. The baritone saxophone was created in 1846 by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax as one of a family of 14 instruments, the saxophone was created to be a tonal link between the woodwinds and brasses, which Sax believed to be lacking. The family was divided two groups of seven saxophones each from the soprano to the contrabass. The family consisting of saxophones ranged in the keys of B♭, the bari sax, pitched in E♭, is the fifth member of this family. The baritone saxophone, like saxophones, is a conical tube of thin brass. It has an end, flared to form a bell. The baritone saxophone uses a single reed mouthpiece like that of a clarinet, there is a loop in the neck to reduce it to a practical height, colloquially referred to as a “Q”. Baritone saxophones come in two sizes with one ranging to low A and the other to low B♭, originally, all baritone saxophones were low B♭ instruments, but over time players began modifying their horns to reach the low A below. In the 1980s, it common for saxophone manufacturers to produce low A instruments. In modern times, the low A is considered standard and is written in sheet music for the instrument. Despite the ubiquity of the low A horn, some still prefer to use B♭ horns because of the added weight. As is true for other saxophones, the F♯ key was also an addition to the horn now considered standard. The baritone saxophone’s relatively large mass has led to the development of harness-style neckstrap that distributes the weight across the users shoulders. Several different kinds exist, produced by brands as well known as Neotech and Vandoren, and each distributes weight differently across the neck, clavicle. Many marching saxophonists prefer this style for its ability to decrease fatigue and those who mainly perform seated, on the other hand, may dislike the decreased ability to move one’s upper body. It is an instrument in the key of E♭, pitched an octave plus a major sixth lower than written. It is one octave lower than the alto saxophone, modern baritones with a low A key and high F♯ key have a range from C2 to A4
15.
Bass saxophone
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The bass saxophone is one of the largest members of the saxophone family—larger than the more commonly encountered baritone saxophone. It was the first type of saxophone presented to the public, the modern bass saxophone is a transposing instrument pitched in B♭, an octave below the tenor saxophone. The bass saxophone is not commonly used in any music, but it is heard on some 1920s jazz recordings, in free jazz, and in the saxophone choir or large ensemble tradition. The instrument was first used in 1844, both by Hector Berlioz in an arrangement of his Chant sacred, and by Georges Kastner in his opera Le Dernier Roi de Judas, american composer Warren Benson has championed the use of the instrument in his music for concert band. Although bass saxophones in C were made for use, modern instruments are in B♭. This puts them a fourth lower than the baritone sax. The range is similar to that of the B♭ contrabass clarinet, music is written in treble clef, just as for the other saxophones, with the pitches sounding two octaves and a major second lower than written. As with most other members of the family, the lowest written note is the B♭ below the staff—sounding as a concert A♭ in the first octave. Until the start of the 21st century, the largest existing member of the family was the rare contrabass, pitched in E♭. Inventor Adolphe Sax had a patent for a saxophone. In 1999, German wind instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim introduced the subcontrabass tubax, notable players of this era include Billy Fowler, Coleman Hawkins, Otto Hardwicke, Adrian Rollini, Min Leibrook, Spencer Clark, and Vern Brown of the Six Brown Brothers. The bass sax become more scarce in standard jazz band instrumentation during the mid to late 1920s, sheet music of the period shows many bands photographed with a bass sax in their collection of instruments. It was sometimes played by the tuba or string bass player rather a member of the sax section, american bandleader Boyd Raeburn, who led an avant-garde big band in the 1940s, was a sometime bass saxophonist. In Britain, the leader of the Oscar Rabin Band also played it, harry Gold, a member of Rabins band, played bass saxophone in his own band, Pieces of Eight. American bandleader Stan Kentons Mellophonium Orchestra featured fourteen brass players and used a section of one alto. Joel Kaye played baritone and bass saxophone in that band, the ensemble recorded several successful albums, winning two Grammys. The Lawrence Welk Band featured Bill Page soloing on bass sax on several broadcasts during the 1960s, shorty Rogerss Swingin Nutcracker featured a bass saxophone on four of the movements. The 1970s traditional jazz band The Memphis Nighthawks built their sound around diminutive bass saxophonist Dave Feinman, some revivalist bass saxophonists performing today in the 1920s-1930s style are Vince Giordano and Bert Brandsma, leader of the Dixieland Crackerjacks
16.
Contrabass saxophone
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The contrabass saxophone is the second-lowest-pitched extant member of the saxophone family proper. It is extremely large and heavy, and is pitched in the key of E♭, by 1849, Sax was displaying contrabass through sopranino saxophones at exhibitions. The contrabass first known use was in Jules Massenets operas La Vierge of 1879. Saxophone ensembles were also popular at this time, and the saxophone was an eye-catching novelty for the groups that were able to obtain one. By the onset of the Great Depression, the craze had ended. Aku stress buat oral ni In recent years, however, the saxophone has experienced a resurgence in interest. Due to its body and wide bore, the sound of the contrabass saxophone has great acoustical presence. It can be smooth and mellow, or harsh and buzzy depending on the player and its middle and upper registers are warm, full, and expressive. However, when tones are reinforced by another instrument playing at the octave or fifteenth. In some contemporary jazz/classical ensembles the contrabass saxophone doubles the baritone saxophone either at the pitch or an octave below. It is particularly effective as a foundation for large ensembles of saxophones, as an example, the eminent saxophonist Sigurd Raschèr played the instrument in his Raschèr Saxophone Ensemble, and it is featured on most of the albums by the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra. The Scottish composer Alistair Hinton has included parts for soprano, alto, baritone, the contrabass saxophone has most frequently been used as a solo instrument by woodwind players in the genres of jazz and improvised music who are searching for an extreme or otherworldly tone. The difficulty of holding and controlling the instrument makes performing on the instrument a somewhat theatrical experience in, on older instruments, playing is difficult too, it takes an enormous amount of air to sound notes in the low register. Thanks to refinements in their designs and keywork, modern contrabass saxophones are no more difficult to play than most other saxophones. An increasing number of performers and recording artists are making use of the instrument, including Anthony Braxton, Paul Cohen, David Brutti, j’Elle Stainer Contrabass saxophone page from www. contrabass. com website Contrabass saxophone page from Jay C. Easton Video of Marcel W. Helland playing a Contrabass Saxophone
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Subcontrabass saxophone
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The subcontrabass saxophone is a type of saxophone that Adolphe Sax patented and planned to build but never constructed. Sax called this imagined instrument saxophone bourdon and it is a transposing instrument pitched in B♭, one octave below the bass saxophone, two octaves below the tenor saxophone, and three octaves and a major second below its written pitch. Until 1999, no genuine, playable subcontrabass saxophones were made, the B♭ subcontrabass tubax, which was developed in 1999 by instrument manufacturer Benedikt Eppelsheim of Munich, Germany, is described by Eppelsheim as a subcontrabass saxophone. This instrument is available in both C and B♭, with the B♭ model providing the same range as the saxophone bourdon would have. A contrabass-range tubax in E♭ is also available and this makes for a more compact instrument with a reedier and fatter timbre. While some argue that the tubax is akin to the double-reed sarrusophone, since several conical single-reed instruments with bores narrower than the saxophone are known, analogies to a double-reed instruments can only relate to range and overall dimensions. Some authorities regard the tubax as a family of instruments rather than as a type of saxophone. A Brazilian company, JElle Stainer, produced a working compact subcontrabass in 2010, in September 2012, instrument manufacturer Benedikt Eppelsheim of Munich, Germany completed building the first full-size subcontrabass saxophone. This instrument stands 2.25 meters tall, in July 2013, JElle Stainer of Brazil completed building a 2. 8-meter full-size subcontrabass saxophone. Tubax MP3 sound recording of the first movement of Duet for Basses by Walter Hartley, played as a B♭ Tubax duet, performed by Jay C
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Orchestra
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The term orchestra derives from the Greek ὀρχήστρα, the name for the area in front of a stage in ancient Greek theatre reserved for the Greek chorus. A full-size orchestra may sometimes be called an orchestra or philharmonic orchestra. The actual number of employed in a given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred musicians, depending on the work being played. The term chamber orchestra usually refers to smaller-sized ensembles of about fifty musicians or fewer, the typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras called for in the works of Richard Wagner, and later, Gustav Mahler. Orchestras are usually led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms, the conductor unifies the orchestra, sets the tempo and shapes the sound of the ensemble. The first violin, commonly called the concertmaster, also plays an important role in leading the musicians, the typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. The orchestra, depending on the size, contains almost all of the instruments in each group. Chamber orchestra usually refers to smaller-sized ensembles, a chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians. The term concert orchestra may also be used, as in the BBC Concert Orchestra, the so-called standard complement of doubled winds and brass in the orchestra from the first half of the 19th century is generally attributed to the forces called for by Beethoven. The composers instrumentation almost always included paired flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, the exceptions to this are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, and Piano Concerto No,4, which each specify a single flute. Beethoven carefully calculated the expansion of this particular timbral palette in Symphonies 3,5,6, the third horn in the Eroica Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility, but also the effect of choral brass in the Trio movement. Piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones add to the finale of his Symphony No.5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver the effect of storm and sunshine in the Sixth, for several decades after his death, symphonic instrumentation was faithful to Beethovens well-established model, with few exceptions. Apart from the core orchestral complement, various instruments are called for occasionally. These include the guitar, heckelphone, flugelhorn, cornet, harpsichord. Saxophones, for example, appear in some 19th- through 21st-century scores.6 and 9 and William Waltons Belshazzars Feast, and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th-century works, usually playing parts marked tenor tuba, including Gustav Holsts The Planets, cornets appear in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys ballet Swan Lake, Claude Debussys La Mer, and several orchestral works by Hector Berlioz
19.
C soprano saxophone
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The C soprano saxophone is a member of the saxophone family. It closely resembles the more common B♭ soprano saxophone but is pitched a tone higher, unlike other saxophones, it is not a transposing instrument. The C soprano has a similar range to the oboe. In the early 20th century, the C soprano was marketed to those who wished to perform oboe parts in band, vaudeville arrangements. C sopranos are the shape as B♭ sopranos and differ in length by only around 3 centimeters. C soprano saxophones usually have a C stamped on them, close to the serial number, the same companies that made C melody instruments manufactured C soprano saxophones. As with C melody instruments, production of C sopranos commenced circa 1919, currently, AquilaSax makes C soprano saxophones. It was used by Richard Strauss in his Sinfonia Domestica, where included in the music are parts for four saxophones including a saxophone in C
20.
Mezzo-soprano saxophone
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The mezzo-soprano saxophone, sometimes called the F alto saxophone, is an instrument in the saxophone family. It is in the key of F, pitched a whole step above the alto saxophone and its size and the sound are similar to the E♭ alto, although the upper register sounds more like a B♭ soprano. Very few mezzo-sopranos exist—they were only produced in 1928 and 1929 by the C. G. Conn company and they were not popular and did not sell widely, as their production coincided with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. Harsh economic conditions forced Conn to reduce the range of saxophones they produced to the most popular models, Conn used the surplus stock of mezzo-sopranos to teach instrument repair in Conns Elkhart workshops. Typically, a Conn instructor would deliberately damage the mezzo-sopranos and the students would then be tasked with repairing them, the repeated wear and tear of these actions eventually destroyed the saxophones. The mezzo-soprano is the only pitched in F, apart from a few prototypes of an F baritone saxophone. Notable players of the mezzo-soprano saxophone include Anthony Braxton, James Carter, Vinny Golia, Jon Irabagon, more recently a mezzo-soprano in the key of G has been produced by Danish woodwind technician Peter Jessen, most notably played by Benjamin Koppel and Joe Lovano. Their collaboration can be heard on The Mezzo Sax Encounter where Koppel and Lovano are accompanied by pianist Kenny Werner, bassist Scott Colley and this instrument is more in the timbral quality of Bb soprano saxophone. It was asked for by Richard Strauss in his Sinfonia Domestica written in 1903-1904, the listed price of the Aquilasax F-Mezzo-Soprano saxophone, if produced, is $2950. Easton - modern & unusual woodwinds Jay Eastons alto and mezzo-soprano page, with photographs and sound clips
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C melody saxophone
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The C melody saxophone is a saxophone pitched in the key of C, one whole step above the B-flat tenor saxophone. In the UK it is referred to as a C tenor. The C melody was part of the series of saxophones pitched in C and F intended by the inventor, Adolphe Sax. Since 1930, only saxophones in the key of B♭ and E♭ have been produced on a large scale, however, in the early years of the 21st century, small-scale production of new C melody saxophones has commenced in China for a company called Aquilasax. A C melody saxophone is larger than an alto and smaller than a tenor, the bore on most models has a diameter and taper more like a stretched alto than a tenor. When seen in profile, its shape bears resemblance to a tenor saxophone, though it is smaller. Most C melody saxophones have curved necks though C. G. Conn did make straight-necked C melody instruments, C melody saxophones are usually marked with a letter C above or below the serial number. A major selling point for the C melody saxophone was the fact that in contrast to other saxophones, it was not a transposing instrument. As a result, the player could read regular printed music without having to transpose or read music parts that have been transposed into B♭ or E♭, which most other saxophones would require. Another selling point was that the C melody produces a more muted tone than the E♭ alto or B♭ tenor, many novelty tunes, most influenced by 1920s dance music, were written specifically for the instrument. They were sometimes used in churches to accompany hymns. Dedicated mouthpieces were produced for the C melody saxophone, though these may be hard to find in the 21st century, the C melody has a muted sound when compared to other saxophone types, particularly if an original vintage mouthpiece is used. This made it useful for its originally intended environment of playing in drawing rooms. C melody mouthpieces often give a C melody saxophone a slightly muffled sound, as a result, some experimentation may be required in order to find a tenor mouthpiece which provides accurate intonation across the entire scale. Other players have successfully fitted alto saxophone mouthpieces to their C melody saxophones, as before, some experimentation may be required. With a more modern mouthpiece fitted, a C melody saxophone can lose some of its qualities and sound brighter. Currently, there are a number of manufacturers producing C melody mouthpieces e. g. Beechler, Ralph Morgan, Runyon, Aquilasax, a number of high-quality manufacturers produced C melody saxophones from 1914 through 1930. Production of C melody saxophones appears to have reached a peak around 1923, comparatively few C melody saxophones were made in the late 1920s
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Sopranissimo saxophone
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The sopranissimo or soprillo saxophone is the smallest member of the saxophone family. It is pitched in B♭, one octave above the soprano saxophone, because of the difficulties in building such a small instrument—the soprillo is 30 cm long,33 cm with the mouthpiece—it is only recently that a true sopranissimo saxophone has been produced. The keywork only extends to a written E♭6, rather than F, F♯, or sometimes G, like most saxophones, the extremely small mouthpiece requires a small and focused embouchure, making the soprillo difficult to play, particularly in its upper register. There is very little demand for soprillos, reducing the economy of scale. As of 2015, soprillos were being manufactured by the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim, easton, includes pictures and sound clips of his soprillo. Soprillo MP3s from Benedikt Eppelsheim site Soprillogy, CD dedicated to the soprillo
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Tubax
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The tubax is a modified saxophone developed in 1999 by the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim. It is available in both E♭ contrabass and B♭ or C subcontrabass sizes and its name is a portmanteau of the words tuba and sax. The first size of tubax to be developed was the E♭ contrabass and it has the same register as a regular contrabass saxophone but is much more compact due to its tubing being folded more times. The subcontrabass tubax uses a saxophone or bass saxophone mouthpiece. While several B♭ subcontrabasses are already in use, only one C model has been manufactured and it was sold to Thomas Mejer of Switzerland in July 2002, he has recorded on it with Peter A. Schmid as the Two Tubax Duo. The tubax has had debate over whether it is really in the saxophone family and its bore is not as wide as other saxophones that size are, and the tubing is very thin compared to other saxes. Some authorities classify it as its own family of instruments, while others consider it in the saxophone family, also, the tubax is a lot like a double reed instrument family called a sarrusophone. The sarrusophones range is the same as a saxophone, while some have a high G, lastly, the tubaxs sound is a little bit honkier than the average saxophone. Serge Bertocchi Marcus Weiss Paul Cohen Petr Dvořák Jay C
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Saxophone
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The saxophone is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet, the saxophone family was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1840. He patented the saxophone on June 28,1846, in two groups of seven instruments each, each series consisted of instruments of various sizes in alternating transposition. The series pitched in B♭ and E♭, designed for bands, have proved extremely popular. The saxophone is used in music, military bands, marching bands. The saxophone was developed in 1846 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker, flautist, born in Dinant and originally based in Brussels, he moved to Paris in 1842 to establish his musical instrument business. Prior to his work on the saxophone, he had several improvements to the bass clarinet by improving its keywork and acoustics. Sax was also a maker of the ophicleide, a large conical brass instrument in the bass register with keys similar to a woodwind instrument. His experience with two instruments allowed him to develop the skills and technologies needed to make the first saxophones. As an outgrowth of his work improving the bass clarinet, Sax began developing an instrument with the projection of a brass instrument and he wanted it to overblow at the octave, unlike the clarinet, which rises in pitch by a twelfth when overblown. An instrument that overblows at the octave has identical fingering for both registers, Sax created an instrument with a single-reed mouthpiece like a clarinet, conical brass body like an ophicleide, and some acoustic properties of both the horn and the clarinet. Having constructed saxophones in several sizes in the early 1840s, Sax applied for, and received, the patent encompassed 14 versions of the fundamental design, split into two categories of seven instruments each, and ranging from sopranino to contrabass. Although the instruments transposed at either F or C have been considered orchestral, the C soprano saxophone was the only instrument to sound at concert pitch. Saxs patent expired in 1866, thereafter, numerous saxophonists and instrument manufacturers implemented their own improvements to the design, the first substantial modification was by a French manufacturer who extended the bell slightly and added an extra key to extend the range downwards by one semitone to B♭. It is suspected that Sax himself may have attempted this modification and this extension is now commonplace in almost all modern designs, along with other minor changes such as added keys for alternate fingerings. Using alternate fingerings allows a player to play faster and more easily, a player may also use alternate fingerings to bend the pitch. Some of the alternate fingerings are good for trilling, scales, a substantial advancement in saxophone keywork was the development of a method by which the left thumb operates both tone holes with a single octave key, which is now universal on modern saxophones. This enables a chromatic scale to be played two octaves simply by playing the diatonic scale combined with alternately raising and lowering this one digit
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Transposing instrument
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A transposing instrument is a musical instrument whose music is notated at a pitch different from the pitch that actually sounds. Playing a written C on an instrument produces a pitch other than C. For example, a written C on a B♭ clarinet sounds a concert B♭, rather than a property of the instrument, the transposition is a convention of music notation—however, instruments whose music is typically notated in this way are called transposing instruments. As transposing instruments is a convention, the issue of transposition is mainly an issue for genres of music which use sheet music, such as classical music. For some instruments, the pitch is still a C, but in a different octave. There are several reasons that composers, orchestrators and arrangers transpose music for certain instruments, many instruments are members of a family of instruments that differ mainly in size. For example, the fingerings which produce the notes of a C major scale on a standard flute, instruments that transpose this way are often referred to as being in a certain key, such as the A clarinet or clarinet in A. The instruments key tells which pitch will sound when the plays a note written as C. A player of a B♭ clarinet who reads a written C will sound a B♭ while the player of an A clarinet will read the same note, the non-transposing member of the family is thus called a clarinet in C. In the early 20th century, however, instruments with basic scales other than C were sometimes written as transposing instruments, before valves were invented in the 19th century, horns and trumpets could play only the notes of the overtone series from a single fundamental pitch. As a result, all music was written as if for a fundamental pitch of C. The introduction of valves made this unnecessary, though many players and composers found the tone quality of valved instruments inferior. F transposition became standard in the early 19th century, with the horn sounding a fifth below written pitch in treble clef. In bass clef composers differed in whether they expected the instruments to transpose down a fifth or up a fourth, when they played together in an ensemble, the parts of some instruments would then have to be transposed to compensate. In many of Bachs cantatas the organ part is notated a full step lower than the other instruments, a few early-music ensembles of the present day must do something similar if they comprise some instruments tuned to A415 and others to A440, approximately a semitone apart. Modern builders of continuo instruments sometimes include moveable keyboards which can play with either pitch standard. The harpsichord has a string for each note, plucked by a plectrum. Moving the keyboard mechanism right or left causes the A key to play the next string, instruments that transpose at the octave are not playing in a different key from concert pitch instruments, but sound an octave higher or lower than written
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Clef
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A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the stave, it indicates the name and this line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the stave may be determined. Only one clef that references a note in a rather than on a line has ever been used. There are three types of clef used in music notation, F, C, and G. Each type of clef assigns a different reference note to the line on which it is placed, once one of these clefs has been placed on one of the lines of the stave, the other lines and spaces can be read in relation to it. The use of three different clefs makes it possible to music for all instruments and voices, even though they may have very different tessituras. The use of different clefs for various instruments and voices allows each part to be written comfortably on the stave with a minimum of ledger lines, to facilitate writing for different tessituras, any of the clefs may theoretically be placed on any of the lines of the stave. The further down on the stave a clef is placed, the higher the tessitura it is for, conversely, the higher up the clef, since there are five lines on the stave, and three clefs, it might seem that there would be fifteen possible clefs. Six of these, however, are redundant clefs, each of these clefs has a different name based on the tessitura for which it is best suited. In modern music, only four clefs are used regularly, the treble clef, the bass clef, the alto clef, of these, the treble and bass clefs are by far the most common. Here follows a complete list of the clefs, along with a list of instruments, each clef is shown in its proper position on the stave, followed by its reference note. An obelisk after the name of a clef indicates that that clef is no longer in common use, where the G-clef is placed on the second line of the stave, it is called the treble clef. This is the most common used today, and the only G-clef still in use. For this reason, the terms G-clef and treble clef are often seen as synonymous, the treble clef was historically used to mark a treble, or pre-pubescent, voice part. Treble clef is the upper stave of the grand stave used for harp and it is also sometimes used, along with tenor clef, for the highest notes played by bass-clef instruments such as the cello, double bass, bassoon, and trombone. The viola also sometimes uses treble clef for very high notes, treble clef is used for the soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, contralto and tenor voices. The tenor voice sounds an octave lower, and is written using an octave clef or double-treble clef. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a special clef was used for violin music, for this reason it is known as the French clef or French violin clef although it was more commonly used for flute music
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Interval (music)
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In music theory, an interval is the difference between two pitches. In Western music, intervals are most commonly differences between notes of a diatonic scale, the smallest of these intervals is a semitone. Intervals smaller than a semitone are called microtones and they can be formed using the notes of various kinds of non-diatonic scales. Some of the very smallest ones are called commas, and describe small discrepancies, observed in some tuning systems, Intervals can be arbitrarily small, and even imperceptible to the human ear. In physical terms, an interval is the ratio between two sonic frequencies, for example, any two notes an octave apart have a frequency ratio of 2,1. This means that successive increments of pitch by the same result in an exponential increase of frequency. For this reason, intervals are often measured in cents, a derived from the logarithm of the frequency ratio. In Western music theory, the most common naming scheme for intervals describes two properties of the interval, the quality and number, examples include the minor third or perfect fifth. These names describe not only the difference in semitones between the upper and lower notes, but also how the interval is spelled, the importance of spelling stems from the historical practice of differentiating the frequency ratios of enharmonic intervals such as G–G♯ and G–A♭. The size of an interval can be represented using two alternative and equivalently valid methods, each appropriate to a different context, frequency ratios or cents, the size of an interval between two notes may be measured by the ratio of their frequencies. When a musical instrument is tuned using a just intonation tuning system, Intervals with small-integer ratios are often called just intervals, or pure intervals. Most commonly, however, musical instruments are tuned using a different tuning system. As a consequence, the size of most equal-tempered intervals cannot be expressed by small-integer ratios, for instance, an equal-tempered fifth has a frequency ratio of 2 7⁄12,1, approximately equal to 1.498,1, or 2.997,2. For a comparison between the size of intervals in different tuning systems, see section Size in different tuning systems, the standard system for comparing interval sizes is with cents. The cent is a unit of measurement. If frequency is expressed in a scale, and along that scale the distance between a given frequency and its double is divided into 1200 equal parts, each of these parts is one cent. In twelve-tone equal temperament, a system in which all semitones have the same size. Hence, in 12-TET the cent can be defined as one hundredth of a semitone
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Mouthpiece (woodwind)
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The mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument is that part of the instrument which is placed partly in the players mouth. Single-reed instruments, capped double-reed instruments, and fipple flutes have mouthpieces while exposed double-reed instruments, on single-reed instruments, such as the clarinet and saxophone, the mouthpiece is that part of the instrument to which the reed is attached. Its function is to provide an opening through which air enters the instrument, single-reed instrument mouthpieces are basically wedge shaped, with the reed placed against the surface closest to the players lower lip. The players breath causes the reed to vibrate, which in turn causes the column of air inside the instrument to vibrate, the top half to three-quarters of the table is open to the inside of the mouthpiece. As with the instruments, the shape of the interior of the mouthpiece can greatly affect the sound of the instrument. Mouthpieces with a large, rounded chamber will produce a different sound from one with a small or square chamber. The distance between the tip of the mouthpiece and the tip of the reed is known as the tip opening, the tip opening has little effect on tone, which is more affected by the design of the mouthpieces chamber. The facing is a section that leaves the flat table. The length of a facing — defined as the distance from the tip of the mouthpiece to the point where the reed, different facing lengths have different response properties. The single reed is held tightly against the mouthpiece by a ligature, anything that can hold the reed on the mouthpiece may serve as a ligature. Commercial ligatures are commonly made of metal or plastic, some players prefer string or a shoelace, which is wrapped around the reed and the mouthpiece, to commercially manufactured ligatures. The clarinet mouthpiece is narrow inside and typically has a square or rectangular cross section from the baffle through the throat, the bottom of the mouthpiece is formed with a tenon that is ringed with cork. Today, as with the mouthpiece, the reed is placed against the surface closest to the players bottom lip. However, this was not always so, The earliest clarinetists would often place the reed on top of the mouthpiece, bernhard Henrik Crusell was one of the first clarinetists of note to consistently place the reed against the bottom lip. Of particular note is Reginald Kell who was known for using a double embouchure and this technique has been revived lately both in the UK and the US. Interestingly, some clarinetists in Madagascar today still play with the reed on top as can be heard on the CD Bémiray, clarinet mouthpieces are available in hundreds of styles from dozens of manufacturers around the world. Mouthpieces are often named after famous performers who contribute to their designs, popular mouthpiece makers include Selmer, Vandoren, and the Woodwind Company. Differently sized clarinets, each require a different size of mouthpiece, one exception is B♭ and A soprano clarinets, and in some cases C soprano clarinets, as they are so close in size that players typically use the same mouthpiece on all three
29.
Reed (mouthpiece)
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A reed is a thin strip of material which vibrates to produce a sound on a musical instrument. The reeds of most woodwind instruments are made from Arundo donax or synthetic material, musical instruments may be classified according to the type and number of reeds used. The earliest types of single-reed instruments used idioglottal reeds, where the reed is a tongue cut. Much later, single-reed instruments started using heteroglottal reeds, where a reed is cut and separated from the tube of cane, by contrast, in a an uncapped double reed instrument, there is no mouthpiece, the two parts of the reed vibrate against one another. Single reeds are used on the mouthpieces of clarinets and saxophones, the back of the reed is flat and is placed against the mouthpiece, the rounded top side tapers to a thin tip. These reeds are roughly rectangular in shape except for the thin vibrating tip, all single reeds are shaped similarly but vary in size to fit each instruments mouthpiece. Reeds designed for the instrument may look identical to each other. Hardness is generally measured on a scale of 1 through 5 from softest to hardest and this is not a standardized scale and reed strengths vary by manufacturer. The thickness of the tip and heel and the profile in between affect the sound and playability, cane of different grades, even if cut with the same profile, will also respond differently. This is due to the natural differences in the density of the cane fibers. The cane used to make reeds for saxophone, clarinet, once the cane is cut, it must lay out and dry in direct sunlight for about a month. The cane is rotated regularly to ensure proper and complete drying, once dry, they are taken to be stored in a warehouse. As the cane is needed, it is pulled from the warehouse, once at the factory, the cane is taken to the cutting department where it is cut into tubes. The tubes are graded by diameter and wall density, the tubes are then cut into splits which are transformed into reed blanks. The blanks are tapered and profiled using blades or CNC machines into reeds, after the reeds are completed, they are taken to a machine that grades them for strength. Double reeds are used on the oboe, oboe damore, English horn, bass oboe, Heckelphone, bassoon, contrabassoon, sarrusophone, shawm, bagpipes, nadaswaram and they are typically not used in conjunction with a mouthpiece, rather the two reeds vibrate against each other. Reed strengths are graded from hard to soft, the making of double reeds begins in the same way as how single reeds are made. The cane is collected from Arundo donax, dried, processed, similar to single reed production, the cane is separated into various diameters. The most common diameters for American-style oboe reeds are as follows,9. 5–10 mm, 10–10.5 mm, many American oboists prefer a specific diameter at one time of the year and a different diameter at other times, depending on the season and the weather
30.
Ligature (instrument)
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A ligature is a device which holds a reed onto the mouthpiece of a single-reed instrument such as a saxophone or clarinet. The ligature must secure the reed firmly against the table of the mouthpiece while allowing it to vibrate freely, the earliest ligatures were lengths of string wrapped over the reed and tied. Iwan Müller invented a metal ligature to replace twine, string is still used by clarinetists, especially in Germany. Modern German mouthpieces have a cut into the outside of the mouthpiece to facilitate wrapping with a string ligature. Some modern clarinetists tie a shoestring around the mouthpiece to use as a ligature instead of a string because it is easier to tie, other modern clarinetists use electrical tape as a ligature. A ligature must be placed properly in order to allow best performance on a reed instrument, the ligature must be placed at least halfway down the stock of the reed and the screws must not be overtightened, in order to allow free vibration and not distort the reed. Ligatures are most commonly made out of metal and plated in nickel, silver, ligatures are also made out of wire, wire mesh, plastic, naugahyde, heavy nylon fabric, wood, string, or leather. Various features are incorporated into the design of ligatures to hold the reed securely while minimizing pressure distortion of the reed, contact rails may be either parallel or transverse to the reed, on either a metal band or pressure plate type ligature. The contact rails may be metal, wood, or plastic. Pressure plates may also have raised contact points, prongs, or a form to control contact with the reed. Some bands are designed for contact with the mouthpiece, allowing even less absorption of the reeds vibrations
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Classical music
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Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music, including both liturgical and secular music. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period, Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches, tempo, meter and rhythms for a piece of music. This can leave less room for such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, the earliest reference to classical music recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, the written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them, J. S. The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works, Musical notation enables 2000s-era performers to sing a choral work from the 1300s Renaissance era or a 1700s Baroque concerto with many of the features of the music being reproduced. That said, the score does not provide complete and exact instructions on how to perform a historical work, even if the tempo is written with an Italian instruction, we do not know exactly how fast the piece should be played. Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations, during the Classical era, the composer-performer Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto, during the Romantic era, Beethoven would improvise at the piano. The instruments currently used in most classical music were largely invented before the mid-19th century and they consist of the instruments found in an orchestra or in a concert band, together with several other solo instruments. The symphony orchestra is the most widely known medium for music and includes members of the string, woodwind, brass. The concert band consists of members of the woodwind, brass and it generally has a larger variety and number of woodwind and brass instruments than the orchestra but does not have a string section. However, many bands use a double bass. Many of the used to perform medieval music still exist. Medieval instruments included the flute, the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute. As well, early versions of the organ, fiddle, Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut, during the earlier medieval period, the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant, was monophonic, using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th
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Concert band
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On rare occasions, additional non traditional instruments may be added to such ensembles such as piano, harp, synthesizer, or electric guitar. A concert bands repertoire includes original compositions, transcriptions/arrangements of orchestral compositions, light music. Though the instrumentation is similar, a band is distinguished from the marching band in that its primary function is as a concert ensemble. The standard repertoire for the band does, however, contain concert marches. One notable and influential original symphonic work for band was Gustav Holsts First Suite in E-Flat, written in 1909, following Holst, a variety of British, American, Canadian and Australian composers wrote for the medium, including Percy Grainger, James Swearingen and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The wind ensemble could be said to be modeled on the section of a Wagner orchestra. While many people consider the ensemble to be one player on a part. Full band pieces usually require doubling or tripling of the clarinet parts, according to Fennell, the wind ensemble was not revolutionary, but developed naturally out of the music that led him to the concept. Professional concert bands not associated with the military are rare, lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps, New York, New York, conducted by Kelly Watkins Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Inc. Other large competitions include the World Music Competition, held in the Netherlands, instrumentation for the wind band is not standardized, composers will frequently add or omit parts. Instrumentation differs depending on the type of ensemble, middle and high school bands frequently have more limited instrumentation and fewer parts. This is both to limit the difficulty for inexperienced players and because schools frequently do not have access to the common instruments. The standard concert band will have several players on each part, depending on available personnel, a concert band can theoretically have as many as 200 members from a set of only 35 parts. Also, it is common to see two tubas playing the part in a wind ensemble. Complicated percussion parts are common in concert pieces, often requiring many percussionists. Many believe this is a difference between the orchestra—which usually lacks a large battery of percussion—and the concert band. While in older transcriptions and concert works, the timpani were treated as its own section as in the orchestra, today, in bands, consequently, the timpani player often will double on other percussion instruments. Contemporary compositions often call on players to use unusual instruments or effects, for example, several pieces call on the use of a siren while others will ask players to play recorders, a glass harmonica, or to sing
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Chamber music
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Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a number of performers. However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances, because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as the music of friends. Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for playing solo or symphonic works, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described chamber music as four rational people conversing. The analogy to conversation recurs in descriptions and analyses of chamber music compositions, from its earliest beginnings in the Medieval period to the present, chamber music has been a reflection of the changes in the technology and the society that produced it. During the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, instruments were used primarily as accompaniment for singers, String players would play along with the melody line sung by the singer. There were also purely instrumental ensembles, often of stringed precursors of the violin family, some analysts consider the origin of classical instrumental ensembles to be the sonata da camera and the sonata da chiesa. These were compositions for one to five or more instruments, the sonata da camera was a suite of slow and fast movements, interspersed with dance tunes, the sonata da chiesa was the same, but the dances were omitted. These forms gradually developed into the trio sonata of the Baroque – two treble instruments and an instrument, often with a keyboard or other chording instrument filling in the harmony. Both the bass instrument and the instrument would play the basso continuo part. During the Baroque period, chamber music as a genre was not clearly defined, often, works could be played on any variety of instruments, in orchestral or chamber ensembles. The Art of Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, sometimes composers mixed movements for chamber ensembles with orchestral movements. Telemanns Tafelmusik, for example, has five sets of movements for various combinations of instruments, Baroque chamber music was often contrapuntal, that is, each instrument played the same melodic materials at different times, creating a complex, interwoven fabric of sound. Because each instrument was playing essentially the same melodies, all the instruments were equal, in the trio sonata, there is often no ascendent or solo instrument, but all three instruments share equal importance. In the second half of the 18th century, tastes began to change, many preferred a new, lighter Galant style. And clearly defined melody and bass to the complexities of counterpoint, now a new custom arose that gave birth to a new form of chamber music, the serenade. Patrons invited street musicians to play evening concerts below the balconies of their homes, their friends, patrons and musicians commissioned composers to write suitable suites of dances and tunes, for groups of two to five or six players. These works were called serenades, nocturnes, divertimenti, or cassations, the young Joseph Haydn was commissioned to write several of these
34.
Marching band
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A marching band is a group in which instrumental musicians perform for entertainment, and prepare for a competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instruments, woodwind instruments, percussion instruments, most marching bands wear some kind of uniform that includes the school or organizations colors, name or symbol. Most high school marching bands are accompanied by a colorguard, a group of performers, Marching bands are generally categorized by function, size, age, gender, instruments and by the style of show they perform. In addition to traditional parade performances, many marching bands also perform shows at special events like competitions. Increasingly, marching bands perform concerts that implement many songs, traditions. Band is a term for an instrumental group. The marching band originated with traveling musicians who performed together at festivals and it evolved and became more structured within the armies of early city-states, becoming the basis for the military band, from which the modern marching band emerged. As musicians became less important in directing the movement of troops on the battlefield and this intermediate stage led to the modern instrumentation and music for marching bands. Many military traditions survive in modern marching band, Bands that march in formation are often ordered to dress their ranks and cover down your file. They may be called to attention, and given such as about face. Uniforms of many marching bands still resemble military uniforms, in the United States, modern marching bands are most commonly associated with performing during American football games. The oldest American college marching band, the Notre Dame Marching Band, was founded in 1845 first performed at a game in 1887. Many American universities had bands before the twentieth century associated with military ROTC programs. Spotts had seen a flock of birds fly in a V formation, the first halftime show at an American football game was performed by the University of Illinois Marching Illini also in 1907 at a game against the University of Chicago. Another innovation that appeared at roughly the time as the field show. University fight songs are closely associated with a universitys band. Boston College claims the first fight song, For Boston, many more recognizable and popular fight songs are played by high schools across the country. During the 20th century, marching bands added pageantry elements, including baton twirlers, majorettes, dance lines and these bands are said to be corps-style bands
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Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
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Big band
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A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big Bands evolved with the times and continue to this day, a big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. The terms jazz band, jazz ensemble, stage band, jazz orchestra and this does not, however, mean that each one of these names is technically correct for naming a big band specifically. The music is traditionally called charts, improvised solos may be played only when called for by the arranger. There are two periods in the history of popular bands. Beginning in the mid-1920s, big bands, then consisting of 10–25 pieces. At that time they played a form of jazz that involved very little improvisation, which included a string section with violins. A few bands also had violas and cellos, usually one or two along with them, the dance form of jazz was characterized by a sweet and romantic melody. Orchestras tended to stick to the melody as it was written and vocals would be sung, many of these artists changed styles or retired after the introduction of swing music. Although unashamedly commercial, these bands often featured front-rank jazz musicians - for example Paul Whiteman employed Bix Beiderbecke, there were also all-girl bands such as Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators. Towards the end of the 1920s, a new form of Big Band emerged which was more authentically jazz and this form of music never gained the popularity of the sweet dance form of jazz. The few recordings made in form of jazz were labelled race records and were intended for a limited urban audience. Few white musicians were familiar with music, Johnny Mercer. The three major centres in this development were New York City, Chicago and Kansas City, some big ensembles, like the Joe King Oliver outfit played a kind of half arranged, half improvised jazz, often relying on head arrangements. Other great bands, like the one of Luis Russell became a vehicle for star instrumentalists, there the whole arrangement had to promote all the possibilities of the star, although they often contained very good musicians, like Henry Red Allen, J. C. Earl Hines became the star of Chicago with his Grand Terrace Cafe band, meanwhile, in Kansas City and across the Southwest, an earthier, bluesier style was developed by such bandleaders as Benny Moten and, later, by Jay McShann and Jesse Stone. Radio was a factor in gaining notice and fame for Benny Goodman. Soon, others challenged him, and the battles of the bands became a staple at theater performances featuring many groups on one bill
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Jazz band
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A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a band made up of a rhythm section. The size of a band is closely related to the style of jazz they play as well as the type of venues in which they play. Jazz bands can vary in size from a big band, to a trio or quartet. The term jazz trio can refer to a three piece band with a pianist, double bass player and a drummer, some bands use vocalists, while others are purely instrumental groups. Jazz bands usually have a bandleader, in a big band setting, there is usually more than one player for a type of instrument. Small jazz bands of three to four musicians are referred to as combos and can be found in small night club venues. In modern jazz, a bass player is almost always present in a small band. Its common for musicians in a combo to perform their music from memory, the improvisational nature of these performances make every show unique. In jazz, there are types of trios. One type of trio is formed with a piano player, a bass player. Another type of jazz trio that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s is the trio, which is composed of a Hammond organ player, a drummer. In organ trios, the Hammond organ player performs the line on the organ bass pedals while simultaneously playing chords or lead lines on the keyboard manuals. In the latter type of trio, the lack of a chordal instrument means that the horn player, Jazz quartets typically add a horn to one of the jazz trios described above. The Modern Jazz Quartet was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played a style of jazz influenced by classical music, the lineup of larger jazz ensembles can vary considerably, depending on the style of jazz being performed. In a 1920s-style Dixieland jazz band, a larger ensemble would be formed by adding a player, woodwind instruments, as with the clarinet. Also by the addition of soloing instruments, the standard rhythm section is piano, bass, and drums, augmented by guitar at times in small combos and regularly in large ones. Some large swing era orchestras also employed an additional piano, accordion, the horn section consists of a woodwind section and a brass section, which play the melody and main accompaniment
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Maurice Ravel
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Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, in the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as Frances greatest living composer. After leaving the conservatoire Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity, incorporating elements of baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. He liked to experiment with form, as in his best-known work, Boléro. He made some arrangements of other composers music, of which his 1922 version of Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known. As a slow and painstaking worker, Ravel composed fewer pieces than many of his contemporaries. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, many of his works exist in two versions, a first, piano score and a later orchestration. Some of his music, such as Gaspard de la nuit, is exceptionally difficult to play. Ravel was among the first composers to recognise the potential of recording to bring their music to a wider public, from the 1920s, despite limited technique as a pianist or conductor, he took part in recordings of several of his works, others were made under his supervision. Ravel was born in the Basque town of Ciboure, France and his father, Pierre-Joseph Ravel, was an educated and successful engineer, inventor and manufacturer, born in Versoix near the Franco-Swiss border. His mother, Marie, née Delouart, was Basque but had grown up in Madrid, in 19th-century terms, Joseph had married beneath his status – Marie was illegitimate and barely literate – but the marriage was a happy one. Both Ravels parents were Roman Catholics, Marie was also something of a free-thinker, a trait inherited by her elder son and he was baptised in the Ciboure parish church six days after he was born. The family moved to Paris three months later, and there a younger son, Édouard, was born and he was close to his father, whom he eventually followed into the engineering profession. Maurice was particularly devoted to their mother, her Basque-Spanish heritage was an influence on his life. Among his earliest memories were folk songs she sang to him, the household was not rich, but the family was comfortable, and the two boys had happy childhoods. Ravel senior delighted in taking his sons to factories to see the latest mechanical devices, in later life, Ravel recalled, Throughout my childhood I was sensitive to music. My father, much better educated in art than most amateurs are, knew how to develop my taste. There is no record that Ravel received any formal schooling in his early years
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Sergei Prokofiev
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Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. Prokofievs greatest interest, however, was opera, and he composed works in that genre, including The Gambler. Prokofievs one operatic success during his lifetime was The Love for Three Oranges, composed for the Chicago Opera and subsequently performed over the decade in Europe. During that time he married a Spanish singer, Carolina Codina, in the early 1930s, the Great Depression diminished opportunities for Prokofievs ballets and operas to be staged in America and western Europe. He enjoyed some success there – notably with Lieutenant Kijé, Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, the Nazi invasion of the USSR spurred him to compose his most ambitious work, an operatic version of Leo Tolstoys War and Peace. Prokofiev was born in 1891 in Sontsovka, a rural estate in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire. His father, Sergei Alexeyevich Prokofiev, was an agronomist, Prokofievs mother, Maria, came from a family of former serfs who had been owned by the Sheremetev family, under whose patronage serf-children were taught theatre and arts from an early age. She was described by Reinhold Glière as a woman with beautiful. Who knew how to create an atmosphere of warmth and simplicity about her, after their wedding in the summer of 1877, the Prokofievs had moved to a small estate in the Smolensk governorate. Eventually Sergei Alexeyevich found employment as a engineer, employed by one of his former fellow-students, Dmitri Sontsov. By seven, he had learned to play chess. At the age of nine, he was composing his first opera, The Giant, as well as an overture, unable to arrange that, Tanayev instead arranged for composer and pianist Reinhold Glière to spend the summer of 1902 in Sontsovka teaching Prokofiev. The first series of lessons culminated, at the 11-year-old Prokofievs insistence, the following summer, Glière revisited Sontsovka to give further tuition. By 1904, his mother had decided instead on Saint Petersburg, glazunov was so impressed that he urged Prokofievs mother to have her son apply for admission to the Conservatory. He passed the tests and enrolled that year. Several years younger than most of his class, Prokofiev was viewed as eccentric and arrogant and he also shared classes with the composers Boris Asafyev and Nikolai Myaskovsky, the latter becoming a relatively close and lifelong friend. As a member of the Saint Petersburg music scene, Prokofiev developed a reputation as a rebel, while getting praise for his original compositions
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Anton Webern
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Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. As an exponent of atonality and twelve-tone technique, Webern exerted influence on contemporaries Luigi Dallapiccola, Křenek, Weberns music was among the most radical of its milieu, both in its concision and in its rigorous and resolute apprehension of twelve-tone technique. Webern was born in Vienna, then Austria-Hungary, as Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern and he was the only surviving son of Carl von Webern, a civil servant, and Amelie who was a competent pianist and accomplished singer—possibly the only obvious source of the future composers talent. He never used his middle names and dropped the von in 1918 as directed by the Austrian governments reforms after World War I and he lived in Graz and Klagenfurt for much of his youth. Webern memorialized the Preglhof in a diary poem An der Preglhof and in the tone poem Im Sommerwind, once Weberns father sold the estate in 1912, Webern referred to it nostalgically as a lost paradise. Art historian Ernst Dietz, Weberns cousin and at time a student at Graz, may have introduced Webern to the work of Arnold Böcklin and Giovanni Segantini. Segantinis work was an inspiration for Weberns 1905 single-movement string quartet. In 1902 Webern began attending classes at Vienna University, there he studied musicology with Guido Adler, writing his thesis on the Choralis Constantinus of Heinrich Isaac. He studied composition under Arnold Schoenberg, writing his Passacaglia, op.1 as his piece in 1908. He met Alban Berg, who was also a pupil of Schoenberg and these two relationships would be the most important in his life in shaping his own musical direction. After graduating, he took a series of conducting posts at theatres in Ischl, Teplitz, Danzig, Stettin, there he helped run Schoenbergs Society for Private Musical Performances from 1918 through 1922 and conducted the Vienna Workers Symphony Orchestra from 1922 to 1934. Letters document their correspondence in many subsequent years, and she would in turn provide him with facilities to private lessons as a convenience to Webern, his family. As early as 1933, an Austrian gauleiter on Bayerischer Rundfunk mistakenly and his familys financial situation deteriorated until, by August 1940, his personal records reflected no monthly income. It was thanks to the Swiss philanthropist Werner Reinhart that Webern was able to attend the premiere of his Variations for Orchestra, op.30 in Winterthur. Reinhart invested all the financial and diplomatic means at his disposal to enable Webern to travel to Switzerland, in return for this support, Webern dedicated the work to him. On the other, some private correspondence attests to his Nazi sympathies, Weberns patriotism led him to endorse the Nazi regime in a series of letters to Joseph Hueber, who was serving in the army and himself held such views. Webern described Hitler on May 2,1940 as this man who created the new state of Germany. Only later did Krasner himself realize how self-admittedly foolhardy he had been and in danger he had placed himself
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Quartet
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In music, a quartet or quartette is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers, or a musical composition for four voices or instruments. In Classical music, the most important combination of four instruments in music is the string quartet. String quartets most often consist of two violins, a viola, and a cello, the particular choice and number of instruments derives from the registers of the human voice, soprano, alto, tenor and bass. In the string quartet, two play the soprano and alto vocal registers, the viola plays the tenor register. The Italian composer Luigi Boccherini, wrote more than 100 string quartets, less often, string quartets are written for other combinations of the standard string ensemble. These include quartets for one violin, two violas, and one cello, notably by Carl Stamitz and others, and for one violin, one viola, another common standard classical quartet is the piano quartet, consisting of violin, viola, cello, and piano. Romantic composers Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn each wrote three important compositions in this form, and Mozart, Dvořák, and Gabriel Fauré each wrote two. Wind quartets are scored either the same as a quartet with the wind instrument replacing the first violin or are groups of four wind instruments. Among the latter, the SATB format woodwind quartet of flute, oboe, clarinet, an example of a wind quartet featuring four of the same types of wind instruments is the saxophone quartet, consisting of soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone and baritone saxophone or. Often a second alto may be substituted for the part or a bass saxophone may be substituted for the baritone. Compositions for four singers have been written for quartets a cappella, accompanied by instruments, such as a piano, Brahms and Schubert wrote numerous pieces for four voices that were once popular in private salons, although they are seldom performed today. Vocal quartets also feature within larger classical compositions, such as opera, choral works, the final movement of Beethovens Ninth Symphony and the Verdi Requiem are two examples of renowned concert works that include vocal quartets. The baroque quartet is a form of composition similar to the trio sonata. The solo instruments could be strings or wind instruments, examples of baroque quartets are Telemanns Paris quartets. Quartets are popular in jazz and jazz fusion music, jazz quartet ensembles are often composed of a horn, a chordal instrument, a bass instrument and a drum kit. This configuration is sometimes modified by using a second horn replacing the instrument, such as a trumpet and saxophone with string bass and drum kit. In 20th century Western popular music, the vocal quartet usually refers to ensembles of four singers of the same gender. This is particularly common for barbershop quartets and Gospel quartets, some well-known female US vocal quartets include The Carter Sisters, The Forester Sisters, The Chiffons, The Chordettes, The Lennon Sisters, and En Vogue
42.
Euphonium
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The euphonium is a large, conical-bore, baritone-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word εὔφωνος euphōnos, meaning well-sounding or sweet-voiced. The euphonium is an instrument, nearly all current models are piston valved. The euphonium is an instrument known for its distinctive tone color. A person who plays the euphonium is sometimes called a euphoniumist, euphophonist, or a euphonist, while British players often colloquially refer to themselves as euphists, similarly, the instrument itself is often referred to as eupho or euph. The euphonium is part of the family of brass instruments and it is sometimes confused with the baritone horn. The two instruments are easily interchangeable to the player, with modification of breath and embouchure. The cylindrical baritone offers a brighter sound and the conical euphonium offers a mellower sound, several late 19th century music catalogs sold a euphonium-like instrument called the B♭ bass. In these catalog drawings, the B♭ Bass had thicker tubing than the baritone, along the same lines, drum and bugle corps introduced the Bass-baritone, and distinguished it from the baritone. The thicker tubing of the three-valve B♭ bass allowed for production of strong false-tones, ferdinand Sommers original name for the instrument was the euphonion. It is sometimes called the tenor tuba in B♭, although this can refer to other varieties of tuba. Names in other languages, as included in scores, can be ambiguous as well and they include French basse, saxhorn basse, and tuba basse, German Baryton, Tenorbass, and Tenorbasshorn, Italian baritono, bombardino, eufonio, and flicorno basso. The most common German name, Baryton, may also have caused the American use of the term baritone for the instrument with the influx of German musicians to the United States in the nineteenth century. As a baritone-voiced brass instrument, the euphonium traces its ancestry to the ophicleide, the search for a satisfactory foundational wind instrument that could support masses of sound above it took some time. With the invention of the valve system c. 1818, the construction of instruments with an even sound. While Saxs family of saxhorns were invented at about the same time, the euphonium, like the tenor trombone, is pitched in concert B♭. For a valved brass instrument like the euphonium, this means that when no valves are in use the instrument will produce partials of the B♭ harmonic series. It is generally orchestrated as an instrument like the trombone
43.
French horn
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The French horn is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B♭ is the horn most often used by players in professional orchestras, a musician who plays any kind of horn is generally referred to as a horn player. Most horns have lever-operated rotary valves, but some, especially older horns, use piston valves, the backward-facing orientation of the bell relates to the perceived desirability to create a subdued sound, in concert situations, in contrast to the more piercing quality of the trumpet. A horn without valves is known as a horn, changing pitch along the natural harmonics of the instrument. Pitch may also be controlled by the position of the hand in the bell, the pitch of any note can easily be raised or lowered by adjusting the hand position in the bell. Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, the more common double horn has a fourth valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or another tuned to B♭. Triple horns with five valves are made, tuned in F, B♭. Also common are descant doubles, which typically provide B♭ and alto F branches and this configuration provides a high-range horn while avoiding the additional complexity and weight of a triple. A crucial element in playing the horn deals with the mouthpiece, when playing higher notes, the majority of players exert a small degree of additional pressure on the lips using the mouthpiece. It is the goal of all serious brass musicians to develop their technique such that additional mouthpiece pressure is avoided altogether, or at the very least, the name French horn is found only in English, first coming into use in the late 17th century. At that time, French makers were preeminent in the manufacture of hunting horns, as a result, these instruments were often called, even in English, by their French names, trompe de chasse or cor de chasse. The International Horn Society has recommended since 1971 that the instrument be simply called the horn, there is also a more specific use of French horn to describe a particular horn type, differentiated from the German horn and Vienna horn. In this sense, French horn refers to an instrument with three Périnet valves. It retains the narrow bell-throat and mouthpipe crooks of the orchestral hand horn of the late 18th century, and most often has an ascending third valve. This is a whole-tone valve arranged so that with the valve in the up position the valve loop is engaged, the horn is the third-highest-sounding instrument in the brass family, below the trumpet and the cornet. Horns are mostly tuned in B♭ or F, or a combination of both, in some traditions, novice players use a single horn in F, while others prefer the B♭ horn. The F horn is used more commonly than the B♭ horn, sound is produced by vibrating the players lips into the mouthpiece of the instrument. Different partials in the series can be played by adjusting the air pressure and lip tension
44.
Trombone
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The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the players vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate, nearly all trombones have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. Many modern trombone models also utilize a rotary valve as a means to lower pitch of the instrument, variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves like those on the trumpet. The word trombone derives from Italian tromba and -one, so the name means large trumpet, the trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like its valved counterpart the baritone and in contrast to its conical valved counterparts, the euphonium and the horn. The most frequently encountered trombones are the trombone and bass trombone. The most common variant, the tenor, is an instrument pitched in B♭, an octave below the B♭ trumpet. A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist or trombone player, the trombone is a predominantly cylindrical tube bent into an elongated S shape. Rather than being completely cylindrical from end to end, the tube is a series of tapers with the smallest at the mouthpiece receiver. The design of these affects the intonation of the instrument. As with other instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through pursed lips producing a vibration that creates a standing wave in the instrument. The detachable cup-shaped mouthpiece is similar to that of the baritone horn and it has the venturi, a small constriction of the air column that adds resistance greatly affecting the tone of the instrument, and is inserted into the mouthpiece receiver in the slide section. The slide section consists of a leadpipe, the inner and outer tubes. Modern stays are soldered, while sackbuts were made with loose, the slide, the most distinctive feature of the trombone, allows the player to extend the length of the air column, lowering the pitch. To prevent friction from slowing the action of the slide, additional sleeves were developed during the Renaissance, and this part of the slide must be lubricated frequently. Additional tubing connects the slide to the bell of the instrument through a neckpipe, for example, second position A is not in exactly the same place on the slide as second position E. Many types of trombone also include one or more rotary valves used to increase the length of the instrument by directing the air flow through additional tubing. This allows the instrument to reach notes that are not possible without the valve as well as play other notes in alternate positions. Like the trumpet, the trombone is considered a cylindrical bore instrument since it has sections of tubing, principally in the slide section
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Coleman Hawkins
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Coleman Randolph Hawkins, nicknamed Hawk and sometimes Bean, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained, there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn. While Hawkins is strongly associated with the music and big band era. Fellow saxophonist Lester Young, known as Pres, commented in a 1959 interview with The Jazz Review, As far as Im concerned, I think Coleman Hawkins was the President first, as far as myself, I think Im the second one. Miles Davis once said, When I heard Hawk, I learned to play ballads, Hawkins was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, in 1904. He was named Coleman after his mother Cordelias maiden name and he attended high school in Chicago, then in Topeka, Kansas at Topeka High School. He later stated that he studied harmony and composition for two years at Washburn College in Topeka while still attending high school. In his youth he played piano and cello, and started playing saxophone at the age of nine, by the age of fourteen he was playing around eastern Kansas. Hawkinss first major gig was with Mamie Smiths Jazz Hounds in 1921, and he was with the band full-time from April 1922 to 1923, in the Jazz Hounds, he coincided with Garvin Bushell, Everett Robbins, Bubber Miley and Herb Flemming, among others. Hawkins joined Fletcher Hendersons Orchestra, where he remained until 1934, sometimes doubling on clarinet, Hawkinss playing changed significantly during Louis Armstrongs tenure with the Henderson Orchestra. In the late 1920s, Hawkins also participated in some of the earliest interracial recording sessions with the Mound City Blue Blowers, during his time with Henderson he became a star soloist with increasing prominence on records. He was also featured on a Benny Goodman session on February 2,1934 for Columbia, which also featured Mildred Bailey as guest vocalist. In a landmark recording of the era, captured as an afterthought at the session, Hawkins ignores almost all of the melody. In its exploration of harmonic structure it is considered by many to be the next step in jazz recording after Louis Armstrongs West End Blues in 1928. Hawkins time touring Europe between 1934 and 1939 allowed many other tenor saxophonists to establish themselves back in the U. S. including Lester Young, Ben Webster, and Chu Berry. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish a big band, he led a combo at Kellys Stables on Manhattans 52nd Street with Thelonious Monk, Oscar Pettiford, Miles Davis, later he toured with Howard McGhee and recorded with J. J. Johnson and Fats Navarro. He also toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic, after 1948 Hawkins divided his time between New York and Europe, making numerous freelance recordings. In 1948 Hawkins recorded Picasso, a piece for unaccompanied saxophone
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