Instruments

The following are played in this band. CLARINET Is a single reed instrument that was perfected and installed in the symphony orchestra in the late 18th centry, relatively late in comparison with the flute and the oboe. Made of ebony, coco wood, ebonite, plastic, or metal, it consits of five parts connected by cork rings: a mouth piece with a reed secured by a two screw ligature, a barrel for fine tuning, an upper and lower joint with 23-26 sound holes (17 with ring keys), and a bell. BASS CLARINET The first bass clarinet was made in 1772 when Giles Lot of Paris produced one with a range of three and a half octaves. In 1973 Carl August Grenser of Dresden presented his Klarinettenbass, an instrument built in the form of a basson with nine keys. Various other attempts followed, but were all made redundent by Adolphe Sax's bass clarinet of 1838, which resembled a saxophone, with both bell and mouthpiece bent back. Although it has not always been part of the standard woodwind section, many works call for it, including Wagner's Ring and Franck's Symphony in D Minor. BASSOON The bassoon's immediate predecessor is the pommer of the 16th centry, from the family of double reed instruments. The straight tubes of some of the lower pitched variants - bombards, bombardons, and large bass pommers were up to 3m in length, and the instruments were very heavy and quite impractical. In 1530 Afranio degli Albonesi of ferrara joined two old bombards into a u shaped instrument, which is called "phagotus". The new shape and the narrower bore made the previously rather coarse sound mellower, and the instrument became easier to play. The greatest difficulty, however, was the cup in which the read was enclosed, which isolated the reed from the player's lips. In the early 17th century, S.Scheltzer removed the cup, and the bassoon acquired the soft and pleasant sound. OBOE Has a slightly conical tube with a narrow bell, and is made of grenadilla(African blackwood), ebony, or plastic. It consists of four parts: reeds, upper joint, lower joint, and bell. The instrument is a long as the clarinet but looks smaller because of its slender tube and because the player's hands come about 5cm closer to the face. On the upper and the lower joints there are 25 soundholes covered with keys. FLUTE Came popular first in military bands and later in opera and chamer orchestras. The inventor and flutist Theobald Boehm redesigned the instrument in 1848. The flute is a cylindrical tube consisting of three joints, detachable for easier carrying. The upper head joint contains the mouth hole, with a curved lip plate across which the air is blown. The head joint is closed by a removable stopper, which is used for the tuning of the instrument. On the middle or the body joint are the sound holes, covered by leval connected keys. On the lower or foot joint there are two or three (of a total of 16-18) keys, operated by the little finger of the right hand. The right thumb supports the instrument, which is held sideways to the players right. PICCOLO Is pitched in C and an octave higher than and half the size of the flute, the piccolo evolved early in the 19th centry. One of the first composers to write regularly for the piccolo was Beethoven, who used it in his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. TRUMPET Is a brass wind instrument with a oval shape, a cup mouthpiece at the other end, and a flared bell at the other. Like the french horn, it is equipped with three valves that lower the pitch of the instrument and make its range fully chromatic. The valves are operated by the index finger, middle finger, and third finger of the right hand, while the left hand supports the instrument. Each valve has openings that allow the air to pass through and additional loop of tubing, therby lowering the pitch. CORNET Is a brass wind instrument, with a wider conical bore and a larger mouthpiece, making the sound mellower and more melodious. The cornet is usually bilt in B flat, though there is also a smaller soprano model in E flat. The written range is the same as that of the trumpet in C, though the B flat model sounds a tone lower. The cornet is used in brass and military bands but can also be found in opera and symphonic music. TROMBONE Is was the first chromatic brass instrument ever made. It is s-shaped and consists of a main tube with a bell at one end and a mouth piece at the other, and a u-shaped extendable slide inserted into the main tube. The instrument is held in the left hand, while the right hand moves the slide through seven different positions, producing all of the chromatic tones within the trombone's range. TUBA Is the lowest pitched and the largest instrument of the brass group, with a wide bore, a cup mouthpiece, and a total tubing length of up to 14m. The instrument is held with the bell pointing upwards. Designed and built be Wilhelm Wieprecht and Johann Gottfried Moritz, the tuba was first patented in 1835. Initially, it had three valves, but a forth was added later to lower the instrument's pitch by a perfect fourth. The tuba was later furnished with a fifth and even a sixth valve. EUPHONIUM Is a brass instrument of the bugle family (wide bore valved instruments tuned with a tone that is powerful though less noble than that of the narrow-bore type). It is usually built in B flat, though instruments in C are also found. It reads the bass clef, sounding as written over its three octaves range. The euphonium was invented by Sommer of Weimar in 1843, used in German and Russian military bands, and later adopted into American military bands. FRENCH HORN Is unique not only in that the keys are operated with the left hand, but because it is also played backwards, with the bell facing towards the band. It is the most expressive brass instrument and the most difficult to play. The normal position for the right hand is with all fingers close together against the far side of the bell and with the thumb close against them. SAXOPHONE Is the youngest of the woodwind family, this single reed instrument has always been made of metal alloy - copper, nickel, and Zinc, or copper and Zinc (brass) - and nickel-, silver-, or gold plated. Patented in Paris in 1846 by the Belgian Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), the saxophone combines the characteristics of the oboe and the clarinet, and, in a sense, of woodwind and brass instuments. Its keywork is similar to that of the oboe, and the mouthpiece and reed to that `of the clarinet. The alto, tenor, and baritone models are bent in an s-shape, on account of the length of the tube; only the sopranino and the soprano saxophone have straight conical tubes. Nowadays only the four saxophone types are used: soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone. TENOR HORN Not all tenor horns are pitched in E flat. A percentage of the aforementioned Olds tenor horns were F horns that came with an E flat crook. It is not presently certain as to how long F tenor horns have been made, but examples have been seen commonly since circa 1900. Antoine Courtois has been manufacturing tenor horns since winning a lawsuit against Adolphe Sax in 1855 for the right to manufacture Saxhorns. Their horns are among the finest, right along with the Besson Sovereign. Other manufacturers are: Amati, Bach, Cerveny, Kanstul, Yamaha. DRUM KIT Differently from the way they are used in classical orchestras and bands, the percussion instruments in the dance orchestra and the jazz or rock band are combined in a drum kit played by a single musician. The drum kit usally includes a bass drum, a side drum, tom toms, a hi hat, and supended cymbals on a stand. Other percussion instruments may be added to the set as required by the music performed.