Trumpet
Wind instrument sounded by the vibration of the player's lips against a mouthpiece. The trumpet family includes both instruments derived from animal horn (see Horn) and those with more or less cylindrical tubing (usually having bamboo, wood, or reed models). Trumpets made of large conch shells are found as ritual instruments in many cultures. Silver and bronze trumpets with long, straight tubes, conical bores, and flared bells survive from ancient Egypt (2nd millennium BC) and resemble other ancient trumpets such as the Hebrew hasosra, the Roman tuba, and the Greek salpinx. In medieval Europe the long, straight trumpet called buisine was replaced by a shorter version of the instrument about 1300. By about 1400 the instrument became folded into an S-shape, and about 1500 it was coiled into an elongated loop. In this form, made of brass or silver, it was the standard ceremonial and orchestral trumpet until about 1800. Its narrow cylindrical bore created a brilliant tone, but its notes were limited to the harmonic series (see Harmonics) of the fundamental pitch of its length of tubing. Instrument builders in the early 1800s sought to construct a trumpet that could play a full chromatic scale throughout its range. One short-lived invention was a key mechanism to open and close side holes in the tubing. About 1820, valves were added to the trumpet. Opening a valve connected an extra increment of tubing, thus lowering the basic pitch of the instrument and providing a different harmonic series. The modern trumpet has three valves and a bore that is partly cylindrical, partly conical. The standard orchestral trumpet, built in B-flat, has a range of about three octaves extending upward from the F-sharp below middle C. Models in D, C, and other pitches also exist. All are notated as if pitched in C (written C sounds B-flat for a B-flat trumpet), thereby allowing players to switch instruments without learning new fingerings.
Sackbut
Musical instrument, the immediate predecessor of the modern trombone, made of thin, hammered metal, with a shallow, flat mouthpiece and a narrow, nonflaring bell. The instrument produced a soft sound that complemented the harpsichord, voice, viol, lute, recorder, and cornett. The English name sackbut (along with its French and Spanish cognates) was used from the mid-15th century until the 18th century, when the Italian term trombone came into general use. The sackbut was made in at least four sizes, from soprano to bass. It probably evolved as a lower-pitched version of the Renaissance slide trumpet, which first appeared at the ducal court of Burgundy in the 15th century. Like the trombone, the sackbut featured a predominantly cylindrical bore, narrower than that of the trombone, and a telescopic slide to alter the pitch by increasing or decreasing the length of the tube. Also like the trombone, the sackbut was constructed in three sections: the mouthpiece; the slide joint, an assembly consisting of two parallel and stationary tubes attached by a crossbar, or stay, and covered by a long, U-shaped sleeve (the telescopic slide tube), itself supported with a stay; and the bell joint, a U-shaped tube terminating at the bell. The mouthpiece was inserted into one end of the slide joint, and the bell joint was inserted into the other. The bell joint could be fitted with crooks to change the pitch, and the slide joint often had a hinged handle attached to the stay that enabled the player to slide it further than the length of the arm. The pitch was lowered as the player extended the slide away from the mouthpiece.
Trombone
Brass wind instrument with a cylindrical bore, a cup-shaped mouthpiece, and a slide mechanism. It originated about 1400 as an improvement to the trumpet and was built in various sizes, the most common being alto, tenor, and bass. Except for its thicker metal and narrower bell, which yielded a softer, mellower tone, the early trombone was basically identical to the modern one. Called sackbut (Spanish sacabuche, "pull-tube"), it was a favored instrument in church and chamber music. It declined about 1700, except in town bands, but entered the expanding military band in the late 1700s, when it gained its present widely flared bell. Trombones with valves were introduced in the 1800s but were judged inferior in tone. With its slide closed, a B-flat tenor trombone produces the third B-flat below middle C as its fundamental or pedal note and also the notes in the harmonic series of that B-flat (like a bugle or unvalved trumpet). The slide is successively opened through six more positions, giving a lower harmonic series each time. The range extends from the second E below middle C to the B-flat above middle C, plus four pedal notes (B-flat, A, A-flat, G; the remaining pedal notes, down to low E, are difficult to produce). Orchestral music also uses a bass trombone in F (usually supplied by a double tenor/bass trombone in B-flat/F, which has a valve to switch in extra B-flat bass tubing). Early orchestral compositions with trombone include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni (1787) and Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (1808), but the trombone was not firmly established in the orchestra until about 1850
Horn
Class of wind instruments that usually have a conical opening or derive from an animal horn or tusk. Horns are sounded by the vibration of the player's lips against a mouthpiece (as with a trumpet). Animal horns that produce one or two notes when the player blows through a hole are found in many cultures. Such horns include medieval hunting horns, royal African ivory horns, the Roman cornu, and the Jewish shofar. Such instruments were imitated in metal and gave rise to horns such as the great lur of ancient Scandinavia. Other instruments of animal-horn ancestry include the alphorn, bugle, cornet, and Renaissance cornett, a wooden horn with finger holes. The orchestral horn, or French horn, was developed about 1650 in France and is a large version of the smaller crescent-shaped horns that had been redesigned with circularly coiled tubing. The French hunting horn, which entered the orchestra in the early 1700s, produced about twelve tones of the natural harmonic series. The horn gained greater flexibility about 1750 with the invention of the technique of hand-stopping. Hand-stopping involves placing a hand in the bell of the horn to alter the pitch of the natural notes by as much as a whole tone. Despite this advance, cumbersome lengths of tubing, called crooks, were necessary for playing in many keys. The invention of valves in the early 19th century revolutionized the horn, allowing the player to alter the length of the tubing by the motion of a finger. A horn in the key of F with three valves can produce a chromatic scale over three octaves, running upward from the B below the bass clef (notated a fifth higher). Modern players use hand-stopping to affect intonation and tone color. The modern horn in F has three valves, circular coils of narrow tubing flaring at one end to a wide bell, and a funnel-shaped mouth piece that accounts for the horn's soft, mellow tone. The double horn in F and B-flat, introduced about 1900, is rapidly superseding the F horn. Equipped with an extra valve to switch to the B-flat tubing, it offers certain technical advantages. Most modern orchestras include four horns. The so-called English horn is actually a deep-toned oboe.