Sounding Brass: Brasswind Instruments And How They Work

A lone bugler sounds the Last Post at a Festival of Remembrance. Overlapping horn arpeggios conjure up the flowing waters of the Rhine in Wagner’s opera “Das Rheingold”. Seventy-six trombones lead the big parade; trumpets sound ceremonial fanfares, and power the horn sections in jazz and funk bands. The sounds of brass instruments enrich many of our most inspiring musical experiences. But what defines a “brass instrument”? How is a stream of air blown through a small gap in the player’s lips transformed into a sound which fills a concert hall? When did brass instruments originate, and how did they evolve into the instruments of the modern orchestra? These are some of the questions addressed in this book. The authors, professional scientists but also experienced brass players, explain how recent research has illuminated our understanding of brass instruments. The presentation is aimed at a general readership, including players, teachers, and lovers of all types of music. No mathematical background is assumed. Descriptions of many experiments on brass instruments carried out by the authors and others bring out the musical significance of the results. A novel approach to the systematic classification of brass instruments is outlined and graphically illustrated. Separate chapters are devoted to trumpets and related instruments, horns, trombones, tubas, brass instruments with toneholes, and instruments from antiquity including the Celtic carnyx. The final chapter reviews the application of electronic enhancement techniques to brass instruments. The book is generously illustrated with colour photographs, musical examples, and explanatory figures.

Murray Campbell studied Physics at the University of Edinburgh. He was appointed to the teaching staff there in 1971, and in 1985 he founded the University’s Musical Acoustics Research Group. He is now Professor Emeritus and Senior Professorial Fellow at Edinburgh, where he continues to carry out research on the acoustics of wind instruments. He has co-authored three textbooks on musical acoustics, including The Science of Brass Instruments (Springer, 2021). He is an enthusiastic amateur musician, performing regularly on cornett with the Edinburgh Renaissance Band and on trombone with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Arnold Myers is Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Professor Emeritus of the University of Edinburgh. He read Physics at St Andrews University and received a doctorate from Edinburgh University for investigating acoustically-based techniques in the taxonomy of brass instruments. He was an editor of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments (2018) contributing 86 of its articles, and one of three authors of The Science of Brass Instruments (Springer, 2021). He was formerly Director of Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments; he currently researches at the interface of acoustics and the history of brass instruments.

Joël Gilbert read Physics and Acoustics at the ENS of Fontenay aux Roses and at Le Mans University. He received a doctorate from Le Mans University for investigating acoustics of reed musical instruments. He was Directeur de Recherche CNRS in the Acoustic Laboratory of Le Mans University until his untimely death in May 2022. Joël was not only an inspired researcher in acoustics but also an excellent and dedicated trombonist. He combined these twin passions in his work on the physics of brass instruments and was responsible for several important advances in this field. He was a co-author of The Science of Brass Instruments (Springer, 2021).