The Brass Family of Orchestral Instruments

I borrowed the trumpet from my brother! Look how much fun we are having.

Here's Maria, trying out the trumpet!
All instruments in the brass family have tubing, a bell, a mouthpiece and are made of brass. The trumpet, french horn, and tuba have valves. The trombone has a slide!

Noah hits a high note!

Ethan got the buzz going! You have to get your lips buzzing to make a sound in a brass instrument and that can be a challenge!
Luke's a natural! We figured out that if you lengthen the brass tubing by pressing down on a valve the pitch gets lower. But if you buzz your lips faster you can get a higher note! Ah, the physics of sound!

Here we are dancing to a brass serenade.

Canadian Brass, the flight of the bumble bee

And today, we experienced the Brass Family instruments of the orchestra. We listened and danced. We looked at the pictures of brass instruments to see the similarities and differences. Next time I'll bring in a trumpet to try!

Watch this fun video of a brass quintet. They are playing the "Flight of the Bumble Bee". It is VERY fast! I think the Tuba's fingers must be cramping up; everyone looks worried. But listen carefully. You can't tell! They are flawless. Wow.