Chapter 8
How Brass Instruments Are Made
Musicians – not only players but also composers, arrangers and conductors –
consciously or unconsciously assess brass instruments by certain criteria. These
include compass, capability for intonation control, dynamic range, timbre, responsiveness, ergonomics and appearance. In this chapter, we discuss the processes of
design and manufacture through which instrument makers can exercise control in
order to meet the requirements, expectations and desires of musicians.
Brass instruments have for long been made in widely differing commercial
enterprises, ranging from individual artisans (using mostly hand craft techniques),
through medium-sized workshops (some operating a master-apprentice system),
to factories able to adopt mass production and automated processes. Mechanised
processes allow large numbers of instruments of the same model to be produced
very economically, and the quality can be uniformly high given good design. Purely
hand craft is employed in making historical instruments where it is believed that use
of historical techniques gives the most faithful re-creations. A professional-quality
instrument such as a french horn made in a medium-sized workshop can today
take up to 50 h of work for a skilled operative, whereas a cheap mass-produced
instrument can be turned out on an assembly line with less than 6 h of work.
8.1 Materials
Brass has for centuries been such an extensively common material for brasswind
that the word has come to be used for the entire class, regardless of the specific
material of construction. The properties of brass are such that it has been relatively
economical for instrument makers to obtain, is readily pulled and beaten into shape
and has produced instruments which are light enough to be held for use while being
robust enough to be durable, and are of attractive appearance when polished.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Campbell et al., The Science of Brass Instruments, Modern Acoustics and Signal
Processing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55686-0_8
391
How Brass Instruments Are Made
Musicians – not only players but also composers, arrangers and conductors –
consciously or unconsciously assess brass instruments by certain criteria. These
include compass, capability for intonation control, dynamic range, timbre, responsiveness, ergonomics and appearance. In this chapter, we discuss the processes of
design and manufacture through which instrument makers can exercise control in
order to meet the requirements, expectations and desires of musicians.
Brass instruments have for long been made in widely differing commercial
enterprises, ranging from individual artisans (using mostly hand craft techniques),
through medium-sized workshops (some operating a master-apprentice system),
to factories able to adopt mass production and automated processes. Mechanised
processes allow large numbers of instruments of the same model to be produced
very economically, and the quality can be uniformly high given good design. Purely
hand craft is employed in making historical instruments where it is believed that use
of historical techniques gives the most faithful re-creations. A professional-quality
instrument such as a french horn made in a medium-sized workshop can today
take up to 50 h of work for a skilled operative, whereas a cheap mass-produced
instrument can be turned out on an assembly line with less than 6 h of work.
8.1 Materials
Brass has for centuries been such an extensively common material for brasswind
that the word has come to be used for the entire class, regardless of the specific
material of construction. The properties of brass are such that it has been relatively
economical for instrument makers to obtain, is readily pulled and beaten into shape
and has produced instruments which are light enough to be held for use while being
robust enough to be durable, and are of attractive appearance when polished.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Campbell et al., The Science of Brass Instruments, Modern Acoustics and Signal
Processing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55686-0_8
391