How do brass instruments work?? 

Your physics teacher doesn't know how a brass instrument produces a sound? That's odd

Tell your teacher to go read "The Science of Brass Instruments," by Murray Campbell, Joel Gilbert, and Arnold Myers. There aren't too many of us, but I'm a trombone player with a physics degree. This video is pretty badass!

@@jacobruiz97 I think he knows that, but I don't think he could explain much more or connect it to brass playing since he doesn't play a brass instrument

@@jorymil Thank you for letting me know!

Valve trombone is pitched one octave below trumpet. Same fingerings: 1st valve = 2 half steps, 2nd valve = 1 half step, 3rd valve = 3 half steps. It's not perfect, though: 1st plus 2nd valves isn't quite the same as the 3rd valve. To compensate for this effect, brass instruments often add a fourth valve. They even call them "Compensating" instruments. But that's video #2 or #3 ;-)

@@jorymil Yes the 4th Valve lowers the pitch by a perfect fourth and the Miraphohe company (few other companies too) makes Valve Trombones with 4 Valves. Juan Tizol was a Puerto Rican Trombonist known for playing Valve Trombone with Duke Ellington and his Jazz Orchestra. Anything written for Trumpet can be played on Valve Trombone cause it has the same fingerings, the only difference is that it'll come out sounding an Octave lower.

@@jorymil John Sanders was another Valve Trombone icon who also played with Duke Ellington and his Jazz Orchestra.

We buzz the overtone pitch with our lips and because that resonance is so strong in the fundamental, it is easily played!

Additionally, with trombone there is technically 7 slide positions, but realistically there are a lot more than that, those main 7 are just a guide and you just have to hear what you are playing in conjunction with the rest of the band to really get it in tune. I have noticed that, a lot of the time, I have to slightly change where I am in regards to the position when playing notes on different partials. I could be wrong in some of this since I have only been playing for about 6 years, but I think I am at least mostly correct.

That's correct! The function of the instrument itself is the opposite. Guitar we start with the full length and then press frets to shorten it, brass we start with the shortest and use valves/slide to extend it.

See, that's confusing. Because it depends where one starts and the speed/frequency at which one's lips are vibrating. The trombone is a perfect example of that. But if we're talking tube/string length, the trombone gets shorter from E as the notes go higher just like guitar string E gets shorter as the notes go higher. It's exactly the same.

It's a good point. I was very surprised to find out that when I play one of the overtones on a brass instrument, that pitch itself is the fundamental for its own overtone series!

Yes! 1 & 2 = 3 (Roughly) Edit: (sorry it’s pretty wordy) The reason I say roughly is because the number of curves in the tubing is different, and the length is slightly different too. Because of the physics of a tube or something like that, the lower the note (the longer the extension of tubing) the wider apart the notes are, so the 3rd valve sometimes is “longer” than 1 & 2, but even with that, trumpets and other instruments typically need to be able have some kind of mechanism to slide out and extend the length of tubing on the third valve to be in tune. So theoretically 1&2 and 3 are the same, but in practice it depends on the manufacturer.

This is the same as 4th position on trombone

Okay so this is how the valves work: the first valves lowers the pitch by a whole step or 2 half steps, the second valve lowers the pitch by a half step, and the third valve lowers the pitch by 3 half steps, so if you try each valve combination you’ll get: 1st valve is a whole step, second valve is a half step, third valve is 3 half steps, first and second valve is 3 half steps, second and third valve is 2 hole steps, first and second is 5 half steps, and all three valves is 3 whole steps so here you can see that engaged both the first and the second valve will lower the pitch by 3 half steps and engaging only the third valve will lower the pitch the same amount, so while yes, mathematically there are 8 valve combinations 2 of the the will lower the pitch the same amount and generally players will do first and second valve instead of using the third but I don’t know why trombone is my main instrument Edit: I’m a dumb freshman in high school who plays trombone so if I’m wrong correct me Also I don’t know how much music theory you know so just fyi one whole step = two half step I hope I answered you’re question :)

@@camdenrad1124 That's very interesting! I now wonder why they decided to go with 1-2-3 half-steps instead of 1-2-4 half-steps, which would have provided 8 different pitches and an extra half-step of range.

Yes you are right, there are 8 combinations but valve 3 on its own is the same as 1 and 2 together valve 1 reduces pitch by a tone valve 2 reduces pitch by a semitone valve 3 reduces pitch by a tone + semitone (minor 3rd) chromatically descending the combinations of valves are 0 C open 2 B semitone lower 1 Bb tone lower 1 2 A tone + semitone lower (valve 3 could be used instead of 1 2 here) 2 3 Ab 2 tones lower 1 3 G perfect 4th lower 1 2 3 F# tritone lower

The ratio between them is exactly the same as the frets on a guitar (although a lot lower, so that distance is multiplied considerably)

Yess!

We love Rochut 2!

More of a fan of #4, myself.

I think that overblowing has something to do with overtones but I'm pretty sure that pitch bending is not related to overtones. (I think it has to do with the changing of the mouth shape/pressure on the mouthpiece/reed to make it flatter or sharper by changing the size of the area.)

100%! Alternate F for example could be played 1st string 6th harmonic, 4th string 7th harmonic, or 6th string 8th harmonic!

That's righttttt

Bolero! Yes!!!