Whimsical Woodwinds and Boisterous Brass Woodwinds and Brass    

Lesson 36: Brass Ensemble - Various Pieces for Brass

by Johann Ernst Altenburg

Performer: Michel Rondeau

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument or topic category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

This lesson completes our course of study on woodwind and brass instruments. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Various Pieces for Brass,' by Johann Ernst Altenburg, features a brass ensemble. The picture included in the lesson shows a brass ensemble playing in matching uniforms.

Vocabulary

Ensemble: A group of musicians, actors, or dancers who perform together.

Category

1. Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Brass instruments include trumpets, trombones, horns, tubas, and didgeridoos.
3. Brass instruments are often made of brass, a metal alloy of copper and zinc. Study the components of brass.

4. Brass instruments produce sound through the vibration of air within tubes. See the tubes of a brass instrument called a French horn.

5. Musicians change the sounds made by brass instruments by moving valves or slides to change the length of the tubes in which the air vibrates. See the valves of a brass instrument called a French horn.

6. Brass musicians also alter the sound by changing how hard they blow and the tension of their lips.
7. See a musician holding the slider of a brass instrument called a trombone. The musician can slide it back and forth to change the sound.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson picture and find the following:

• Tuba
• Trombones
• Trumpet
• Audience

Activity 2: How Long are Uncoiled Brass Instruments?

Materials: String or Yarn, Yard Stick or Ruler

Trumpet Directions:

• If you stretched out all of the tubing of the trumpet, it would measure around 4.5 feet (ft) or 1.4 meters (m) long.
• Use the yard stick to measure out 4.5 ft of string. Imagine a trumpet uncoiled and stretching out that long.

Trombone Directions:

• If you stretched out all of the tubing of the trombone, it would measure around 9 ft or near 3 m long.
• Use the yard stick to measure out 9 ft of string. Imagine a trombone uncoiled and stretching out that long.

French Horn Directions:

• If you stretched out all of the tubing of the French horn, it would measure around 12 ft or near 4 m long.
• Use the yard stick to measure out 12 ft of string. Imagine a French horn uncoiled and stretching out that long.

Tuba Directions:

• If you stretched out all of the tubing of the Tuba, it would measure around 18 ft or near 6 m long.
• Use the yard stick to measure out 18 ft of string. Imagine a tuba uncoiled and stretching out that long.

Review

Question 1

What are the five major categories of instruments?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major categories of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument categories did this year's lessons feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This year's lessons featured the woodwind and brass categories.

2 / 5

Question 3

If you uncoiled a trumpet, a trombone, a French horn, and a tuba, which would be the shortest?

3 / 5

Answer 3

The trumpet would be the longest.

3 / 5

Question 4

If you uncoiled a trumpet, a trombone, a French horn, and a tuba, which would be the longest?

4 / 5

Answer 4

The tuba would be the longest.

4 / 5

Question 5

Contrast how brass and woodwind instruments produce sounds.

5 / 5

Answer 5

Musicians create sounds with brass instruments by buzzing their lips against a cup-like mouthpiece to vibrate air within the instrument. With most woodwinds, musicians blow to vibrate a reed, which causes the air in the instrument to vibrate.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major categories of instruments? The five major categories of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument categories did this year's lessons feature? This year's lessons featured the woodwind and brass categories.
3. If you uncoiled a trumpet, a trombone, a French horn, and a tuba, which would be the shortest? The trumpet would be the longest.
4. If you uncoiled a trumpet, a trombone, a French horn, and a tuba, which would be the longest? The tuba would be the longest.
5. Contrast how brass and woodwind instruments produce sounds. Musicians create sounds with brass instruments by buzzing their lips against a cup-like mouthpiece to vibrate air within the instrument. With most woodwinds, musicians blow to vibrate a reed, which causes the air in the instrument to vibrate.

References

'Brass instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Trumpet.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Lengths of Instruments Uncoiled.' Foothillsbrass. www.foothillsbrass.ca/copy-of-instrument-care. n.p.