Introduction

Ancient

Social

Military

Music

Advancements

Timeline

Bibliography

Process Paper

Sounds and Pictures

In the Renaissance, trombones, trumpets, bugles, and tubas started to be used in musical entertainment.  In the 17th century, horns were used in some operas to depict hunting scenes.

In the 18th century, horns began to develop as an instrument capable of much more musical expression, with more range and versatility. This allowed composers and musicians more individual expression with brass instruments.

The first composer to call for horns in the orchestra was Reinhard Keiser in the 1705 opera Octavia. George Frederick Handel called for two horns in his 1717 composition Water Music.  J.S. Bach wrote music for trumpets. Franz Joseph Haydn composed his first horn concerto in 1762. Mozart wrote for horns in Don Giovanni and the Magic Flute.  Beethoven was the first major composer to include trombones in his symphonic works. By around 1890 the modern form of the orchestral trumpet was established. 

In the 20th century, Jazz music has been closely associated with brass instruments.  One of the things that led to the creation of Jazz was when Buddy Boldeir mastered the cornet.  He played forms of music that helped lead to the development of Jazz.    In the 1930's, Jazz became recognized as an art form and accepted by the public.  Twenty years later, people like Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro made trumpet soloing popular.  In the nineteen seventies, Miles Davis fused rock and jazz to create a genre called fusion.  Today, Wynton Marsalis is following in the steps of perhaps the most famous Jazz trumpeter of all time, Louis Armstrong.

Brass instrument players make up a substantial part of our school band (one-fifth to one-sixth) and we (brass instrument players ourselves) are happy to be part of it.  We interviewed our band director, Mr. Zimny, and we learned, among other things, that brass instruments are important to jazz and communicating because they grab ones attention, are easy to be heard from far away, they have a wide array of sound types, and have good expression.