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BrassBulletin

International Magazine for Brass Players

September 25, 2026

New to the digital edition

Articles, interviews, research and historical documents

Instrument Makers in USA
No. 51 • 1985 Digitized • 25 Sep 2026

Part 2

Instrument Makers in USA

Schilke Music Products, Inc. Chicago

By Stephan Suter

In a Chicago workshop, traditional handwork meets new bell-making methods, while Renold Schilke’s uncompromising standards shape an unusual company culture.

Trumpet Equipment Instrument Makers
The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music
No. 51 • 1985 Digitized • 25 Sep 2026

Part 2

The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music

The classical Armstrong period (1927-1945)

By Michel Laplace

Jazz trombone changed rapidly between 1927 and 1945, as Armstrong’s influence, big-band playing and new techniques transformed both its language and sound.

Trombone History
Hermann Baumann
No. 51 • 1985 Digitized • 23 Sep 2026

Hermann Baumann

A virtuoso's career

A career built on sound, memory and the natural horn shows how Hermann Baumann helped redefine what a horn soloist could be on the international stage.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

What's your proper job?
No. 51 • 1985 Digitized • 21 Sep 2026

What's your proper job?

A social portrait of the British brass player

Four British brass players confront a profession transformed by orchestras, freelance work, social prejudice and the shrinking certainties of musical life.

By Thomas Aitken

How and why I became a musician
No. 51 • 1985 Digitized • 21 Sep 2026

How and why I became a musician

A teenage double bassist in 1920s Lausanne turns family resistance, scout orchestras and hard-earned engagements into the beginnings of a professional life.

By Edouard Gros

In their own words

Voices

No. 31 · 1980

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Crispy Brass Quotes

The Trumpet in the USA

Many years ago, William Vacchiano of the New York Philharmonic purchased a Bach D trumpet which played horribly sharp in pitch. When he complained to Vincent Bach, the latter, in his own inimitable style, responded by saying Vacchiano didn’t know how to play the instrument properly! So Vacchiano put the instrument in a closet and never played it. Twenty years later he discovered the instrument had been improperly fitted with an E♭ trumpet leadpipe!

— Thomas Stevens

No. 43 1983

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Jazz and the Horn

Of all the instruments, the french horn looked and sounded the most beautiful, and it looked like it would be easy. But I was wrong, it wasn’t easy. By the time I found that out, it was too late...

— Peter Gordon

No. 50 1985

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More to read

Doc Severinsen

Trumpet

Doc Severinsen

Talent, will and glory

Trumpet virtuoso and nightly television star, Doc Severinsen combined immense popularity with concerts, big bands and iron discipline.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Horn and Harp

Horn

Horn and Harp

Virtuoso showpieces once filled concert halls, yet today the rare pairing of horn and harp preserves a forgotten musical world shaped by performers themselves.

By Ch. Bernsdorff-Engelbrecht

Akim Alexeyevich Kozlov

Trombone

Akim Alexeyevich Kozlov

A Trombone Artist

Behind decades of orchestral excellence, one trombonist shaped a school of playing whose influence reached far beyond Leningrad and the concert hall.

By Anatoly Barantsev

Some thoughts on the euphonium and euphonium technique

Euphonium

Some thoughts on the euphonium and euphonium technique

The euphonium revealed: Barrie Perrins explores its history, technique, and expressive power—making a compelling case for its place as one of brass’s most versatile solo voices.

By Barrie Perrins

The tuba in Europe

Tuba

The tuba in Europe

Why does the tuba sound different across Europe? Robert Tucci explores national styles, instruments and orchestral traditions.

By Robert Tucci

The first european horn symposium

Horn

The first european horn symposium

A week in Trossingen brought leading horn players, Mozart debates, natural-horn controversies and lasting friendships at a landmark European gathering.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Faces

Historic moments captured in the Journal pages of Brass Bulletin.

4th Soviet Brass Competition • Tallinn

4th Soviet Brass Competition • Tallinn

Timofey Dokshitzer and composer Eino Tamberg

Brass Bulletin No. 37 1982

Browse this issue

Most read

  1. No. 47 · 1984

    John Fletcher

    As brass instruments grew larger and louder, John Fletcher saw something being lost: the individual voice, clarity and character that make a player heard.

    By Thomas Aitken

  2. No. 46 · 1984

    The Trombone in the Sacred Works of W. A. Mozart

    In Mozart’s sacred music, the trombone moved beyond choral reinforcement to striking solo roles that preserve the sound and practice of eighteenth-century Salzburg.

    By Benny Sluchin

  3. No. 47 · 1984

    Editorial

    A ghostly Arban returns in 1984 to find virtuosity thriving, instruments transformed and a brass world whose progress leaves its greatest pedagogue strangely displaced.

    By Jean-Pierre Mathez

  4. No. 46 · 1984

    Melvyn Poore

    A tuba becomes a laboratory for circular breathing, reeds, strange mutes and music theatre as Melvyn Poore pushes beyond the orchestral role assigned to it.

    By Thomas Aitken

  5. No. 45 · 1984

    Brass in the Operas of Berlioz

    Berlioz turned a changing brass section into a dramatic force, using horns, trombones, cornets and saxhorns to shape colour, distance, ceremony and fear.

    By Benjamin Perl

  6. No. 50 · 1985

    Michel Becquet

    A young Michel Becquet challenges orchestral habits, champions the trombone as a solo voice and reflects on competitions, repertoire, teaching and sound.

    By Benny Sluchin

Browse by instrument

Across the brass family

Trumpet

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Instrument Makers in USA No. 51

Instrument Makers in USA — Part 2

Schilke Music Products, Inc. Chicago

Stephan Suter No. 51 · 1985

Gravestone of the field trumpeter Johann Kauffmann (1585-1634?) No. 50

Gravestone of the field trumpeter Johann Kauffmann (1585-1634?)

Wolfgang G. Haas No. 50 · 1985

Friedemann Immer No. 50

Friedemann Immer

A new Trumpet

Jean-Pierre Mathez No. 50 · 1985

Horn

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Hermann Baumann No. 51

Hermann Baumann

A virtuoso's career

Jean-Pierre Mathez No. 51 · 1985

The posthorn of the 19th-century Royal Post Office in the service of folk music No. 50

The posthorn of the 19th-century Royal Post Office in the service of folk music

Albert Hiller No. 50 · 1985

Jazz and the Horn No. 50

Jazz and the Horn — Part 6

Peter Gordon

Jeffrey Agrell No. 50 · 1985

Trombone

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The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music No. 51

The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music — Part 2

The classical Armstrong period (1927-1945)

Michel Laplace No. 51 · 1985

Joannès Rochut (1881-1952) No. 50

Joannès Rochut (1881-1952)

Trombonist of the Boston symphony Orchestra

David Fetter No. 50 · 1985

The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music No. 50

The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music — Part 1

Michel Laplace No. 50 · 1985

Tuba

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How and why I became a musician No. 51

How and why I became a musician — Part 2

Edouard Gros No. 51 · 1985

How and why I became a musician No. 50

How and why I became a musician — Part 1

Edouard Gros No. 50 · 1985

John Fletcher No. 47

John Fletcher

Is Big Always Beautiful?

Thomas Aitken No. 47 · 1984

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Questions & Answers

How the Digital Edition works

What does the Digital Edition include?

The Digital Edition brings together the articles already digitized as searchable online texts—not simply as scans or PDF files—along with their original illustrations, notes, authorship, issue information, and available translations. Related-article suggestions currently include only this digitized material.

Are the digital articles identical to the originals?

We preserve the original text, language, illustrations, captions, footnotes, and editorial context as faithfully as possible. The presentation is adapted for comfortable online reading, and obvious transcription or scanning errors may be corrected. The substance and character of the published article remain unchanged.

Which languages are available?

Brass Bulletin was published in English, French, and German throughout its history. Italian and Spanish translations were added from issue No. 60 onward.

On the Italian and Spanish sites, articles from issues 1–59 are therefore shown in English by default.

How often are new articles added?

New articles are added almost daily, with approximately one complete issue digitized each week. The pace may vary depending on the preparation, image work, and editorial checking required.

Why aren’t all articles available digitally?

The complete Brass Bulletin collection contains 1,246 articles published between 1971 and 2003. The full index is already available online, allowing readers to discover every article in the collection, including those whose complete text has not yet been digitized.

Digitization began in February 2026. Each article is carefully prepared for online reading, checked, and connected to its issue, authors, subjects, and illustrations. At the current pace of digitization, the complete collection is expected to be available online by February 2028.

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References in the original articles are preserved even when the material they point to has not yet been digitized. This keeps the historical and editorial record intact. As more issues are added to the Digital Edition, an increasing number of these references will lead to articles that can be read online.

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