Equipment

Dahlqvist, Reine

J. G. Albrechtsberger (1736-1809)

Concertino for chromatic trumpet

Study by Reine Dahlqvist arguing that Albrechtsberger’s 1771 Eb concertino was intended for Jew’s harp rather than keyed or slide trumpet.

Tarr, Edward H.

The Baroque trumpet, the high trumpet and the so-called Bach trumpet

Edward H. Tarr examines the Baroque trumpet and clarifies the origins and meaning of the so-called “Bach trumpet.”

Baumann, Hermann

Which Horn for which Music?

Article discussing the choice of horn according to repertoire, comparing instruments, sound ideals and stylistic requirements.

Aebi, Willi

The inner acoustics of the horn

Study of the horn’s inner acoustics, explaining how its structure and air column influence tone production and intonation.

Tarr, Edward H.

The Baroque trumpet, the high trumpet and the so-called Bach trumpet

Continuation of Edward H. Tarr’s study on the Baroque trumpet, examining the high trumpet and further clarifying the concept of the “Bach trumpet.”

Bernoulli, Wilhelm

My collection of historical brass instruments and drums

Presentation of a private collection of historical brass instruments and drums, offering insights into their construction, variety and historical context.

Mertens, Albert

The trombone in Belgium

Published in memory of its author, this article reflects on the trombone tradition in Belgium and his lasting contribution.

Leloir, Edmond

The trombone with 6 independent valves

Technical analysis of the trombone with six independent valves, examining its mechanics, extended range and potential for new repertoire.

Salmen, Walter

Russian music and musicians before 1700

with special regard to Brass Music

Overview of Russian music and musicians before 1700, exploring early traditions, influences and the role of brass instruments.

Orval, Francis

The F/Bb horn with whole-tone ascending 3rd valve

A different horn, a different approach: Francis Orval explores how an ascending 3rd valve reshapes technique, intonation and response.

Huber, Heinrich

The trombone: changing times, changing slide positions

Did trombonists always use seven positions? Heinrich Huber reveals how history, theory and early music reshaped the slide.

Lelong, Fernand · Coutet, Robert

The tuba in France

How did the tuba emerge as an orchestral force? Fernand Lelong and Robert Coutet trace its path—from serpent to Sax—and its rapid rise.

Westhof, Theo

My new developed descant double horn

Why does the ideal horn not exist? Theo Westhof designs a new descant double horn to solve tuning and tone issues—without compromise.

Ischer, Robert

Piston or rotary valve system?

Pistons or rotary valves: which system is superior? Simplicity and silence vs mechanical complexity—an ongoing debate among brass players.

Mende, Emilie

The tuba, Benjamin of the brass family

Where does the tuba come from? From serpent to ophicleide to saxhorns, this article traces a lesser-known path to the modern instrument.

Tarr, Edward H.

Cesare Bendinelli (1542-1617)

Biography

Cesare Bendinelli (1542–1617), imperial trumpeter and teacher, shaped a tradition and wrote the first trumpet method — a key document of Renaissance brass playing.

Tarr, Edward H.

Cesare Bendinelli (1542-1617)

The Trumpet Method

The first trumpet method rediscovered: Edward H. Tarr reveals how Bendinelli’s 1614 treatise reshapes our understanding of trumpet technique, signals, and ensemble art.

Perrins, Barrie

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.

Beyer, Werner

Reminiscence of trombonists of the past

Echoes of the past: Werner Beyer traces great trombonists from the 17th century to Wagner’s era—revealing how tradition, players, and instruments shaped the modern orchestra.

Thein, Heinrich

The contrabass trombone

Picture and sketches, taking particularly into account the construction principles (1973)

From Praetorius to Wagner: Heinrich Thein traces the evolution of the contrabass trombone—revealing how history, acoustics, and design shaped this powerful orchestral voice.

Glover, Stephen L.

Early trumpet music in Schwerin

Hidden sources revealed: Stephen Glover uncovers early trumpet music in Schwerin—offering new insights into wind bands, performance practice, and the evolution of brass.

Kurath, Willi

Tuba and Euphonium today

A new era for low brass: Willy Kurath explores how modern tuba and euphonium design—driven by innovation and collaboration—redefines sound, technique, and solo potential.

Périnelli, René · Mouton, J.-L.

How to regulate the trumpet, applicable to all valve instruments

A hidden key to performance: Perinelli and Mouton reveal how precise valve regulation transforms response, intonation, and sound—down to a tenth of a millimetre.

Thein, Heinrich

The contrabass trombone

Picture and sketches, taking particularly into account the construction principles (1973)

Inside the workshop of innovation: Heinrich Thein reveals how rethinking every detail—from valves to bell—transforms the contrabass trombone into a modern orchestral instrument

Heyde, Herbert

On the early history of valves and valve instruments in Germany (1814-1833)

At the origin of modern brass: Herbert Heyde uncovers the true story of valve invention—revealing rivalries, experiments, and the breakthrough that transformed musical history.

Heyde, Herbert

On the early history of valves and valve instruments in Germany (1814-1833)

From invention to rivalry: the early history of rotary and piston valves reveals a battle of ideas, patents, and craftsmanship that transformed brass instruments forever.

Mathez, Jean-Pierre

Frankfurt Special 1979

Music Fair

Jean-Pierre Mathez surveys the Frankfurt Music Fair, tracing makers, markets and competition, and outlining a brass landscape shaped by adjustment rather than innovation.

Mathez, Jean-Pierre

Renold Schilke at Frankfurt

Interview

Jean-Pierre Mathez reports on Renold Schilke’s views at Frankfurt, addressing fair organisation, maker–musician collaboration, and shifting market dynamics shaped by demand and quality criteria.

Bloch, Colin

The bell-tuning trumpet

Colin Bloch examines bell- and slide-tuned trumpets, comparing intonation patterns through controlled tests and outlining structural causes behind observed deviations.

Heyde, Herbert

On the early history of valves and valve instruments in Germany (1814-1833)

Herbert Heyde traces early German valve instruments from Stoelzel’s horns to basses, makers, patents, and shifting brass-band sound.

Heyde, Herbert

On the early history of valves and valve instruments in Germany (1814-1833)

Poverty, patents and workshop rivalries shaped the first German valve instruments, from Blühmel and Stoelzel to the Vienna and Mainz systems.

Poncet, Jacques

On the sensitivity of brass instruments

Cold-hammered hunting horns retain a tactile memory of sound and playing, leading Jacques Poncet to question how brass instruments evolve in use.

Stevens, Thomas

The Trumpet in the USA

The Piston C Trumpet in American Orchestras

American orchestral trumpeters reveal how Bach C trumpets, hall acoustics and extensive modifications shaped playing traditions in major ensembles.

Runyan, William E.

The alto trombone and contemporary concepts of trombone timbre

Alto trombone timbre from Vienna to Brahms, orchestral balance, period practice, and why bright brass sounds gradually disappeared.

Stevens, Thomas

The Trumpet in the USA

Gadgets I

From Schilke soundposts to piccolo trumpet extensions, American performers turned technical frustrations into specialized tools for modern playing.

Schmidt, Werner Christoph

Five generations of mouthpiece specialists

From Höchstädt to Markneukirchen and beyond, five generations of Schmidts shaped brass mouthpiece design through craft, anatomy and evolving orchestral demands.

Limmer, Rudolf

Brass instruments from the musical town of Graslitz

From 18th-century Graslitz to postwar Bavaria, brass makers rebuilt a vanished musical industry around Miraphone, preserving craft through exile and industrial change.

Hoza, Vaclav

Tower-watchmen and night-watchmen in Bohemia

From Hussite suspicion of musicians to tower signals over Bohemian towns, horns and trumpets shaped civic life, danger warnings and ritual memory.

Janetzky, Kurt

The Trumpet

An exhibition at the Trumpeter's Castel in Bad Säckingen

Natural trumpets from Verona, Nürnberg and Vienna framed a 1979 gathering in Säckingen linking Baroque practice, collecting culture and modern playing.

Manzora, Boris G.

The double-slide trombone

museum-piece with a future?

As virtuosity reshaped 20th-century brass playing, Boris G. Manzora argued that the forgotten double-slide trombone could redefine technique and range.

Haine, M. · De Keyser, I.

The stamps on Sax instruments

Sax instrument stamps reveal makers, addresses, patents and distinctions, giving collectors concrete clues for dating instruments across three generations.

Ferron, Emile

On the sensitivity of brass instruments

Metal, pressure nodes and temperature shifts shape response, timbre and tuning, as Emile Ferron links instrument acoustics to the player’s imprint.

Janetzky, Kurt

300 Years of the Horn in Bohemia

An unsigned portrait from the Dresden court links the rise of Bohemian horn playing to the ceremonial world of Baroque hunting culture.

Damm, Peter

300 Years of the Horn

1680-1980, an attempted survey

From Versailles to Bohemia, hunting horns enter orchestral life through makers, players, early works and the Austro-Bohemian tradition.

Lister, Richard

The contrabass sackbut

a modern copy

A reconstructed 17th-century contrabass sackbut revives forgotten low brass practice, from Venetian polychoral music to modern performance challenges.

Damm, Peter

300 Years of the Horn

in the Dresden Court Orchestra

From Dresden’s court musicians to Hampel’s hand-horn technique, virtuoso players and court repertoire shaped a decisive shift in horn playing and orchestral writing.

Mende, Emilie

Dr. h.c. Bernoulli (1904-1980)

Necrology of a great collector

From a Swiss castle filled with 700 brass instruments to the Historical Museum Basel, a collector’s life reflects decades of dedication, scholarship and hospitality.

Stevens, Thomas

The Trumpet in the USA

Gadgets II

Mouthpiece backbores for piccolo and C trumpet are compared through practical performer testing, linking equipment choices to sound, volume and intonation.

Ferron, Emile

Harmonics or partials?

Behind every brass note lies a compromise between acoustical theory and instrument design, as E. Ferron questions what players call a harmonic.

Olsen, Deborah M.

Music in an American Frontier Communal Society

Aurora Colony

In a German communal settlement on the Oregon frontier, bands, choirs and original compositions shaped daily life as strongly as faith, work and education.

Ferron, Emile

Instrument Making and the Ear

From hearing physiology to workshop testing, E. Ferron links instrument design, acoustics and perception, where no two ears judge sound in quite the same way.

Reifsnyder, Robert

The Euphonium in America

A Short History

Euphonium terminology, bore sizes, and band instrumentation shifted across Europe and America, from Sax and Conn to Gilmore, Sousa, and Fennell.

Willener, Alfred

The Haydn Trumpet Concerto

As editions, instruments and traditions diverge, Haydn’s trumpet concerto becomes a lens on notation, style and the shifting meaning of performance.

Nakayama, Fujio

Japanese painting from the 18th century

An 18th-century Okinawan scroll preserves a ceremonial procession where Chinese-derived instruments, including the rapa trumpet, marked diplomatic exchange with Japan.

Hiller, Albert

The Trumpet in the Works of Jean-Philippe Rameau

From court entertainments to operatic dances, Rameau’s trumpet writing reveals uncommon technical demands and a broader palette of Baroque brass practice.

Goodwin, John

Brass instrument research at Surrey University

Acoustics, materials, bore design, and player perception meet in Surrey research linking laboratory measurements with the realities of brass performance.

Agrell, Jeffrey

Interview with Hans Pizka

From Vienna horn traditions and natural-horn training to orchestral style and pedagogy, Hans Pizka reflects on the foundations of horn playing and musical identity.

Weiner, Howard

The trombone: changing times, changing slide positions

From Virgiliano to Praetorius and Eisel, early sources reshape long-held assumptions about trombone tuning, slide positions and historical playing practice.

Olsen, Deborah M.

Music in an American Frontier Communal Society

Aurora Colony

Aurora’s bands, chamber groups and restored instruments show how communal faith, German heritage and American public life met in sound, from parlors to parades.

Jeurissen, Herman

The Midwinter Horn

De Midwinterhoorn

A Christmas horn tradition from eastern Netherlands preserves ancient construction, ritual and performance, linking rural practice with Leopold Mozart's Sinfonia pastorella.

Kenny, P. · Davies, John

The Measurement of Mouthpiece Pressure

Objective measurements on trumpet players challenge common beliefs about mouthpiece pressure, showing stable individual patterns across pitch, dynamics and playing level.

Burum, Heinz

My Experiences with Colleagues and Pupils

in 50 Years as trumpet player and trumpet teacher

Across five decades, Heinz Burum links trumpet embouchure, mouthpiece design and teaching practice to concrete cases from orchestras, pupils and colleagues.

Gauffriau, Jean-Michel

The Remarkable Story Behind the Cover

A war, a theft, and an unexpected recovery turned one nineteenth-century cornet into a witness to musical memory beyond its craftsmanship and sound.

Hiller, Albert

Unknown Treasures for Trumpet Ensembles

Processional Music from 18th century Bavaria

Forgotten Bavarian monastery archives preserve hundreds of ceremonial trumpet works, where local tradition and practical performance survived long after their cultural world disappeared.

Bowsher, J. M. · Watkinson, P. S.

Manufacturers' Opinions about Brass Instruments

Between workshop lore and acoustic certainty, brass makers’ claims expose a restless debate over metal, finish, resonance, and playing quality.

Mathez, Jean-Pierre

Editorial

Behind a musician’s instrument lies a quiet industrial battle, as European, American and Japanese makers compete to shape the future of brass playing.

Menzel, Ursula

Early Brass Instruments and Restoration

Restoring historic brass instruments means deciding what to preserve, what to undo and how modern methods can serve objects shaped by another musical age.

Willener, Alfred

James Stamp, subtle teaching

Intonation, held notes and mouthpiece work shape James Stamp's subtle approach to trumpet playing, where listening and physical economy guide technique.

Bourgue, Daniel

The French Hunting horn, its history, its technique and its music

Centuries-old hunting signals still shape performance today, where technique, ritual and oral tradition preserved a musical language unlike any other brass practice.

Scott, Sue

The Streitwieser Foundation Historic Trumpet Museum

A private collection built through one musician's lifelong search became an unexpected center for brass history, where every instrument carries a story beyond its display.

Poncet, Jacques

The hunting horn

Long-held beliefs about the French hunting horn are challenged as forgotten playing practices and Baroque traditions reshape its early history and repertoire.

Gotthold, Jean

Thoughts on the Bass Trombone

Long before modern standards took hold, bass trombones existed in many forms, raising questions that still shape orchestral writing and performance today.

Hiller, Albert

Jean-Baptiste Prin (1669-1742)

A tromba marine virtuoso

A forgotten string instrument leads to an unexpected treasury of Baroque trumpet music, challenging long-held assumptions about repertoire and performance.

Mathez, Jean-Pierre

Yamaha, an ambitious giant

Behind the rise of a future industrial giant lies an unexpected lesson in craftsmanship, cultural exchange and the discipline that reshaped wind instrument making.

Bürger, Edgar

Mouthpiece pressure in Horn Playing

Graduation project in technical method

Long before sensors entered the practice room, one horn student measured embouchure pressure by hand, challenging assumptions that still shape brass pedagogy.

Hirsbrunner, Peter

The history of the big York-Hirsbrunner Tuba

The instrument maker's point of view

A legendary orchestral tuba became the starting point for rethinking how craftsmanship, industrial methods and musical results rarely follow the same path.

Lewy, Rudolf

The Wrong Brass?

Between blind fidelity and reckless modernisation, instrument substitutions force performers to decide when the score’s wording serves—or betrays—the music.

Weston, Stephen J.

The untimely demise of the ophicleide

Once central to French orchestras, the ophicleide lost its place to the tuba—a disappearance shaped as much by institutions and repertoire as by sound.

Aitken, Thomas

At the Sign of the Serpent

All sorts of old, rare and unusual musical instruments bought and sold by Tony Bingham

Behind a Hampstead shopfront, Tony Bingham’s trade in ophicleides, natural horns and cornets kept rare instruments circulating between collectors and players.

Höltzel, Michael

Round the Horn

Hamburg 1982

A 1982 Hamburg exhibition brought 150 horns out of collections and into players’ hands, collapsing centuries of hunting, signalling and concert traditions into one room.

Trichet, Pierre

On the Sackbut or Harmonic Trumpet (ca 1640)

A seventeenth-century description of the sackbut captures its moving slide, chromatic freedom and bass role at a moment when the instrument was still being defined.

Perl, Benjamin

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.

Trichet, Pierre

On the Cornett and Serpent

From Pierre Trichet’s Traité des Instruments de Musique (c. 1640)

Written around 1640, Pierre Trichet’s Traité des Instruments de Musique preserves a firsthand account of the cornett and serpent in musical life and construction.