FLUTE

The flute is one of the oldest musical instruments of all and is regarded as the first ever wind instrument. It has been in use at least since
the Stone Age. Flute playing has a particularly long tradition in the Orient. The Sumerians and Egyptians were among the first to add three or four
finger-holes to their bamboo flutes, which enabled them to produce several notes.
The Ancient Greeks also had quite sophisticated flutes, which were blown at the open upper end and had six finger-holes. However, the
flute was regarded as an instrument of the common man and as such was held in scant regard. In contrast, the aulos, a distant precursor of the
oboe, was always associated with high social standing.
The flutes used in today’s orchestras are transverse flutes, as opposed to the Greeks’ end-blown flutes and the (modern) recorder. The
first evidence of the use of transverse flutes in Europe comes from Etruscan iconographs from the 4th to the 1st centuries BC. Side-blown flutes
were also known to the Romans.

The Middle Ages and the Renaissance – drums and consorts

Between the fall of Rome and the 11th century no evidence is known to exist for the use of transverse flutes. It is probable that the
instrument returned to the West from the Orient by way of the Byzantine Empire. The transverse flute of the Middle Ages was made of a single
piece of wood and had six finger-holes. It was used in military contexts and was even played at court. Traveling minstrels acquainted their
audiences with it all over Europe, and since they originally came from Germany the instrument also became known as the fistula Germanica. It was
usually accompanied by a drum.
In the 16th century the flute consort, an ensemble consisting of three different-sized transverse flutes, became an established part of
musical practice. At the same time broken consorts, ensembles combining various instruments such as the viol, lute and flute, were also popular.
The most common flute was in D and had a range of D4–D6 (which could be extended if the player was skillful enough). Since the
instrument was tuned to D the notes of other keys could only be produced either by half covering the finger-holes or by using cross-fingerings. This
gave the instrument a certain chromaticism but meant that intonation remained uncertain, which placed the flute at a disadvantage compared to
the other woodwinds.

Baroque – the sound ideal remains unattainable

From the middle of the 17th century the flute underwent several sweeping changes. From 1660 onward it consisted of three separate
parts: the cylindrical headjoint, the body with six finger-holes, and the footjoint. The body and footjoint were conical. An additional hole was added
to the footjoint and fitted with a key to make D# playable. These innovations, which probably originated from the Hotteterres, a French flute-
making family, represent the start of the development of the transverse flute as we know it.
In 1681 a Hotteterre flute with a range of 2½ octaves (D4–G6) was used in Jean-Baptiste Lully’s (1632–1687) opera orchestra, its first
appearance in an orchestra of this type. Its wide range and brilliant timbre meant that the transverse flute soon became a serious rival to the
recorder.
The recorder (or fistula Anglica), an end-blown instrument, had originated in England and gained popularity in Europe at the same time as
the transverse flute, becoming established as an orchestral instrument. But from the middle of the 18th century the description flauto in musical
scores no longer referred to the end-blown recorder but the transverse flute (which had hitherto been described as the flauto traverso).
The sound quality of the baroque transverse flute was still far from homogeneous and consistent, however. The irregularities in its range
and the subsidiary notes which resulted from the use of cross-fingerings and had a different timbre were felt to be irksome in modulations. If it was
possible to compensate for the shortcomings of the baroque flute’s intonation then only by means of exceptional virtuosity.
The common practice of changing the body only accentuated these problems; to achieve a different tuning it had become customary to
insert either a longer or shorter body, but no change was made to the arrangement of the finger-holes, which would have been necessary to
accommodate the instrument’s altered acoustic properties. The introduction of the exchangeable body is attributed to the virtuoso flutist Pierre
Gabriel Buffardin (ca. 1690–1768).
Efforts to improve the transverse flute soon spread from France to other countries. The Prussian flutist and composer Johann J. Quantz
(1697–1773), Frederick the Great’s flute teacher, studied the intonation problems of the instrument in great detail, later becoming a flute maker
himself. He invented the tuning slide, experimented with various shapes and sizes of tone hole and added another key. These improvements, along
with his treatise “Versuch einer Anweisung, die Flöte traversiere zu spielen” (An Essay on Instruction in the Art of Playing the Transverse Flute),
published in Berlin in 1752, and his approximately 400 compositions for the instrument (chiefly concertos for flute and strings) boosted its
popularity and brought it to the attention of ever more composers.

The classical keyed flute

By the end of the 18th century the transverse flute had firmly established itself as an orchestral instrument. Conversely, it had steadily
lost importance as a solo and chamber music instrument from the 1750s onward. Many composers were of the opinion that the flute was no
longer able to cope with the latest harmonic and formal developments; in addition, the shift of the audience from courtly to bourgeois circles – and
thus from small, intimate rooms to large concert halls – resulted in the advent of an entirely new sound ideal, which required, among other things,
a more powerful sound. But despite permanent attempts to improve the transverse flute’s sound and structure it proved quite impossible to
achieve anything like a standard form until well into the 19th century.
In the mid-18th century instrument makers in London added three more keys, thus rendering cross-fingerings virtually obsolete. In
addition they reintroduced the C footjoint, which had already been in use at the beginning of the century. These changes signaled the start of a
period during which the transverse flute was equipped with an ever larger number of keys.
At the turn of the 19th century, instruments with eight keys were standard, the first such flute being devised by the flutist Johann G.
Tromlitz (1726–1805). Flutes with more than eight or nine keys were the exception rather than the rule. The keys did not do much to improve the
sound quality, and led to more complicated fingerings into the bargain.

The Romantic period – Boehm revolutionizes flute construction

 It was not until 1830 that a solution appeared to be on the way at last. The flutist of the court orchestra in Munich, Theobald Boehm
(1794–1881), began to develop a new and comprehensive concept for the construction of flutes. Inspired by the attempts made by some of his
peers to redesign the instrument, he began an intensive study of the key work and the size and shape of the tone holes. He also incorporated the
ideas of other flute makers into his work, especially the ring keys patented in 1808 by Reverend Frederick Nolan and the principle of attaining a
more powerful sound by means of larger tone holes, an idea that Tromlitz had already experimented with.
In 1832 Boehm constructed a transverse flute with tone holes which, for the first time, were arranged according to acoustic criteria
rather than ease of fingering; these criteria were based on his own arithmetical calculations and experiments. In addition he created an entirely
new key work, linking the keys by means of movable axles. The Boehm mechanism required a new fingering, but this actually proved to be less
complicated than previous fingerings.
In 1847 Boehm presented an improved flute with cylindrical tubing and a parabolically conical headjoint – a revolution in instrument-
making of the time. The new flute also included an improved key work which featured the pin springs patented in 1839 by Louis-Auguste Buffet.
Boehm added felt pads to the key cups to prevent the escape of air. He changed the shape of the embouchure, which hitherto had been oval or
round, to a rectangle with rounded corners. The material he chose was German silver, to which he ascribed the best acoustic properties.
The Boehm flute was received with enthusiasm in France, England and the USA. It was awarded many prizes, including one at the World
Exhibition in Paris in 1855. In Boehm’s home country, however, his instrument was greeted with a good deal of skepticism, a feeling echoed in Italy
and Russia. These misgivings were due mainly to the new fingering, which flutists in these three countries were reluctant to accept. One prominent
opponent of the Boehm flute was Richard Wagner, who described it disparagingly as a “blunderbuss”, presumably on account of its unusually
powerful sound. Several instrument makers subsequently tried to make a model to rival the Boehm flute, but it was the latter’s form that
ultimately gained general acceptance.

Present day – new facets, new playing techniques

Modern flutes are still made using the Boehm mechanism, which underwent only very slight modifications and improvements during the
19th and 20th centuries. Once a technically complete flute with a satisfactory timbre had established itself, the amount of solo literature for the
instrument increased dramatically. Composers began to explore the limits of the instrument, and experiments with different tone colors and
means of articulation resulted in a whole new palette of playing techniques.
OBOE

Aulos and tibia – ancient forerunners

Double-reed wind instruments have been used since antiquity; the earliest images depicting such instruments are from Mesopotamia
from about 3,000 BC. In the Greek and Roman civilizations double-reed instruments were the most highly regarded of all instruments. Playing the
aulos or tibia was associated with high social standing and the musicians enjoyed great popularity and many privileges.
Portrayals of aulos players in Ancient Greece traditionally depict a musician blowing two instruments; this proves that the aulos was a
double instrument. Different types of aulos were played on different occasions – as was the Roman tibia – for example on the battlefield, during
the preparations for a banquet, at festivities and in the theater, where it accompanied the chorus.

The shawm – the minstrels’ instrument

It can no longer be ascertained for certain whether modern oboes are direct descendants of the Greek and Roman double-reed
instruments or whether they were lost during the migration of peoples in Europe and returned there later by way of Byzantium and Asia. In the
Europe of the early middle ages, however, an instrument was in use that consisted of a single tube and was known as the calamus (calamus is the
Latin word for reed). It is from this word that the English name shawm was derived (as was the German Schalmei and the French chalemie and
chalumeau). The term shawm was not restricted to any one single instrument but described an instrument type which was played with a single or
double reed.

The Renaissance shawm family included not only crumhorns, dolcians and bagpipes but also the bombarde or pommer groups, which are regarded
as the direct precursors of modern double-reed instruments. In keeping with Renaissance custom, the bombarde family consisted of instruments of
every pitch, from the treble shawm (third octave above middle C) to the great bass shawm (contraoctave). The treble shawm was the oldest
member of the bombarde family, and, like all bombardes, had a wind-cap which was taken into the mouth for blowing. The double-reed was inside
this wind-cap and was not touched by the musician who consequently had no possibility of influencing the sound, which was relatively static.
Renaissance shawms were played mainly by itinerant minstrels, who did not specialize in any one instrument but could play several different ones.

From the shawm to the hautboy

During the 17th century the treble shawm evolved into the hoboy or hautboy (known in France as the hautbois), which was tuned to C.
This early oboe no longer had a wind-cap and the musician’s lips made direct contact with the double-reed, which meant he was able to inject
more life into the instrument’s sound. The tube, which was made of boxwood and on the shawm had been a single piece, now consisted of three
parts, the upper and lower joints and the bell. In addition, three keys were added (although these were reduced to two a short time later). The bell
was bordered by a contraction rim.
These innovations originated in France and were probably due in no small measure to the instrument-making families of Hotteterre (the
name had been a byword for innovative instrument-making since the 16th century) and Philidor. Like all baroque woodwinds the hautboy’s timbre
differed throughout its range because intermediate notes which were played with cross-fingerings sounded more veiled.

In the late 17th century the hautboy was accepted into the orchestra. Jean Baptiste Lully, court composer to the "Sun King" Louis XIV presumably
used it in his ballet L’Amour Malade in 1657. Robert Cambert included the instrument in his opera Pomone in 1671. From that point on the hautboy
flourished, its heyday lasting until the end of the 18th century. During this period up to thirty hautboy players were engaged in the grande écurie,
the French court orchestra.
Starting from France the hautboy rapidly gained great popularity all over Europe. Unlike the flute there were no particular national styles
or schools of oboe playing initially; the musicians passed the latest playing techniques and instruments around among themselves. The baroque
hautboy was a special case inasmuch as it was the only instrument to be used in every context, from military to chamber music to the opera, the
orchestra and sacred music.
In the orchestra hautboys were initially used mainly to double the violins, although they had asserted themselves by the Classical period
and were performing functions of their own. In the opera orchestra they were given their first solo roles (obligatos) in arias. The instrument’s
repertoire in chamber music originally consisted chiefly of pieces for consorts (two oboes, two tenor oboes [later replaced by horns] and two
bassoons). At the beginning of the 18th century countless solo sonatas, suites with basso continuo, suites for trios (oboe, flute and violin) and
concertos were produced. In the second half of the 18th century the oboe quartet (oboe with a string trio) emerged. At the same time the hautboy
was gradually losing its place as the lead instrument in military ensembles to the clarinet.
In the 18th century the hautboy underwent continual improvements to its construction and sound. The bore was narrowed (from around
an average of 5.9 mm to 4.8 mm), the reeds became narrower and shorter, the walls of the tube thinner and the tone holes smaller. A direct result
of these measures was an increase in range: whereas the instrument’s range was given as C4 to D6 at the turn of the 18th century it increased
during the next hundred years to G6. The sound of the new classical hautboy was narrower and more focused than that of its predecessors and its
volume corresponded to that of the violin or the flute.
The most renowned oboe makers of the time were Christophe Delusse and the duo Thomas Lot and Charles Bizey in France, David
Denner, Wilhelm Oberländer and Carl Golde in Germany and Thomas Stanesby and Caleb Gedney in England. In the second half of the 18th century
the instruments made by Augustin Grenser and Jakob Grundmann in Dresden became accepted as standard all over Europe.

The 19th century – a mechanical revolution

In 1781 Grundmann added a third key to the oboe, and from that point on German instrument makers began adding more and more
keys. The aim was to provide a tone hole which could be closed by a key for every half tone so that cross-fingerings would no longer be necessary.
This trend was followed in France, albeit with some misgivings, since many musicians felt that the quality of the sound suffered from a surfeit of
keys.
 In around 1825 oboes with fifteen tone holes and ten keys were being made in both Germany and France. Despite this the instruments
had a fundamental difference, since the differing sound esthetics governing oboe-making had led to the emergence of two distinct types which
later became known as the “French” oboe and the “German” oboe.
In France the trend was toward narrower tubing, thinner walls and thinner reeds, whereas in Germany a wider bore was retained along
with the characteristics of the classic oboe – thick-walled tubing, a contraction rim round the inside of the bell, the barrel (baluster) and rings on
the upper joint with the simple mechanism featuring long-levered keys mounted on wooden blocks. Stephan Koch (1772–1828) and Joseph Sellner
(1787–1843) developed an innovative version in 1820 in Vienna which combined features of both models: a classic appearance with a bore that
was extremely narrow by the standards of the time. Both the French oboe and the Viennese “Sellner-Koch oboe” had a bright sound and were
distinctly audible in the orchestra, whereas the German oboe retained the darker timbre of the classical era which was more conducive to tonal
blending.
In France, inventive instrument makers provided the oboe with a constant stream of technical innovations, among them the speaker key
(which made overblowing unnecessary), a mechanism that made a complex interaction of levers and keys possible (introduced by the Triébert
family), Theobald Boehm’s ring key (operating a key by means of a ring on a rod; at the same time another tone hole is closed) and Auguste Buffet’s
pin springs.
Theobald Boehm (1794–1881), a trained goldsmith and flutist, developed a revolutionary keywork for the transverse flute which was
received with great enthusiasm in France. Some parts of this system were subsequently adapted for use on the other woodwind instruments,
although a radically altered Boehm oboe failed to gain acceptance on account of its novel sound (as did a Boehm bassoon).
Modern oboes
From the 1860s onward the instrument maker Frédéric Triébert (1813–1878) developed oboes together with the oboist Apollon M. R.
Barret (ca. 1804–1879) which are direct antecedents of today’s instruments. Triébert’s système 6 with its extremely narrow bore and speaker key
was patented in 1872. Ten years later the oboe professor Georges Gillet pronounced it the official model at the Conservatoire de Paris. After the
Second World War this conservatoire model, modified only slightly, became the international standard.
The Viennese oboe played in Austria today is a development on a model made in the 1840s by the instrument maker Carl Golde (1803–
1873) in Dresden. Its body still has the classic form, with the flared bell, the barrel (baluster) on the upper joint and the widening at the tenon
joints. The tubing is shorter and more conical than that of the French oboe. The keywork, which follows the pattern of the German mechanism, was
improved and extended during the 20th century.
Although the oboe was used almost exclusively in the orchestra in the 19th century, 20th century composers rediscovered the
instrument’s potential as a solo instrument. This was due in no small measure to the outstanding oboists Leon Goossens (1897–1988), who
established a number of techniques which facilitated playing (diaphragm breathing, relaxed embouchure) and Heinz Holliger (born 1939), who has
propagated countless new playing techniques.
CLARINET

Forerunners in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages

Instruments that were played with mouthpieces that had a kind of simple reed were already known in Antiquity: a triangular section was
cut out of the mouthpiece in such a way that the reed still hung on its end and could be controlled by the lips. The Egyptian memet from the 3rd
century BC is one such early clarinet. It was played as a double instrument; the two cylindrical pipes were made of reeds or wood and tied together.
They had fingerholes and two mouthpieces. These instruments were later adopted by the Greeks and Romans. Clarinets with one, two and even
three reeds were used in many cultures; indeed, in some parts of the world they are still in use and have remained unchanged (e.g., the Russian
brelka or the Sardinian triple clarinet the launedda ).
In medieval Europe a single-reed instrument that had originated in the Orient and usually had eight fingerholes was common. This was
the chalumeau. Chalumeau means “reed” and is derived from the Greek “calamos” and the Latin “calamus”. Chalumeaux had a range of about one
octave (F4–G5). From the Renaissance onward they were made in various tunings, from treble to bass in keeping with the custom of the time. In
the late Middle Ages the term chalumeau (German: Schalmei, English: shawm) came to be used as a generic term for the whole shawm family.
From the chalumeau to the clarinet
Johann Christoph Denner (died 1707), an instrument maker from Nuremberg, is today generally credited with the invention of the
clarinet, which evolved from the chalumeau toward the end of the 17th century. Exactly what Denner’s innovations were is not clear, which means
that the exact difference in construction between the chalumeau and the clarinet, which coexisted for over half a century, is not known. What is
generally accepted, however, is that Denner was the first to equip the chalumeau with two keys.
Following his example his son Jakob and other instrument makers of the time began producing clarinets with two keys and a wider bore.
The chalumeau’s cylindrical bell was replaced by one that flared, and the clarinet tubing was given its characteristic barrel-shaped bulge (barrel)
below the mouthpiece.
As on all baroque woodwind instruments the position of the hands had not yet been determined, so clarinets were made so that either
hand could be in the lower position (for instance, a hole for the little finger was drilled on both the left and the right sides, the hole that was not
needed was blocked up).
On the chalumeau only the fundamental register was played, in other words the pitches from the fundamental that could be produced
using the fingerholes (the clarinet’s lowest register retains the name chalumeau to the present day). The sound is said to have been less than
pleasant, having even been described as “wailing”. Initially only the upper register, the so-called clarinet register, was played on the clarinet. The
high notes were produced by overblowing, the fingering remaining the same as in the fundamental scale. Overblowing was achieved with the aid of
a speaker key on the reverse of the tubing (which was operated by the thumb) and was made easier by the small mouthpiece and narrow reed.
Because the clarinet overblows to the twelfth (octave + fifth) due to its cylindrical tubing, at least two keys were required to bridge the gap
between the fundamental scale and the first overblown note.
Until the middle of the 18th century most clarinets had two keys: their lowest note was written F3. Pitches up to G4 were produced
without keys, A4 with the front key, Bb4 by opening both keys. B4 was only rarely used and was produced by altering lip tension (using either the
Bb4 or C5 fingering). B4 was not easily playable until a third key (B4 key) was added, which also extended the range downward to E3. The pitches
from C5 upward (to about G6) were played by overblowing.
The clarinet’s timbre was originally hard and trumpet-like in the upper register, which not only earned it its name (little clarino or little
trumpet) but also defined its initial role in the orchestra: the playing of trumpet-like parts in the upper register. By the end of the 18th century it
had completely taken over from the previous incumbent of this position, the clarino (high trumpet). At the same time solo literature for the clarinet
began to appear which was already exploiting the instrument’s great range and variety of timbre.
In search of the pure tone
Like all woodwinds the clarinet suffered from the impure intonation and poor tonal quality of those notes played using cross-fingerings.
The first attempts to solve this problem focused on the addition of keys. These early keys were prone to malfunction and most clarinetists rejected
them as a merely temporary solution. Instead instrument makers began producing clarinets in many different tunings. Whereas baroque clarinets –
like the natural trumpets of the period – were still being made chiefly in C and D, the second half of the 18th century saw the introduction of
instruments in B, Bb, A, Ab and G so that several keys could be played while retaining evenness of timbre and purity of intonation.
This practice caused new problems, however. Aside from the fact that clarinetists now had to buy several instruments, switching
between mouthpieces of varying size proved problematical for the embouchure and the change from an instrument that was already warmed up
to a cold one posed new problems in terms of tuning. Although so-called “pièces de rechange”, components that could be exchanged, alleviated
certain technical difficulties, they fell far short of solving the problem of inaccurate tuning. But although the construction of clarinets in various
tunings did not solve the problem of intonation it did result in a wide choice of timbres which was greatly appreciated by musicians.
By the end of the 18th century instruments with five keys had become standard. The clarinet had established itself in the orchestra, in
wind bands and in military bands. In the Classical period composers began to move away from clarinet concertos, in which the clarinet played
mainly in the upper register, and made increasing use of the instrument’s lower notes (W. A. Mozart was a pioneer of this). In chamber and
orchestral music the playing of broken chords in the chalumeau register as accompaniment to the melody became particularly popular.
From the second half of the 18th century a new awareness of the tonal qualities of the clarinet slowly emerged which blossomed in the
age of sentimentalism. No longer was the clarinet sound seen as trumpet-like, hard, shrill and bright, but as the ideal vehicle for the expression of
emotions. In his Ideen zur Ästhetik der Tonkunst (1784/85) Chr. Fr. D. Schubart had already described the clarinet’s timbre as “sweet”, “yearning”
and “emotion melted in love”.

19th century – striving for technical perfection

At the turn of the century innovative instrument makers provided the clarinet with more keys. The Frenchman J. X. Lefèvre added a sixth,
a seventh was patented in 1800 by the Englishman James Wood and J. F. Simiot, another Frenchman, added a trill key and a small pipe to the G4
tone hole to prevent the escape of water.
In 1812 the German clarinetist Iwan Mueller presented a new model with thirteen keys, setting a milestone for all modern clarinet
mechanics. His system was enthusiastically received by clarinetists and became the basis of imitation and improvement over the entire century. In
his key arrangement he took pains to ensure that all previous fingerings could be retained. He replaced the leather or felt key pads with skin pads
filled with wool. Mueller was also an advocate of playing with the reed on the lower lip – up to that time playing reed uppermost had been
widespread.
In around 1840 parts of the keywork that Theobald Boehm had invented for the flute were transferred to the clarinet by the Parisian
clarinetist Hyacinthe Eléonore Klosé (1808–1880) in collaboration with the instrument maker Louis-Auguste Buffet (died 1885). This “clarinette à
anneaux mobiles” (“clarinet with movable rings”) served as the prototype of the so-called Boehm clarinet with seventeen keys which is nowadays
widely used in Romance and Anglo-Saxon countries.
The Mueller clarinet was improved in Germany in around 1860 by Carl Baermann and Georg Ottensteiner (1815–1879). The 22-key
Oehler clarinet, which was developed in 1900 by the instrument maker Oskar Oehler (1858–1936) and is now played in German-speaking countries,
is a direct continuation of this development.

Present day
Because the clarinet’s modulatory capabilities made it especially well suited to the sound ideal of the Romantic period it became the
most important wind instrument in the Romantic orchestra in the 19th century along with the horn (since Beethoven it has been customary to use
two). The Bb clarinet became standard, with the A and C clarinets also in use, although the latter is only very seldom called for today on account of
its characteristic timbre (e.g., in the “witches’ sabbath” movement in Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique).
In military, popular and jazz music only the Bb clarinet is widespread. In jazz, which gave the orchestral clarinet modern techniques such
as glissando to play, the clarinet was often used as a melody instrument but was replaced more and more by the saxophone. In the USA jazz
clarinetists traditionally double on other woodwind instruments in the same register as their own. In the production of musicals several reeds often
share a part.
BASSOON

Shawms in the Renaissance period

In the Middle Ages shawms – wind instruments played with either a single or a double reed – were common throughout Europe. The
forerunner of modern bassoons and oboes was a kind of shawm which generally had seven sound holes, a conical tube and a double reed. This was
the bombarde or pommer.
In the 16th century instrumental polyphony evolved, following the example of vocal music. This development led to the construction of
instrument families. During the Renaissance period the bombarde or pommer family included instruments in seven ranges, from the third octave
above middle C (treble shawm, the direct antecedent of the oboe) to the contraoctave (great bass shawm). The name was derived from the low
instruments, the bomhardes (from the Latin bombus meaning “muffled sound”, “rumble”).
In the course of attempts to extend the range downward it became necessary to produce a bass instrument also for the woodwind family
which was on the one hand sufficiently agile and loud and on the other easy to handle. With the great bass shawm, the deepest member of the
family, the shawms had reached the limits of their development: aside from the fact that its almost 3 meters long, straight tube was extremely
unwieldy, a further downward extension of its range (to below F2) was out of the question due to the fingering problems it posed.

The dulcian
Attempts were therefore made to construct a maneuverable bass instrument by “folding” the tubing after the fashion of the trumpets
and trombones to make it shorter. In the second half of the 16th century these attempts resulted in the construction of an instrument the body of
which consisted essentially of a hollowed-out, U-shaped wooden block. The tubing was conical along its entire length. A small S-shaped tube was
attached to the narrow end of the tube to which the double reed was fixed. The other end flared out to form a bell.
Because this new instrument possessed a mellow and pleasant sound which distinguished it from the pommers it was given the name
dulcian (“sweet-sounder”). It is not known in which workshops dulcians, the direct antecedents of the modern bassoon, were first made.
For many years the so-called phagotum was regarded as the direct forerunner of the modern bassoon. This was an instrument with two
parallel wooden pipes which was made from 1513 onward by the Italian collector of musical instruments Afranio degli Albonesi. However, it was
later found out that it really belonged to the bagpipe family, since it had metal reeds which were vibrated by means of bellows.
Beside the name dulcian the appellations fagot, curtall and basson were also adopted very early in the instrument’s history and were
used at the same time. The French term fagot meant “bundle of sticks, faggot”, and was first applied to a musical instrument in Italy in the early
16th century. Since the middle of the 18th century the bassoon has been known as the Fagott in German-speaking countries and the fagotto in
Italian. The name curtall (German: Kortholt) literally means “short wood” and was the earliest name given to the dulcian in England. The term was
adopted after the instrument had been curved into a U shape and thus considerably shortened, and is derived from the Latin word curtus meaning
“short”. The French term basson originally had the general meaning of “bass”.

Dulcians were made in several tunings. In the second volume of his Syntagma musicum (1620) Praetorius includes a total of eight tunings.
The choristfagott enjoyed special status among the dulcians from the very beginning. It was first mentioned in 1592 in Zacconi’s Prattica di musica
and was about one meter tall, had eight finger-holes and two keys. Its range was from C2 to G4, with the notes from C3 upward being produced by
overblowing. The bell often had a perforated lid which made it sound similar to a stopped organ pipe.
The appellation “choristfagott” possibly derived from the fact that the instrument was used to reinforce the bass voice of the choir. It
played a leading role in sacred music of the 17th century and subsequently also in opera and concertante music, in which it was increasingly able to
liberate itself from its restrictive role as a support to the bass and appear in consort with other dulcians, in small ensembles and even as a solo
instrument, for instance in Selma y Salaverde’s Canzoni, fantasie et correnti, 1638). Its debut as an orchestral instrument was probably in 1668 in
Antonio Cesti’s opera Il pomo d’oro .
Challenging techniques were being required of stringed instruments as early as the 17th century, and the strings were proving
themselves more than capable of meeting them. Greater demands were subsequently made on the wind instruments, too, particularly with regard
to range and sound quality. These new demands meant that the pommer, with its inflexible timbre and limited range, gradually disappeared. The
dulcian, on the other hand, possessed a host of qualities which made it ideally suited for further development.

The early bassoon

In the middle of the 17th century instrument makers in Amsterdam, Paris and Nuremberg began constructing the body of the
choristfagott in four parts: wing joint, boot, long joint and bell. The range of the new, four-part instrument, which became generally known as the
bassoon (French: basson) was extended downward by a whole tone. This meant that the bassoon, which now had three keys (F2, D2 and Bb1), was
able to hold its own against the contemporary bass instrument of the string family, the basse de violon. What it did not have, however, was the
notes B1 and C#2.
The new bassoon fulfilled a number of different functions: together with two oboes it formed a woodwind group that was used to
contrast with the strings (by Jean Baptiste Lully or Henry Purcell, for example). In orchestral composition it was given the task of playing obligatos
(by J.S. Bach, for instance), and many composers, such as Antonio Vivaldi, wrote bassoon concertos. In chamber music it was often used in sonatas
and trio sonatas (e.g., by G.F. Handel and Jan Dismas Zelenka [1679–1745]). In the Classical period numerous chamber music pieces for bassoon
and strings were written. In the orchestra, two bassoons were used.
In the 18th century improvements to the bassoon focused primarily on increasing the number of keys. In around 1700 the bassoon was
given a fourth key (the G# key for the right little finger). This determined the playing position of the hands (right hand below the left) once and for
all. Further additional keys were to improve the quality of some of the low notes, which had previously been played using cross-fingerings. The
addition of speaker keys – for which reliable evidence exists from 1787 – represented a major step forward, since they made overblowing
considerably easier. The most famous classical workshops were Bizey, Lot and Prudent in France and Grundmann and Grenser in Germany.
Although it was possible to play notes in the high register up to F5 on bassoons with five keys, it was not until the speaker keys were
added that contemporary composers were persuaded to ask for notes above G4. In about 1810 models with six keys and two additional speaker
keys on the wing joint (for A4 and C5) became standard.
 19th century – the birth of the modern bassoon
Compared to the other woodwind instruments, the number of significant changes made to bassoon construction in the course of the
18th century was small. This “neglect” became particularly apparent at the beginning of the 19th century, as the bassoon began to have obvious
difficulties coping with the growing demands made with respect to sound quality and technique in orchestra and solo literature: The notes B1 and
C#2 were still missing from the range, the tone quality of a number of other notes was very poor and legato playing proved extremely difficult
especially in keys containing a large number of accidentals.
This situation changed dramatically in the 19th century thanks to the innovations of several instrument makers, and most especially
thanks to Carl Almenraeder’s (1786–1843) sweeping reforms.
Leading workshops in Paris, Vienna and Dresden made valuable contributions to solving the tuning problem by equipping their
instruments with tuning slides on the wing joint or providing wings or bocals of various lengths. Keys for B1 and C#2 were added. To increase the
volume attempts were also made to widen the bell. The boot was given the short, U-shaped joint in place of the cork component.
In 1817 the bassoonist and instrument maker Carl Almenraeder from Mainz in Germany embarked on a project which was to last years
and ultimately result in a technically complete, agile and responsive bassoon with a well-balanced overall sound.
Beside his own mechanical improvements Almenraeder also made use of the inventions of other instrument makers and adopted some
of the suggestions of his friend Gottfried Weber, who had undertaken a thorough study of the acoustic properties of woodwind instruments. He
placed the tone holes from A2 downward nearer the bell and increased their diameter. He also replaced the resonator hole in the bell with an open
key for B1.
In 1843 Almenraeder’s comprehensive guide to his 17-key bassoon was published. This instrument had a chromatic range from B1–Bb5,
in other words, four octaves. Following his death his colleague Johann Adam Heckel (1812–1877) took over the management of the workshops
they had started together in 1831.
Today, following several further alterations, the German Almenraeder-Heckel bassoon has 25–27 keys. It first gained popularity in the
German-speaking world and became the international standard during the 20th century.
In France, the Romance countries and parts of Canada, on the other hand, a French model with 22 keys is in use. The basson has tubing
which is longer and more narrowly conical; the tone holes are narrower. Unlike the German bassoon the French basson has a closed Bb1 key, the
tone holes for B1, C#2 and D#2 are drilled in the front side and the tone hole for E2 (on the boot) has no key. It developed in the workshops of J. F.
Simiot de Lyon, Frederic Guillaume Adler (died 1857), Savary (1786–1859), Jean Nicolas (1786–1853), Frederic Triébert (1813–1878) among others
and was later further refined by the firm of Buffet-Crampton.
SAXOPHONE

The saxophone was developed in 1846 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker, flautist, and clarinetist based in Brussels. Prior to his
work on the saxophone, he had made several improvements to the bass clarinet by improving its keywork and acoustics and extending its lower
range. Sax was also a maker of the then-popular ophicleide, a large conical brass instrument in the bass register with keys similar to a woodwind
instrument. His experience with these two instruments allowed him to develop the skills and technologies needed to make the first saxophones. As
an outgrowth of his work improving the bass clarinet, Sax began developing an instrument with the projection of a brass instrument and the agility
of a woodwind. He wanted it to overblow at the octave, unlike the clarinet, which rises in pitch by a twelfth when overblown. An instrument that
overblew at the octave, would have identical fingering for both registers.

Sax created an instrument with a single reed mouthpiece like a clarinet, conical brass body like an ophicleide, and the acoustic properties
of both the French horn and the clarinet. Having constructed saxophones in several sizes in the early 1840s, Sax applied for, and received, a 15-year
patent for the instrument on June 28, 1846. The patent encompassed 14 versions of the fundamental design, split into two categories of seven
instruments each, and ranging from sopranino to contrabass.
Although the instruments transposed at either F or C have been considered "orchestral", there is no evidence that Sax intended this. As
only 3 percent of Sax's surviving production were pitched in F and C, and as contemporary composers used the E♭ alto and B♭ bass saxophone
freely in orchestral music, it is almost certain that Sax experimented to find the most suitable keys for these instruments, settling upon instruments
alternating between E♭ and B♭ rather than those pitched in F or C, for reasons of tone and economy (the saxophones were the most expensive
wind instruments of their day). The C soprano saxophone was the only instrument to sound at concert pitch. All the instruments were given an
initial written range from the B below the treble staff to the F, one space above the three ledger lines above staff, giving each saxophone a range of
two and a half octaves.
Sax's patent expired in 1866; thereafter, numerous saxophonists and instrument manufacturers implemented their own improvements to
the design and keywork. The first substantial modification was by a French manufacturer who extended the bell slightly and added an extra key to
extend the range downwards by one semitone to B♭. It is suspected that Sax himself may have attempted this modification. This extension is now
commonplace in almost all modern designs, along with other minor changes such as added keys for alternate fingerings. Using alternate fingerings
will allow the player to play easily and as fast as they can. the player may also use alternate fingerings to bend the pitch. Some of the alternate
fingerings are good for trilling, scales, and big interval jumps.
Sax's original keywork, which was based on the Triebert system 3 oboe for the left hand and the Boehm clarinet for the right, was very
simplistic and made playing some legato passages and wide intervals extremely difficult to finger, so numerous developers added extra keys and
alternate fingerings to make chromatic playing less difficult. While the early saxophone had two separate octave vents to assist in the playing of the
upper registers just as modern instruments do, players of Sax's original design had to operate these via two separate octave keys operated by the
left thumb.
A substantial advancement in saxophone keywork was the development of a method by which the left thumb operates both tone holes
with a single octave key, which is now universal on modern saxophones. One of the most radical, however temporary, revisions of saxophone
keywork was made in the 1950s by M. Houvenaghel of Paris, who completely redeveloped the mechanics of the system to allow a number of notes
(C♯, B, A, G, F and E♭) to be flattened by a semitone simply by pressing the right middle finger. This enables a chromatic scale to be played over two
octaves simply by playing the diatonic scale combined with alternately raising and lowering this one digit. However, this keywork never gained
much popularity, and is no longer in use.

Uses for the saxophone

Uses in military bands and classical music
The saxophone first gained popularity in one of the uses it was designed for: the military band. Although the instrument was studiously
ignored in Germany at first, French and Belgian military bands took full advantage of the instrument that Sax had designed. Most French and
Belgian military bands incorporate at least a quartet of saxophones comprising at least the E♭ baritone, B♭ tenor, E♭ alto and B♭ soprano. These
four instruments have proved the most popular of all of Sax's creations, with the E♭ contrabass and B♭ bass usually considered impractically large
and the E♭ sopranino insufficiently powerful. British military bands tend to include at minimum two saxophonists on the alto and tenor. Today, the
saxophone is used in military bands all around the world.
The saxophone was subsequently introduced into the concert band, which generally calls for the E♭ alto saxophone, the B♭ tenor
saxophone, and the E♭ baritone saxophone. The typical high-level concert band includes two altos, one tenor, and one baritone. The B♭ soprano
saxophone is also occasionally used, in which case it is normally played by the first alto saxophonist. The bass saxophone in B♭ is called for in some
concert band music (especially music by Percy Grainger). The saxophone is used in chamber music, such as the saxophone quartet, reed quintet,
and other chamber combinations of instruments.
The classical saxophone quartet consists of the soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and baritone saxophone. There is
a repertoire of classical compositions and arrangements for the SATB instrumentation dating back to the nineteenth century, particularly by French
composers who knew Adolphe Sax. Classical saxophone quartets include Quatuor Habanera, the h2 quartet, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, the
Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, the New Century Saxophone Quartet, and others.
Historically, the quartets led by Marcel Mule and Daniel Deffayet, saxophone professors at the Conservatoire de Paris, were started in
1928 and 1953, respectively, and were highly regarded. The Mule quartet is often considered the prototype for future quartets, due the level of
virtuosity demonstrated by its members and its central role in the development of the quartet repertoire. However, organised quartets did exist
before Mule's ensemble, the prime example being the quartet headed by Eduard Lefebre (1834–1911), former soloist with the Sousa band, in the
United States c. 1904–1911. Other ensembles most likely existed at this time as part of the saxophone sections of the many touring professional
bands that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The saxophone is a member of the reed quintet. The reed quintet consists of an oboe, a clarinet, a saxophone, a bass clarinet, and a
bassoon. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the saxophone has found increased popularity in the symphony orchestra. In one or other size, the
instrument has also been found as a useful accompaniment to genres as wide-ranging as opera and choral music. Many musical theatre scores
include parts for the saxophone, sometimes doubling another woodwind or brass instrument. In this way, the sax serves as a middle point between
other woodwinds and the brass section, helping to blend the two sections.

Uses in jazz and popular music

The saxophone is also commonly used in jazz music, where the saxophone is one of the signature sounds. Beginning in the early 20th
century, the saxophone became popular in dance orchestras, which were not jazz ensembles but influenced the format of the big swing era bands
that were soon to follow.
The arrival of the saxophone as a jazz instrument is attributed to tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins' stint with the Fletcher Henderson
Orchestra starting in 1923. The saxophone was soon embraced by Chicago style musicians who added it, along with chordal instruments such as a
piano, banjo, or guitar, to the trumpet-clarinet-trombone-bass-drums ensemble format inherited from New Orleans Jazz. The Duke Ellington
Orchestra of the late 1920s featured saxophone-based ensemble sounds and solos by saxophonists Otto Hardwick, Johnny Hodges, and Harry
Carney.
The swing bands of the 1930s utilized arrangements of saxophone and brass sections playing off each other in call-response patterns. The
influence of tenor saxophonist Lester Young with the Count Basie Orchestra in the late 1930s and the tremendous popularity of Coleman Hawkins'
1939 recording of Body and Soul marked the saxophone as an influence on jazz equal to that of the trumpet, which had been the defining
instrument of jazz since its beginnings in New Orleans. But the greatest influence of the saxophone on jazz was to occur just a few years later, as
alto saxophonist Charlie Parker became an icon of the bebop revolution that influenced generations of jazz musicians.
The small group format of bebop and post-bebop jazz ensembles, typically with one to three lead instruments(usually including a
saxophone), a chordal instrument, bass, and drums, gained ascendancy in the 1940s as musicians emphasized extended exploration utilizing the
new harmonic and melodic freedoms that bebop provided, thanks to Charlie Parker and a few other pioneers such as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious
Monk, and Bud Powell.
In addition to the colossal brilliance and virtuosity of Parker, the alto sax was also popularized in the 1950s by top saxophonists such as
Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Criss and Paul Desmond (latter of the Dave Brubeck Quartet). The tenor sax, which some consider to be
the more popular form of saxophone as a solo instrument in jazz, was popularized by jazz greats such as Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter
Gordon, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Zoot Sims. The baritone sax, featured more in big bands (notably by Harry Carney in the Duke
Ellington Orchestra) and larger ensembles than as a solo instrument, was popularized in jazz as a solo instrument within small groups by musicians
such as Serge Chaloff, Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams and Leo Parker. The soprano saxophone was popularized by Sidney Bechet in early jazz, but
then largely fell out of favor on the jazz scene until John Coltrane began to feature the instrument. Popular smooth jazz/contemporary pop
musician Kenny G also features the soprano sax as his principal instrument.
Saxophone players such as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sam Rivers and Pharaoh Sanders again defined the forefront of creative
exploration with the avant-garde movement of the 1960s. Modal, harmolodic, and free jazz again removed boundaries and the new space was
explored with every device that saxophone players could conceive of. Sheets of sound, tonal exploration, upper harmonics, and multiphonics were
hallmarks of the creative possibilities that saxophones offered in the new realm. One lasting influence of the avant-garde movement has been the
exploration of non-western ethnic sounds on the saxophone, for example, the Africanized sounds used by Pharaoh Sanders. The devices of the
avant-garde movement have continued to be influential in music that challenges the boundaries between avant-garde and other categories of jazz,
such as that of alto saxophonists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby.
The jazz saxophone quartet is usually made up of one B♭ soprano, one E♭ alto, one B♭ tenor and one E♭ baritone (SATB). On occasion,
the soprano is replaced with a second alto sax (AATB); a few professional saxophone quartets have featured non-standard instrumentation, such as
James Fei's Alto Quartet (four altos) and Hamiet Bluiett's Bluiett Baritone Nation (four baritones). Recently, the World Saxophone Quartet has
become known as the preeminent jazz saxophone quartet.
The saxophone, as a solo instrument or as part of a horn section, may also be heard in blues, soul music, rhythm and blues, reggae, ska,
funk, rock and roll and other forms of popular music. Some players of these genres include King Curtis, Maceo Parker, Bobby Keys, Clarence
Clemons, the Memphis Horns, and the Phenix Horns.
TRUMPET

The Middle Ages – from the straight trumpet to the coiled form
The beginnings of the modern trumpet in Europe can be traced back to the 11th century. It was then that the forerunner of all modern
brass instruments first emerged: the buisine (from the Roman bucina). The busine first appeared in southern Italy, in two different forms: one had
a conical, curved tube, the other a straight, cylindrical one. The former instrument led to the development of horns, the latter to that of trumpets.
From 1400 onward the straight tube began to change, first to an S-shape and then to the double coiled form which is still found today.
This development took place over a matter of decades and was achieved by the use of semi-circular pieces of tubing. The detachable bell was
originally nothing more than a slightly conical funnel. In the late Middle Ages the trumpet still only had a range of four notes, namely the naturals
1–4 in the low register.
In the 15th century a slide trumpet was also already in use: its tube length could be increased by extending the mouthpipe, which made it
possible to pay several notes outside the natural harmonic series.
When from 1250 onward the trombone began to establish itself as the member of the trumpet family best suited for tenor and bass parts, the
trumpet’s range increased and rose in pitch. This was achieved by overblowing to higher and higher naturals (partials).
As the Middle Ages drew to a close the trumpet, which had hitherto served as a signaling instrument in battle, began to gain importance
as a symbol of authority as well. In Renaissance and Baroque times decrees were passed to govern the use of trumpeters – in fact, the employment
of trumpeters remained the privilege of princes and favorites of the emperor right up until the 18th century! The Court and Field Trumpeters’ guild,
which enjoyed great privileges, was a jealous guardian of the secret art of trumpet-playing and passed it on only to carefully selected young men of
high honor and unimpeachable reputation.
The trainee court and field trumpeters had to serve an apprenticeship of several years before they were able to take an examination
which was a most exacting test of their musical prowess. If they passed this test and were taken on at court they received the title of court
trumpeter. If they had been into battle, they could call themselves field or military trumpeter.
At the imperial court in Vienna in around 1550 six trumpeters (and a drummer) were in the emperor’s employ. By 1721 these numbers
had doubled to sixteen trumpeters and two drummers, a development that was mirrored at other courts too. Although a field trumpeter enjoyed
many privileges – his status was equal to that of an officer – he was also subject to a number of obligations and restrictions: the trumpet was only
to be played in the field and at official secular ceremonies. Later, however, it was also permitted at certain church ceremonies, but only at religious
solemnities and not at joyful occasions such as weddings and baptisms.
In the 16th century the trumpet’s range increased up to the 13th natural. This now quite considerable range led trumpeters to specialize
in a particular register within the instrument’s compass. The highest register from the 8th partial upward was called clarino. Trumpets which were
used solely for playing the clarino register – the clarino trumpets – were fitted with a special clarino mouthpiece, a narrow-bore cup-shaped
mouthpiece with a sharp-angled rim.
Since the Middle Ages a wide variety of names had been used in Europe for the trumpet, such as tuba, tromba or trombetta, trummet,
tarantara, clarino or clareta etc. The modern word “trumpet” is derived from trombetta.
At the same time that trumpeters were splitting into the two groups of “high and “low” players, a division between court and field
trumpeters was also taking place. During the 17th century the performance of the lowest register was increasingly associated with the field
trumpeters, while the softer style of clarino playing became the province of soloists at court.
At the beginning of the 17th century the trumpet became an established part of art music – half a century earlier than the horn. One
reason for this was undoubtedly the fact that the trumpet with its cylindrical tubes was relatively easy to make compared to the conical and coiled
horn. From 1610 court composers began integrating trumpet parts into vocal compositions, mainly masses (messe con trombe). From 1620 the
trumpet gained increasing popularity as an orchestral instrument (in 1675 it appeared in an opera orchestra for the first time in Legrenzi’s opera
Eteocle e Polinice. But up until the 19th century the role of the trumpet in opera was still confined mainly to the evocation of majestic and solemn
moods). The use of the trumpet in art music led to a fundamental change in the players’ performance practice. They now had to familiarize
themselves with the rules of art music and, above all, they had to learn to read music.
In the 17th century many trumpeters were not yet familiar with written musical notation. As a rule there were several trumpet parts,
played by between five and seven trumpeters, two of whom could read music. The others played their parts by ear. But this does not mean that
trumpeters of that time were less proficient – on the contrary, the demands made on them were extremely high, because a trumpeter was
expected to be able to embrace the latest style and include the most popular pieces of the time in his repertoire.
The first printed trumpet method (Modo per imperare a sonare di tromba...) was written by G. Fantini, probably the most famous
trumpeter of his time, and appeared in 1638.
In the 17th and 18th centuries clarino playing evolved into a technique of exceptional virtuosity. Clarino players reached higher and
higher clarino pitches, leading composers to call for ever higher notes in the natural harmonic series. The best known composers of baroque clarino
parts for trumpet are Bach and Handel.
Vienna was regarded as the home of baroque trumpet playing; there, and in other major centers such as Leipzig, Dresden, Kromeriz,
Bologna and London countless concertos for clarino trumpeters were written. The most famous baroque trumpeter of all was probably Johann
Heinisch, who was engaged at the court in Vienna from 1727 to 1750. Especially for him and the bevy of trumpeters that flocked around him
concertos were written that required the 24th (!) natural as the highest note.
The highest note ever written in a trumpet concerto is a concert A6 in the 1st trumpet concerto in D major by Michael Haydn, Joseph
Haydn’s younger brother; on the baroque D trumpet this was the 24th natural. Michael Haydn’s 2nd trumpet concerto in C major is regarded as the
most difficult trumpet piece ever written: it goes up to the 20th natural.
In comparison, the compass of the modern trumpet goes as far as the 8th natural. This, in fact, sounds at the same pitch as the baroque
natural trumpet’s 16th natural, because the shorter tube length of today’s instrument means it is pitched an octave higher.
The high standing enjoyed by the clarino trumpet was due principally to the fact that baroque musicians were very strongly influenced by
the human voice. The way that sound is produced on wind instruments resembles the singing voice far more strongly than sound production on
stringed instruments, and for this reason the former were more popular than the latter.
 Beside pieces for the clarino register, countless orchestral works were also written during the Baroque period which only required the
naturals 2 to 12 (written C3–G5). For baroque music, trumpets pitched in low Bb, C and D were most often required. For the Bb and D tunings the
corresponding natural trumpets in Bb and D were used, while the C tuning was achieved by lowering the pitch of the natural trumpet in D by means
of a crook. In addition, trumpets in low F and low G were made in the second half of the 18th century. These could be lowered to E, Eb, D, C and Bb
by using crooks.

Classical to Modern
The trumpet in classical music – restrained use and attempts at chromaticization
In the middle of the 18th century the clarinet was introduced into the orchestra. This instrument initially sounded so much like a trumpet
with its hard, powerful sound that it replaced the clarino. That is how the instrument got its name: clarinette, the little clarino. The days of clarino
playing were effectively over.
Early classical taste favored less ostentatious virtuosity and more the softer sounds of violins combined with woodwinds. Trumpet
concertos went right out of fashion.
The classical style of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven still incorporated pairs of trumpets which worked together with the timpani. In
symphonic works their role was limited to that of a ripieno instrument. They were used for the performance of sustained notes and signal notes,
and had the special task of intensifying the tonal effect in particular places (e.g. for fanfares or fanfare-like chords).
In around 1770, efforts were being made to increase the range of the natural trumpet so that it could be used as a melody instrument
particularly in the middle and low registers (the upper naturals were so close together that they formed a kind of scale). To this end, the technique
of hand stopping, hitherto used only on the horn, was applied to the trumpet. To make this possible the trumpet was either curved so that the
hand could be placed in the bell, or was made crescent-shaped (the French trompette-demilune). Apart from the stop-trumpet, a hand-trumpet
with a U-shaped slide crook (the so-called Inventionstrompete) was being used. In England the trumpeter John Hyde developed a slide trumpet
which was fitted with a U-shaped slide similar to the trombone’s, with the difference that his trumpet-slide was extended upward. An improved
version of the slide trumpet was played in England during the whole of the 19th century. In 1790 the Austrian trumpeter Anton Weidinger made a
keyed trumpet, for which Haydn and Hummel wrote their concertos.
The keyed trumpet had three keys which remained closed when the instrument was not in use. Opening the keys raised the pitch by a
half note, a whole note and one and a half notes successively. This technique made it possible to bridge the gap between the 2nd and 3rd naturals.
Subsequently instruments with four keys (raising pitch by a major third) and more were developed.
Romantic period – the rise of the valve trumpet
When valves were fitted to the trumpet for the first time in 1820 it became possible to play a full chromatic scale on the instrument. The
valve trumpet was quickly accepted in military bands and popular music. Orchestral musicians greeted this innovation with great skepticism
initially, because the sound of the first valve trumpets was nowhere near as homogeneous and full as that of the natural trumpet. But the
instrument’s obvious advantages meant that it soon found acceptance. In the orchestra it also faced competition from the more easily playable
cornet, which remained more popular especially in France and the USA until the turn of the 20th century.
From the middle of the 19th century the trend was toward the use of high Bb and high C trumpets only, which are the trumpets most
commonly used today. The demands on the players’ technique had become so great that trumpeters switched to these shorter instruments. The
new trumpet’s tube was only half as long, which not only raised its fundamental pitch by an octave but also made it considerably easier to play. In
addition, the bore became narrower. It goes without saying that these developments also had an effect on the intensity of the instrument’s sound;
whereas the long trumpets had a particularly mighty and dominant sound which overshadowed the entire orchestra, the modern valve trumpet is
far more unobtrusive and elegant.
The emergence of the valve trumpet brought about a radical change in the instrument’s role in the orchestra. It was increasingly given
thematic tasks to perform. Today the most widely used trumpets are those in Bb and C, together with the piccolo trumpet and very seldom the
bass trumpet. Between two and four trumpets are usually called for in orchestral works.
TROMBONE

Trombones and trumpets evolved from the medieval buisine, a brass wind instrument that originated in southern Italy in the 11th
century and took two principal forms: the first was a conical tube that flared as the length increased, ending in a deep bell; the tubing was curved,
like an animal horn, and could even become coiled in longer versions. It is this instrument from which the French horn and other instruments of the
saxhorn and flugelhorn families evolved. The second form consisted of a long cylindrical tube (unvarying bore size), upon which a broad, shallow
bell was mounted. This was the forerunner of trumpets and trombones.
15th century – the birth of the trombone
The modern trombone originated in Burgundy in the middle of the 15th century. Efforts to shorten the slide lengths of the S-shaped slide
trumpet resulted in the invention of the U-shaped slide. This simple construction has remained unchanged to this day: every shift of the slide,
which is composed of two parallel cylindrical tubes, doubled the total length of tubing, i.e., the length of the slide was halved between each
position. This made it possible not only to play as quickly as on the trumpet, but also to reach the tenor and bass registers. In only a few decades
the trombone gained such popularity in Europe that along with the bombarde, shawm (reed instruments of the period) and cornett it became
standard in court orchestras around 1500, for example at the court of Emperor Maximilian I.
By the end of the 15th century, Nuremberg in Germany had already become an important center for the construction of trombones.
Unlike today’s instruments, these early trombones had a very slender sound thanks to their smaller bore and the only very slight taper toward the
bell, resulting in a sound which could swell to resounding magnificence in the trombone chorus.
The baroque trombone – delicate sound combinations
Its slender sound, agility and ability permanently to adjust its intonation – which are all properties of the human voice – meant that in the
16th and 17th centuries the trombone was ideally suited for accompanying choral music. At the beginning of the 17th century the slide system was
added which is still used today. Following on from this, whole instrument families were constructed, consisting of soprano trombones in Bb and C,
alto trombones in F and Eb, a tenor trombone in Bb, a bass trombone in F and Eb and a contrabass trombone in Bb. Giovanni Gabrieli (1557–1612),
the first composer of purely instrumental pieces with specific instructions as to their instrumentation, calls for the trombone family in his
"Symphoniae Sacrae". Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) and J. S. Bach, in his cantatas, also wrote four-part passages for trombones, sometimes in
unison with the choir voices (colla parte) and sometimes contrasting with them.
The timbre of the baroque trombone differs from that of today’s instrument: the narrower bore produced a thinner sound; the narrower
bell was more conducive to the production of the higher partials, while the thicker walls of the tubing prevented a shrill blare. In keeping with the
sound ideal it was the instrument’s task to combine with the voices, the woodwinds or the strings: thus the bass trombone was used in
combination with the violins and cellos or the viola and alto trombone. Trombones also played the cantus firmus or the thorough-bass in a brass
ensemble together with the trumpets or cornets.
During the 18th century the soprano trombone’s role as a melodic instrument was taken over by the cornett and the trumpet – although
Mozart (1756–1791) stills calls for the soprano trombone in his Mass in C minor KV 427 (1783) – and in the 19th century it disappeared from
orchestral music altogether. The alto trombone remained in use until the middle of the 19th century and was part of the characteristic trio of
trombones – alto, tenor and bass – which still held its place as standard in the Romantic orchestra after the alto trombone had generally been
superseded by the tenor.
For nearly a century the trombone had been given fairly humble roles to play – solemn passages, chords, sustained notes, colla parte with
the voices. Only in church music, in which it had also been used as a solo instrument, had it enjoyed any prominence. But toward the end of the
18th century the trombone began to gain new importance.
The development of the valve system at the beginning of the 19th century meant that trumpets and horns could now play a full
chromatic scale, thus improving the standing of brass instruments in the orchestra in relation to the strings. The brass instruments’ new tasks also
resulted in new demands on the trombones. The broadening of the bore and bell gave the trombone a much richer and more metallic sound,
allying it more to the trumpet, while the French horn, with its more mellow sound, became more and more closely associated with the woodwinds.
From 1830 valve trombones, constructed primarily on account of their agility, became increasingly popular, and were used particularly in
Italy and in German military bands. Although Verdi included several extremely challenging passages for valve trombone in his operas, it failed to
gain widespread acceptance, principally because it did not possess the characteristic glissando of the slide trombone.
In the symphony and opera orchestras of the 19th century the standard orchestration for trombones was three-part, usually two tenor
trombones and a tenor-bass. A fourth instrument was often added to reinforce the bass in unison , to play the bass part an octave deeper or to
play the bass part on its own. The fact that several instruments shared this task during the 19th century without a satisfactory solution being found
reveals an instrumentation problem which has often been the subject of discourses in instrumentation theory: the ophicleide (a bugle with keys),
which functioned as a bass instrument to the trombones, had a rough and imperfect sound and was later replaced by the tuba, which, however,
has a different timbre from the trombones. A solution was later found with the construction of the contrabass trombone.
In 19th century orchestras trombones were used principally for the following tasks: harmonic/chordal fundament, melody (solo and in
combination with other instruments), bass parts together with the double-basses, reinforcement of the vocal parts and reinforcement of sound.
The trombone also gained importance as a solo instrument (Rimsky-Korsakov: "Concerto for Trombone and Wind Orchestra")

20th century – a wide range of playing techniques

While the four-part trombone section was maintained in 20th century orchestras, a whole new range of playing techniques was
introduced: vibrato, glissando, triple and flutter tonguing. The instrument’s flexibility meant that it was soon playing a leading role as a solo jazz
instrument, since the intonation required for jazz was easy to play on it.
In the course of its history the trombone has become increasingly versatile and its stylistic possibilities have grown to the point where
today the instrument is no longer subject to any stylistic constraints.
TUBA

History 1 – baroque to 19th century

The term tuba is derived from the Latin word tuba (tuba) and in classical antiquity described a cylindrical lip-vibrated instrument (the
Roman trumpet), which saw service principally as a signaling instrument. However the name, which found itself attached to a wide variety of
instruments over the centuries, was the only thing this archaic instrument had in common with the modern tuba.
Baroque and classical music – the tuba’s distant relatives
The tuba curva, a brass instrument made in Paris in 1791 for the festivities following the French Revolution, was modeled on the Roman
trumpet and is regarded as a forerunner of the modern tuba. This instrument had a very powerful sound, no valves or keys and a range limited to
the lowest naturals.
Another distant relative of the tuba is the serpent, a conical, wooden instrument about 213 cm long with six finger-holes and a cup
mouthpiece made of ivory or horn which appeared in the 17th century. It was placed beside the choir in French and English churches to support
the voices in full passages, lending particular strength to the male voices. According to reports the serpent blended with the voices even more
effectively than the organ did, although Berlioz was one who did not share this view. In his opinion the instrument’s sound blended only poorly
with the choir and was not suitable for sensitive ears.
One of the serpent’s weaknesses was the fact that it was not possible to play any scale accurately because notes a step apart were played
using the same fingering, pitch alterations being possible only by varying lip-tension – up to a fourth. Changes in volume also presented difficulties.
In 1825 a serpentone was in use at La Scala in Milan, which was nothing unusual in 19th century Italy. The premieres of Handel’s
Fireworks Music (1749), Mendelssohn’s oratorium Paulus (1836) and Wagner’s Rienzi (1842) all featured the serpent. The instrument remained in
use for around 250 years, until the 1890s. The serpent was called for in symphony orchestras only very rarely, although it was a very common
feature of oratorio festivals.

The 19th century – the century of the ophicleide

In 1810 the Irishman Joseph Halliday was granted a patent for a keyed bugle, the so-called Royal Kent Bugle. This conical instrument had
copper tubing (125–135 cm long with a diameter of 12–25 mm), a very fast flare to a 15 cm wide bell and at least six keys. This very agile
instrument was used as a powerful soprano instrument for playing the melody line in brass bands, but was only seldom asked for in symphony
orchestras (an exception is Rossini’s opera "Semiramide", 1823). In France this instrument was called the trompette cromatique or bugle à clefs, in
Germany it was known as the Klappenhorn. Because of the virtuosity of this soprano instrument it was deemed necessary to make a bass
counterpart: the century of the ophicleide began.
The ophicleide, which looked like a bassoon, had conical tubing made of brass (approx. 274 cm long, as on a Bb instrument, tube
diameter 12.5–35.5 mm) with several keyed side-holes. By opening the holes the air column was shortened and the pitch increased; it worked on
the same principle as woodwind instruments. A number of naturals could then be played from the fundamental tone thus produced.
The range, a maximum of around three octaves, depended on the ability of the player. Intonation was very uncertain because several
fingerings were possible for each note. The mouthpiece was cup-shaped, with a flat rim, the bell faced upward and had a diameter of about 21 cm.
The huge volume made great demands on the breathing and the round, euphonium-like sound – which was very rugged in the bass – was very
effective with brass played en masse. It also blended very well with the choir.
From 1821 until the end of the 19th century the ophicleide was widely used as a bass voice. It is called for by Mendelssohn (Midsummer
Night’s Dream Music, 1843, Reformation Symphony)), Schumann, Meyerbeer (Robert the Devil), Verdi and Wagner (Rienzi). Hector Berlioz required
several ophicleides in his Fantastic Symphony, but was one of the first composers to develop an enthusiasm for tubas, with which he proceeded to
replace the ophicleides. Today all ophicleide parts are played by the bass tuba.
From the 1820s onward numerous bass instruments of similar construction but with different names were built; in 1829, for instance, W.
Riedl made a valved instrument in Vienna which was modeled on the ophicleide and became known as the bombardon. This wide-bored
instrument had a powerful tone and was still used in military bands after the advent of the tuba. The French counterpart of the bombardon was
made by the industrious and well-known instrument maker Adolphe Sax (1814–1894), who in 1843 was granted a patent for a group of valved
brass instruments which covered the entire tonal range: the usual names for these instruments were saxhorn, saxtromba and saxtuba and they
were used mainly in military circles.

History 2 – the modern bass tuba

1835 – the birth of the modern bass tuba
In 1835 Johann Moritz and the trombonist Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802–1872) were granted a Prussian patent in Berlin for the bass tuba.
Although valved instruments in the bass register already existed (e.g. the bombardon) this was the first instrument to bear the name bass tuba.
The bass tuba was made of brass, keyed in F and had five piston valves (“Berlin valves”). The first three valves were operated by the right
hand, the other two by the left. The 1st and 2nd valves lowered the fundamental note by a whole tone and a semitone respectively in relation to
the key of F; the 3rd valve lowered the instrument’s tuning by a fourth, from F to C. The 4th and 5th valves lowered the pitch from C by a whole
tone and a semitone (wide half step, wide whole step) respectively. The relatively narrow bore meant that the bass notes were not particularly
loud or powerful.
In the course of the reorganization of Prussian military music Wieprecht introduced two bass tubas into every band, which aided the
instrument’s distribution and further development. Because the gap between the 1st and 2nd naturals could not be bridged on an instrument with
three valves, subsequent tubas were made with four to six valves.
The fact that the bombardon and the bass tuba existed at the same time often led to confusion. Hector Berlioz described Wieprecht’s
tuba as a bombardon with an improved mechanism and stated that its timbre was very much like that of the ophicleide. In France, the tuba was
known for a long time as the ophicléide-à-pistons. Two features distinguished the tuba from the bombardon: the wide bore profile and the valves,
the new “Berlin pistons”. The following explanation helps to clear up the confusion surrounding the two instruments: the bass instrument used in
military bands was called the bombardon, while its counterpart in the symphony orchestra was known as the tuba.
 The introduction of the tuba solved the problem of a satisfactory bass voice in military and wind bands. Despite this symphony orchestras
were slow to adopt it.
Hector Berlioz first encountered the bass tuba on tour in Germany and describes it as follows: “In Prussia the bass tuba has replaced the
ophicleide; it is a large wind instrument with five rotary valves which give it a large compass in the low register. The low notes are blurred, but
when two tubas double an octave apart this produces an enormous resonance. In the middle and upper registers the sound is very refined and not
as flat as the ophicleide's, rich, vibrant and well-matched to the timbre of the trombones and trumpets, which the tuba serves as the bass voice.”
Berlioz was one of the first composers to embrace the tuba with enthusiasm, using it in virtually all his scores in place of the ophicleide.
Gradually the bass tuba began appearing in various orchestras and by the second half of the 19th century it had been widely adopted in
German orchestras.

Bombardon
Present day
Present day tubas have a fast rate of flare of about 1:10 to 1:20 from mouthpiece to bell. Pedals play well on account of the wide conical
bore. Nowadays instruments with five or six valves are the most widespread – this number is necessary to be able to play the full chromatic scale
(eleven half steps downward) and to ensure pure intonation.
The bell of the orchestral tuba faces upward. The helicon is used in wind bands and dance bands, while the sousaphone is found in
American wind and military bands.
PERCUSSION
Timpani

Early timpani in Europe

The first timpani were brought to southern and western Europe in the 13th century by Crusaders and Saracens, from where they spread
quickly to the north. These instruments (known in Arabic as naqqâra) were pairs of kettledrums about 20–22 cm in diameter. These small drums
(draped kettledrums) remained in use until the 16th century. They were attached to the player' s belt and beaten with a pair of sticks. Draped
kettledrums were played primarily in military contexts, for example triumphal marches and processions. Later on they found their way into
ensembles and appeared at court festivities and dances.
In the middle of the 15th century a second wave of kettledrums spread across Europe from the east of the continent. These instruments
were the larger timpani.
In 1457 a legation sent by King Ladislaus of Hungary set off for the court of Charles VII in France. Their horses carried large kettledrums.
Instruments of this size had never been seen in Europe before. These loud and booming drums had been played in royal bands in the Middle East
since the 12th century, and in Europe they soon advanced together with the trumpets to become the quintessential instrument of the cavalry and a
symbol of courtly life and knighthood.
During the 15th century a number of technical improvements were made to the kettledrum, including a change in the way the vellums
were tensioned, the old method of bracing or nailing being gradually replaced by skins lapped on by a hoop. At the beginning of the 16th century
kettledrums in German-speaking countries began to be equipped with screws to tension the vellum, which was stretched over a hoop.
The term timpani and the French word timbales are derived from the Greek word tympanon (Latin: tympanum) which referred to a drum
with a skin.

The power of timpani and trumpets

Kettledrums and trumpets came to be used as signaling instruments by the cavalry of the aristocracy, while the serfs and footmen were
equipped with side drums and fifes. Kettledrums and trumpets were therefore held in much higher regard as instruments of royalty and the
nobility than those of the "ordinary folk". Although the invention of gunpowder meant that the kettledrums (and trumpets) lost their role of
signalers in battle they nevertheless remained symbols of horsemanship and continued to be the object of further development as art instruments.
A form of courtly art emerged which gave rise to playing techniques of extreme virtuosity.
In keeping with this image, kettledrums came to symbolize the power of monarchs and princes. In 1542, for instance, Henry VIII ordered
the purchase of Viennese kettledrums for his court, which were to be played on horseback. Kettledrummers and trumpeters formed their own
guilds which enjoyed royal privileges. In 1528 Emperor Charles V granted the Company of Court and Field Trumpeters, which had merged with the
Court and Field Kettledrummers, the status of an imperial guild. The kettledrummers, who were obliged to perform other tasks for the prince
beside the playing of music and were directly subject to his jurisdiction, were jealous guardians of the secrets of their playing and improvisation
techniques, the so-called Schlagmanieren, details of which they passed on only to their successors within the guild. In this way the Kettledrummers'
and Trumpeters' Guild, which from time to time found itself facing competition from the Waits' Guild, managed to retain a certain monopoly.
Kettledrummers were equal in rank to officers and were dressed in the same way as knights. For many years the granting to a town of the
right to keep city trumpeters and kettledrummers was regarded as a privilege.
During the course of the 16th century kettledrums were not only played at festivities but began to be used in church music in company
with the organ and choirs, especially for trumpet and kettledrum flourishes as a ceremonial glorification in masses. In addition, kettledrums and
trumpets appeared more and more frequently as consorts in ballet and stage music (intermedia or interludes), in which they symbolized warlike
moods and aristocratic power in keeping with their character. Ensembles consisting of kettledrums and trumpets only remained in existence into
the Baroque period. It was not until later, when the power of the guilds was slowly waning, that the kettledrum was accepted as a fully-fledged
member of the orchestra.
In his 1675 opera Thérèse, Jean Baptiste Lully became the first composer to use the kettledrum as an orchestral instrument in the
modern sense.
The guilds disbanded between 1810 and 1831. Up to that point it had been customary to play many extra notes (embellishments) that
were not actually in the score; these embellishments were part of the Schlagmanieren. It was not until the 19th century that composers began to
gain full control of the timpani and took greater interest in the instrument’s playing techniques.
Screws, machines and pedals
The earliest method of changing a kettledrum’s tuning was bracing, but in the 16th century tensioning screws were introduced. The
vellum was stretched over an iron hoop with eyes; the shell was also equipped with eyes. The corresponding eyes of the hoop and the shell were
screwed together with about ten iron screws which altered the skin tension and therefore also the pitch. This tuning mechanism remained
widespread into the 19th century. The problem with this method was twofold: on the one hand it was difficult to place the tension evenly on all
parts of the vellum, which is vital for the production of a pure tone. On the other hand it took a long time to retune hand-tuned kettledrums. The
advantage of the hand-tuned kettledrum was its lightness, which made it easier to transport.
In about 1812 the Munich court timpanist Gerhard Kramer designed a mechanism that attached all the screws to a master screw so that
the skin tension could be altered by means of a single handle or pedal. The machine drum, which made rapid tuning possible, had arrived. Rotary-
tuned machine timpani were also developed which were retuned by giving the bowl a turn. The disadvantage of this method was that the spot on
the vellum which must be struck to achieve the best sound (beating spot) changed its position.
The pedal drum was invented in the 1870s by C. Pittrich in Dresden and is now the standard orchestral kettledrum. By operating a pedal,
energy is transferred along drawbars, which run up the shell either on the inside or the outside, to the hoop over which the vellum is stretched and
alter its tension. A tuning gauge gives a rough indication of the compass and a handle is used for fine-tuning. Since the beginning of the 19th
century rapid retuning during playing has been required by composers more and more often. This demand was a result of chromaticization, which
began at the turn of the 19th century, and was one that the new pedal drums could meet with ease.
A peaceable role as an orchestral instrument
 The kettledrum established itself in the orchestra during the 17th century (representational music, church music, opera). As a result its
mechanical development was dictated increasingly by the need for rapid and accurate retuning.
In the Baroque era and Classical period it was usual to use hard mallets, sticks with covered heads being used only for tremolo playing. In
the works of Purcell, Bach, Handel and their contemporaries the two kettledrums retained the tuning given at the beginning for the duration of the
entire work. In the 18th century the bowls had a diameter of between 41 and 62 cm for the smaller drum and 43 and 65 cm for the larger. The
difference in size between the pair was relatively small, a ratio of about 4:3, which remains unchanged today.
Beethoven (1770–1827) was the first composer to expand the role of the timpani in the orchestra, which he did in two ways: on the one
hand he used tuning intervals other than the fourths or fifths (tonic and dominant) which had hitherto been usual; examples of this are the minor
sixth A–F in his 7th symphony and the octave Fs in his 8th and 9th symphonies. On the other hand he entrusted the timpani with rhythmic and
thematic tasks (in his violin concerto and his 5th piano concerto). Like his “classical” colleagues, Beethoven scored the timpani parts with great
precision and unobtrusiveness. Kettledrum rolls are used mainly in the build-up to a climax, solo passages are rare and produce remarkable effects.
The brilliant orchestrator Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) not only revolutionized the art of instrumentation; he was also a pioneer of new
roles for percussion instruments. He was the first composer to include instructions in the score about the type of mallet to be used. This gave him
great influence over the overall sound, because there is an enormous difference between striking the drum with a stick the head of which is
covered by sponge, felt or leather or with one that is made of wood. This precise style of notation was adopted by later composers. In his requiem
Grande Messe des Morts, which requires an orchestra of enormous size, Berlioz scored no less than sixteen timpani for ten players (six of whom
played a pair, while the other four played one each); in his Symphonie Fantastique four timpanists are required.
In the course of the 19th century the earlier tasks of the timpani (emphasizing the rhythm, marking the tonic and dominant) changed and
it was given new ones in addition.
In the early 20th century Béla Bartók (1881–1945) was one of those primarily responsible for extending the role of percussion
instruments in the symphony orchestra and in chamber music. In particular he increased the timpani’s range of playing techniques, requiring them
to perform bass lines at a fast tempo (Concerto for Orchestra, 1944) and pedal glissandos (Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, 1937).

SNARE DRUM

The frame drum and timbrel in the Middle Ages

Medieval Europe was home to an enormous variety of drums, most of which had originated in the Orient. The most widespread forms
were the frame drum and the timbrel, a forerunner of the present-day tambourine. The frame drum consisted of a rectangular or circular wood
frame with a head; the underside was open. The main difference between the frame drum and the timbrel was the presence of the jingles that
were attached to the latter’s shell. While the timbrel was still struck with the flat of the hand in the Middle Ages, like its predecessor in antiquity,
an additional, one-handed technique was emerging for the frame drum: traveling minstrels used it mostly to accompany the single-handed pipe
and hung it to one side on a strap over the shoulder, where the musician struck it with a beater while playing the pipe with the other hand.

The medieval tabor

Evidence of a forerunner of the snare or side drum in Europe exists at least from the 14th century in the form of the tabor, a small,
double-headed drum with a cylindrical shell of wood and one or more snares stretched across the batter head. The calfskin or sheepskin heads
were rope tensioned, the ropes criss-crossing between the hoops of the batter and snare heads. The drum hung at the side of the “player of the
pipe and tabor” who beat the rhythm with a drumstick while playing a melody on the single-handed pipe with the other hand. The minstrels’ drum
had to be fairly light and easy to carry because it hung over the player’s forearm, and for this reason it was rather small and not very loud.
Drum names
In the Middle Ages there were no standard names for drums. The oldest appellation was probably the Latin tympanum, which originally
described flat frame drums but in the later Middle Ages was used for every drum-like instrument (including timpani). In addition to this the term
tabor (German tambur, French tabour, tambour) became widespread. In German-speaking countries the onomatopoeic name Trommel (from the
Old High German trumme, trumbe = booming instrument) appeared in the 12th century and initially described both membranophones and
trumpets. It is from this term that the English word drum (drome, drume) evolved which replaced the name tabor in the 16th century.
In the 14th century the practice of one man playing both pipe and drum ended, the instruments being played henceforth by two
musicians. This separation was a consequence of the way the two instruments were evolving: the pipe’s compass was increased, making it
necessary to use both hands to play the instrument, and the relatively soft-sounding tabor was made larger to increase its volume, which was a
requirement particularly of military music. The result was the side or field drum.
The history of the town of Basel in Switzerland records the existence of an “Association of Drum and Fife” as early as 1332. The members
of this “guild” were important figures at public festivities.
In the course of the 15th century the drum that was struck from the side became ever larger and ever louder to meet the changing
requirements of military bands. It became too large to be hung over the forearm and was now attached to a strap over the drummer’s shoulder or
tied to a belt around his waist. The widely known “Swiss” drums became the model for drum-makers all over Europe. The small tabor remained in
use as a folk instrument while the new, large drum became an important instrument with lansquenets (German foot soldiers). It is for this reason
that the side drum is sometimes also called the field drum, or, in historical contexts, the lansquenet drum (tambour de lansquenet) or long drum.
“Fife and drum” symbolized the common foot soldiers, while trumpets and kettledrums represented the cavalry.
The field drum was between 50 and 70 cm deep (some models were as deep as one meter) and had a diameter of 50 cm. It was beaten
with a pair of heavy sticks. From the 16th century the snares were stretched across the lower skin, the snare head. The field drum’s main task was
to give signals and mark the marching rhythm. Single and double beats and rolls were already standard playing techniques.
In the 17th and 18th centuries the field drum continued to evolve within the context of military bands. One of the principal aims was to
reduce its dimensions, especially the depth of the shell, while retaining the volume. This smaller version of the field drum is nowadays called the
Basel or parade drum. The drums used by the distinguished Basel Drum Associations still have the original form, the head tensioned extremely
tightly by criss-crossing cords to produce a bright tone. The Basel drumming style has a long tradition in which bounces and virtuoso
embellishments play an important role. On contemporary models of this drum the head is tensioned with screws.
 Military side drum
When in the mid 18th century the bass drum and Turkish drum arrived at the courts of European princes with Janissary music the depth
of the side drum’s shell had already been reduced to 40–45 cm, its diameter to 40 cm. The body, previously made of wood, could now also be
brass.
In the 19th century the drum’s dimensions were reduced to a shell depth of about 40 cm and a diameter of 40 cm, in other words, the
depth now corresponded to the head diameter. Such drums became widespread in many countries. English speakers called it the military snare
drum, Germans the Militärtrommel, the French the tambour militaire and the Italians the tamburo militare. This drum is still used in military bands
today.
At the same time manuals on the basics of drumming began appearing in Europe and the USA. In addition, drummers in military bands
had to be able to play a large number of signal calls which with orders were passed on to the troops in a coded drum pattern. In the 19th century
bugles took over this task. Drums were also used as signaling instruments in shipping and navigation, and, albeit rarely, in civilian life.
Admittance into the orchestra
100 years later than the timpani – in the second half of the 18th century – the side or field drum appeared in the orchestra for the first
time, under the name tambour: Georg Friedrich Handel and Christoph Willibald Gluck used the instrument in their Fireworks Music (1749) and
Iphigenie auf Tauris (1779) respectively. But drums have never achieved the same importance as timpani in the orchestra and their chief province
remains marching music to this day. Because the drum had often been used in the midst of battle its first tasks in the orchestra were to evoke a
military atmosphere, as in Josef Haydn’s Military Symphony (1794). Ludwig van Beethoven gave the drums authentic tasks in his battle symphony
Wellington’s Victory (1813), giving each of the armies its own drum signal.
The drum was used more extensively in the opera orchestra, e.g. by Gioacchino Rossini, who even used it as a solo instrument in his
opera The Thieving Magpie (1817), which earned him the nickname “Tamburossini”.
Beside the tambour – in historical scores this refers to whichever form of the side drum was in use at the time – an instrument with the
name tambourin enjoyed huge popularity especially in 18th century French opera. This was a drum played with one hand and made of very light
wood, with a shell about 70 cm deep and a single head. Direct descendants of this tambourin or tambour provençal are still used today in folk
music in southern France. The instrument should not be confused with the tambourine with its jingles.
In 1837 the Englishman Cornelius Ward was a central figure in the invention of screw tensioning, which rapidly replaced rope or cord
tensioning. This innovation meant that the snare drum could now be even flatter: the shell depth was reduced to 20 cm, in some instances even to
10 cm.
In the second half of the 19th century flat drums with a larger diameter (approx. 35 cm) than shell depth were adopted as rhythm
instruments by salon orchestras, dance bands and jazz ensembles. At the beginning of the 20th century this small version became generally known
as the snare drum or side drum. The best-known orchestra piece in which the snare drum plays a vital role is Maurice Ravel’s Boléro (1928).

New impulses from jazz

At the beginning of the 20th century the snare drum was already an essential component of jazz percussion. The influence of jazz brought
a host of innovations to the snare drum’s construction and playing techniques.
The hoops, which until the end of the 19th century had been made of wood, were replaced by metal ones. In 1898 the percussionist
Ulysses Grant Leedy made the first adjustable stands for the snare drum. In about 1914 Robert Danly invented the snare strainer to lift off the
snares, making it possible to produce a kind of tom-tom effect on the snare drum. In 1957 the first drum with a synthetic head appeared on the
market. Because of its resistance to changes in temperature and humidity – it is waterproof, robust and cheap – the plastic head proved a huge
success in popular music, whereas orchestra musicians preferred to continue with natural heads, which, for the most part, they still do today.
20th century composers expanded the snare drum’s range of tasks: beside its traditional rhythmic function, which became more complex
and varied, tonal aspects gained importance. Moreover, the drum was also used as a solo instrument. Efforts to find new timbres resulted in
experiments with the striking spot and various types of stick. Ultimately new techniques such as striking the rim, or the rim shot (striking the head
and the rim at the same time) or playing with wire brushes were able to establish themselves in more recent orchestral works.
XYLOPHONE

ASIA
The origins of the xylophone lie in the far distant past and are difficult to trace. Most historians believe that the first xylophones appeared
in eastern Asia, whence they are thought to have spread to Africa. The first evidence of the instruments is found in 9th century south-east Asia. In
around 2000 BC a kind of wood-harmonicon with 16 suspended wood bars is said to have existed in China. At the same time a xylophone-like
instrument called the ranat is reputed to have existed in Hindu regions. Proof that xylophones were widespread in south-east Asia is provided by
numerous temple reliefs depicting people playing such instruments.
Present day
The various types of xylophone with bars made of hardwood or bamboo are still an integral part of today’s various gamelan orchestras.
One single gamelan orchestra can include as many as three gambangs (trough xylophones with bars made of bamboo or hardwood). Technically,
most Asian xylophones are trough xylophones, i.e. the instrument has one single hollow body which acts as a resonator for all the bars. The 14 to
20 – and sometimes more – bars are fixed with metal pins on strips of material which are attached to the edges of the wood resonator box. The
bars are tuned to scales of five or seven notes. Xylophones are played together with other instruments at court, as solo instruments at various
fertility rituals and at festivals for the purposes of entertainment.

AFRICA
Exactly when the first xylophones reached Africa is unknown. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that it was long before the
14th century. Historical sources from the middle of the 14th century mention xylophones in what is now Mali, on the Niger. In the 16th century
Portuguese missionaries in Ethiopia reported sophisticated xylophones with a resonator made of a calabash and a type of kazoo (mirliton) which
produced resonant buzzing noises. A xylophone with the same properties, known as the ambira, was also reported by the Portuguese missionary
Dos Santos in the region of Mozambique.
Present day
Xylophones are widespread in Africa, although they are not common in every region. High concentrations can be found on the west and
east coasts (Angola, Mozambique). The xylophone is regarded as the quintessential African instrument, probably because it is ideally suited to
expressing the innate African sense of rhythm.
The important role that this instrument has always played on the African continent is underlined by the wide variety of different types of
xylophone found there. There are two main categories: xylophones with separate bars which are arranged independently of one another, and
xylophones with fixed bars which are tied firmly together.
The simplest forms are the leg xylophone and the pit xylophone. Leg xylophones consist of several bars which are laid across the lap and
played. The space under the legs acts as the resonator. Pit xylophones are made by placing the bars on rolled-up banana leaves over a pit which
serves as the resonator.

One type of xylophone which is very important is the log xylophone, which consists of bars resting on two beams. The bars are between
12 and 22 cm long and are usually fixed by long wood pins to stop them shifting position when they are struck. In Uganda instruments of this type,
called the amadinda, are widespread. Larger versions, which used to be played at the court of the king, were also known as the akadinda.

Gourd-resonated xylophone
A more complex form is the so-called gourd-resonated xylophone, on which each bar has its own resonator. The resonators are usually
dried and hollowed-out gourds. The gourds are chosen with great care, because their pitch must correspond exactly to that of the bar. Musicians
often travel long distances to find suitable specimens. Sometimes bamboo canes, canisters or metal casings are used as resonators. These
xylophones feature a special means of amplification, the mirlitons. A hole is drilled in each gourd which is then covered by a membrane (of paper or
from a spider’s nest). This paper-thin covering vibrates in sympathy when the corresponding bar is struck and produces a buzzing noise.
Buzzing noises were also produced on European frame harps in the late Middle Ages by contriving to make the vibrating strings touch the
hooks provided for this purpose.
The European folk instrument
It is probable that the xylophone arrived in Europe during the Crusades. In 1511 the German organist Arnold Schlick mentions it in his
work Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten, calling it “hültze glechter” (“wooden laughter”). It was this name by which the instrument was
known in German-speaking regions. In the following years the xylophone is mentioned by many influential theoreticians of the age, including
Martin Agricola and Michael Praetorius in his Theatrum instrumentorum. The name “straw fiddle” was also commonly used and referred to the fact
that the bars were laid on skeins of straw. In the Middle Ages xylophones were very simple instruments without any kind of resonator. Straw
fiddles were popular as virtuoso instruments in the circus and were also played by wandering minstrels. This situation remained unchanged until
the 19th century.
In his famous painting Dance of Death from 1523 Hans Holbein the Younger imbues the xylophone with death imagery; a skeleton in the
procession plays a portable xylophone, the sound of which thus comes to symbolize the rattling of bones. This is the first known portrayal of a
xylophone in Europe.
On older xylophones – also on those from the Alpine region – the bars were arranged in four rows. The two middle rows corresponded
more or less to the white keys of the piano, the two outside rows to the black keys. The bars did not lie lengthwise in front of the musician, as on
the modern orchestra xylophone and African and Asian instruments, but crossways, the longest bar nearest to the player, the shortest furthest
from him. There were no resonators, and the bars were struck with hammers as on the dulcimer. The advantage of this bar arrangement was that
certain note sequences that occurred frequently, such as broken chords, could be played at very high speed. Traveling virtuosos excited the
interest of composers such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) and Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) in the instrument.

The xylophone is discovered as an orchestra instrument

 It was not until the 19th century that the xylophone was discovered as an orchestra instrument. Michael Josef Guzikov, a Pole, was one of
the best known traveling virtuosos. The first compositions for the xylophone were probably presented in 1803 by Ignaz Schweigl and in 1810 by
Ferdinand Kauer (Sei Variazioni). The French composer Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the first to use the xylophone in orchestral pieces, in his
programmatic works La Danse Macabre (1875) and Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886). The instrument used was still the four-rowed version.

In 1886 Albert Roth published a xylophone tutor for the four-rowed instrument in which he also introduced a two-row chromatic
arrangement of the bars following the pattern of piano keys. This led to the development of the modern orchestra xylophone with its two-row
chromatic bar arrangement and resonators. From 1903, the American John Calhoun Deagan became one of the first major manufacturers of the
modern orchestra xylophone, which soon established itself as the standard instrument in theater and symphony orchestras as well as in dance
bands. The fact that the xylophone sounded particularly good on early records may also have contributed to its popularity. The parts entrusted to
the xylophone and the growing percussion section by composers during the 20th century became ever larger and more important. Composers such
as Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varèse, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez and Karheinz Stockhausen are just a few of those who placed
percussion instruments at the forefront of musical performance. The century of percussion had begun.

CYMBALS
Antiquity
The name cymbal (also cimbel or cymbel) comes from the Latin cymbalum (plural cymbala for a pair of cymbals) which in turn derives
from the Greek kumbalon (cup).
Cymbals originated in Asia and are among the oldest percussion instruments. They have always been closely associated with religious
worship and rituals (e.g. funeral rites), although they were also used to accompany dances; dancers hung cymbals around their necks on a piece of
twine and beat them in time to the music. Cymbals were only ever used in pairs and the playing techniques included single strokes, strisciatti
(rotating both plates against each other) and rolls.

A wide variety of cymbals was already in existence in antiquity:

 a large pair of cymbals with a construction that strongly resembled today's;
 dancers' small cymbals that were played like castanets (finger cymbals);
 plates with a slight upward curve of the rim and a pot-shaped dome (Chinese cymbal);
 two hemispheres with leather straps or handles.

From the Orient to Europe

Cymbals were first introduced into Europe in the Middle Ages by the Saracens, who brought them to Spain and southern Italy. However, at the
beginning of the last millennium they disappeared again, probably because the art of hammering had been lost. Despite this, portrayals of cymbals
can be found in medieval miniatures up to about the 15th century.
It was not until the 17th century that cymbals returned to Europe, in the wake of the Turkish wars. Turkey had long been famed for the
excellence of its cymbal manufacture. The music spread by Turkish military bands (Janissary music) was characterized by noisy and rhythmic
instruments such as the bass drum, the side drum, cymbals, the triangle, the tambourine and the bell-tree. European military bands began
imitating Janissary music at the beginning of the 18th century.
It was not long before Turkish cymbals began to be scored – albeit very rarely – in the opera orchestra. Christoph Willibald Gluck asked
for them in his opera Iphigénie en Tauride (1779), specifically in the Scythians’ chorus in Act 1 (cymbals, triangle, side drum). The best-known
example of an early use of cymbals is probably Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Turkish opera from 1782, The Abduction from the Seraglio (cymbals,
triangle, bass drum).
It was in the last thirty years of the 19th century that the cymbals finally established themselves as a permanent part of the percussion
section. They were used very effectively by Ludwig van Beethoven (in his 9th Symphony), Georges Bizet (in Carmen), Franz Liszt and Richard
Wagner among others.