BRASS INSTRUMENT MANUAL: Haynes

Polished and gleaming and brassy, one of the wonders of the brass band is that arrangements of such complexity can be produced by a group of people pursing their lips and blowing down metal funnels. Pictured in a gallery is the French Horn, trumpet, tuba, trombone, cornets and flugel horns, euphoniums, mellophones, an alto saxhorn made by Henry Distin in 1860, a bugle and a hand horn. In the distinctive Haynes manual style with full colour illustrations are diagrams and numbered parts, glorious colour photos, detailed sequences such as the mouthpiece manufacture by hand, valve manufacture (piston), what valves do and what happens to the air as well as the effects of different components on sound, tone and playing style. Learn how to maintain and repair your instrument like a professional technician and enjoy the galleries of iconic instruments past and present along with the players associated with them. The manual covers the brass family from country to country from orchestral to jazz. It looks at the psychology behind the brass player, significant design features, how technology and customer expectations have changed brass instruments. Under design and manufacture it looks at the effects of different materials, bore sizes and mouth pieces and detailed illustrations show construction and custom-build techniques, slides, piston and rotary valves, spouts, bells, soft and hard soldering, polishing, lacquering and plating. Don't be put off by that cheap trumpet in the music room at school, this manual is about quality. 204 very large pages in softback, colour illus.