E♭ instruments are Musical Instruments that are designed to be played in the key of E♭. Common E♭ instruments include the Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, E♭ clarinet, and E♭ trumpet. These instruments are transposing instruments, meaning that when they play a written C, the sound produced is an E♭.
Most common are Bb Soprano, Eb Alto, Bb Tenor, Eb Baritone.
It has to do with the size of the instruments and the overtone series.
If I'm correct Eb instruments are a minor third above concert pitch instruments. This means go up 3 intervals and down a half step, or up 3 half steps if you prefer. This is transposing from concert to Eb.
in the band
These are the most common types of saxophone. Alto and Barritone saxophones are Eb transposing instruments. Soprano and Tenor saxophones are Bb transposing instruments.
Eb altos and Bb tenors are the most common types. However, there are 14 kinds - Eb and F sopranino, Bb and C soprano, Eb and F alto, Bb and C tenor, Eb and F baritone, Bb and C bass and Eb and F contra bass. Eb instruments are used in bands, rather than Fs, and smilarly Bbs rather than Cs. Contrabasses are HUGE!
Transposing instruments are generally families of instruments, with each family having several instruments sounding at different pitches. There are usually soprano, alto, tenor and other voices in the family of instruments. Using saxophones as the example, it is advantageous for a player to be able to change to a different instrument in the family, say alto to tenor, without learning an entirely different set of fingerings. If all of the saxes were scored in concert pitch, the Eb instruments ( alto, baritone, sopranino, and contrabass) and Bb instruments (soprano, tenor and bass) would have different fingerings. To avoid that, music for the different instruments is transposed. When the saxophones were first patented, Adolph Sax intended for there to be two families of saxes, the Bb and and Eb family for use in military bands, and the F and C instruments for use in orchestras. The Bb and Eb instruments were extremely useful in bands and they caught on pretty quickly. The F and C instruments never caught on in orchestras, but if they had, the C instruments would have been in concert pitch (or even octaves from concert pitch).
Eb Eb Eb Bb C C Bb G G F F Eb Bb Eb Eb Eb Bb C C Bb G G F F Eb Bb Bb Eb Eb Eb Bb Bb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Bb C C Bb G G F F Eb Bb Bb C Bb D Eb
first row: Eb Eb Eb F Eb Eb Bb C Bb C ? Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb F Eb Eb Bb C Bb C ? Eb Eb I don't know the second row
Eb Eb Eb F G F Eb G F F Eb Eb Eb Eb F G F Eb G F F Eb
The Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet... Well, the woodwind family can be split into two groups, High and Low. High: Piccolo, Flute, Bb Clarinet, Bb Soprano Clarinet, Eb Alto clarinet, Eb Sopranino Saxophone, Bb Soprano Saxohpone, Eb Alto saxophone, and Oboe. Low: Bb Bass Clarinet, Bb Tenor Saxophone, Eb Baritone Saxophone, Bb Bass Saxophone, Eb Contrabass Saxophone, Bassoon, and Contrabassoon. Those are all i can think of at the moment.
trumpet, cornet, Eb Bass, Eb horn, baritone, trombone, euphonium, ETC. Actually, it depends on your definition of "brass band." There are New Orleans Brass Bands, Regimental Brass Bands, both of which encorporate woodwinds. If you're talking about the traditional British Brass Band, the standard instrumentation is: Eb Soprano Cornet, Bb Cornet, Flugelhorn, Eb Tenor Horn, Bb Baritone, Euphonium, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone, Eb Bass, Bb Bass and percussion.