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Brass instruments are played by pressing the lips together and blowing air to produce a buzzing sound. A mouthpiece projects this sound into the horn, which projects it further. The pitch of the sound can be changed two ways. One is by changing the pitch of the buzz. This will only get you a certain number of notes based on the key of your instrument (harmonic series). The other way is by lengthening your instrument. The longer the lower. On a Trombone, it's easy to see. You push out the slide, the pitch goes down. On valve instruments, it's a bit more complicated. Pressing a valve opens a passageway so that the air can take a detour. Pressing a certain valve lowers the pitch a certain amount and you can get all the notes you want with different combinations of valves. On a trombone, it's simply how far you push out the slide.

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15y ago

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