Leadpipe

Last updated
Piccolo trumpet in B, with swappable leadpipes to tune the instrument to B (shorter) or A (longer). Trumpet piccolo.jpg
Piccolo trumpet in B, with swappable leadpipes to tune the instrument to B (shorter) or A (longer).
Basic trombone anatomy Trombone-2.svg
  1. tuning slide
  2. counterweight
  3. mouthpiece
  4. slide lock ring
  5. bell
  6. knob/bumper
  7. water key/spit valve
  8. main slide
  9. second slide brace/stay
  10. first slide brace/stay
  11. bell lock nut
Scheme of a French horn (view from underneath). #2: Leadpipe. French Horn back.svg
Scheme of a French horn (view from underneath). #2: Leadpipe.

In a brass instrument, a leadpipe or mouthpipe is the pipe or tube into which the mouthpiece is placed.

Contents

For example, on the illustration of a trombone, the leadpipe would be between #3 and #4, the mouthpiece and the slide lock ring. In the illustration of a French horn, the leadpipe is #2.

Detachable leadpipes

Most leadpipes are permanently fixed in the instrument, though aftermarket changes, usually carried out by a repairer, are quite common. [1] Some instruments have a detachable leadpipe to allow changing key; to permit the player to easily select different playing and tonal characteristics; [2] or simply to act as the instrument's main tuning slide where the shape, or other design issues, make this the best place for it. The use of the leadpipe as the main tuning slide is particularly common in flugelhorns and piccolo trumpets though not unknown in other instruments. For example, in the Selmer piccolo trumpet in the photograph, the leadpipes are used for all three functions: the aftermarket Blackburn pipes shown have different playing characteristics from those of the stock Selmer pipe; [3] the choice of leadpipe determines whether the instrument is in A or B; it is also the main tuning slide.

See also

Related Research Articles

Brass instrument Class of musical instruments

A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin and Greek elements meaning 'lip' and 'sound'.

Clarinet type of woodwind instrument

The clarinet is a family of woodwind instruments. It has a single-reed mouthpiece, a straight, cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore, and a flared bell. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist.

French horn Type of brass instrument

The French horn is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B is the horn most often used by players in professional orchestras and bands. A musician who plays a horn is known as a horn player or hornist.

Trombone Type of brass instrument

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips (embouchure) cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Unlike most other brass instruments, which have valves that, when pressed, alter the pitch of the instrument, trombones instead have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. However, many modern trombone models also have a valve attachment which lower the pitch of the instrument. Variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves similar to those on the trumpet.

Trumpet Musical instrument

The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet with the highest register in the brass family, to the bass trumpet, which is pitched one octave below the standard B or C Trumpet.

Transposing instrument Musical instrument for which notated pitch differs from sounding pitch

A transposing instrument is a musical instrument whose music is recorded in staff notation at a pitch different from the pitch that actually sounds. A written middle C (C4) on a transposing instrument produces a pitch other than C, and that pitch identifies the interval of transposition when describing the instrument. For example, a written C on a B clarinet or a trumpet sounds a concert B.

Mellophone brass instrument

The mellophone is a 2- or 3-valve brass instrument pitched in the key of F, G (bugle),B, or E. It has a conical bore, like that of the euphonium and flugelhorn. The mellophone is used as the middle-voiced brass instrument in marching bands and drum and bugle corps in place of French horns, and can also be used to play French horn parts in concert bands and orchestras.

Bazooka (instrument) musical instrument

The bazooka is a brass musical instrument several feet in length which incorporates telescopic tubing like the trombone. Radio comedian Bob Burns is credited with inventing the instrument in the 1910s, and popularized it in the 1930s. It was also played by jazz musicians Noon Johnson and Sanford Kendrick.

Multi-instrumentalist musician who plays two or more musical instruments with some degree of proficiency

A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency.

Conn-Selmer company

Conn-Selmer, Inc. is an American manufacturer of musical instruments for concert bands, marching bands and orchestras. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed in 2003 by combining the Steinway properties The Selmer Company and United Musical Instruments.

A natural trumpet is a valveless brass instrument that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series.

Crook (music) exchangeable segment of tubing in a natural horn

A crook, also sometimes called a shank, is an exchangeable segment of tubing in a natural horn which is used to change the length of the pipe, altering the fundamental pitch and harmonic series which the instrument can sound, and thus the key in which it plays.

Marching brass

Marching brass instruments are brass instruments specially designed to be played while moving. Most instruments do not have a marching version - only the following have marching versions:

The baroque trumpet is a musical instrument in the brass family. Invented in the mid-20th century, it is based on the natural trumpet of the 16th to 18th centuries, but designed to allow modern performers to imitate the earlier instrument when playing music of that time. Often synonymous with 'natural trumpet', the term 'baroque trumpet' is often used to differentiate an instrument which has added vent holes and other modern compromises, from an original or replica natural trumpet which does not.

Bore (wind instruments) interior chamber of a wind instrument

In music, the bore of a wind instrument is its interior chamber. This defines a flow path through which air travels, which is set into vibration to produce sounds. The shape of the bore has a strong influence on the instrument's timbre.

Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. is a worldwide musical instrument manufacturing and marketing conglomerate, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, the United States. It was formed in a 1995 merger between the Selmer Industries and Steinway Musical Properties, the parent company of Steinway & Sons piano manufacturers. From 1996 to 2013, Steinway Musical Instruments was traded at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the abbreviation LVB, for Ludwig van Beethoven. It was acquired by the Paulson & Co. private capital firm in 2013.

Piccolo trumpet smallest member of the trumpet family of brass musical instruments

The smallest of the trumpet family is the piccolo trumpet, pitched one octave higher than the standard B trumpet. Most piccolo trumpets are built to play in either B or A, using a separate leadpipe for each key. The tubing in the B piccolo trumpet is one-half the length of that in a standard B trumpet. Piccolo trumpets in G, F, and even high C are also manufactured, but are rarer.

There are many different types of trombone. The most frequently encountered trombones today are the tenor and bass, though as with other Renaissance instruments such as the recorder, the trombone has been built in every size from piccolo to contrabass.

Wind instrument Class of musical instruments with air resonator

A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air. In the case of some wind instruments, sound is produced by blowing through a reed; others require buzzing into a metal mouthpiece, while yet others require the player to blow into a hole at an edge, which splits the air column and creates the sound.

Horn (instrument) Family of wind instruments made of a tube

A horn is any of a family of musical instruments made of a tube, usually made of metal and often curved in various ways, with one narrow end into which the musician blows, and a wide end from which sound emerges. In horns, unlike some other brass instruments such as the trumpet, the bore gradually increases in width through most of its length—that is to say, it is conical rather than cylindrical. In jazz and popular-music contexts, the word may be used loosely to refer to any wind instrument, and a section of brass or woodwind instruments, or a mixture of the two, is called a horn section in these contexts.

References

  1. "Najoom Trumpet Leadpipes". Dennis Najoom. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  2. "Smith-Watkins B-flat Trumpet Leadpipes". Smith-Watkins. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  3. "Piccolo Leadpipes (Flash page: please click through for the product list)". Blackburn Trumpets. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2012.