Curated playlist
Concert band instruments
- TrumpetThe trumpet existed for over three thousand years before anyone used it for music. It began as a tool of war and ritual.
- BassoonIn Italian concert scores, the bassoon is called fagotto, from an Old French word for a bundle of sticks.
- ClarinetAround 1700, Johann Christoph Denner added a key to the chalumeau and created the clarinet.
- Bass drumThe bass drum began as a war drum that helped soldiers march in step. It later split into three distinct forms.
- TromboneGerman city-states stationed trombonists in towers to herald dignitaries. The instrument was the sackbut.
- CymbalCymbals were once used to terrify enemies on a battlefield. Janissary soldiers in Turkey did it by the 14th century.
- TubaThe tuba is named for the Latin word for trumpet, yet it sits at the opposite end of the brass family.
- OboeBefore every concert, an orchestra falls silent for the oboe.
- XylophoneNobody agrees where the xylophone first came from. One scholar says southeast Asia, another says Africa.
- Double bassA large orchestra usually needs four to eight double bassists playing the same line.