Deciding on a Brass Instrument

Brass instruments are both wonderful to hear and a joy to see. These instruments are used for a huge number of musical styles, so anyone interested in playing can, with a little practice, jump in and enjoy themselves in a large body of music, whether it's classical, jazz, or world music. Each type of instrument has its own unique sound, playing style, and music so picking which instrument best for you can be a tough choice as each offers its own special appeal to players. Deciding on instrument starts with being aware of the instruments available to you and the different pro's and con's of each.One of the most popular instruments is the trumpet. This instrument is easy to play, compact, and has a lead place in many different musical compositions in a large number of genres. It's sound is very bright and loud with many pieces showing off the speed and complexity possible with this instrument. Many people are already familiar with the many famous players of the trumpet like Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong.The trombone is a much simpler instrument in appearance, but like the trumpet it is used in an immense number of genres for a great number of purposes whether as the lead or as the back up. The trombone, unlike the trumpet, requires a larger amount of physical effort to play, which players either enjoy or dislike. It plays in the bass clef and so has a deep guttural sound, nonetheless it can be quite loud at the same time.The French horn is a lot like the trumpet in many ways, but its sound is very refined. It is used most often in classical compositions and sometimes as back up in modern music. Its music is usually a lead part for a brass section. This instrument is quite expensive and difficult to maintain. With its limitations to orchestra music, only players interested in this type of music should purchase it.The tuba is much like the French horn in terms of cost, maintenance, and musical style. It is, however, on the bass end rather than the high end. It is almost exclusively an instrument which backs up the lead sections of a bass, much like a bass guitar.There are more specialized brass instruments, but these are the main types and other models are a variation of these main types. There's no reason to not play them all, however every person will find themselves drawn to one type.