What were the Main Structures of Brass in the Ancient World?
It’s easy to think of ancient brass design as following that of modern instruments but that was simply not the case. Granted, there were instruments which had overall structures very much like modern instruments but there were also many which were somewhat different....
When the Air goes Round and Round
Today there are, in the main, just two brass instruments in which the air goes round in circles, the French horn and the Sousaphone although others, such as cornets have, in the past, been made in this way. A little earlier, the cor de chasse (horn of the chase) or...
Spreading Brass on your Toast
The bronze lurs are among the most-characteristic instruments from the Late Bronze Age in northern Europe. They were found in Scandinavia and around the Baltic, the largest number have been found in Denmark. Because of the large number found there, Denmark has adopted...
Why was the Letter ‘J’ popular among Iron-Age Brass Players?
This letter has a unique claim to importance to brass players during the European Iron Age – that’s from about 1000 BCE to, well, a lot later! (possibly for over a thousand years). For quite a lot of this time, two ‘J’-shaped instruments were around, the lituus and...
