BRASSLEARNING BRASS INSTRUMENTS THROUGH WHOLE CLASS ENSEMBLE TUITION (WCET)

Leicester-Shire Schools

Music Service

Leicester-Shire

Education HubMusic

As the name suggests, brass instruments are made out of brass. Although some may be

a different colour, they are still made from brass.

In the pictures below you can see some of the different examples from the brass family

of instruments. There are big ones, little ones, curly ones and straight ones!

All sound is made by vibration, and in the case of a brass instrument, the things that

vibrate are your lips. It’s a bit like blowing a raspberry without your tongue getting in

the way and without loads of spit!

As you probably already know, the trumpet is basically just a long brass tube into which

you blow. However, playing it is a little more complicated than that! In order to make a

good sound you need to get your lips to buzz onto the mouthpiece.

W H A T I S I N V O L V E D I N

L E A R N I N G B R A S S I N S T R U M E N T S ?

The mouthpiece you blow into looks like this

TR

UM

PE

T

FR

EN

CH

HO

RN

TR

OM

BO

NE

EU

PH

ON

IUM

I have enjoyed playing brass over the past year. We have learnt and played lots of pieces of music.

Quickly, I moved into the year six brass group and we played a lot of harder pieces. I love to play the

cornet because it’s really fun to play and it’s quite easy to play. I have played at the church with years

five and six. I also played at the brass concert with a different school. We performed in front of lots of

people at De Montfort Hall. I was nervous but really excited! The whole evening was great. Playing the

cornet has been a great experience. I’m excited to be continuing this year. I hope that the pieces that we

play are as good as last year’s!

I have enjoyed this year’s music very much. Learning notes, going to concerts, playing with the year

sixes, I love it! And now it’s a new year, lots of new musical things to learn! My favourite part was

definitely the concert. I loved playing my baritone on the stage in De Montfort Hall and playing in the

park with the year sixes. I especially loved having an ice lolly which we got from the shop! When

I started playing with the year sixes, I was very nervous, but I started to build up confidence and soon

I loved playing my instrument with them! I have loved playing an instrument with the year sixes and I

hope this year will be just as good.

B E T H A N Y

T O M

Y E A R 5

Y E A R 4

W H A T D O C H I L D R E N S A Y A B O U T L E A R N I N G

T H R O U G H W C E T

Learning a brass instrument involves firstly learning about

music and then developing that understanding through

the use of the instrument. Technical aspects like learning

different notes, how to play them and how to read music

will follow. Learning a brass instrument in a WCET lesson

means spending most of the time making and listening to

music. A lot of the lesson will be about learning to play the

instrument but you will also get the chance to create your

own music, listen and perform to your classmates, parents

and the wider public.

H e r e a r e s o m e ex a m p l e s o f b ra s s i n s t r u m e n t s b e i n g p l aye d i n d i f f e r e n t s t y l e s :

W H A T I S A B R A S S W C E T L E S S O N L I K E ?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGwSmowLGTI www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLDcQhwHxws www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyb39zUqeq0