skills/instrument-ranges-and-idioms/references/brass.md

# Brass (sounding pitch)

| Instrument | Comfortable | Peak only | Avoid | Idiom |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| trumpet | G3 to G5 | A5 to C6 for a beat or two | below E3, above C6 | lead voice; repeated-note fanfares, arpeggios, eighth-note lines up to fast tempi |
| muted-trumpet | G3 to F5 | up to A5 | low register (thin) | ballads, cup or harmon colour; sparse phrases |
| trombone | A2 to F4 | G4 to Bb4 | fast alternation between slide extremes (F3 and B2, Bb2 and E2); below E2 except pedal notes | long lines, glissandi implied by slides, chorale writing, jazz riffs in quarters and eighths |
| french-horn | C3 to G4 | A4 to C5 | below F2, above E5 | sustained middle-register lines, hunting-call arpeggios, chorale pads; not agile at speed |
| tuba | F1 to Bb3 | C4 | below D1, fast sixteenths | bass line in quarters and half notes, oom-pah, breath every bar or two |

## Endurance

- The peak range appears once per example, for a beat or two, at the phrase
  climax.
- Give brass a rest of at least a beat every 2 bars, a full bar every 8.
- Trumpet lines that leap an octave repeatedly are tiring; write the leap
  once and step down after.

## Section writing

- Lead trumpet on top, second trumpet a third or fourth below, trombone an
  octave below the lead or filling the 7th, horn in the middle.
- Rhythmic unison for punches, held chords for pads; do not give every part
  its own busy line.
- Horn sections punch on offbeats with rests between; sustained pads move in
  half notes.