Names of the different parts of the instrument are presented here. The aim is to understand what “beginning of the bell” or other terms are describing in the articles on this website.
Common instruments examples
Source : Quintette de l'Escaut
From left to right, you can see the main brass instruments:
French horn
Trumpet
Tuba
Trombone
And another trumpet
The most important
By unrolling the tubes, similar shapes appear. This is how we can identify easily brass subfamilies.
1: Lead pipe
2: Cylindrical part
3: « Conical » part leading to the bell
- At the top: Trumpet and Trombone family which is the closest to cylindrical tubes.
- In the middle: saxhorns family which includes the flugelhorn.
- At the bottom: tubas family which if the most cylindrical.
The French horn family is similar to the trumpet family with a much longer cylindrical part and a more flared bell.
Cornets are not represented either. They would fit between the two first schemes.
The lead pipe is represented as a conical tube but it’s not always right. Valves trumpets are exception for example.
Cylindrical parts of tubas are not represented but slides could not exist without some of these.
More details
This disassembled trumpet allows us to see clearly the different parts of the instrument.
Source : Wikipedia
1: Bell
2: Leadpipe
3: Mouthpiece
4: General slide
5: 1rst valve slide
6: 2nd valve slide
7: 3rd valve slide
8: Finger's ring
9: Water key
10: Valves
11: Spacer
12: Spacer
13: Valve
Source : Wikipedia
1: General slide
2: Counterweight
3: Mouthpiece
4: Slide lock ring
5: Bell
6: Knob / Bumper
7: Water key
8: Main slide
9: Second slide brace / stay
10: First slide brace / stay
11: Bell lock nut
Source : Wikipedia
1: Mouthpiece
2: Leadpipe, where the mouthpiece is placed
3: Adjustable handrest
4: Water key (also called a spit valve)
5: Fourth valve to change between F and B-flat pitch
6: Valve levers, operated with the left hand
7: Rotary valves
8: Slides, for tuning each valve
9: Long tubing for F pitch with slide
10: General slide
11: Short tubing for B-flat pitch with slide
12: Bellpipe
13: Bell; the right hand is cupped inside this
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