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Scan 110
Musical instruments, 1908
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 86. See the scan on archive.org.
1and other dances. The beauty of the tone is entirely taken away by this jerky utterance.
3The trumpet is difficult to play, and it fails to occupy a place among the melodic instruments because of its limited scale. It has been succeeded by the orchestral valve trumpet, and the more easily played cornet, although the tone of the latter is greatly inferior.
5The best qualities of the cornet are evident in low passages, for its voice grows blatant as the music increases in loudness. The cornets combined with the horns, and assisted in the bass by the trombone, produce brilliant effects, which are especially bright when part of the cornets and part of the horns cross. In waltz music of the better class the cornets and the trombones may effectively emphasize the first note of each bar with a full chord.
7The trombone possesses great power, is capable of a remarkable variety of effects, and appears to best advantage in groups, for singly its usual function must be to supplement the other basses. In a full orchestra, a magnificent quintet is formed of the trombones in the three lower parts and the trumpets or cornets in the two higher. Trombones are capable of grand passages, and may figure in martial or heroic melody. A player has the power to give a furious blast on his instrument or to produce a tone similar in quiet dignity to that of the violoncello.
9The bass of the brass band are the tubas, which take the place of the cellos and double basses in military bands. Unless their voices are carefully subdued they are noisy, but used properly, they add to the complete orchestral structure.
11The instruments of percussion are useful in imparting accent and emphasis to an orchestral production. Theirs is a very important function, and is fulfilled with greatest beauty by the kettle drums. These are the only ones of the percussion group which are each capable of producing several tones of definite pitch. The bass drum and side drum are also prominent, although the side drum finds a
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