Less Commonly Known Band Instruments

Everyone is aware of the main instruments that are used in band, such as flute, clarinet, trumpet, and tuba. Apart from these well known instruments, there are many more that are not as common and not used in all pieces of music. Sometimes when a composer wants a certain part to sound a certain way, he writes a part for an odd instrument that is not used very commonly. Similarly, sometimes a composer wants to feature that instrument in a solo or small group, so he incorporates it into the music. The instruments I will be discussing include piccolo, english horn, and cornet. There are many others, of course, but they are less confusing than these three. For example, there are instruments such as alto flute, soprano saxophone, and bass trombone that are not used very commonly in music. However, it is easier to understand them because they are simply deeper or higher versions of the main instruments, as the name suggests.

A talented, advanced flute player will have to learn how to play piccolo sometime in their studies if they wish to continue music to a certain level. A piccolo is much smaller than a flute, and it looks quite different. While most flutes are silver or gold, piccolos are often jet black or a dark colored wood and roughly less than half the size. Piccolos are very high pitched and are able to play notes higher than any other instrument. An unskilled player often makes harsh, shrill noises that are not pleasing to the ear. However, a talented flutist is able to make the piccolo sound just as good as he/she does with the flute. Piccolos, like flutes, are very hard to tune and do not sound good when two are playing together out of tune. Because of this, it is extremely rare for there to be more than one piccolo player in the band at a time. Piccolo is actually the most common of these three unknown instruments. Many songs call for a piccolo, people just do not know it.

While most flutists start learning piccolo at a younger age, oboists do not start playing english horn until much later in their musical careers. I learned how to play english horn when I was a freshman in high school, which is younger than most. A piece we were performing called for an enormous english horn solo in the beginning, so the duty fell unto me. An english horn is about twice the size of an oboe and it is much deeper. I love the sound of the english horn because it is extremely dark and rich. When playing english horn, I feel very regal and majestic. It looks exactly the same as the oboe with one exception: the bell at the bottom of an english horn is puffed up, so it looks like there is a ball of something stuck inside. The bell of an oboe has a slight flare towards the end, but it does not have a lump at the bottom. Not many songs call for an english horn, so it is rare that you would need one. Even less common is an english horn solo, like the one I mentioned above. Most composers do not think to incorporate and english horn part, let alone write a solo for it. However, I think it is a beautiful instrument and I would love to get the opportunity to play it more often.

The final instrument is the cornet. Cornet and trumpet are extremely similar, almost exactly the same in fact. There is only one tiny, unnoticeable difference between them: the way their bells are shaped. Trumpets have cylindrical bores that are consistent throughout the whole length of the tubing while cornets have conical bores that gradually decrease in size down the length of the tubing. The instruments sound and look basically the same, so they are practically interchangeable. Once in a while, pieces of music call for a section of cornets instead of a section of trumpets. The difference in sound is so miniscule I do not see the point, but some composers are extremely picky about their choice of instruments.

I always find it interesting to play or listen to pieces that use odd, uncommon instruments. It adds character to the music and I find those pieces much more enjoyable.