The following classroom recourses were created and compiled by the WV Symphony to supplement a school visit from our STEAM-based Brass Ensemble!

Teachers: check out the following lessons, links, and resources that can be used to prepare for or follow-up from this special school performance.

What is a Brass Quintet?

STEAM-ing Hot Brass is a type of ensemble called a Brass Quintet. A quintet is a group of five musicians that perform together.

The word quintet comes from the Italian words quintetto or quinto meaning ‘fifth’ or ‘five.’

A brass quintet will typically have the following instruments:

two trumpets

one horn

one trombone

one tuba

About Brass Instruments

Brass instruments are made of metal tubing. The brass tubing is usually covered in a shiny coating made from gold or silver, which protects the brass from rusting. All brass instruments begin creating sound the same way: the player buzzes their lips together against the mouthpiece, the vibrations from the lips buzzing travel from the mouthpiece through the metal tubing until they reach the bell, which amplifies the sound so we can hear it.

The instruments in a brass quintet have all of these things in common, they are just different shapes and sizes.