How to Tune Slides on a Trumpet

Video Transcript

"Well the next pieces that are part of the construction of the trumpet and many brass instruments: the tuba, the baritone, the euphonium, the French horn-- they all are made of cylindrical tubing that is bent. The bends are called slides, and slides are removed or slidden back and forth in order to tune the instrument. On this slide, which is the main slide, there is a valve, which we call the spit valve, and when you blow into a wind instrument, you create condensation and saliva, and that builds up in the spit valve, where you can purge the spit from the instrument--once I get my slide back in here. Sometimes you have to take just a wee bit of care to get your slides back in. And I will demonstrate during the maintenance section of this how to grease your slide, so it isn't so sticky like mine is right now. All the valves have their own slides, and this slide is stuck as well, so we are going to have some fun. Here is the second valve slide as you can see. And if you can get the camera in right there, you can see how the valves open and close certain air in certain pipes, and that is how we change the pitch and make notes on the instrument, on valved instruments. They're on a spring. I'll show you the valves in the next segment."