History of the Baritone Horn

Series Summary

Although the baritone horn is similar to the trumpet in both appearance and mechanics, it falls far short of its smaller brother in terms of hipster credentials. Miles and Lee Morgan did not play baritones, they played trumpets. But don't be too disrespectful of the baritone because it has important connections to the military. While the trumpet was partying in swinging clubs and smoky jam sessions, the baritone was waking up early to practice marching with the army drum and bugle corps. And in the case of marching bands which would not allow trombones, the baritone offered a similar tonal range without the possibility of the trombone slide flying across the field. Indeed, while the trumpet was slumming, the baritone upheld the precision and discipline of the red, white and baritone blue.

In this series of free music education videos, our brass horn expert and music lesson professional introduces you to the baritone. He gives you a brief overview of its history as well as an introduction to the components which comprise this horn. Learn how to breathe while playing a simple series of scales he introduces over several videos. Our expert even tells you how to take care of your baritone, for once you see these videos you will definitely want a baritone of your own. Watch, learn and want...that's the effect Expert Village videos have on you.

Video Transcript

"The history of the Baritone is similar to the history of the trumpet, its precursor. Now as more refinement came into wind instrument and especially brass instruments, they originally had no valves, but they had tubing in a conical shape and mouthpieces. This mouthpiece of course is considerably larger than the trumpet mouthpiece thereby creating a more slower vibration of air and creating a lower note. The Baritone came along when trombones were also developed. This is also a chromatic instrument and it's in the same tonal range as the Baritone. I'll demonstrate quickly. But you hear the difference in the tonality. One is more brash ah, ah, ah. This one is more oh, oh, oh. That's pretty much why they designed different brass instruments to have certain sound qualities. Some were high pitched, some were low pitched. And the Baritone was somewhere in between in the lower to mid brass during brass bands in the 1700's to 1800's. They were very popular."