These instruments are all made up of a tube with holes spaced out along it.  Players cover and uncover the holes with a mixture of keys, buttons, levers, and fingers.  To make a sound on these instruments, students must learn to form an embouchure and blow a steady, focused airstream.

These instruments are made of metal (and recently, plastic!) and are played with a silver or gold-plated mouthpiece.  Musicians push buttons or levers to turn valves to add or subtract length, making their harmonic series lower or higher in pitch.  Brass musicians can also raise or lower pitch by buzzing their lips faster or more slowly.  To make a healthy sound on a brass instrument, students should try this:  1. Pretend to whistle, 2. Blow air as hard as it takes to make your lips buzz.  Buzzing is not a muscle thing.  It is an air thing, and it should happen as a natural result of air passing through the lips.

Percussion instruments are usually played by striking, shaking, scraping, or rubbing objects in tempo.  I often say that the percussion section is the quarterback of the Band.  As the coach, I pick music and tell the Band what to do, but during performances, the percussion section leads the way.  They dictate how loud the Band must play to be heard and they dictate how fast the Band must play to stay in tempo.

String instruments are less common in Concert Band, but Greene County has a budding tradition of teaching String Bass and including the orchestral instrument in our Concert Band.  Our music faculty know enough to be dangerous on String Bass, but we highly recommend seeking out private lessons from a professional Orchestra teacher.