Re: Brass Instruments

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 3:58 PM -0400 10/10/00, John Cooper asked::
> >  >Why is brass used for musical instruments?

1) Just because it's called "brass" or "horn" doesn't mean it is made out
of brass or horn (i.e. animal keratin).  And none of my silverware is made
of silver.  Neither is a Pound Sterling, for that matter.  The present-day
name is just a figure of speech.

2) If it is made of brass, that's for the same reasons brass is used for
keys and pipe-fittings.

At 04:18 PM 10/10/00 -0400, Chuck Britton wrote:
> Because it's cheaper than silver or platinum?

1) Yes, brass is cheaper than bronze, silver, and lots of other things.

2) Brass is much easier to work with than steel, the cheapest metal.

3) There are real limits to what you can build out of the keratin you get
from animals' horns.

4) At the time these instruments became known as the "brass" instruments,
aluminum was not readily available.

5) These days you can get such things built out of plastic, which has a
superior strength-to-weight ratio.