Are Brass Instruments the Hardest to Play?

[VSTHero]

Brass playing is a kind of sport. You have to train a lot to be in shape. In most orchestral arrangements the brass players are used for much fewer parts than the always playing string sections. So the brass players often have to be there from zero to 100% in the middle of a track. For amateur bands is hard to find brass players who are able to do that. Brass players in jazz combos and big bands are better trained just by the amount of parts they have to play.

It’s that physicality that really got me. I was great at fine motor with my hands, piano, guitar, mandolin, those were great, but trumpet was so muscular and there were so many ways to have embouchure problems

 

[Pingu]

But orchestral musicians also play in rehearsals, so we know what the difficult or even showstopper parts are, both for ourselves and for the other players if we pay attention.

When you play cello in a Mozart symphony you have a lot of opportunity to let your attention wander around the room!

Kind of making my point though. You have a thought that makes sense to you, then you pick a few pieces out of the air that confirm your notion, and it becomes an assertion.

We all have various experiences, and we make observations, and we tell ourselves stories about why things are the way they are. And when we're not contradicted those common sense musings eventually become bro-science, and put forward as fact. But really the only thing we can assert, on the basis of our observations, is that our observations happened.

The question, 'Is instrument X harder than instrument Y' is so vague as to be meaningless. Even with many qualifications to give it meaning, it's not something any of us are qualified to answer, even if we play both instruments. At best, if I did, I could say I found one more difficult than the other - but my experience would be about me, and not the instruments themselves.

 

[Onemandown]

I went to a community play last night and the orchestra was made up of a mix of amateur players. While the violinist and cellist were top notch, the brass players struggled at times to hit certain notes without wobbling all over the place. So, since I don't play anything but piano and guitar myself, I started to wonder if brass instruments are the hardest orchestral instruments to play, or if this was simply a case of bad players.

Any thoughts?

As a multi-instrumentalist, I say they are undoubtedly the hardest to play. Don't ask me which instruments I play

 

[Double Helix]

I played low brass in jr high & high school, but could get around passably on my dad's 1918 King cornet (I could get most of the way through the Arban's book)
Played bugle in Scout Troop 34
French horn? I think good players could pretty much lip up starting on the second octave (I could never get the hang of it, though)

That said, double reeds might be the toughest

 

[Trash Panda]

Trombone is easy unless you have short arms like me. French Horn wasn’t too hard once you wrap your mind around the triggers and don’t mind a crap ton of spit buildup in the pipes.

Now playing soft enough to not drown out the wimpwinds? That is pretty challenging.

 

[kitekrazy]

Well, no, not necessarily. Which is why I asked if brass is more difficult to play.

There is no definite answer since it is based on the individual. The only easy part is figuring out how to play them. I have played them all and own them except the horn.
Also it has to do with how the music is written. Upper range has no real limit since it is based on the skill of the player.
After many year of dealing with beginners the kids that sound decent are clarinets. Rarely brass.

 

[kitekrazy]

Trombone is easy unless you have short arms like me. French Horn wasn’t too hard once you wrap your mind around the triggers and don’t mind a crap ton of spit buildup in the pipes.

Now playing soft enough to not drown out the wimpwinds? That is pretty challenging.

The most difficult of the brass. Fast passages a slide is no match for valves.
Bass Trombone is the most difficult of the brass because of the range and volume required.
Maintenance is pain in the ass.

 

[kitekrazy]

As a multi-instrumentalist, I say they are undoubtedly the hardest to play. Don't ask me which instruments I play

I can play all of the strings (I have a violin) but I'm kind enough not to.

 

[Onemandown]

I can play all of the strings (I have a violin) but I'm kind enough not to.

That is indeed a rare example of selflessness that not all string players exhibit

 

[Onemandown]

There is no definite answer since it is based on the individual. The only easy part is figuring out how to play them. I have played them all and own them except the horn.
Also it has to do with how the music is written. Upper range has no real limit since it is based on the skill of the player.
After many year of dealing with beginners the kids that sound decent are clarinets. Rarely brass.

When a clarinet squeaks in Ireland they say it's the sound of a demon stubbing his toe.

 

[JohnG]

Now playing soft enough to not drown out the wimpwinds? That is pretty challenging.

...unless they are saxophones. Less wimpy. And, anyway, we always play fff no matter what the part says.

 

[Nick Batzdorf]

Some instruments are probably easier to pick up and get to a competent level, but which ones those are depends a lot on the person.

Getting really good is equally hard on any instrument.

And I see that kitecrazy beat me to it.

 

[kitekrazy]

That is indeed a rare example of selflessness that not all string players exhibit

...unless they are saxophones. Less wimpy. And, anyway, we always play fff no matter what the part says.

easiest instrument to learn but hard to discipline. I'd rather give a beginner a loaded gun than a saxophone

 

[HCMarkus]

I just think back to junior high school band... the advanced band could play some pretty fun pieces. we didn't sound good, but cotton was not necessarily required in the ears.

A few of us were asked to accompany the string orchestra. OMG. It was really bad. Intonation and tone of the strings were absolutely terrible. And the pieces performed were super simple.

I liked the analogy of horn playing to a sport. You gotta' keep that lip in shape. But at least horn players (trombone excepted) have valves to help with pitch selection. And trombones don't play particularly high notes, so pitch anomalies are less obvious and hand position less critical than when playing the high strings, where rocking a finger is all it takes to be sadly out of tune.

I thus vote for the highest pitch of the fretless strings, the violin.

PS: I played clarinet.

PPS: Where would Rock n' Roll be today if guitars were all fretless?