A music question....?

Question

What was the importance of brass instruments to the Roman army?

Which instruments did they use?

How did they use them?

How are brass instruments still used in the military today?

Answer 1

FanFaire, Fanffare
welcome back my friends,
to de shows that ever end,
WE glad U could attend,
cvm inside, cvm inside

Answer 2

There is a long history of musical instruments being used by armies. The Celts used a brass instrument (I forget the name) which was significantly louder than modern instruments, which they pointed above the heads of their army to scare the enemy. In the much quieter age of antiquity these brass instruments combined would have been deafening.

The Romans and many other peoples used instruments to signal to their troops. It's hard to convey visual signals to such large groups of people, plus they'd all have to be looking at once - and shouting is just about impossible, so they had a set of rhythms and pitches that would mean different things - think of the typical US civil war cavalry charge bugal.

Brass instruments were used because they're very loud, but percussion instruments (i.e. drums), bagpipes and even oboes (or oboe-like instruments such as the shawm) were used right up until the 20th century, when radios took over. In the first world war a whistle was used to tell troops when to charge, as you needed no musical training to use it, and it was more reliable than the early radios.

The Romans would have used instruments such as the natural trumpet (like a modern bugle, but it was straigher) and the tuba (NOT like a modern tuba, more like an unfurled french horn)

Musical instruments are still used by armies for ceremonial occaisions, gone are the days when armies would go into battle with drummer boys and bagpipes to spur the troops on. Many regiments in the British army have bands, and they are one of the leading employers of brass instrument players.

Answer 3

Brass instruments were used to comunicate over short distances. In war for example. There sound is clear and high which allows it to travel large distances with out being overly effected. They used a horn, straight and with out valves. It was capable of sounding only Harmonic equivalents of the length of the horn. This limited the notes they could play but since the simpler the code the easier to learn it was sufficient for what they needed. Brass instraments are still used and often to simulate that military or hunting sound. There are more choices now and the instraments are capable of more variety but the standard Bugle is still used to sound taps and many other events in military life.

Answer 4

The reason brass instruments were used (mainly the bugle) is because the sound they transmit travels very far. It can signal WE ARE HERE watch out and also can signal the troops (No cell phones) to tell them different things. It must have been very intimidating, the louder the band, the bigger the army.

Answer 5

If you have ever seen a parade, you have enough information to answer most of your questions.
The Romans didn't use brass instruments that required valves, so you can weed out the instruments they didn't use and find out the ones they did use.