To the casual observer, the trombone appears to be the oddball of the brass section. Surely an instrument with a slide instead of valves is the odd one out? But ask a brass player which instrument they are most nervous about teaching, and 90% will come up with the same answer: the French horn.
But all brass instruments work in exactly the same way. They have been carefully designed so that when played ‘open’ (with no valves depressed) they can produce the notes of the harmonic series in the key of that instrument. The valves are identical: the second lowers the pitch by a semitone, the first by a tone, and the third by a tone-and-a-half. A mouthpiece is inserted at one end and sound waves magically radiate via a flared bell at the other. So far, so good.
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