What makes a fanfare

A fanfare trumpet is a brass instrument similar to but longer than a trumpet, capable of playing specially composed fanfares. The natural trumpet only plays the notes of the natural harmonic series. So, as Alison says, modern trumpeters use the tuning holes to flatten the fourth of the scale, to make the sound more tuneful to a modern ear.

The main melody of Star Wars is an ascending leitmotif which represents the hero, Luke Skywalker, and is heard after the opening fanfare in bars 4 to 7. This leitmotif sounds heroic as it is performed with leaping intervals, triplets and at a ff dynamics in the brass section. Mood: The mood of this piece is hopeful, expectant and optimistic. Encourage your children to come up with adjectives to describe the music. President before the playing of Hail to the Chief.

And that's really the role of the fanfare - to make an announcement. The start of a hunt. The arrival of a king or other dignitary. Fanfares are typically played on brass instruments, frequently accompanied by percussion.

Fanfares aren't too common in this day and age, but some are etched in our memories. Take, for example, Leo Arnaud's Bugler's Dream. The work was commissioned in for a vinyl record of military themed songs compiled to rouse a listener's emotions. Few in the U. Bugler's Dream largely went unnoticed by the public until it was used as the U. When the summer Olympics came to Los Angeles in , the venue inspired change.

A fanfare is a bold and brief piece of music used to announce the coming of an important person or event. You'll hear them at sporting competitions like the Olympics, at military and official government ceremonies, and often in movies or TV shows as opening theme music.

Featuring dotted rhythms, repeated patterns and a harmonic series of notes, fanfares are generally brass- and percussion-dominant.

This is both to get the listener's attention and impart a sense of importance to the event. One of the key characteristics of a musical fanfare is brevity. These musical works are intended to be introductory, a quick blast of sound to quiet the crowd and direct their attention to the stage. Some fanfares are very short, such as a or second call to arms or for horsemen to mount.