About BrassArtist

BrassArtist is a small, independent site built around six free brass calculators and a Wikipedia-sourced museum of instruments, bands, and players. There is no origin story to tell here, so instead this page walks through what each tool actually does and how it works.

For playing and practising

The Transposition Calculator takes a written note and one instrument’s transposition and works out the note a player on a different transposing brass instrument needs to read to sound the same concert pitch, including any octave shift. It exists for the ordinary rehearsal problem of a part written for the wrong horn.

The Practice Time Calculator just does the arithmetic of a practice routine: enter minutes per session, sessions per week, and how many weeks, and it totals the minutes, hours, and sessions so you can see whether a routine is realistic before you commit to it.

The BPM Tempo Calculatorconverts a tempo in beats per minute into the millisecond length of quarter, eighth, half, and whole notes at that tempo — useful for setting a delay pedal to a song’s tempo or checking that a metronome app is reporting what you think it is.

For choosing, buying, and maintaining an instrument

The Mouthpiece Size Calculator suggests a starting cup rim diameter for trumpet, cornet, horn, trombone, euphonium, or tuba based on player level. It is meant as a sensible size to try before you buy, not a fitting — mouthpiece feel is personal, and the only real test is playing on one.

The Instrument Value Calculator estimates what a used brass instrument is worth from its purchase price, age, and condition, applying depreciation that never falls below a 30% floor of the original price. It is a starting estimate for a private sale, not an appraisal.

The Maintenance Cost Calculator adds recurring supplies — valve oil, slide grease, and the like — to any professional servicing you enter, to give a yearly upkeep figure and a monthly average. It only totals what you tell it; it does not know your instrument’s actual condition.

The Brass Museum

Past the calculators, The Brass Museum is a set of galleries on the instrument family, the bands and ensembles that play them, how a horn is made, and the players who shaped the sound. Every entry, image, and fact in it is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, not written from scratch, so it is best treated as a starting point for further reading rather than a primary source. There is more reading in the blog and the learn section.

What this is — and isn’t

BrassArtist is independent and supported by on-page advertising; it is not affiliated with any instrument manufacturer, brass band association, or music-education body it happens to mention. Every calculator here produces an estimate from the numbers you enter and general, widely used conventions — not a professional appraisal, a repair diagnosis, or teaching advice tailored to you. For anything instrument-specific, budget-significant, or affecting your playing health, talk to a qualified private teacher, a brass technician, or an instrument dealer who can actually look at your horn. Questions, corrections, or a tool that is behaving oddly: get in touch.