Cuivres

As Printed on a Score

French for the brass as a group (les Cuivres), used in instrument lists and collective directions. Do not confuse it with cuivré (brassy), a technique marking over one passage of a horn or trumpet part asking for a hard, metallic tone, often combined with stopped horn (bouché).

How Composers Use It

Use it for instructions that apply to every brass player — mutes on (sourdines), a collective dynamic, a cut-off. Brass weight varies widely between instruments, so a collective marking may still need part-by-part adjustment: four horns at f do not weigh the same as three trombones at f. Name the instruments (cors, trompettes, trombones, tuba) when you mean only some of them.

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