- I'm Jake.

- I'm Esther.

- [Jake] I play music in a polka band.

- [Esther] I'm a soul and R&B singer and songwriter.

- [Jake] We love music so much!

- [Esther] And we wanna share that with you.

- [Esther And Jake] This is "In Tune."

(comb teeth rattling) (ball bouncing) (wood rattling) - Vibration.

(bell chimes) (trombone solo) (static buzzes) - Let's talk about lips.

We've all got 'em, and they're a part of the body with very important work to do.

- We use our lips to talk, kiss, laugh, eat... - And do this.

(Jake grumbling) (Esther laughs) - But more importantly, we use our lips to create the vibration that brass instruments turn into sound.

- Yeah, the brass musical instrument family includes trumpets, tubas, trombones, and a lot of other instruments.

But you don't have to just take my lips' words for it.

- My name's CJ and I play the baritone.

I played the baritone 'cause I thought it was a nice style.

I like playing high and low at the same time.

That's why I picked the baritone.

(bright band music) It makes me feel excited.

It helps me go through some stuff that I'll go to because I can always go play my baritone.

It's very fun learning an instrument.

You can get scholarships to high schools by just having an instrument, knowing how to play it, 'cause a lot of people don't know how to play instruments.

So when you learn, it could be challenging, but mostly it's fun when you start learning it.

- My name is Sean, and I play the French horn.

(French horn solo) I chose the French horn, because my brother played it, and my brother's pretty awesome.

Now I'm pretty awesome.

- Hi, my name is Augusto, and I play the trombone.

(trombone solo) - My parents got me this trombon right here for Christmas, so I am able to express emotion through the trombone, making it louder, softer, faster, slower, and it really helps with the emotion.

So it's really changed my life for the better.

- Hello, my name is Nora, and I play the French horn.

I picked this instrument out, the French horn, because I love how unique it is and how hard to play it is, and it's a very beautiful instrument.

I just love playing it.

Playing a musical instrument makes me feel, I guess, connected with other people.

I've met a lot of friends through music, and it just makes me feel generally happy.

- Friends, we're talking about brass today.

- And it just so happens that the polka band I am in has a very talented tubaist.

He's a very interesting fellow, and we're gonna talk to him righ All right, folks, I'm here with Brian Brazier and his... - Sousaphone!

- It's a sousaphone!

Can you believe it?

I'm happy to see it.

What musical instrument family is this part of?

- This is part of the brass family.

- [Jake] Is it made of brass?

(Jake knocking) - This one is.

- (yells) What else could it be made of?

- Silver, well, mostly just brass.

- Mostly just brass.

(Brian laughing) It's the brass family.

Now, how do instruments in the brass family work?

When I look over at you, I see you going, it looks like you're blowing into it.

(blowing) Is that how it works?

- It is, but you also need to create vibration, and you do that by using your lips.

And you go like this, (lips buzzing) - [Jake] Brian buzzes his lips to create a vibration and then applies those lips to what is called a mouthpiece.

This is a part found on all brass instruments.

(Brian blowing and vibrating with mouthpiece) (tuba solo) Is this the loudest instrument in the brass family?

Do they make louder ones?

- Oh, it can be louder.

It's as loud as you can wanna blow.

- Here, watch this.

(tuba blaring) Now, other than making loud noises, why did you start playing the tuba, the sousaphone, the brass family?

- Well, I wanted something that was interesting, a little different.

There's not a lot of tuba players out there, but I also wanted something that seemed a little easier.

And you might have seen with a saxophone, there's a lot of buttons on there.

- [Jake] There's a lot of buttons on a saxophone.

- This one only has three, so I thought it was a lot easier.

- (laughing) How old were you when you made that discovery?

- That was fifth grade.

- (laughs) All right.

- Turns out that's not the case.

It's hard, so.

(laughing) - Any instrument takes a lot of work.

Brian, when I see you playing, you look like you're truly enjoying yourselves.

And one of the things I see you do on stage is moving.

You're up, you're down, you're here, you're there.

You're always moving.

Why do you do that?

- Because I just want to be as entertaining as possible.

And if I could play the tuba and do all those other things as well, I think it's something that the audience enjoys.

I think about what I'm gonna play, and I think about where the chords change, what the music is doing, and I think about what I'm gonna do with my actions, with my legs, with my arms.

And as you see, I have a free hand here that I can point.

- Well, Brian, we enjoyed watching you move and groove today.

I think we may even have a tuba solo in store for you guys.

- Woo!

(bright music) (bright music continues) - Thank you for sharing the sousaphone with us today, Brian.

- No problem, Jake.

- Before we go, Brian, hit me with another one.

(tuba blaring) That's the brass.

So in addition to seeing Brian create the vibrations that bring his tuba to life, we saw him coming to life on stage, moving and grooving.

Esther, do you think that movement is an important part of music?

- Absolutely, I think that music inspires movement.

Different sounds and rhythms can make you happy or sad or move fast or slow.

- I like to move, like this.

It's a good dance I'm doing.

(Esther laughing) Boys and girls, if you want to create your own brass instrument at home that you can move and groove with, well, we're gonna show you how to do it.

Check this out.

(plastic hose buzzing) See, you can buzz your lips into an old hose, a funnel, and you can create the same kind of sound.

It won't sound as good, but you can create sound the same way a brass player would.

(funnel blaring) See?

What do you think of that?

(funnel blaring) - It's almost like a brass instrument, Jake.

- It's almost.

Gimme some claps.

(Esther clapping) (funnel blaring) (Esther laughing) I mean, I mean, if you can make sound... - Then you can make music.

- And that's what we're doing today.

You guys have fun.

This is "In Tune."

(beep) (static buzzing) (bright music)