Archived under: Equipment, History | Brass instrument history
Why is the Short Valve in the Middle?
Following up on the post on why the valve was invented, another question that comes in periodically is why is the second valve in the middle, as in it might make more logical sense to have the first valve be the short one, the second one longer, and the third longest.
In a sense it is arbitrary but the answer is found more than anything due to practicalities of construction. It is easier to put the short slide in the middle, or more precisely the valve with the short slide in middle. If you put a full step valve in the middle it complicates construction a good bit.
Early on when instruments often had only two valves the short valve could be first. Years ago I had an extended opportunity to play such a horn, a two valve instrument with the half-step valve first. It was interesting, to be sure, but with three the short valve has pretty much always been in the middle.
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