Dictionary:

trumpet

  (trŭm'pĭt)

1. 1. Music. A soprano brass wind instrument consisting of a long metal tube looped once and ending in a flared bell, the modern type being equipped with three valves for producing variations in pitch.
   2. Something shaped or sounding like this instrument.
2. Music. An organ stop that produces a tone like that of the brass wind instrument.
3. A resounding call, as that of the elephant.

1. Music. To play a trumpet.
2. To give forth a resounding call.

To sound or proclaim loudly.

[Middle English trumpette, from Old French trompette, diminutive of trompe, horn, from Old High German trumpa.]

Background

A trumpet is a brass wind instrument noted for its powerful tone sounded by lip vibration against its cup-shaped mouthpiece. A trumpet consists of a cylindrical tube, shaped in a primary oblong loop that flares into a bell. Modern trumpets also have three piston valves as well as small, secondary tubing that act as tuning slides to adjust the tone. Almost all trumpets played today are B-flat. This is the tone naturally played when the trumpet is blown. They have a range between the F-sharp below middle C to two and a half octaves above (ending at B), and are comparatively easier to play than other brass instruments.

The first trumpets were probably sticks that had been hollowed out by insects. Numerous early cultures, such as those in Africa and Australia, developed hollow, straight tubes for use as megaphones in religious rites. These early "trumpets" were made from the horns or tusks of animals, or cane. By 1400 B.C. the Egyptians had developed trumpets made from bronze and silver, with a wide bell. People in India, China, and Tibet also created trumpets, which were usually long and telescoped. Some, like Alpine horns, rested their bells on the ground. Assyrians, Israelites, Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, Celts, and Teutonic tribes all had some form of horn, and many were decorated. These instruments, which produced low, powerful notes, were mainly used in battle or during ceremonies. They were not usually considered to be musical instruments. To make these trumpets, the lost-wax method was used. In this process, wax was placed in a cavity that was in the shape of a trumpet. This mold was then heated so that the wax melted away, and in its place molten bronze was poured, producing a thick-walled instrument.

The Crusades of the late Middle Ages (A.D. 1095-1270) caused most of Europe to come into contact with Arabic cultures, and it is believed that these introduced trumpas made from hammered sheets of metal. To make the tube of the trumpet, a sheet of metal was wrapped around a pole and soldered. To make the bell, a curved piece of metal shaped somewhat like an arc of a phonograph record was dovetailed. One side was cut to form teeth. These teeth were then splayed alternately, and the other side of the piece of metal was brought around and stuck between the teeth. Hammering the seam smoothed it down. Around A.D. 1400 the long, straight trumpets were bent, thus providing the same sound in a smaller, more convenient instrument. Molten lead was poured into the tube and allowed to solidify. This was then beaten to form a nearly perfect curve. The tube was next heated and the lead was poured out. The first bent trumpets were S-shaped, but rapidly the shape evolved to become a more convenient oblong loop.

A variety of trumpets were developed during the last half of the eighteenth century, as both musicians and trumpet makers searched for ways to make the trumpet more versatile. One limitation of the contemporary trumpet was that it could not be played chromatically; that is, it could not play the half-step range called the chromatic scale. In 1750 Anton Joseph Hampel of Dresden suggested placing the hand in the bell to solve the problem, and Michael Woggel and Johann Andreas Stein around 1777 bent the trumpet to make it easier for the player's hand to reach the bell. The consensus was that this created more problems than it solved. The keyed trumpet followed, but it never caught on, and was replaced rapidly by valve trumpets. The English created a slide trumpet, yet many thought the effort to control the slide wasn't worth it.

The first attempt to invent a valve mechanism was tried by Charles Clagget, who took out a patent in 1788. The first practical one, however, was the box tubular valve invented by Heinrich Stoelzel and Friedrich Bluhmel in 1818. Joseph Riedlin in 1832 invented the rotary valve, a form now only popular in Eastern Europe. It was Francois Perinet in 1839 who improved upon the tubular valve to invent the piston valved trumpet, the most preferred trumpet of today. The valves ensured a trumpet that was fully chromatic because they effectively changed the tube length. An open valve lets the air go through the tube fully. A closed valve diverts the air through its short, subsidiary tubing before returning it to the main tube, lengthening its path. A combination of three valves provides all the variation a chromatic trumpet needs.

The first trumpet factory was founded in 1842 by Adolphe Sax in Paris, and it was quickly followed by large-scale manufacturers in England and the United States. Standardized parts, developed by Gustave Auguste Besson, became available in 1856. In 1875 C. G. Conn founded a factory in Elkhart, Indiana, and to this day most brass instruments from the United States are manufactured in this city.

Today some orchestras are not satisfied with only using B-flat trumpets. There has been a revival of natural trumpets, rotary trumpets, and trumpets that sound higher than the standard B-flat. Overall, however, modern trumpets produce high, brilliant, chromatic musical tones in contrast with the low, powerful, inaccurate trumpets of the past.

Raw Materials

Brass instruments are almost universally made from brass, but a solid gold or silver trumpet might be created for special occasions. The most common type of brass used is yellow brass, which is 70 percent copper and 30 percent zinc. Other types include gold brass (80 percent copper and 20 percent zinc), and silver brass (made from copper, zinc, and nickel). The relatively small amount of zinc present in the alloy is necessary to make brass that is workable when cold. Some small manufacturers will use such special brasses as Ambronze (85 percent copper, 2 percent tin, and 13 percent zinc) for making certain parts of the trumpet (such as the bell) because such alloys produce a sonorous, ringing sound when struck. Some manufacturers will silver- or goldplate the basic brass instrument.

Very little of the trumpet is not made of brass. Any screws are usually steel; the water key is usually lined with cork; the rubbing surfaces in the valves and slides might be electroplated with chromium or a stainless nickel alloy such as monel; the valves may be lined with felt; and the valve keys may be decorated with mother-of-pearl.

Design

Most trumpets are intended for beginning students and are mass produced to provide fairly high quality instruments for a reasonable price. The procedure commonly used is to produce replicas of excellent trumpets that are as exact as possible. Professional trumpeters, on the other hand, demand a higher priced, superior instrument, while trumpets for special events are almost universally decorated, engraved with ornate designs. To meet the demand for custom-made trumpets, the manufacturer first asks the musician such questions as: What style of music will be played? What type of orchestra or ensemble will the trumpet be played in? How loud or rich should the trumpet be? The manufacturer can then provide a unique bell, specific shapes of the tuning slides, or different alloys or plating. Once the trumpet is created, the musician plays it and requests any minor adjustments that might need to be made. The trumpet's main pipe can then be tapered slightly. The professional trumpet player will usually have a favorite mouthpiece that the ordered trumpet must be designed to accommodate.

The Manufacturing
Process

The main tube

• The main tube of the trumpet is manufactured from standard machinable brass that is first put on a pole-shaped, tapered mandrel and lubricated. A die that looks like a doughnut is then drawn down its entire length, thus tapering and shaping it properly. Next, the shaped tube is annealed—heated (to around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit or 538 degrees Celsius) to make it workable. This causes an oxide to form on the surface of the brass. To remove the oxidized residue, the tube must be bathed in diluted sulfuric acid before being bent.
• The main tube may be bent using one of three different methods. Some large manufacturers use hydraulic systems to push high pressure water (at approximately 27,580 kilopascals) through slightly bent tubing that has been placed in a die. The water presses the sides of the tubing to fit the mold exactly. Other large manufacturers send ball bearings of exact size through the tubing. Smaller manufacturers pour pitch into the tube, let it cool, then use a lever to bend the tube in a standard curve before hammering it into shape.

The bell

• The bell is cut from sheet brass using an exact pattern. The flat dress-shaped sheet is then hammered around a pole. Where the tube is cylindrical, the ends are brought together into a butt joint. Where the tube begins to flare, the ends are overlapped to form a lap joint. The entire joint is then brazed with a propane oxygen flame at 1,500 to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (816 to 871 degrees Celsius) to seal it. To make a rough bell shape, one end is hammered around the horn of a blacksmith anvil. The entire tube is then drawn on a mandrel exactly like the main tube, while the bell is spun on the mandrel. A thin wire is placed around the bell's rim, and metal is crimped around it to give the edge its crisp appearance. The bell is then soldered to the main tube.

The valves

• The knuckles and accessory tubing are first drawn on a mandrel as were the tube and bell. The knuckles are bent into 30-, 45-, 60-, and 90-degree angles, and the smaller tubes are bent (using either the hydraulic or ball bearing methods used to bend the main tubing), annealed, and washed in acid to remove oxides and flux from soldering. The valve cases are cut to length from heavy tubing and threaded at the ends. They then need to have holes cut into them that match those of the pistons. Even small manufacturers now have available computer programs that precisely measure where the holes should be drawn. The valve cases can be cut with drills whose heads are either pinpoint or rotary saws that cut the holes, after which pins prick out the scrap disk of metal. The knuckles, tubes and valve cases are then placed in jigs that hold them precisely, and their joints are painted with a solder and flux mixture using a blow torch. After an acid bath, the assembly is polished on a buffing machine, using wax of varying grittiness and muslin discs of varying roughness that rotate at high speeds (2,500 rpm is typical).

Assembly

• The entire trumpet can now be assembled. The side tubes for the valve slides are joined to the knuckles and the main tubing is united end to end by overlapping their ferrules and soldering. Next, the pistons are then inserted, and the entire valve assembly is screwed onto the main tubing. The mouthpiece is then inserted.
• The trumpet is cleaned, polished, and lacquered, or it is sent to be electroplated. The finishing touch is to engrave the name of the company on a prominent piece of tubing. The lettering is transferred to the metal with carbon paper, and a skilled engraver then carves the metal to match the etching.
• Trumpets are shipped either separately for special orders or in mass quantities for high school bands. They are wrapped carefully in thick plastic bubble packaging or other insulating material, placed in heavy boxes full of insulation (such as packaging peanuts) then mailed or sent as freight to the customer.

Quality Control

The most important feature of a trumpet is sound quality. Besides meeting exacting tolerances of approximately 1 x 105 meters, every trumpet that is manufactured is tested by professional musicians who check the tone and pitch of the instrument while listening to see if it is in tune within its desired dynamic range. The musicians test-play in different acoustical set-ups, ranging from small studios to large concert halls, depending on the eventual use of the trumpet. Large trumpet manufacturers hire professional musicians as full-time testers, while small manufacturers rely on themselves or the customer to test their product.

At least half the work involved in creating and maintaining a clear-sounding trumpet is done by the customer. The delicate instruments require special handling, and, because of their inherent asymmetry, they are prone to imbalance. Therefore, great care must be taken so as not to carelessly damage the instrument. To prevent dents, trumpets are kept in cases, where they are held in place by trumpet-shaped cavities that are lined with velvet. The trumpet needs to be lubricated once a day or whenever it is played. The lubricant is usually a petroleum derivative similar to kerosene for inside the valves, mineral oil for the key mechanism, and axle grease for the slides. The grime in the mouthpiece and main pipe should be cleaned every month, and every three months the entire trumpet should soak in soapy water for 15 minutes. It should then be scrubbed throughout with special small brushes, rinsed, and dried.

To maintain the life of the trumpet, it must occasionally undergo repairs. Large dents can be removed by locally annealing and hammering, small dents can be hammered out and balls passed through to test the final size, fissures can be patched, and worn pistons can be replated and ground back to their former size.

Where To Learn More

Books

Barclay, Robert. The Art of the Trumpet-Maker. Oxford University Press, Inc., 1992.

Bate, Philip. The Trumpet and Trombone. Ernest Benn, 1978.

Dundas, Richard J. Twentieth Century Brass Musical Instruments in the United States. Richard J. Dundas Publications, 1989.

Mueller, Kenneth A. Complete Guide to the Maintenance and Repair of Band Instruments. Parker Publishing, 1982.

Tarr, Edward. The Trumpet. Amadeus Press, 1988.

Tetzlaff, Daniel B. Shining Brass. Lerner Publications, 1963.

Tuckwell, Barry. Horn. Schirmer Books, 1983.

Whitener, Scott. A Complete Guide to Brass. Schirmer Books, 1990.

Periodicals

Benade, Arthur H. "How to Test a Good Trumpet." The Instrumentalist. April, 1977, pp. 57-58.

"Yamaha Allows Players to Design Custom Trumpets," Down Beat. December, 1991, p. 12.

Fasman, Mark J. "Brass Bibliography: Sources on the History, Literature, Pedagogy, Performance, and Acoustics of Brass Instruments," rev. by Doug Rippey in RQ, Summer, 1991, p. 555.

Smithers, Don, Klaus Wogram, and John Bowsher. "Playing the Baroque Trumpet." Scientific American. April, 1986, pp. 108-115.

Weaver, James C. "The Trumpet Museum." Antiques and Collecting Hobbies. January, 1990, p. 30.

[Article by: Rose Secrest]

A brass, lip-vibrated wind instrument. In its modern form it has a tube of 130 cm (for the B♭ instrument) with a narrow cylindrical bore widening to a conical flared bell, a cup-shaped mouthpiece and three valves (for illustration, See Brass instruments). Its range nominally extends from e to d‴; jazz trumpeters may play to b♭‴′ or higher. Notes of the harmonic series are obtained by overblowing and intermediate ones by use of the valves; any note not naturally in tune can be adjusted by lip technique. The most common forms in orchestras today are in C (non-transposing) and B♭ (transposing). Others include the bass trumpet, which goes down to F#, and smaller trumpets in D or E♭ and high A or B♭.

In its earliest form (ancient Egyptian, Assyrian and Hebrew), the trumpet was short, straight and made in one piece, of wood, bronze or silver. The Greeks and Romans also had trumpet-like instruments. During the Middle Ages the instrument was played by vagrants, but trumpeters later found posts as town musicians; by the Renaissance they had considerable importance in court functions. The tessitura rose; only up to the 4th partial was used c1300, but up to the 13th by the 16th century. In the 15th century the tube was lengthened and looped back in a more compact arrangement than the older straight form. In the 17th century the trumpet came to be used in ‘art music’; its large repertory includes sonatas and concertos by Bolognese composers, sonatas by Biber from the Kroměříž court, demanding high parts in Viennese court operas, obbligatos by Purcell and Handel in London, and ringing high parts in sacred works for the court of Louis XIV. Bach used the trumpet for high parts in his festive church music and wrote for trumpet along with recorder, oboe and violin in Brandenburg Concerto no.2. The high ‘clarino’ register was less used in the Classical period, however, when the trumpet's main role was the reinforcing of orchestral tuttis.

The natural trumpet was prevalent until the development of valves, though slide trumpets had existed since the 15th century (and continued into the 19th), and in the 18th century other attempts to gain the complete chromatic scale included keyed trumpets (for which Haydn and Hummel wrote their concertos) and trumpets in which chromatic notes were available by hand stopping. In the 1820s the valve trumpet was introduced, with the advantages of greater chromatic facility and homogeneity of tone. Berlioz and Rossini were among the first to call for this instrument. Most early valve trumpets were made in F or G; later the smaller B♭ and C models prevailed for their superior flexibility. A high D trumpet (called ‘Bach trumpet’) was made for use in Baroque works (half the length of the trumpet in D of Bach's time). In the 19th century there were many improvements in manufacture, to make intonation more exact and to refine technical detail. During the 20th there has been a move towards larger bores. Some of the developments in trumpet technique have come from jazz, including the upwards extension of range, glissandos, flutter-tonguing, ‘smears’, ‘rips’ and the use of new mutes (e.g. ‘cup’, ‘wa-wa’, and ‘plunger’) in addition to the traditional straight variety. Such techniques have been absorbed into contemporary orchestral playing.

For more information on trumpet, visit Britannica.com.

A funnel-shaped device of cardboard, aluminum, or other lightweight material used at Spiritualist séances for the manifestation of direct voice communication from spirits. Jonathan Koons, the nineteenth-century American farmer medium, appears to have been the first to use a trumpet.

Spiritualists have suggested the trumpet serves as a condenser of psychic energy and increases the volume of the spirit voice. Reportedly, weak or inexperienced spirits often have to use the trumpet. It is seldom necessary for a spirit guide. Some mediums also wet the trumpet with water, in the belief this facilitates the phenomena.

The trumpet is usually coated with a marking of luminous paint. Supposedly at séances in dark rooms the trumpet is seen levitating when there is sufficient psychic force and moving around the circle, conveying personal messages to individual sitters.

Reportedly as a safeguard against fraud, psychical researchers have devised techniques and apparatus to attempt to exclude the possibility of a medium employing ventriloquism in producing voices ostensibly from the trumpet. One method is to fill the medium's mouth with water. During the investigation of the medium Mina Crandon (better known as "Margery"), Mark Richardson of Boston invented a "Voice Control Machine."

The American direct voice medium Elizabeth Blake used a double trumpet with a saucer-shaped extension at the small end to be placed on the ear of the sitter and on her own. Another trumpet, the "Shastaphone," was developed through a psychic communication in Australia, but does not appear to have been widely used.

A brass instrument with a brilliant tone, much used in classical music, as well as in military music and jazz.

"Trumpeter" redirects here. For other uses, see Trumpeter (disambiguation).

1. REDIRECT

The trumpet is a musical instrument in the brass family. The trumpet has the highest register in the brass section; a standard B flat trumpet has a range comparable to the B flat cornet, a piccolo trumpet is an octave higher. A musician who plays the trumpet is called a trumpet player or trumpeter. The most common trumpet by far is a transposing instrument pitched in B flat - the note read as middle C sounds as the B flat 2 semitones below - but there are many other trumpets in this family of instruments.

Construction

The trumpet is constructed of brass tubing bent into a rough spiral. The trumpet and trombone share a cylindrical bore which results in a bright, loud sound. By comparison, the cornet and flugelhorn have a conical bore and produce a more mellow tone. More precisely, the bore is a complex series of tapers, smaller at the mouthpiece receiver and larger just before the flare of the bell begins; careful design of these tapers is critical to the intonation of the instrument.

As with all brass instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound into the mouthpiece and starting a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the trumpet. The player can select the pitch from a range of overtones or harmonics by changing the lip aperture and tension (known as the embouchure). Modern trumpets also have three piston valves, each of which increases the length of tubing when engaged, thereby lowering the pitch. The first valve lowers the instrument's pitch by a whole step (2 semitones), the second valve by a half step (1 semitone), and the third valve by one-and-a-half steps (3 semitones). When a fourth valve is present, as with some piccolo trumpets, it lowers the pitch a perfect fourth (5 semitones). Used alone and in combination these valves make the instrument fully chromatic, i.e., able to play all twelve pitches of Western music. The sound is projected outward by the bell.

The trumpet's harmonic series is closely matched to the musical scale, but there are some notes in the series which are a compromise and thus slightly off key; these are known as wolf tones. Some trumpets have a slide mechanism built in to compensate for this.

The mouthpiecehas a circular rim which provides a comfortable environment for the lips' vibration. Directly behind the rim is the cup, which channels the air into a much smaller opening (the backbore or shank) which tapers out slightly to match the diameter of the trumpet's lead pipe. The dimensions of these parts of the mouthpiece affect the timbre or quality of sound, the ease of playability, and player comfort. Generally, the wider and deeper the cup, the darker the sound and timbre.

Types of trumpets

The most common type is the B-flat trumpet, but C, D, E-flat, E, F, G and A trumpets are also available. The C trumpet is most commonly used in American orchestral playing, where its slightly smaller size gives it a brighter, more lively sound than the B-flat trumpet. Because music written for early trumpets required the use of a different trumpet for each key — they did not have valves and therefore were not chromatic — and also because a player may choose to play a particular passage on a different trumpet from the one indicated on the written music, orchestra trumpet players are generally adept at transposing music at sight, sometimes playing music written for the B-flat trumpet on the C trumpet, and vice versa.

Each trumpet's range extends from the written F sharp immediately below Middle C up to about three octaves higher. Standard repertoire rarely calls for notes beyond this range, and the fingering tables of most method books peak at the C (high C) two octaves above middle C. Several trumpeters have achieved fame for their proficiency in the extreme high register, among them Bill Chase, Roger Ingram, Maynard Ferguson, Wayne Bergeron, Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Faddis, Cat Anderson, Malcolm McNab, James Morrison,and Arturo Sandoval. It is also possible to produce pedal tones below the low F sharp, although this technique is more often encountered as a sound-production exercise rather than as a written trumpet part.

Piccolo trumpet in B-flat, with swappable leadpipes to tune the instrument to B-flat (shorter) or A (longer)

The smallest trumpets are referred to as piccolo trumpets. The most common of these are built to play in both B-flat and A, with separate leadpipes for each key. The tubing in the B-flat piccolo trumpet is one-half the length of that in a standard B-flat trumpet. Piccolo trumpets in G, F and even C are also manufactured, but are rarer. Many players use a smaller mouthpiece on the piccolo trumpet. Because of the smaller mouthpiece size, endurance is often limited and the sound production technique is different from that used on the B-flat trumpet. Almost all piccolo trumpets have four valves instead of the usual three: the fourth valve lowers the pitch, usually by a fourth, to facilitate the playing of lower notes. Maurice André, Håkan Hardenberger, and Wynton Marsalis are some well-known piccolo trumpet players.

Trumpets pitched in the key of G are also called sopranos, or soprano bugles, after their adaptation from military bugles. Traditionally used in drum and bugle corps, sopranos have featured both rotary valves and piston valves.

The bass trumpet is usually played by a trombone player, being at the same pitch and using a similar mouthpiece. Bass trumpet is played with a trombone or euphonium mouthpiece, and music for it is written in treble clef.

trumpet in C with rotary valves

The modern slide trumpet is a B-flat trumpet that has a slide instead of valves. It is similar to a soprano trombone. The first slide trumpets emerged during the Renaissance, predating the modern trombone, and are the first attempts to increase chromaticism on the instrument. Slide trumpets were the first trumpets allowed in the Christian church.^[1]

The historical slide trumpet probably was first developed in the late fourteenth century, for use in alta capella wind bands. Deriving from early straight trumpets, the Renaissance slide trumpet was essentially a natural trumpet with a sliding leadpipe. This single slide was rather awkward, as the entire corpus of the instrument moved; also, the range of this slide was probably no more than a major third. Originals were probably pitched in D, to fit with shawms in D and G - probably at a typical pitch standard near A=466. As no instruments from this period are known to survive, the details - and even the existence - of a Renaissance slide trumpet is a matter of some conjecture, and there continues to be some debate among scholars. ^{[citation needed]}

Some slide trumpet designs saw use in England in the eighteenth century; the 'tromba da tirarsi' called for in some Bach cantatas may also have been some manner of slide trumpet. ^{[citation needed]}

The pocket trumpet is a compact B-flat trumpet. The bell is usually smaller than a standard trumpet and the tubing is more tightly wound to reduce the instrument size without reducing the total tube length. Its design is not standardized, and the quality of various models varies greatly. It can have a tone quality and projection unique in the trumpet world: a warm sound and a voice-like articulation. Unfortunately, since many pocket trumpet models suffer from poor design as well as cheap and sloppy manufacturing, the intonation, tone color and dynamic range of such instruments are severely hindered. Professional-standard instruments are, however, available. While they are not a substitute for the full-sized instrument, they can be useful in certain contexts.

There are also rotary-valve, or German, trumpets, as well as alto and Baroque trumpets.

The trumpet is often confused with its close relative, the cornet, which has a more conical tubing shape compared to the trumpet's more cylindrical tube. This, along with additional bends in the cornet's tubing, gives the cornet a slightly mellower tone, but the instruments are otherwise nearly identical. They have the same length of tubing and, therefore, the same pitch, so music written for cornet and trumpet is interchangeable. Another relative, the flugelhorn, has tubing that is even more conical than that of the cornet, and an even richer tone. It is sometimes augmented with a fourth valve to improve the intonation of some lower notes.

History

Moche Trumpet. 300 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru.

Main article: History of primitive and non-Western trumpets

The oldest trumpets date back to 1500 B.C.E. and earlier. The bronze and silver trumpets from Tutankhamun's grave in Egypt, bronze lurs from Scandinavia, and metal trumpets from China date back to this period.^[2] Trumpets from the Oxus civilization (3rd millennium B.C.E.) of Central Asia have decorated swellings in the middle, yet are made out of one sheet of metal, which is considered a technical wonder.^[3] The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art dating back to 300 A.D. ^[4] The earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used for military or religious purposes, rather than music in the modern sense. "The sound of these instruments was described as terrible, that is, producing terror, and was compared to the braying of an ass." The modern bugle continues the signaling tradition, with different tunes corresponding to different instructions, but the advent of radio made its use more ceremonial.

Reproduction Baroque trumpet by Michael Laird

In medieval times, trumpet playing was a guarded craft, its instruction occurring only within highly selective guilds. The trumpet players were often among the most heavily guarded members of a troop, as they were relied upon to relay instructions to other sections of the army. Improvements to instrument design and metal making in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance led to an increased usefulness of the trumpet as a musical instrument. The development of the upper, "clarino" register, by specialist trumpeters, would lend itself well to the Baroque era, also known as the "Golden Age of the natural trumpet." The melody-dominated homophony of the classical and romantic periods, relegated the trumpet to a secondary role by most major composers. An exception is Haydn's Trumpet Concerto written for keyed trumpet in 1796. The trumpet was slow to adopt the modern valves (invented around the mid 1830s), and its cousin, the cornet would take the spotlight as solo instrument for the next hundred years. Crooks and shanks (removable tubing of various lengths) as opposed to keys or valves, were standard, into the first part of the 20th century.

The Arabic word for trumpet was naffir. The Spanish used the Arabic name al naffir and changed it into anafil, while the French gave the trumpet its own name, buisine, derived from the Latin word buccina.

Today, the trumpet is used in nearly all forms of music, including classical, jazz, rock, blues, pop, ska, polka and funk. Among the great modern trumpet players are Maurice André, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Faddis, Maynard Ferguson, Adolph "Bud" Herseth, Harry James, Charles Schlueter, Malcolm McNab, Wynton Marsalis,Allen Vizzutti, Sergei Nakariakov, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, James Morrison, Arturo Sandoval, Doc Severinsen, and Philip Smith. See List of 20th century brass instrumentalists for a more comprehensive list.

Fingering

Trumpeter performing with the United States Air Force Band in Europe

On any trumpet, cornet, or flugelhorn, pressing the valves indicated by the numbers below will produce the written notes shown - "OPEN" means all valves up, "1" means first valve, "1-2" means first and second valve simultaneously and so on. The concert pitch which sounds depends on the transposition of the instrument. Engaging the fourth valve, if present, drops any of these pitches by a perfect fourth as well. Within each overtone series, the different pitches are attained by changing the embouchure, or lip position and tightness, along with increasing air velocity. Standard fingerings above high C are the same as for the notes an octave below (C sharp is 1-2, D is 1, etc.).

Note that the fundamental of each overtone series does not exist - the series begins with the first overtone. Notes in parentheses are the sixth overtone, representing a pitch with a frequency of seven times that of the fundamental; while this pitch is close to the note shown, it is slightly flat relative to equal temperament, and use of those fingerings is generally avoided.

The fingering schemas arises from the length of each valve's tubing (air passing through longer lengths of tubing produces a lower pitch). Valve "1" increases the tubing length enough to lower the pitch by one whole step, valve "2" by one half step, and valve "3" by one and a half steps. This schema and the nature of the overtone series create the possibility of alternate fingerings for certain notes. For example, third-space "C" can be produced with no valves engaged (standard fingering) or with valves 2-3. Also, any note produced with 1-2 as its standard fingering can also be produced with valve 3 - each drops the pitch by 1-1/2 steps. Alternate fingerings may be used to improve facility in certain passages. Extending the third valve slide when using the fingerings 1-3 or 1-2-3 further lowers the pitch slightly to improve intonation.

Solos

Trumpet mouthpiece showing the rim, cup, and backbore

The chromatic trumpet was first made in the late 1700s, but there were several solos written for the natural trumpet that are now played on piccolo trumpet. Some important works of trumpet repertoire are:

Chromatic Trumpet

• Malcolm Arnold
  • Fantasy for Trumpet
• Alexander Arutiunian
  • Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra
• George Enescu
  • Legende
• Robert Erickson
  • Kryl
• Eric Ewazen
  • Concerto for Trumpet
  • Sonata for Trumpet
• Alexander Goedicke
  • Concerto for Trumpet
  • Concert Etude
• Edward Gregson
  • Concerto for Trumpet
• H.K Gruber
  • 'Exposed Throat
• Franz Josef Haydn
  • Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E flat Major
• Paul Hindemith
  • Sonata for Trumpet and Piano
• Bertold Hummel
  • Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano (1950) [2]
• Johann Nepomuk Hummel
  • Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E Major (often transposed to E flat major)
• Kent Wheeler Kennan
  • Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (1956 and 1986 editions)
• Bohuslav Martinů
  • Sonatina for Trumpet (C or B) and Piano
• William Perry
  • Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra
• Halsey Stevens
  • Sonata for Trumpet and Piano
• Henri Tomasi
  • Concerto for Trumpet
  • Triptyque

Natural Trumpet/Piccolo Trumpet

• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Brandenburg Concerto #2 in F Major
• Michael Haydn
  • Concerto for Trumpet in D Major
  • Concerto for Trumpet in C Major
• J. Melchior Molter
  • Concerto No.1, No.2 and No.3
• Leopold Mozart
  • Concerto for Trumpet in D Major
• Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Concerto for Trumpet, Strings, and Continuo in D Major
• Giuseppe Torelli
  • Sonata in D major

Other

• Bach, J.S.
  • Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 (Movements I and III) (very hard, typically major orchestras only)
  • Mass in B Minor (Credo)
  • Christmas Oratorio (No. 64 Nun Seid Ihr Wohl Gerochen)
  • Magnificat (Chorus: Magnificat)
• Bartók
  • Concerto for Orchestra (Movements I, II, and V)
• Beethoven
  • Leonore Overture No. 2
  • Leonore Overture No. 3
• Georges Bizet
  • Carmen (Prelude to Act I)
• Johannes Brahms
  • Academic Festive Overture
  • Symphony No.2
• Copland
  • Quiet City
  • An Outdoor Overture
  • "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo
• Debussy
  • La Mer
  • Fêtes from Nocturnes (Muted Trio & Open Section 13-14)
• George Gershwin
  • An American in Paris (excerpts and solos)
  • Concerto in F (Movement II)
• Mahler
  • Symphony No. 1 (Movement I)
  • Symphony No. 2 (Movements I, II, III, V)
  • Symphony No. 3 (Off-stage Posthorn solo)
  • Symphony No. 5 (Movements I, III, V)
• Modest Mussorgsky arr. Maurice Ravel
  • Pictures at an Exhibition (Promenade; Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle)
• Ravel
  • Piano Concerto in G (Movement I)
  • Boléro (Muted Theme and Ending)
• Ottorino Respighi
  • Pines of Rome (Movements I, II & IV)
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
  • Scheherazade (Movment III&IV)
  • Capriccio Espagnol (Movement IV)
• Alexander Scriabin
  • Ecstasy Poem
• Shostakovich
  • Piano Concerto (All Movements)
• Richard Strauss
  • Eine Alpensinfonie (section "Auf dem Gletscher")
  • Don Juan (Opening through Sec. B, Weich Solo, Vivo Solo, Sec. P)
  • Ein Heldenleben (1st E-flat part and 1st Bb part)
• Igor Stravinsky
  • The Firebird (Infernal Dance) (any version)
  • Petrushka - 1st Cornet in 1911 version and 1st Trumpet in 1947 version
  • The Rite of Spring (any version)
  • Le Chant du Rossignol
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No.4 (opening)
  • Capriccio Italien
  • Le Chocolat (Danse Espaniole) from the Ballet: Nutcracker, Act II: No. 12
• Richard Wagner
  • Prelude to Parsifal
  • Overture from Die Meistersinger

Instruction and method books

Chromatic scale exercises from Arban method

One trumpet method publication of long-standing popularity is Jean-Baptiste Arban's Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet (Cornet). Other well-known method books include "Technical Studies" by Herbert L. Clarke, "Grand Method" Louis Saint-Jacome, and methods by Claude Gordon and Charles Colin. The Charlier and Brandt books below are used in many college and conservatory trumpet studios, containing drills on permutations of standard orchestral trumpet repertoire, transpositions, and other advanced material. A common method book for beginners is the "Walter Beeler Method", and there have been several instruction books written by virtuoso Allen Vizzutti. The Breeze Eazy method is sometimes used to teach younger students, as it includes general musical information.

Some notable books include:

• Arban, Jean-Baptiste (1894, 1936, 1982). Arban's Complete Conservatory Method for TRUMPET. Carl Fischer, Inc. ISBN 0-8258-0385-3.
• Bitsch, Marcel. Vingt Etudes
• Callet, Jerome, and Bahb Civiletti (2002). Trumpet Secrets: The Secrets of the Tongue-Controlled Embouchure. New York: Royal Press Printing Company.
• Herbert L. Clarke (1984). Technical Studies for the Cornet,C. Carl Fischer, Inc. ISBN 0-8258-0158-3.
• Colin, Charles. Advanced Lip Flexibilities.
• Schlossberg, Max. Daily Drills & Technical Studies.
• Vassily Brandt Orchestral Etudes and Last Etudes. ISBN 0-7692-9779-X
• Theo Charlier. Trente-six Etudes Transcendantes pour Trompette. ISBN M-046-20452-4
• Robert W. Getchell First & Second Books of Practical Studies for Cornet and Trumpet
• Pearson, Bruce. Standard of Excellence series
• Gordon, Claude. Systematic Approach to Daily Practice for Trumpet

Further reading

• The music and history of the baroque trumpet before 1721, 1973, ISBN 0815621574
• The trumpet and trombone : an outline of their history, development, and construction, 1978, ISBN 0393021297
• The trumpeter's handbook : a comprehensive guide to playing and teaching the trumpet, 1979, ISBN 0918194024
• You can't be timid with a trumpet : notes from the orchestra, 1980, ISBN 0688419631
• The art of the trumpet-maker : the materials, tools, and techniques of the seventeeth [sic] and eighteenth centuries in Nuremberg, 1992, ISBN 0198162235
• The last trumpet : a history of the English slide trumpet, 1996, ISBN 0945193815
• Trumpet technique, 2005, ISBN 0195166922

Notes

1. ^ Tarr
2. ^ Edward Tarr, The Trumpet (Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1988), 20-30.
3. ^ "Trumpet with a swelling decorated with a human head," Musée du Louvre, [1]
4. ^ Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.

See also

• List of trumpeters
• Muted trumpet
• Piccolo trumpet
• Guča trumpet festival

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Trumpet

• Lichtmann's trumpet studies Scales and technical trumpet studies.
• Acoustics of Brass Instruments from Music Acoustics at the University of New South Wales.
• Dallas Music — a non-profit musical instrument resource site
• Trumpets' Republic — A documentary film by Stefano Missio & Alessandro Gori
• A trumpet fingering chartPDFbar:Trompetnpdc:Drummbett

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - trompet, tragt, hørerør, trompetstød
v. intr. - spille på trompet
v. tr. - forkynde, udbasunere, trompetere

Nederlands (Dutch)
trompet, trompetgeschal, trompetteren, aan de grote klok hangen zijn eigen lof verkondigen

Français (French)
n. - (Mus) trompette, barrissement, trompette (d'une marguerite) (littér)
v. intr. - barrir (éléphant)
v. tr. - vanter les mérites de, (Journ) claironner

Deutsch (German)
n. - Trompete, Trompeter, Trompetenregister, Schalltrichter, Fangmutter, Trompetenblatt
v. - ausposaunen, trompeten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μουσ.) σάλπιγγα, τρομπέτα, κορνέτα
v. - διασαλπίζω, διαλαλώ, (για ελέφαντα) φωνάζω

Italiano (Italian)
strombazzare, barrire, tromba

idioms:

• blow your own trumpet    suonate le vostre trombe

Português (Portuguese)
n. - trombeta (f), clarim (m)
v. - celebrar, comemorar com alarido

idioms:

• blow your own trumpet    elogiar-se a si mesmo

Русский (Russian)
возвещать, трубить, рев слона

idioms:

• blow your own trumpet    хвалиться

Español (Spanish)
n. - trompeta, trompetilla
v. intr. - trompetear, berrear (el elefante)
v. tr. - anunciar a son de trompeta, tocar la trompeta, gritar, decir gritando, abocardar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - trumpet, signalhorn, hörlur (för lomhörd), (tal)tratt, megafon, trumpetare (i orkester), trumpetande
v. - trumpeta, spela trumpet, basunera ut, förkunna

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
喇叭, 喇叭声, 吹喇叭, 吼叫, 大声疾呼, 以喇叭吹出, 吹嘘

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 喇叭, 喇叭聲
v. intr. - 吹喇叭, 吼叫, 大聲疾呼
v. tr. - 以喇叭吹出, 吹噓

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 트럼펫, 나팔 모양의 물건, 나팔관
v. intr. - 나팔을 불다, 나팔 같은 울음 소리를 내다
v. tr. - 나팔로 알리다, 떠벌리다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - トランペット, らっぱ状の物, らっぱ形スピーカー, 大きな鳴き声
v. - トランペットを吹く, 吹聴する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ألبوق, ألبواق (فعل) ينفخ في ألبوق, يبوق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חצוצרה, תקיעת חצוצרה, דבר דמוי חצוצרה, שאגת הפיל‬
v. intr. - ‮פרסם, הכריז‬
v. tr. - ‮חיצצר, הריע‬

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