trumpet

The tradition & historical record

The trumpet is a brass instrument. The most common type of trumpet is a transposing instrument in B♭, with pitches sounding a whole step lower than written. The trumpet family includes instruments ranging from the piccolo trumpet, with the highest register in the brass family, to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B♭ or C trumpet. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to the 2nd Millennium BC. They began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, appearing in orchestras, concert bands, chamber music groups, and jazz ensembles. They are also common in popular music and are generally included in school bands. Sound is produced by vibrating the lips in a mouthpiece, which starts a standing wave in the air column of the instrument. Since the late 15th century, trumpets have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape. The most common trumpet is pitched in B♭, with a tubing length of about 1.48 m (4 ft 10 in). There are trumpets pitched in C, D, and E♭, as well as the piccolo trumpet in B♭ (an octave higher than the standard trumpet), and the bass trumpet (in B♭ an octave lower, or in C). The cornet is similar to the trumpet but has a conical bore (the trumpet has a cylindrical bore) and its tubing is generally wound differently. ¹

The English word trumpet was first used in the late 14th century. The word came from Old French trompette, which is a diminutive of trompe. The word trump, meaning trumpet, was first used in English in 1300. The word comes from Old French trompe 'long, tube-like musical wind instrument' (c. 1100s), cognate with Provençal tromba, Italian tromba, all probably from a Germanic source (compare Old High German trumpa, Old Norse trumba 'trumpet'), of imitative origin." ¹

The earliest trumpets date back to 2000 BC and earlier, including Tutankhamun's bronze and silver trumpets from his grave in Egypt, bronze lurs from Scandinavia, and metal trumpets from China. The Oxus civilization in the 3rd millennium BC in Central Asia had trumpets with decorated swellings in the middle, made out of one sheet of metal, which is considered a technical wonder for its time. The Salpinx was a straight trumpet 62 inches (1,600 mm) long, made of bone or bronze. Homer's Iliad (9th or 8th century BC) contains the earliest reference to its sound, and frequent descriptions are found throughout the Classical Period. Salpinx contests were a part of the original Olympic Games. The Shofar, made from a ram's horn, and the chazozra, made of metal, are both mentioned in the Bible. They were said to have been played in Solomon's Temple around 3,000 years ago, and are still used on certain religious days. The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art going back to AD 300. The earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used in military or religious contexts, rather than in music. The modern bugle continues this signaling tradition. ¹

Improvements to instrument design and metal making in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance led to an increase in the trumpet's utility as a musical instrument. The natural trumpets of this era consisted of a coiled tube without valves which could only produce the notes of a single overtone series. Changing keys required the player to change crooks of the instrument. The development of the upper, "clarino" register by specialist trumpeters—notably Cesare Bendinelli—would lend itself well to music of the Baroque era. ¹

Trumpets are generally constructed of brass tubing, bent twice into a rounded oblong shape. They may be made from other materials, including plastic. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through slightly separated 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). The mouthpiece has a circular rim, which provides an environment for the lips' vibration. Directly behind the rim is the cup, which channels the air into a much smaller opening (the back bore or shank) that 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. ¹

Modern trumpets have three (or, infrequently, four) valves, each of which increases the length of tubing when engaged, thereby lowering the pitch. Most trumpets use piston valves but some use rotary valves. The first valve lowers the instrument's pitch by a whole step (two semitones), the second valve by a half step (one semitone), and the third valve by one and a half steps (three semitones). These three valves provide eight possible valve combinations (including "none"), but only seven different tubing lengths, because the third valve alone gives the same tubing length as the 1–2 combination (there is often a deliberate difference between "1–2" and "3", allowing the player to select whichever gives the best tuning for any particular note). ¹

The most common type is the B♭ trumpet, a transposing instrument that sounds a whole step lower than written. Trumpets in C are non-transposing instruments sounding at concert pitch, commonly used in American orchestral playing alongside the B♭ trumpet. There is classical literature for trumpet in D, E♭, and for piccolo trumpet (in B♭ or A, an octave above the standard B♭ instrument), and trumpets in A, E, low F, and G also exist. Bass trumpets, pitched an octave lower than the standard B♭ or C instrument, have a mouthpiece similar to that of a trombone, and are usually played by trombonists. Orchestral trumpet players learn to transpose music at sight and generally use the more common B♭ or C trumpet to play music written for D or E♭ trumpet, or for the rare A, E, F, B, C♯, F♯ or G instruments. ¹

Piccolo trumpets are generally built to play in both B♭ and A, with separate leadpipes for each key. The tubing in the B♭ piccolo trumpet is one-half the length of that in a standard B♭ trumpet, making it sound an octave higher. Piccolo trumpets in G, F, and C are also manufactured, but are less common. Almost all piccolo trumpets have four valves instead of three—the fourth valve usually lowers the pitch by a fourth, making some lower notes accessible and creating alternate fingerings for certain trills. Maurice André, Håkan Hardenberger, David Mason, and Wynton Marsalis are some well-known trumpet players known for their virtuosity on the piccolo trumpet. ¹

Trumpets pitched in the key of low G are also called sopranos, or soprano bugles, after their adaptation from military bugles. ¹

On any modern trumpet, cor… ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Trumpet”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

trumpet is musical instrument, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 73 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²