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 . 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. Early trumpets did not provide means to change the length of tubing, whereas modern instruments generally have three (or sometimes four) valves which are used to change their pitch. Most trumpets have piston valves, although some have rotary valves. The use of rotary-valved trumpets is more common in orchestral settings (especially in German and German-style orchestras), although this practice varies by country. A musician who plays the trumpet is called a trumpet player or trumpeter.
Etymology
The English word trumpet was first used in the late 14th century. The word came from Old French , which is a diminutive of . The word trump, meaning trumpet, was first used in English in 1300. The word comes from Old French 'long, tube-like musical wind instrument' ( 1100s), cognate with Provençal , Italian , all probably from a Germanic source (compare Old High German , Old Norse 'trumpet'), of imitative origin."
History
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.Edward Tarr, The Trumpet (Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1988), 20–30. 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."Trumpet with a swelling decorated with a human head," Musée du Louvre
The Salpinx was a straight trumpet 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.Homer, Iliad, 18. 219. 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.Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997. The earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used in military or religious contexts, rather than in music. The modern bugle continues this signaling tradition.
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. This was known as the "Golden Age of the natural trumpet," during which a vast body of music was written for virtuoso trumpeters. Interest in the natural trumpet was revived in the mid-20th century, and its use has become more common. Many modern players in Germany and the UK who perform Baroque music use a version of the natural trumpet fitted with three or four vent holes to aid in correcting out-of-tune notes in the harmonic series.John Wallace and Alexander McGrattan, The Trumpet, Yale Musical Instrument Series (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011): 239. .
The melody-dominated homophony of the classical and romantic periods relegated the trumpet to a secondary role by most major composers owing to the limitations of the natural trumpet. Berlioz wrote in 1844: Notwithstanding the real loftiness and distinguished nature of its quality of tone, there are few instruments that have been more degraded (than the trumpet). Down to Beethoven and Weber, every composer – not excepting Mozart – persisted in confining it to the unworthy function of filling up, or in causing it to sound two or three commonplace rhythmical formulae.Berlioz, Hector (1844). Treatise on modern Instrumentation and Orchestration. Edwin F. Kalmus, NY, 1948.
Construction
Trumpets are generally constructed of brass tubing, bent twice into a rounded oblong shape. They may be made from other materials, including plastic.P-trumpet 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.
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). Used singly and in combination these valves make the instrument fully chromatic, i.e., able to play all twelve pitches. When a fourth valve is present, as on some piccolo trumpets, it usually lowers the pitch a perfect fourth (five semitones).
The overall pitch of the trumpet can be raised or lowered by the use of the tuning slide. Pulling the slide out lowers the pitch; pushing the slide in raises it. Pitch can be "bent" by adjusting the embouchure.
Renold Schilke designed a tuning-bell trumpet to reduce intonation problems. Removing the usual brace between the bell and a valve body allows a slide to be placed in the bell section for tuning. The regular tuning slide can remain completely, or nearly, pushed in, improving intonation and overall response.
A trumpet becomes a closed tube when the player presses it to the lips; therefore, the instrument only naturally produces every other overtone of the harmonic series. The shape of the bell makes the missing overtones audible.D. J. Blaikley, "How a Trumpet Is Made. I. The Natural Trumpet and Horn", The Musical Times, 1 January 1910, p. 15. Most notes are slightly out of tune and modern trumpets have slide mechanisms for the first and third valves with which the player can compensate by extending one or both slides, using the left thumb and ring finger for the first and third valve slides respectively.
Types
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.
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.
Trumpets pitched in the key of low G are also called sopranos, or soprano bugles, after their adaptation from military bugles. Traditionally used in drum and bugle corps, sopranos employ either rotary valves or piston valves. Trumpets in low F were common in the nineteenth century, composed for by Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Anton Bruckner, among others. These parts are in the upper register (unlike parts for alto trumpet, which are intended for the lower register) and are typically played on the B or C trumpets today.
The bass trumpet is at the same pitch as a trombone and is usually played by a trombone player, although its music is written in treble clef. Most bass trumpets are pitched in either C or B. The C bass trumpet sounds an octave lower than written, and the B bass sounds a major ninth (B) lower, making them both transposing instruments.
The historical slide trumpet was probably first developed in the late 14th century for use in alta cappella wind bands. Deriving from early straight trumpets, the Renaissance slide trumpet was essentially a natural trumpet with a sliding leadpipe. This single slide was awkward, as the entire instrument moved, and the range of the 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 Hz. No known instruments from this period survive, so the details—and even the existence—of a Renaissance slide trumpet is a matter of debate among scholars. While there is documentation (written and artistic) of its existence, there is also conjecture that its slide would have been impractical. Some slide trumpet designs saw use in England in the 18th century.