Trumpeter performing with the United States Air Forces in Europe Band The trumpet is a brass instrument. It is the highest in register, above the tuba, euphonium, trombone, sousaphone, and french horn. A person who plays the trumpet is sometimes called a trumpeter but more often a trumpet player.
Trumpet construction
The trumpet is made of brass tubing bent into a rough spiral. Although the bore of the trumpet is said to be mostly cylindrical, it is formed from a complex series of tapers, the smallest being at the mouthpiece receiver, and the largest being at the throat of the bell, before the flare for the bell begins. (Careful design of these tapers is critical to the intonation of the instrument.) Sound is produced by blowing air through the lips so as to produce a "buzzing" effect, which creates a standing wave of vibrating air in the trumpet. The trumpet player can select the pitch from a range of overtones or harmonics by changing the air speed and lip tension. Valves change the length of the tubing, lowering the pitch of the instrument. Three valves make the trumpet fully chromatic, allowing the player to play in all keys.
The mouthpiece provides a comfortable receiver to allow the lips to play without touching the sharp and restricting edge of the trumpet's tube itself. The sound is projected outward by the bell.
Relationship to other brass instruments
The trumpet is related to the cornet and flugelhorn though it is technically in a different family to both of their two separate families. The cornet and flugelhorn are both more conical in the shape of the bore rather than cylindrical, and have more mellow tones, but are in the same pitch range. The piccolo trumpets play about one octave higher than the regular trumpets. There are also rotary-valve, or German, trumpets, as well as bass, alto and Baroque trumpets. The modern trumpet evolved from earlier non-valved instruments, such as the Baroque trumpet now used by original instruments ensembles, the cornett or cornetto (not to be confused with the modern cornet), the didjeridu, and the Scandinavian lur.
Types of trumpets
The trumpet is (usually) a transposing instrument, and comes in many keys. The most common is the B♭ trumpet, followed by the C, E♭, and D trumpets. In many countries, including the United States and much of Europe, the (non-transposing) C trumpet is nowadays the standard orchestral instrument. The B♭ trumpet's range extends from the written F# (sounding E) immediately below middle C, up to about two and a half octaves higher: the usually accepted "top" note is a written C (sounding B♭), though slightly higher notes are occasionally called for, and extremely high notes may be heard played by jazz and other specialist trumpeters. Most professional trumpet players have a range that go lower than the F# below middle C, that is up two octaves lower (extending into the ranges of the trombone), but these notes are scarcely used other than for practice. The range of the trumpet is almost the same as the piano, 7 octaves, but most people can only achieve 6 octaves. Arturo Sandoval, Dizzy Gillespie & Maynard Ferguson are good example of artists with extreme range that are blessed with so called natural chops (lips). The trumpet range (http://www.bflatmusic.com/saillogo.gif)
 Piccolo trumpet in B♭ - note the swappable leadpipes for B♭ and (longer) A The piccolo trumpet is built usually in B♭ and A with leadpipes for each key. G, F and even high C piccolo trumpets exist but are much less common. The tone is metallic and clean. Many piccolo trumpets have four valves instead of the usual three: the fourth valve takes the instrument down in pitch, usually but not always by a fourth, to allow the playing of lower notes which are otherwise hard to obtain on a three-valve instrument. Among its best-known exponents are Maurice Andre, Wynton Marsalis and Hakan Hardenberger.
The bass trumpet is usually played by a trombone player, being at the same pitch and using a similar mouthpiece.
Trumpet history
The first trumpets reputedly came from Egypt, and were primarily used for military purposes (Joshua's shofar, blown at the battle of Jericho, would come from this tradition) like the bugle as we still know it, with different tunes corresponding to different instructions. 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. Eventually the trumpet's value for musical production was seen, particularly after the addition of valves (after about 1800), and its use and instruction became much more widespread.
Today, the trumpet is used in nearly all forms of music, including classical, jazz, blues, pop, ska, and funk. Among the great modern trumpet players are Maurice André, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Maynard Ferguson, Adolph "Bud" Herseth, Wynton Marsalis, Philip Smith, and Doc Severinsen.
See 20th century brass instrumentalists for a more comprehensive list.
 Reproduction Baroque trumpet by Michael Laird Trumpet instruction
A highly praised and often-used method of introductory instruction is found in Jean-Baptiste Arban's Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet (Cornet Or E-flat Alto, B-flat Tenor, Baritone, Euphonium and B-flat Bass in Treble Clef).
Trumpets in the Bible
According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, trumpets in the Bible were of a great variety of forms and were made of various materials. Some were made of silver (Num. 10:2), and were used only by the priests, announcing the approach of festivals and in giving signals of war. Some were also made of rams' horns (Josh. 6:8). These were blown at special festivals and to herald the arrival of special seasons (Lev. 23:24; 25:9; 1 Chr. 15:24; 2 Chr. 29:27; Ps. 81:3; 98:6). This type of trumpet, the shofar is still blown today in Jewish services on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur.
"Trumpets" are among the symbols used in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 1:10; 8:2). (See Horn.)
Books
External link
- International Trumpet Guild (http://www.trumpetguild.org/) - a trumpet players' group with many online resources including a frequently-updated diary, links hub, jobs etc.
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