And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets (hasoserah) of silver; of beaten work shalt thou make them… Numbers 10:1

 

 

Know your horn—it has been developed for you by many, many craftsmen during the past 3,500 years or more. It can play just about anything, if you can play it. How did this come to be? What sort of trumpet have these past generations passed down to us today? Let's break it down and look at:

• Brass Family
• Early Trumpets
• Modern Trumpets
• What's the Difference?
• Materials
• Colors
• Shape, Size and Weight
• Valves and Slides
• Mouthpieces
• Leadpipes (Mouthpipes)
• Braces

  

In the Brass Family. Along with about 10 other modern instruments, the trumpet is in the brass family. It is made of brass, but so is the saxophone. Yet the saxophone is in the woodwind family. Why? The principal difference is that one makes sound by vibrating the lips, the other by vibrating a reed.

 

There are both similarities and differences in how they alter pitch. They both play higher or lower notes by altering lip tension (embouchure), but one instrument also alters pitch by using only one hand to manipulate valves inserted in a tube, while the other does so by using two hands to open and close holes inserted in a tube.

 

Another difference is in sound direction. The sound from a woodwind instrument is non-directional; it propagates in all directions at about equal volume. The sound from a brass instrument, however, is highly directional; most of it propagates straight out from the bell.  

 

Both the trumpet and saxophone are very versatile, expressive instruments. Personally, I prefer the brassy, sassy trumpet (see Fig. 1)—I love the way it sounds, the way you can aim its sound, the way it looks…and it has only three buttons! Now that’s divine!

 

Early Trumpets. A very early ancestor to the trumpet is the ram’s horn (“shofar”) mentioned in The Bible. It was used as a signal in battle and in religious ceremonies. Jews still use it today.

 

Ancient Egyptians used the sheneb, trumpets made of wood, bronze, copper or silver, and Chinese of the same era had metal trumpets. Greeks used the salpinx for the Olympics, starting in 396 BC. The earliest example of trumpet notation anywhere in the world was a salpinx call dating ca. 500 BC. Romans used the lituus and buzine, among others. The clarion was a medieval horn with clear, shrill, penetrating tones. Bugles were used primarily for military signals, and all standard bugle calls consist of only five notes. Other related instruments include the soprano bugle, post horn, coach horn, serpent, ophicleide, and slide, alto, bass, herald, piccolo, and pocket trumpets.  More information about these instruments may be found on the internet.

 

Today, the most important trumpet ancestor is the “natural trumpet” because classical composers included it in their orchestral music, starting in the Baroque period (about 1600 to 1750). The natural trumpet is a single, bent or coiled tube without valves and can play only the notes of the harmonic series (see Figs 2-3). Unlike the bugle, however, it can play actual melodies in the extreme upper register. Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel and Bach used them in sacred, orchestral, and some solo works. In about 1795, additional, interchangeable, different-length tubing, or tuning crooks, were introduced which enabled a single instrument to be played in more than one key. Until the invention of the valved trumpet in the early 19th century, however, most orchestral trumpet parts were written for basic harmonic support and fanfare-like passages. Rarely, trumpets intoned the melody, as in the finale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Craftsmen today still make the natural trumpet for players in “period” orchestras which recreate music as it sounded during the time it was written. The modern version, fitted with one or more vent holes to correct out-of-tune notes, is often called the baroque trumpet.

 

Trumpets with keys and tone holes were developed in the 17th century but were unsuccessful due to poor sound quality. The first practical valve mechanism for brass instruments was the box tubular valve invented in 1818, followed by the rotary valve in 1832, and the piston-valved trumpet in 1839. Valves made trumpets much more versatile, as players could then play the whole chromatic scale and do so more in tune. Valved trumpets and cornets had become the norm before 1864, the year when Jean-Baptiste Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet (Cornet) was published. Both piston- and rotary-valved horns were played until better designs of piston valves were mass manufactured in the late 19th century. By the early 20th century, piston valves had supplanted rotary valves (except in the French horn and tuba) and since then, the cornet has been superseded by the trumpet as the preferred choice in all genres.

 

Modern Trumpets. Trumpeters who play in school bands, ensembles, and orchestras of various types typically need only the B-flat trumpet. Those who play jazz typically play the B-flat trumpet and often the flugelhorn. Orchestra players primarily use the B-flat trumpet and often also have the C-trumpet. Other trumpets are available in low F, low G, D, E-flat, E, F, G and A. Music written for early trumpets required the use of a different trumpet for each key because they had no valves and could not play all 12 notes in the chromatic scale and, hence, diatonic major and minor scales and actual melodies. Therefore, today’s orchestra players are usually adept at transposing music at sight. For example, they might play music written for the C trumpet on a B-flat trumpet, transposing each note to stay in tune with the rest of the orchestra.

 

What’s the Difference? Go shopping and you’ll find new trumpets fall into three general categories: student, intermediate (semi-pro), and professional. The price might vary by $3,000 and more. What differentiates them? Not their overall design (see Fig. 4). Rather, it's their purpose and use—this is what dictates the trade-offs made in design, construction, appearance, performance, quality, and price. Student models are built for durability, inexpensive mass production, and easy production of tone. What may be sacrificed is intonation and quality of tone. The semi-pro trumpet is usually a student horn with some added “bells and whistles” such as silver plating, first and third valve throws, and better cases. Some say it is made mainly to fill a marketing niche and is a very poor value for the money.

 

Pro-quality trumpets incorporate superior design, materials, and construction.  Much of the production includes hand assembly and finish. And the amazing number of custom options can at first seem overwhelming. You may get dizzy! Professional models are usually maximized for intonation, response, and appearance. Think of driving a big old family car versus driving a racing machine. The required skill level is vastly different. The race driver is highly aware and skilled and demands instant and accurate response to his commands, given through his hands and feet movements, while driving at 200 mph. He has the skill to control the machine with precision right up to its highest performance limits. The beginning driver would soon crash. But in the big car, the beginner gets reliability and safety and, with practice, can slowly develop skill and learn control. If a crash happens, survival is more likely. Stay out of the racing machine until you’re ready. Then at that point, to get better, the highly talented student needs to drive the racing machine.

 

Very little of the added cost of a pro model is due to materials. The extra thousands of dollars is almost all in labor costs. And the high achievement of skilled craftsmen is in the tolerances and precision of the parts. That is what yields the best intonation, response, and beauty. You pay for the best craftsmanship in design and manufacturing to enable you to be the best craftsman in playing performance. With a high-quality professional trumpet, you never get to blame your performance on the horn.

 

Materials. The principal metal is brass, an alloy composed of copper and zinc. Copper is too soft to be practical. Adding zinc gives it strength and tones the color toward gold and yellow (see Fig. 5). “Gilding metals” use 95/5, 90/10, 85/15, and 80/20 alloys. In the 70/30 to 64/36 alloys, the variations are subtle. The 60/40 alloy was formerly known as yellow metal. The typical alloys used for trumpets are cartridge brass (70/30), yellow brass (77/23), gold or rose brass (~80/20), and red brass (~85/15). Steel may be used in the valves and springs, so professional trumpets are designed to prevent or reduce galvanic corrosion between it and the brass tubing.

 

Color. The higher the copper content, the redder the brass color. Trumpet manufacturers may offer copper bells, and they tinker with gold and red brass to get the sound, feel and appearance which they or their customer want. The traditional brass color is first polished for the shine and then lacquered for corrosion protection. Silver trumpets are electroplated.  Either finish plays well, but silver-coated brass horns cost more. You can now buy other extra-cost finish options such as brushed (“scratched” or “beaded”) lacquer, silver, gold, bright gold, dull matte, black, blue, red, and green. Some are even multi-colored, like a rainbow (see Fig. 6).

 

Shape, Size and Weight. A prime property of brass is its ductility. When the copper content is greater than 63%, the brass can be extensively deformed at room temperature, which allows the use in manufacturing of cold forming processes such as drawing and spinning. The trumpet tube is bent twice into an oblong shape. The length of the B-flat trumpet, without mouthpiece, is 148 centimeters (about 4’10”). Use of the first valve adds 17.9 centimeters (7.05”), the second 8.6 centimeters (3.39”), and the third 27.8 centimeters (10.94”). Thus, when all three valves are depressed, the total length grows to 202.3 centimeters (almost 6’8”)—as tall as many pro basketball players! The B-flat cornet and flugelhorn (see Fig. 7) are tuned in the same key, so their length is identical. The piccolo trumpet (one octave higher) is half the length. The trombone (one octave lower) is double the length.

 

The trumpet has a mostly cylindrical bore, which produces a sharper, clearer, more brilliant tone than that of the cornet and flugelhorn, which have mostly conical bores and sound mellower. Most trumpet manufacturers offer medium-sized bores of .459 to .462 inches in diameter. The relationship between bore size and mouthpiece design is a primary determinant of the amount of resistance felt by the player.

 

When the player presses the trumpet to the lips, it becomes a closed tube. By buzzing within the mouthpiece, a standing sound wave forms in the air inside the tube, and it becomes a resonator; i.e., it naturally oscillates at some frequencies, producing sound waves of specific tones, and amplifies the vibrations so that they can be heard at a distance. The trumpet naturally produces only every other overtone of the harmonic series. What allows the missing overtones to be heard? The shape of the bell. Bell material, size, and shape are among the primary variables which distinguish one professional trumpet from another. Two-piece bells with a radial seam and seamless bells are less expensive to make than one-piece, hand-hammered, sheet bells with a lateral seam. The latter take 10-12 times longer to make than a student trumpet bell. Some custom manufacturers make detachable bells (by unscrewing the braces) so that the player can select the exact bell characteristics they want (see Fig. 8). Other primary variables include bore size and weight. The player also will notice matters of personal taste; e.g., differences in resistance, versatility, flexibility and ease of use.

 

Have you ever wondered why the lowest note which the trumpet can easily and precisely play is low G-flat? It’s because the trumpet is a “half-tube” instrument. Whole-tube instruments such as the tuba, with the larger bore diameter in relation to tube length, can play their fundamental tone. Half-tube instruments, including the trumpet and French horn, cannot do so with ease and accuracy. Pedal tones below low G-flat do not slot naturally, but there are definite technical benefits in learning to play them well, even though music calling for them is very seldom written.

 

Most professional horns are designed for any use and perform extremely well, regardless of the music genre. In general, however, lighter weight horns are preferred for jazz and smaller ensembles, while heavier horns (and darker sounds) are more suitable for orchestral and symphonic band music.

 

Valves and Slides. The best valves are lightning fast with long-lasting action. They are typically made of either nickel silver or monel. Monel is very hard and resistant to corrosion in its raw state. However, brazing in the piston liners requires high temperatures in the annealing process. Monel is said to undergo physical change due to the heat, resulting in a piston with some areas which are softer than others. This causes uneven wear and quicker corrosion in these annealed areas. With nickel silver, the entire surface remains hard even after brazing.

 

In the first bend of the trumpet tube is the tuning slide. These normally come in a standard shape which offers even air flow with moderate resistance. This creates a stable, broad tone with solid articulation. But some professional models offer alternate shapes—round, square and ovate—for different effects.

 

Examine each of the trumpet’s valves and the slides attached to them. Depressing a valve causes the air to flow through the slide attached to it, increasing the total length of the tube. A longer tube produces a lower pitch (see Figs. 9-10). Depressing the second valve lowers the pitch by one-half step. The first valve lowers the pitch by one full step. And the third valve does so by 1.5 steps. Note that the 1-2 valve combination also lowers the pitch by 1.5 steps. This, and the nature of the overtone series, is why there are alternate fingerings for certain notes. Different valve combinations can produce the identical note. The staff note E has the most alternate fingerings. If you don’t already know them, figure them out by trial and error. Valve combination 2-3 lowers the pitch 2 steps; 1-3 lowers it 2.5 steps; and 1-2-3 lowers it 3 steps.

 

Ever wonder why the first valve slide is more than twice as long as the second, and the third is more than three times as long as the second? In other words, why does it take more than twice as much tube length to lower the pitch one full step as it takes to lower it a half step? And why does it take much more than three times the tube length to lower the pitch 1.5 steps as it takes to lower it a half step? It’s because the relationship between tube length and pitch is logarithmic, not linear.

 

The third valve, when depressed, tends to play flat, as does the 2-3 valve combination. One corrects it by lip-and-breath control. The 1-2 combination plays slightly sharp, 1-3 plays sharp, and 1-2-3 plays very sharp. One compensates by the use of a “throw” mounted on the slide. A throw is a u-hook, saddle (u-shaped grips), or a ring (ring-shaped grip). Some trumpets have a throw mounted only on the first or third valve slide; some have one mounted on each.  Using a thumb or finger, the player extends the slide to lengthen the tube and thus flatten the pitch. Then one retracts the finger or thumb to return the slide to its original position. With throws, the trumpet becomes a two-handed instrument; i.e., one uses both hands (in different ways) to alter pitch.

 

Compression is an important consequence of valve and slide construction and use. Precise, tight-fitting pistons have high compression; looser-fitting or worn pistons or valve casings have low compression. A machine at a high quality brass instrument repair shop can measure the exact compression for each piston, but a simple test can tell you whether there’s a problem. Pull out a valve slide, and before the air inside has equalized on its own, depress the valve. You should hear a “pop.” No pop indicates that the air seal has been compromised. Valve oils of a higher viscosity can help with worn valves. Higher compression yields tighter note “slotting” (playing a note in tune with a constant tone quality). This requires more precise articulation by the player. It’s another reason why a pro horn is not for the beginner.

 

Mouthpieces. The U.S. Constitution guarantees us the right to pursue happiness. However, when a player uses that freedom obsessively to pursue the “perfect” mouthpiece, it’s an endless search that only results in frustration, not happiness. Search instead for the optimal mouthpiece—the one that optimizes the trade-offs necessary for the player’s goals, physique, embouchure strength, and endurance; for intonation, desired tone quality, ease of playing in lower and upper ranges, and the most frequent type of playing. The rub is that when you emphasize one variable, you sacrifice another. There are upsides and downsides to every choice. As the saying goes, you can’t have it all. However, if you are good at making the transition, have two mouthpieces: one for general purpose, one for special purpose.

 

There are five main components of a mouthpiece: rim, edge, cup, throat, and backbore (or shank) (see Fig. 11). Let’s talk in generalities about some of these.  Deep mouthpiece cups are for full, round, rich, dark, mellow tonal qualities. Shallow cups are for brilliant, sparkling, sharp, clear, piercing tonal qualities. Those wide differences are why beginners start with the Bach 7C or its equivalent. Its depth and width are medium, for all-around play. What players would later tend toward a deep cup? Orchestra, symphonic band, opera, and soft jazz trumpeters. Who would tend toward a shallow cup? High note specialists. They play sassy trumpet!

 

Cup diameter and rims affect endurance. A wide diameter is more suitable for players with larger lips or protruding teeth. Flatter rims help endurance, but carried too far, they reduce lip flexibility. The “bite” of the rim comes from its edge. Edge sharpness affects precision of attack. Shallow cups help high notes, but carried too far, they lose tonal quality in the lower register. As for the backbore, the tighter it is, the more brilliant the sound, and the larger it is, the mellower the sound.

 

There are tables and charts on the internet comparing the many kinds of mouthpieces. Reduced to the simplest generality, remember this: the deeper and wider the cup, the darker the sound and timbre.

 

Players develop a preferred sense of resistance in a horn. Some prefer the feeling of “blowing through” a free, open horn, while others like to feel that they are “blowing against” something. The former might choose medium-large or large-bore horns and mouthpieces with enlarged bores. The latter might select medium-bored horns and mouthpieces with smaller bores. This choice is quite subjective and complex. Some players want to feel the resistance comes from the mouthpiece, while others want to feel it comes from the horn. The former might prefer small mouthpieces with small bores in combination with large-bore horns. The latter might choose more open mouthpieces and smaller-bored horns. Find a horn with the resistance that matches your playing style and needs.

 

Perhaps some players chase the perfect mouthpiece in a subconscious effort to avoid the hard work of continuous, challenging practice. There is no substitute for building and maintaining a strong embouchure (lip aperture and tension) which is empowered with accurate muscle memory. In other words, when you select an optimal mouthpiece for you, a properly developed embouchure can compensate for most of its shortcomings.

 

A few more hints. Keep the mouthpiece clean. Brush it out once a week. Learn to play without excessive pressure on the lips. It cuts off the blood flow to the lip muscles and causes them to swell. When the embouchure fatigues, the lip aperture collapses, tone quality becomes dull, the pitch goes flat, and the sound is pinched off. Excessive pressure makes you lose endurance, and it’s hard to hold the lead chair without endurance. It is necessary to rest frequently in order to build muscle strength. Long-lasting strength is built slowly through systematic practice.

 

Leadpipes (Mouthpipes). The roughly cylindrical bore of the trumpet is actually a complex series of tapers. It is smaller at the mouthpiece receiver in the leadpipe and then increases to a mostly fixed diameter throughout most of the tube until it finally begins to flare wider starting in the last major bend approaching the bell. Perhaps the most crucial part of any brass instrument is the combined mouthpiece and leadpipe. This is because most problems of intonation and tone control are traceable to this section of the trumpet.

 

The leadpipe is the first approximately 8 inches of trumpet tubing. Experience has proven that if the leadpipe were to start at full bore size, the player would have poorest control, so the leadpipe must taper from the smaller diameter of the mouthpiece throat to the larger diameter of the trumpet’s cylindrical bore; e.g., from about 0.144 inch to about 0.340 inch and then, after about 8 inches, to about 0.460 inch (or full bore size).

 

The optimal leadpipe length is best determined through sound wave theory and experience. The wave node is the point in a vibrating system where there is no vibration. In the sine wave for the fundamental note (lowest note in the harmonic series), there are nodes at each end of the nodal lines. Indeed, there are nodal lines for every note. These form a perfect geometrical pattern. By superimposing and combining these patterns for many individual tones, a master pattern can be formed. This helps determine the best shape of the leadpipe, thus resolving most of trumpet’s intonation problems right at the start.

 

Ideally, the inside surface would be absolutely smooth. But what if the mouthpiece end is too large for the mouthpiece receiver and does not perfectly abut against the leadpipe? A gap is created, and the sudden bulge produces air turbulence, disrupting the node. On the other hand, what if the mouthpiece end is too small and actually intrudes inside the leadpipe? The overall tube length is shortened, raising the pitch and requiring one to pull out the tuning slide a bit to compensate. If you’re going to play a professional trumpet, make sure the mouthpiece fits the leadpipe exactly.

 

At the other end of the standard leadpipe is another “bump” in air flow, where the tuning slide fits inside the main tubing. The metal edge of the tuning slide causes the tube not to be perfectly smooth. The reverse leadpipe is designed to eliminate this problem. Instead of two equal-length ends on the tuning slide, one end is longer than the other. The longer one fits outside the body tubing; i.e., the leadpipe fits into the tuning slide. This eliminates a bit of back pressure caused by the small ridge and produces a slightly more open air flow. Some feel there is less resistance and brighter sound.

 

Braces. When you go shopping for a professional or custom trumpet, pay attention to how many braces there are and where they are located and ask why. Manufacturers must include them for stability and strength, and they know where not to put them to avoid destroying sound quality. So ask about the pros and cons of their braces and about their techniques for mounting them. Notice any differences in performance among horns and models which are possibly caused by braces.

 

Know Your Horn. “The best horn for you is the one that makes it easiest to produce the sound you hear in your head,” writes James F. Donaldson (www.dallasmusic.org/gearhead). In writing this article, I have relied heavily on his work and that of Renold O. Schilke (www.dallasmusic.org/schilke), along with my own experience and many other readings. Any errors herein, however, are entirely my own. If some of the terminology or concepts are new or difficult for you, make the time available to investigate further. Learn more—it will improve your confidence, performance, and pleasure.

 

Your horn is a gift from our ancestors, modern designers, craftsmen and businessmen, and in some cases, our loved ones. It is the gift of opportunity to express what’s in your mind and heart, to pursue happiness, to have fun, to become the best that you can be, to create and give back to others something new of beauty and truth—your own music. As Aldus Huxley wrote in The Rest is Silence (1931), “After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”

 

© 2010 B. Glenn Ledbetter. All rights reserved