The Horse Whinny—start around middle G, scoop up to high G, and fall off the note as soon as you hit it while shaking the trumpet back and forth against your lips all the way down to about low C. When it sounds like a horse, take your horn to the stable or pasture and see if a real horse answers back!

Did that make any sense? There are lots of ways to make special sounds on the trumpet, and the horse whinny is one of the more useless ones, in terms of playing most music, but is one of the most amusing. There are many more useful sound effects. They make your horn talk. They are interesting and fun, but don’t overuse them or you’ll lose your audience.

The Scoop—play middle B and go to middle C, letting your middle valve come up very slowly. Blow steadily while doing it. Do you hear the wonderful smear between the two notes? Blow a little harder when the valve is between notes. Bending the pitch with your lips as you make the change will help the smear. That’s the scoop! It is a half-valve trick just before a note. It eases you into the note and is very effective when playing a melody or improving a solo. You can scoop with one, two or three valves halfway down. It doesn’t change the rhythm. Start a half beat or less before the note.

The Horse Whinny and the Scoop are just two sound effects which use the same technique, the half valve. With all half-value techniques, you really must blow because half-valve notes are much quieter than regularly fingered notes. Other half-valve sound effects are doits, falls, and rips.

The Doit—this little note tags after a regular note, bending the pitch higher. Usually a rest follows the doit to give it some breathing space. It can be short and quick, or it can last several beats, depending upon you or the group leader. Doits are often heard after high notes for dramatic effect.

The Fall—it is the opposite of the Doit and Scoop. It drops down after a note, usually into a rest, and can be short or long. Naturally, it is usually used after a high note. The smooth fall uses the half-valve, but the louder, rougher one can be done three ways. The first is to just leave the valves as they are and fall off the note. It can be difficult until you get used to it. The second way is to quickly finger all the valves randomly as you fall off the note. This is smoother than the first approach. The third way is a rip in reverse (see below). As you fall off the note, push all three valves down. With all four fall techniques, blow hard all the way down the range.

The Rip—it’s another upwards-moving sound, but it is rougher sounding and tougher to perform. It is easiest when pressing all three valves down. Blow through all the partials until you reach the target note. At that instant, switch to the correct fingering for that note.

Alternate Fingerings—this is an easy trumpet trick, after practice. Alternate fingerings produce the same note as the most commonly used fingering. Fingering charts usually show the different choices for various notes.  Alternate fingerings are used to do some intricate rhythms on the same note, do a one-note trill (see a lower paragraph), tune “problem” notes, or make a difficult passage easier to finger. The E on the fourth space in the staff has more valve combinations than any other.

These are just a few of the odd and interesting sounds on the trumpet. Some “novelty” sounds are often heard in jazz, and others are sometimes used in music for the symphony, ensemble and marching band. The audience likes to be surprised by them, which means you can only use them sparingly, every now and then.

It helps greatly to read these descriptions while listening to examples of each. Find a good trumpet tutor who can explain and demonstrate them, either in person, on CDs, or both. And listen, listen, listen…For some more special effects sounds, read the next article, “Part Two”.