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Like the French horn, the trumpet also originated from hollowed-out animal horns. Some very early trumpets were even made form conch shells. The trumpet has been used in ancient Egypt, the Near East, and Greece. During much of that time, however, it was a signaling device sounding only one or two tones. It wasn’t until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that the music possibilities of the trumpet were being put to use.
The 16th century saw increasing use of the trumpet in a variety of more musical situations in addition to court ceremony and military communication. During the Middle Ages, the trumpet, more than any other instrument, was associated with pomp and pageantry. It was known as the "nobleman" among musical instruments, because trumpet performers stood at the king's right hand. Early in the seventeenth century the Trompeterkameradschaft, a professional trumpeters' union was formed.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the natural trumpet reached its peak of development and was used with brilliant effect by Each, Handel, and many other composers. The instruments were from about 6 to 8 feet in total length. The orchestral trumpet of the late 18th and the early 19th century was in F, with crooks, or slides, for lower keys down to C or Bb to match the key of the composition played. Its sound was not as loud as the modern trumpet's, and it balanced well with other instruments in smaller ensembles. The limitations of an instrument that could play a few certain notes, however, became gradually more perplexing toward the end of the eighteenth century and led to a number of attempts to improve the instrument mechanically.
The most important mechanical improvement was the invention of the valve for brass instruments in about 1814. Valves were very quickly applied to the trumpet, and, although crude at first, were gradually refined until they provided the trumpet with a fairly even chromatic scale. Late in the nineteenth century, as larger orchestras played for larger audiences, the long F trumpet was finally given up in favor of shorter-valved trumpets in Bb and C. The new instruments were louder, more brilliant, and somewhat easier to play accurately. After the mid-1920s, the trumpet also replaced the cornet in dance bands. Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong are perhaps the most famous and most influential trumpet players in history. This is the right way to play while standing.
This is the wrong way to play while sitting.
This is the right way to play while sitting.
This is the wrong way to play while standing. http://homepage.mac.com/tsosiek/players.html http://www.angelfire.com/band/vhstrumpets/pages/history.html
To learn more about the trumpet, check out these links: http://mailer.fsu.edu/~bgoff/tpt-tips/tips.html http://www.csupomona.edu/~dmgrasmick/mu330/Trumpetlecture.html |
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