The Trumpet

The trumpet is a wind instrument that is sounded by the vibration of the player's lips against a mouthpiece. The instruments belonging to the trumpet family usually are made from animal horn. Trumpets made of large conch shells are sometimes used as ritual instruments in many cultures.

In medieval Europe the long, straight trumpet called buisine was replaced by a shorter version of the instrument in the time of the 1300's. By 1400, the instrument became folded into an S-shape, and by 1500 it was coiled into an elongated loop. In this form it was the standard ceremonial and orchestral trumpet until the 1800's. Its narrow cylindrical bore created a brilliant tone, but its notes were limited to the harmonic series of the fundamental pitch of its length of tubing. Instrument builders in the early 1800s sought to construct a trumpet that could play a full chromatic scale throughout its range. One short-lived invention was a key mechanism to open and close side holes in the tubing. In 1820, valves were added to the trumpet. This provided a lowering in the basic pitch of the instrument and brought about a different harmonic series.

The modern trumpet has three valves and a bore that is partly cylindrical, and partly conical. The standard orchestral trumpet has a range of about three octaves extending upward from the F-sharp below middle C. Models in D, C, and other pitches also exist. All are notated as if pitched in C, thereby allowing players to switch instruments without learning new fingerings.

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