Trumpet

Like the bells, trumpets are ancient instruments that have evolved over time to the gleaming instruments we now associate with Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. The trumpet produces sound when air is forced through mouthpiece and into the instrument. Notes are played by the correct placement of the lips and by pressing or releasing valves that were the 19th Century innovation given to the instrument. The development of a "slide" which alters the length of the tube the air moves through gives the trumpet a broader range of sounds.

• Very similar to the trumpet is the cornet which is often used in jazz music because its natural scale harmonizes well with other jazz instruments. The Germans call the cornet the "zinke."

• A bugle is similar to a trumpet, but its tube is shorter and more conical giving it the unique pitch that we associate with taps or "boogey-woogey."

Hear a Trumpet