Trumpet & Cornet

Trumpet & Cornet pictures

History of Instrument

Long ago trumpets and cornets were used during battles. The soldiers would listen for their special trumpet calls and they would know what to do on the battlefield. Kings like trumpets to play at their royal celebrations because they sound so important and special.

During the time that Bach lived trumpets were 7 or 8 feet long and were bent  round to make it easier to hold. They didn't have any valves and the mouthpiece was shallow. The player changed notes by changing his lips on the mouthpiece. After a while there weren't a lot of musicians who could play the high notes so composers used the lower notes in their music.

In 1796 the composer Franz Joseph Haydn wrote a famous trumpet concerto for the keyed trumpet. He did this because it produced extra notes that other trumpets couldn't play at that time. People didn't like the keyed trumpet because it sounded like an oboe so they gave up that idea and tried lengthening the tubing and adding valves. Valves were added in 1820 and the length of the tubing was shortened to 4 to 4-1/2 feet.

Today most trumpets and cornets are B flat and C. Cornets do not normally play in the orchestra unless the music has a military sound or calls for the cornet.They have three valves, a tuning slide so that you can adjust the pitch, a cup-shaped mouthpiece and a coiled tube. A musician can change the sound he plays by changing the position of his lips on the mouthpiece or pushing down one or more or the valves. When he pushes down on the valves the part of the tubing that is sounding is made shorter so the pitch changes.

Range of the Trumpet and Cornet:

From F sharp one octave below middle C to C two octaves above middle C.

Music for the Trumpet & Cornet

Trumpet

Cornet