Trumpet

General info:

The trumpet uses three valves to play the different notes and its score is written in treble clef. It is the highest sounding instrument in the brass section. It is also a transposing instrument.

History:

Medieval trumpets

The trumpet is invented around 1300, although there is no exact date as to when. The earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used for military or religious purposes, rather than music in the modern sense. For example, it was actually used as a tool of war in the 14th century, which was a substitute for the animal horns.

Renaissance and Baroque trumpets

Improvements to instrument design and metal making in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance led to an increased usefulness of the trumpet as a musical instrument. But before the valve was invented, the natural trumpet (without valves) could only play certain notes and keys. Changing keys required the player to manually change crooks of the instrument. In the Baroque era, also known as the "Golden Age of the natural trumpet", the upper register was developed by specialist trumpeters, notably Cesare Bendinelli. With this, the trumpet parts often covered very high notes.

Classical and Romantic trumpets

The melody-dominated homophony of the classical and romantic periods relegated the trumpet to a secondary role by most major composers owing to the limitations of the natural trumpet. Berlioz wrote in 1844:

Notwithstanding the real loftiness and distinguished nature of its quality of tone, there are few instruments that have been more degraded (than the trumpet). Down to Beethoven and Weber, every composer – not excepting Mozart – persisted in confining it to the unworthy function of filling up, or in causing it to sound two or three commonplace rhythmical formulae.

Present-day trumpets

Following the invention of the valve in the early 19th century , the trumpet is able to play all the notes of the scale. The 20th century eventually saw an explosion in the amount and variety of music written for the trumpet.

Range:

The standard trumpet range extends from the written F♯ immediately below Middle C up to about three octaves higher. Traditional trumpet repertoire rarely calls for notes beyond this range, and the fingering tables of most method books peak at the high C, two octaves above middle C. It is also possible to produce pedal tones below the low F♯, which is a device commonly employed in contemporary repertoire for the instrument.

Role:

The trumpet is capable of producing a bright, full and powerful tone. It is most commonly used in:

a. tutti passages

b. fanfare passages

c. emphasizing dotted rhythmic features

Foreign names:

Trompete ----- German

Trompette ----- French

Tromba ----- Italian

Famous pieces: