What type of instrument is a trumpet

You name it, there will be the perfect trumpet for you! At Normans, we can order in a range of C trumpets as well as other different types of trumpet. Contact our sales team for more information. Certain orchestral and solo works are typically performed on the instrument, such as the famous Haydn Trumpet Concerto in Eb. Piccolo Trumpet The smallest member of the trumpet family. Piccolo trumpets are usually pitched in Bb and A, an octave above the Bb, with separate lead pipes to play in both keys.

They usually also have a fourth valve which extends the range of the instrument down to a low F. Music from the Baroque era is typically performed on the Piccolo. Famously, the piccolo was used in the instrumental section of Penny Lane by The Beatle s. The reduced size of the pocket trumpet makes it ideal for taking on holiday or anywhere you need to practice where the Bb trumpet would be impractical. Talking about portable… pTrumpet The pTrumpet is a completely plastic trumpet.

It works exactly like its brass counterpart with the added bonus of being practically indestructible and weatherproof. Also, at only g, it is incredibly lightweight. A completely unique plastic valve system has been developed for the pTrumpet, featuring interchangeable valves which make maintaining the instrument quick and simple, even for inexperienced players.

The patented lead pipe design helps to produce a vibrant, rich trumpet sound while remaining incredibly robust and lightweight. The main, third and first valve slides of the pTrumpet are fully adjustable to aid tuning. It even comes with two different size mouthpieces to suit your embouchure, and the pTrumpet is the first instrument to incorporate anti-microbial technology from BioCote, providing the highest standard of protection!

Musical Magic has occurred!! The pTrumpet hyTech marks a new chapter in trumpet evolution. Combining metal and polymer this hybrid instrument delivers a superb performance standard to that of high-quality trumpets. The hyTech pTrumpet is the perfect instrument for those looking for an intermediate level instrument.

Apparently, that slight increase in brightness is important enough that the C trumpet is now the instrument of choice for American orchestral players.

Transposing trumpet music while playing a C trumpet is not difficult, since the difference is only one step. Once instrument makers realized they could essentially make a trumpet for every occasion, a D trumpet came onto the market; this was right on the tails of the B flat and C trumpets bursting onto the scene in the mid 19th century. Starting in , D trumpets gained more and more momentum among soloists performing Baroque music.

D trumpets have a bright sound—almost piercing—somewhere between the timbres of the C trumpet and the piccolo. Ravel and Stravinsky, among other composers, wrote music with parts specifically for the D trumpet. If you plan to perform the Haydn and Hummel concertos, you will probably have to learn them on the E Flat trumpet. While they can be played on a B Flat horn, the E Flat is the traditional trumpet of choice, mostly because the technique is easier on the fingers when played with an E Flat trumpet.

The trills in particular play smoother in E Flat. Besides the obvious transitional period when playing in a new key, players may have difficulty adjusting to the intonation of the E Flat trumpet—once mastered, though, the crisp sound is worth the effort. Last but certainly not least among the many types of trumpets, we have the piccolo trumpet.

It has all but replaced the D trumpet in modern times, especially because the 4th-valve option on the piccolo gives it an extra perfect-fourth of downward range.

Furthermore, piccolo trumpets now come with a leadpipe extension which can be used to put the horn into the key of A. Adam Gingery is a freelance copywriter and journalist who double-majored with piano pedagogy and euphonium during undergrad before pursuing performance in graduate school.

He is a general contributor to the Musika Blog. Toggle navigation Contact Us Login. Trumpets Without Valves Different types of trumpets have been around for a long time, and by a long time, we mean over 3, years. Types of Trumpets: The Natural Trumpet Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, trumpets had no valves.

The Slide Trumpet Modern reconstruction of a fifteenth-century slide trumpet, via Wikimedia Commons Slide Trumpets came into being during the Renaissance period—most likely during the midth century—and they were a bit more cumbersome than you might imagine. Whether or not he had selfish motives is irrelevant at this Piston Valves point; Kail put his money where his mouth was by commissioning the first pieces for valve trumpet, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Rotary valves flat valves with a shape resembling a teardrop are more available in Germany and Austria, while piston valves are more common elsewhere. Rotary Valves Around the year , the B Flat cornet was introduced—this got trumpet players of the day thinking. It was also a pivotal instrument in the development of jazz music, in which it plays a starring role to this day.

The Bb trumpet is also the longest type of modern trumpet as if you uncoiled it, it would be over four feet long! This build is responsible for the richer and more mellow tone of the Bb trumpet as compared with the C, D, Eb and piccolo trumpets discussed next. The C Trumpet , you guessed it, plays in the key of C which means that when you play a C note, the instrument does not transpose it, and you hear a straight concert pitched C.

For this reason, C trumpets are often played for solo pieces where an instrument in a different key would require extra fingering and tuning work. The C trumpet also produces a brighter sound one pitch above than the Bb trumpet, making it the best choice for orchestral ensembles and tunes that are written to highlight this type of sound.

The C trumpet made its debut in France right around the same time as the Bb trumpet as part of the movement to create a brassier sound than the cornet without the bulk of the F and G trumpets. At first glance, the C trumpet looks very similar to the Bb trumpet, but, a closer look will reveal slightly shorter tubing, which is responsible for the distinction in sound type. The invention of the Bb and C trumpets got musicians excited about the diversity in sound they were able to create.

During the Baroque music period , the D Trumpet was created to add an even more bright and piercing sound. The D trumpet is so piercing, in fact, that it is meant to highlight pieces and reach notes that other instruments cannot reach. Similar to the C trumpet, the D trumpet produces its distinct sound as a result of a slightly shorter build and tubing. Another thing worth mentioning is that you can also get an Eb trumpet which actually a modification to the D trumpet!

It sounds like a lot of work, but it makes all the difference in adding the desired tone to a particular piece. Piccolo is Italian for small, and that is exactly what a Piccolo Trumpet is — the smallest member of the trumpet family.

This little trumpet technically plays in the key of Bb, one octave above the Bb trumpet and so is also a transposing instrument. With its higher, brighter pitch and range, the piccolo trumpet was effectively created as an alternative to the D trumpet.

The decision of whether to use a D trumpet or a piccolo trumpet is up to the stylistic preference of the player, the occasion, the ensemble and the particular piece. It also holds the option for an additional piece of tubing that allows musicians to play in the key of A. The piccolo trumpet owes its tone, pitch, and range to its short and uniquely arranged tubing and its fourth valve. People often confuse the piccolo trumpet with the pocket trumpet or incorrectly assume that they are interchangeable.