Brass · Trumpet family
Trumpet in B♭
The highest of the standard brass instruments: a mostly cylindrical tube with three valves and a bright, projecting sound.
- Section
- Brass
- Family
- Trumpet family
- Classification
- Aerophone · lip-vibrated
- Transposition
- In B♭, written a major 2nd higher
- Clefs
- Treble
- Sounding range
- E3 – C6
Parts of the trumpet
Photo: Yamaha Corporation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Labels added by Musicians Tools.
Range
C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8
Written F♯3 to D6. Lead and jazz players go much higher. Playback uses a neutral tone, not the instrument's own sound.
Writing for the trumpet
- Written a major second higher than it sounds. Many orchestras, especially in the USA, play C trumpets, which read at concert pitch. Check what your players expect.
- Endurance is the main limit. Give regular rests, especially after loud or high passages.
- Mutes change the colour completely: straight, cup, harmon, plunger, bucket.
- Fanfares, repeated notes and double or triple tonguing are idiomatic; wide slurred leaps are harder.
History
Natural trumpets were limited to the harmonic series and played virtuoso high clarino parts in the Baroque. Haydn's concerto of 1796 was written for Anton Weidinger's keyed trumpet, and valve trumpets during the 19th century made fully chromatic playing standard.
Listen
Key works featuring the trumpet. Each link opens a YouTube search, so you can pick the recording you like.
- Haydn – Trumpet Concerto in E♭
- Mahler – Symphony No. 5 (opening)
- Copland – Quiet City
- Mussorgsky/Ravel – Pictures at an Exhibition (Promenade)
Useful tools
Trumpet family
Also in the family (pages coming):Trumpet in CPiccolo trumpetBass trumpet
Ancestors:Natural trumpetKeyed trumpet