A trumpet is a brass wind instrument used mainly in classical music, jazz and military bands.
Early trumpets were tubes made of wood, bamboo, or gourd. In ancient Egypt trumpet like instruments were made of silver.
An early example of a brass instrument like a trumpet is called a shofar, made from a ram's horn. The shofar is still traditionally blown in the synagogue, at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year festival.
The first event at the Olympic Games in 396 BC was a trumpet contest: the winner played the fanfare for all the other events.
The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art going back to AD 300.
The modern trumpet began to evolve around 1300 with the introduction of a metal instrument with a wide flared bell and short cylindrical bore. This was the first time they were used as musical instruments rather than as signaling devices in battle or religious worship.
In the later 14th and 15th centuries the trumpet's tubing was shaped like the letter S rather than flared forward. This shape suggested an instrument that became known as the trombone.
From the late 15th century, trumpets were primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually wound in a loop. Throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries this so-called natural trumpet - as opposed to later trumpets with valves or slides - was the norm.
Trumpets with keys and with valves, which were capable of producing a wider range of notes and of sustaining more accurate pitch, were developed in the early 19th century, a time of transition for the instrument.
The valves made it easier to play notes on the trumpet, bit it still is a difficult instrument to master.
Although trumpets were built in many keys - trumpets in E flat, F, G, and A flat were not uncommon - by the end of the 19th century the standard trumpets were in the keys of B flat and C.
In old style jazz bands, the cornet was preferred to the trumpet, but from the swing era onwards, it's been largely replaced by the louder, more piercing trumpet.
The prolific jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong learned to blow on a bugle in reform school when he was 13. In 1922 he went to Chicago to play second cornet with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band then with Fletcher Henderson's big band in New York City. He switched to the trumpet on theater dates because of its brighter sound and flashier look.
The American jazzman Dizzy Gillespie was known for playing a ‘bent’ trumpet. It started after two dancers fell on it, bending the bell upwards, and Dizzy liked the change in tone that resulted.
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| Pixiebay |
Early trumpets were tubes made of wood, bamboo, or gourd. In ancient Egypt trumpet like instruments were made of silver.
An early example of a brass instrument like a trumpet is called a shofar, made from a ram's horn. The shofar is still traditionally blown in the synagogue, at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year festival.
The first event at the Olympic Games in 396 BC was a trumpet contest: the winner played the fanfare for all the other events.
The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art going back to AD 300.
 |
| Ceramic trumpet. AD 300 Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru. Wikipedia |
The modern trumpet began to evolve around 1300 with the introduction of a metal instrument with a wide flared bell and short cylindrical bore. This was the first time they were used as musical instruments rather than as signaling devices in battle or religious worship.
In the later 14th and 15th centuries the trumpet's tubing was shaped like the letter S rather than flared forward. This shape suggested an instrument that became known as the trombone.
From the late 15th century, trumpets were primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually wound in a loop. Throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries this so-called natural trumpet - as opposed to later trumpets with valves or slides - was the norm.
 |
| Trumpet, 17th century. |
Trumpets with keys and with valves, which were capable of producing a wider range of notes and of sustaining more accurate pitch, were developed in the early 19th century, a time of transition for the instrument.
The valves made it easier to play notes on the trumpet, bit it still is a difficult instrument to master.
Although trumpets were built in many keys - trumpets in E flat, F, G, and A flat were not uncommon - by the end of the 19th century the standard trumpets were in the keys of B flat and C.
In old style jazz bands, the cornet was preferred to the trumpet, but from the swing era onwards, it's been largely replaced by the louder, more piercing trumpet.
 |
| Pixiebay |
The prolific jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong learned to blow on a bugle in reform school when he was 13. In 1922 he went to Chicago to play second cornet with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band then with Fletcher Henderson's big band in New York City. He switched to the trumpet on theater dates because of its brighter sound and flashier look.
The American jazzman Dizzy Gillespie was known for playing a ‘bent’ trumpet. It started after two dancers fell on it, bending the bell upwards, and Dizzy liked the change in tone that resulted.
The phrase to "blow one's own trumpet," meaning to boast about one's achievements dates back to medieval times when dignitaries had a herald to share stories of their greatness. They started with the blowing of a horn to attract people's attention.
Source Compton's Encyclopedia
Source Compton's Encyclopedia
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