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Trumpet

The loud, clear sound of the trumpet has been used to send signals and messages for a long time. Trumpets were once used to frighten enemies in battle, and to celebrate big ceremonies with blazing fanfares. The tone of the modern trumpet is produced by its distinctive shape: a cup-shaped mouthpiece, narrow metal tube, and flaring bell.

When played full blast, the trumpet makes a bold, bright, exciting sound that can be heard over the entire orchestra. In the orchestra, the standard trumpet is most often used. But there are trumpets of all different sizes and lengths, the smallest being the piccolo trumpet, and the largest being the bass trumpet! It's so big that often trombone players might play it, instead of trumpet players. The trumpet is also used in popular music and jazz.

Here's a picture of the trumpet. See if you can find all the parts listed here.

A trumpet mouthpiece has a shallow, small, cup-shaped opening. To change the pitch of a note, trumpet players adjust the air pressure and shape of their lips against the mouthpiece.

Moving the tuning slide in or out alters the length of the trumpet tube. Adjusting the length of the tube allows you to slightly lower or raise the overall pitch of the instrument.

Pressing down on each of the valves directs the air through a small length of extra tube. This has the effect of lengthening the whole trumpet, which lowers the pitch of the note being played.

Each of the three valves has its own valve tube. Using combinations of valves allows you to play every note in the trumpet's range.

After playing the trumpet for a while, its sound may get "gurgly"! This happens because your breath condenses inside the trumpet, forming drops of water. Pressing the water key opens a hole in the tube, allowing the water to drip out. (The pros still refer to it as "spit" and they sometimes call the water key the "spit valve.")

The bell of the trumpet projects the sound forward, helping to produce the full tone characteristic of the trumpet. To soften the tone or produce unusual sounds, a mute can be inserted into the bell.

Trumpets didn't have valves until the 1800s. Up until then, trumpet players could vary their pitch only by changing the shape of their lips against the mouthpiece. Valves make this much easier! They also make it possible for trumpet players to produce an excellent trill, just by flicking a finger up and down on one of the valves.

The third valve tube is sometimes used for notes which are hard to keep in tune. To make fine tuning easier, the pitch of the note being played can be adjusted by a special tuning slide just for the third valve.