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The trumpet is a wind instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family. Historically, trumpet-type instruments were used as signalling devices in combat or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC; they did not begin to be used as musical instruments until the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. Trumpets are used in symphony orchestras, wind bands and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing through almost closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound that triggers a vibration in the column of air inside the instrument. Since the end of the 15th century, they have been made mainly of brass.
There are several distinct types of trumpet, the most common being sounded in Bb, with a pipe length of around 1.48. Before the invention of the piston, trumpets had a fixed length, whereas modern instruments generally have three (or sometimes four) pistons to change their pitch. Each piston, when pressed, increases the length of the pipe, thus lowering the sound of the instrument.
The first trumpets date back to 1500 BC. Bronze and silver trumpets from Tutankhamen's tomb in Egypt, bronze trumpets from Scandinavia and metal trumpets from China all date back to this period. The trumpets of the Oxus civilisation (3rd millennium BC) in Central Asia are made from a single sheet of metal, which is considered a technological feat.
The Shofar, made from a ram's horn, and the Hatzotzeroth, made from metal, are both mentioned in the Bible. They were played at Solomon's Temple around 3,000 years ago. It was said that they were used to blow up the walls of Jericho. They are still used in some religious services. The Salpinx was a 1.6 m long straight trumpet made of bone or bronze. Salpinx competitions were part of the first Olympic Games.
The pre-Columbian people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art dating back to the year 300. The earliest trumpets were signalling instruments used for military or religious purposes, rather than music in the modern sense; and the modern bugle continues this signalling tradition.
Improvements in instrument design and metalworking in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance increased the trumpet's usefulness as a musical instrument. The natural trumpets of this period consisted of a single coiled tube without valves and could therefore only produce the notes of a single harmonic series. The development of the upper 'clarino' register by specialised trumpeters - notably Cesare Bendinelli - lends itself well to the Baroque era, also known as the 'golden age of the natural trumpet'. During this period, a vast body of scores was written for virtuoso trumpeters. The art was revived in the mid-twentieth century, and natural trumpet playing is once again a flourishing art form throughout the world. Many modern musicians in Germany and the UK who play baroque music use a version of the natural trumpet with three or four holes to help correct the notes.
The melody-dominated homophony of the Classical and Romantic eras relegated the trumpet to a secondary role by most of the great composers because of the limitations of the natural trumpet. Berlioz wrote in 1844:
Despite the real nobility and distinguished character of its sound quality, there are few instruments more degraded than the trumpet. Until Beethoven and Weber, all composers - with the exception of Mozart - persisted in confining it to the function unworthy of performing, or in making it sound two or three banal rhythmic formulas.
The attempt to give the trumpet greater chromatic freedom in its range saw the development of the keyed trumpet, but this was a largely unsuccessful venture due to the poor quality of its sound.
Although the impetus to manufacture a tubular piston began as early as 1793, it was not until 1818 that Friedrich Bluhmel and Heinrich Stölzel jointly applied for a patent for a piston manufactured by W. Schuster. The scores of symphonies by Mozart, Beethoven and even Brahms were still played on natural trumpets. Because of this late development of the instrument's chromatic capacity, its repertoire is relatively limited compared with that of other instruments. The twentieth century saw an explosion in the quantity and variety of scores written for the trumpet.
