I am a Classical Trumpeter
February 5th, 2010Stand Back
What an exciting moment for the arts. Today I got out my cornet and played a Mozart piece.
It was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
I Googled, anticipating the wise-guy commenters. No, Mozart didn’t actually write it. Be a buzzkill, why don’t you.
The trumpet book was full of stuff I couldn’t stand to play, including “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” “Hot Cross Buns,” and “Jingle Bells,” so out of desperation, I learned how to play an A, and I skipped to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” It worked. I played it unbelievably badly, but then I played the easier songs badly, too, so it wasn’t a problem.
Then I got cocky. I took out my book of standards and looked for something with very few notes in it. I landed on “The Girl From Ipanema.”
Five minutes later, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” wasn’t looking so bad any more. I can sight-read dotted notes and eighth notes OR I can have an embouchure. I can’t do both at once.
I think once I can play a few more notes, I can actually make some music. Badly. That will be fun.
I don’t know much about the trumpet (cornet, whatever), but from my sheet music, it looks like just about every well-known song is published in a range I can’t reach. My exciting high note is an A, and to play anything at all, you have to be able to get up to the F above it.
Someone pointed out that trumpet music is written incorrectly. I should have seen this coming. Music can never be simple. I wondered why my cornet’s G was really an F or F-sharp. I thought the piano was out of tune, but then I noticed that my cheap electronic keyboard was also “out of tune.”
Are all instruments like this? If so, I am even more amazed by Franz Liszt than I used to be. He could play an orchestral score on the piano at sight, while making comments about it. That would be a good trick even if it were written for piano. Now I have to wonder if orchestral scores are written in weird ways, like trumpet music. He would have to know all that, transpose the whole mess in his head, turn it into piano music, and talk about the music, all at once. I think.
What exactly IS an orchestral score? If you have like 75 instruments, how can you have one score?
Don’t tell me. Forget I asked.
I oiled my valves. That was a thrill. Inside, they look like they’re new. Freaky. This horn was probably made in 1961. Somebody didn’t like to practice. That’s my guess.
“Aunt Rhody” probably got him.
February 5th, 2010 at 8:54 PM
Your cornet is a B-flat instrument, meaning that when you play a C – it’s actually a B-flat on the piano. There is a C trumpet, but they are fairly rare. A lot of instruments are transposed like this. The trumpet because the B-flat is easier to play in tune than the C because of the length of tubing, etc. All of your notes will be one step “off.”
An orchestral score (I can’t resist) is also referred to a conductor’s score – it has all of the parts on it.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:42 AM
I’m enjoying your tales of progress in music. Many of my best memories are from years of band and orchestra.
On range: I think, for a trumpet, a reasonably skilled player (by that I mean, for instance, a good high-school level player, not a professional or someone with a degree in music) has about a three octave range. I’m a tuba player, reasonably skilled by my above definition (when I’m in practice), and on my good days, I can come close to four octaves. It’s easier with the lower-pitched instruments: your bottom limit is defined by the length of your tubing but your high end is largely a question of skill. I heard a tuba professor once claim six octaves, using one instrument and one mouthpiece.
Trumpet and coronet are what is known as transposing instruments. Everything written for them is written (I think) one whole step off of where it sounds. Tuba, for instance, is a “concert pitch” instrument: what you see on the page is what you get. Trombone is also concert pitch. French horns transpose. I think at least some of the woodwinds (clarinet, for instance) transpose. Someone explained why to me once, but I don’t remember.
Realistically, as long as you’re playing music that says “coronet” (or “trumpet”) on it, it won’t matter. If you’re doing something like trying to play a piece of vocal music, you can play it as written and it will just come out a whole note off. If you’re playing something like vocal music with someone else (like a piano), then you’ll have to worry about this. People who are good can shift that stuff in their heads as they go along, although I’ve never been that good. If you look at technique books, they’ll often say something like “for trumpet in B-flat”. Or F. Or whatever. That’s the “key” of the instrument. As I said, I don’t really understand it; I’ve never spent much time on anything that wasn’t concert pitch.
An orchestral score, sometimes called an open score, does indeed have all the parts written in parallel on the page. In a band or orchestra, usually the musicians have just their part (turning pages while your hands are full of twenty pounds of brass is awkward, at best) but the director can see all the parts at once. Choral music is usually written in an open score, so you can see all the parts at the same time. I think, although I could be wrong, that an orchestral score is written in concert pitch, with the transposition done for you. You can probably find scores at any music store that supports instrumental music. I know our local big music store has scores for maybe a few dozen symphonies and operas in stock. It can be interesting to follow along with a recording with the score in your lap.
Hope this helps!
February 6th, 2010 at 2:21 PM
Your earlier commenters were pretty much accurate in what they said about scoring music and the Bflat horn versus the piano.
Not to be redundant, but you need to get a book or scale chart and spend five or ten minutes each day just playing scales and teaching your fingers to remember the valve positons because once you start playing real songs in a given key the scales will not only help your muscle memory cover the fingers, but the lips will follow.
and finally, I’ll say it again, remember that you need “Clarke’s Technical Studies for the Cornet”
February 6th, 2010 at 6:23 PM
“If you have like 75 instruments, how can you have one score?”
That would be closer to four score …
Cheers
February 7th, 2010 at 8:07 PM
Virgil is correct. Find yourself a copy of a “complete” training guide. I am not too familiar with the Clarke book and I would instead suggest “Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet.” It should be about 2 inches thick, and mine was green and black. It will also have many training exercises that will train your lips and fingers. It would be extremely useful to you and magnify your efforts.
February 8th, 2010 at 8:49 AM
All I know is wind instruments:
Flute is Concert Key
The low brass is Concert, but reads bass cleff except for Euphonium/Baritone Horn which is played by the type of odd introverted extrovert that succesfully runs comic book stores and movie revival houses.
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All other wind instruments are written in other keys because someone was stupid at some point. No, don’t try to convince me otherwise. The statements all amount to,” Well when you paint with a orange paint brush, the color you call orange is what you call red when you use a red paint brush, because the brush is fatter,” or somesuch. If a note sounds like a B-Flat, it’s a damn B-Flat. A is 440 Hz. Call it a Q if you like, it’s still 440 Hz and calling it two different names depending on the shape of the tool making it is the sort of loose thinking one expects from the art world.