David W. Fenton wrote:
[snip]
He actually had another trumpet, and the trumpet he played with the
flugel horn did not look like a normal Bb trumpet (while the other
one did) -- it looked like it had shorter tubing (the tubing was bent
more like a cornet, thought it was clearly not a cornet at all -- the
mouthpiece and bore were clearly a trumpet). But it did seem to me
that when he was playing in unison that he was using the same
fingering for both, so it surely wasn't in a different key.
Anyway, I was blown away by the fact that someone could pull of this
stunt, but he didn't just managing it, like the dog walking on its
hind legs -- he was actually quite good and played in tune with
himself. There was even flutter tonguing!
Is this something that trumpet players do a lot as a virtuosic stunt?
Or was this really unusual?
I love New York.
It's not something that lots of trumpet players do as a
virtuosic stunt because it forces a player to develop two
centers of the embouchure and some serious (jazz or
classical) players might not want to move away from the
single emouchure formation in the center.
But it's more common than what I would call "really unusual."
As for the trumpet/cornet issue -- many cornets are more
trumpet-like than the ideal cornet bore.
As a matter of fact the F.E. Olds company made a Mendez
trumpet and a Mendez cornet, and at a quick glance they were
identical. The same wrapping of tubing. The only difference
when you looked more closely at them side by side you could
see that the tubing at the end of the mouthpiece receiver
was smaller bore than the trumpet's tubing at the same location.
My instrument repair teacher told me that the only way you
could be sure whether an instrument was a cornet or a
trumpet was to put a cornet mouthpiece in it, and if it fit
properly, it was a cornet. Or you could try a trumpet
mouthpiece and if it didn't fit at all, the instrument was a
cornet. The cups of the mouthpieces look the same quite
often, from the outside. Only the size of the shank is
different. The cups should be quite different on the
inside, where it counts.
Of course the player you saw may have been playing a "pocket
trumpet" which is simply a regular Bb trumpet, predominently
cylindrical bore and all, full length but just wrapped
around more so it's short enough to fit into a pocket. Not
that people wear coats with pockets that large any more.
--
David H. Bailey
dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com
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