Author: Unknown
•4:13 PM
By Patrice McCoy


The trumpet, a brass musical instrument in the shape of a giant paperclip with a huge mouth, was apparently invented more than four thousand years ago in the third millennium B. C. Fashioned out of a single metal sheet, examples from the ancient Central Asian civilization of Oxus revealed nothing short of genius and ingenuity. The tomb of the Egyptian King Tutankhamum held trumpets made from bronze and silver. Today, what we recognize as a trumpet is made of brass. Coaxing the sweetest music out of this instrument requires the best trumpet mouthpiece.

The trumpet is known for having the highest register of the brass family of wind instruments. Within the paradigm of brass instruments, register may be defined as the pitch range resulting from different normal modes of the air column. A normal mode is a pattern of motion of the sound waves produced by blowing into the instrument. A higher register can be produced by a technique known as overblowing.

A quality known as the embouchure is a major influence on the quality of the music that emerges from the instrument. The embouchure is the combined product of the shape of the mouthpiece along with the energy of the facial muscles and the position of the musician's lips on the mouthpiece.

The mouthpiece has four basic parts, the cup, the rim, the backbore and the throat, all of which make a discrete contribution to the quality of the embouchure. The shape of the rim, for instance, exerts control over the amount of freedom permitted of the lip muscles. A rounded rim will result in a fuzzy tone, while a rim with a sharp edge will produce a metallic tone. To narrow, and slurring becomes impeded by a constricted blood flow in the lip muscles. Too wide and flexibility becomes impaired. While the best sound is not necessarily the product of the best comfort, a medium wide rim will be the most comfortable, flexible and more endurable for the musician.

The cup is responsible for the timbre, also described as the 'color', of the tone. A shallow cup will produce higher frequencies and a higher register together with a brilliant, bright tone. It will, however, lose the lower register. Conversely, a deep cup will help to mellow the higher tones and enrich the lower register. In general, a medium cup will result in the best overall tone for both the lower and higher registers.

The throat is another key factor in the register. This is controlled by the funnel shape of the entrance of the throat as well as the size of the hole, which modulates air resistance. Too large, and the player tires out because he is fighting to keep his lips from being sucked into the cup. Too small a throat and the register is lowered. Perhaps Goldilocks said it best: somewhere in the middle is just right.

The purpose of the backbore appears to be to cover up deficiencies in either the embouchure or the other pieces of the mouthpiece. The decision of how to make this piece is best left to the skilled instrumentalist who makes it.

The musician is able to select the best trumpet mouthpiece for their purposes by manipulating each of the factors described above. Fr example, a small cup will favor rock or dixieland music. A larger cup will be more suitable for jazz or concert bands.




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