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Field Trumpet/Fanfare Trumpet/Bugle:What is the difference?



 
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Satchel
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 3:21 pm    Post subject: Field Trumpet/Fanfare Trumpet/Bugle:What is the difference? Reply with quote

Dear all,

These horns are simple, without pistons, less likely to be rendered unplayable by the roughness of being taken to the field or on horse, playable with one hand while mounted. What is the difference between these military trumpets, and how do they relate to the trumpet in terms of range?

in Great Britain, the household cavalry uses a longer trumpet, and the Royal Marines use the short bugle, as seen recently in HRH Prince Philip's funeral:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ey3VnbfXEs

In the US, the calls like Reveille or the mounted corps calls like the cavalry charge seem to be done on bugle. In some european countries, these are not all bugle. In France, the trompette de cavalerie (literally cavalry trumpet, or fanfare trumpet) is the one used by mounted corps. The sonnerie du réveil (which became "réveille" in the US) is a clairon like in the US (bugle):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE1aUqP_ih0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybmCV3T5Xt8

Someone said that a trumpet has the range of 6 bugles in different keys.
Can anyone explain or expand on that?
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Scooter Pirtle
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:00 pm    Post subject: Re: Field Trumpet/Fanfare Trumpet/Bugle:What is the differen Reply with quote

Satchel wrote:
Someone said that a trumpet has the range of 6 bugles in different keys.
Can anyone explain or expand on that?


There are competition bugles that use a single piston valve that drop the pitch of the instrument by a fourth. These replaced tuning crooks used for the same purpose. This essentially made the bugles “duplex” instruments. In fact, during the 20s and 30s the competing units were required to lock the piston in either the open or closed position. So the valve was a switch valve that turned the instrument from a G bugle into a D bugle.

A three piston trumpet does the same thing. Each valve combination results in a new overtone series. So, a trumpet essentially is a bugle in seven keys. The key of the instrument (e.g, Bb) and six additional valve combinations. Presently, we just use the valves to access the chromatic scale.

Make sense?
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Satchel
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Field Trumpet/Fanfare Trumpet/Bugle:What is the differen Reply with quote

Scooter Pirtle wrote:
we just use the valves to access the chromatic scale.

Make sense?

Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
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Bflatman
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 7:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The ancient trumpet was a short instrument without any bends in it.

It was around 2 or 3 feet long and was used for battle calls to rally and control troops during battle. It did not matter how long the tube was because the object was to sound calls and was not to sound musical.

The earliest examples are the trumpets of tutankhamun.

These instruments were simple bugles with no bends in them and as such only had the notes of the bugle scale or harmonic series available to them.

The Horn also called French Horn was made much longer and the tubing was wrapped in a circular manner. This was to enable more notes to be available than the simple bugle range.

By lengthening the tubing in the Horn and keeping the tube diameter small, the player can play the Horn in its upper register while sounding like it is in its natural register.

By using this trick the playable notes of the Horn are brought very close together and many more notes can be played then if the Horn were built with a more usual shorter length.

By placing the hand inside the bell and moving it around during play the notes can be modulated and the missing notes can be reached giving the Horn a full chromatic range. It then became useful as an orchestral instrument.

The Natural trumpet also used a longer length tube than a bugle and more notes were therefore playable with the natural trumpet than are available in the bugle.

This was not a full range of notes so other means had to be used to reach the missing notes, extra crooks were used to lengthen the instrument to allow the extra notes to be reached but then other notes were lost.

Sometimes a slide was used to extend the range of the natural trumpet and the slide trumpet was born. The slide was not used during play but to fix the pitch of the instrument at the start of play to suit the music.

The bugle has a tube length of 4.5 feet and is played within its natural range and has a simple range of 5 or 6 notes

A trumpet has a tube length of 4.5 feet and a simple chromatic range of 5 or 6 notes and is played in its natural range but by using valves more notes are reachable within its natural range. With practice we can reach even higher notes than the bugle range would allow.

A natural trumpet has a tube length of 8 feet and because it is longer and of lower pitch than a bugle or trumpet but it is played into its upper register it has more notes available to the player than its natural range would allow. The notes are close together and the player has far more notes available than a bugle or a trumpet without valves would have.

The Horn has a tube length of 18 feet and is played well above its natural range and because of this an almost complete chromatic range is available without needing valves to reach them.

When valves were created they were added to the trumpet to give it the full chromatic range we have today but they were also added to the Horn because it is easier to manipulate valves than it is to manipulate the embouchure to reach the full range of notes.

This combination of valves and playing with many notes naturally reachable makes the Horn very difficult to control and play well and on pitch compared to a trumpet.
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Mike Prestage
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 2:47 am    Post subject: Re: Field Trumpet/Fanfare Trumpet/Bugle:What is the differen Reply with quote

Satchel wrote:
What is the difference between these military trumpets, and how do they relate to the trumpet in terms of range?

The British bugle as used by e.g. the Royal Marines is pitched in Bb. It has the same length of tubing as an open Bb trumpet (but double wrapped so they're very compact). This means that all British bugle calls can be played, in the intended key, on a Bb trumpet without using the valves. These bugles are otherwise very different to the Bb trumpet. Their tubing is one long taper with very little flaring out towards the bell rim. The rim is small in diameter - around 4".

Your second link is to a recording of the French version of the Bb bugle. The overall look of these is very different to the British design, with a single wrap and a distinct flare in the last couple of inches of the bell out to quite a large rim. I suspect both designs come from similar roots though. A surviving British bugle used at the Battle of Waterloo (pre-dating the standard design still used today) looks much more like the modern French ones! Its nominal key would have been C; in relation to modern A=440 pitch it sounds a bit below Db - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRdUcIfYMqA

British cavalry trumpets are in Eb ('low' Eb in trumpet terms - an octave below the usual valved Eb trumpet). For comparison, a Bb trumpet with all three valves down functions as a natural trumpet in low E. To play cavalry calls at their intended pitch on a Bb trumpet, you'd need to extend slides to grab an extra semitone. Quite apart from tubing length, these instruments are very different to British bugles - they're a much more 'trumpet-like' design with a long section of parallel tubing and a substantial bell flare. They have double-wrapped tubing so in overall dimensions they're similar to a Bb trumpet.

Your last linked video shows French cavalry trumpets which are also in Eb and broadly similar to the British ones.

US bugles are in G (i.e. the same length as a Bb trumpet with valves 1+2) and are another more trumpet-like instrument - the same design is also known as the field trumpet.

The term 'fanfare trumpet' usually refers to valved instruments built in a completely straight form to look impressive for ceremonial use. They come in various keys to allow for different voices in harmonised fanfares. The Bb ones are much like ordinary Bb trumpets apart from the shape.

Mike
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Satchel
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for these answers Bflatman and Mike. Very interesting!
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Mike Prestage
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're welcome. I've just noticed I mixed up two terms in my post. You asked about fanfare trumpets - this term is usually reserved for single-wrapped natural trumpets. The 'proper' name for the ceremonial valved instruments I referred to is 'herald trumpet'. The household cavalry played Reveille on Eb fanfare trumpets at Prince Philip's funeral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa3Gsud_GTY

Mike
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