Taking a note down?

[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

Today I was suddenly asked to play for Palm Sunday tomorrow. For background, I've been playing low brass lately and haven't played trumpet in a few weeks. Normally I'm comfortable up to a high C. The piece they gave me ends with a two bar A above the staff. It's not that high and the first half dozen times I played it I played well, BUT I picked the trumpet up later and tried again and it was pretty fuzzy.

Is there a safe interval to take the note down without dropping a full octave? This is in the key of D (two sharps). I'm wondering if like a D or F# would work. I can just try different combos tomorrow, but I'm wondering if there's a rule for situation like this?

[claf]

Depends on the chord harmonization in the orchestra.
I wouldn't change the note (except changing the octave) without asking the director first.
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[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

This helps (chord harmonization) and is what I was wondering. It's not a real orchestra, just a piano, choir, and me. This would be the 5th note of a major chord, so I am guessing the 1st (D) or 3rd (F#) note would also work? I can try it a few ways during practice and see what everyone says.

[kehaulani]

It also depends on the chordal rhythm. If it's on the beat and significant, use a chordal tone. If it's a weak beat and a passing tone, you might get away with anything that doesn't stick out. In that case, it's still safer to make the passing tone between two chordal tones diatonic, or played as a chromatic approach note into a chord tone.
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[zaferis]

Lots of variables.. but firstly you want to play well, musically, and tones that fit the chord structure and style of music, and you may consider what I would call "voice leading" - the musical line (the shape of the line, how you get there) Maybe you change the line a little (not just a single note) to make more musical/lyrical sense - So, take a look at the piano part/score and find your options - you may find that playing the 5th or the 3rd isn't as satisfying as the root.. again depending on what's going on around you.

Yes, so an A down an octave played well is far preferable to a choked, squeezed , or non existent A up the octave.
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[dstpt]

Try an Eb. I like that note.

[homebilly]

[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

Thanks everyone! In the end I play the A, but I didn't blast it. I did look in the score and the D or F# would have worked--chords seem to be the way to go.

This was a really funny one. They'd mentioned a month ago that maybe I could play "Let the Trumpet Sound" at some point around Easter. They gave me a musescore file the day before that was way beyond my level Lots of interval fanfares up and down the staff. I told them I could do the core melody and was happy to play and in the end it turned out fine. I think it's dangerous when non-brass folk try to write brass parts...

[dstpt]

[david johnson]

[dstpt]