natural trumpets

[lrg bore pwr]

i was wondering if so many trumpet concerti were written for horns that were valvless, keyless or slideless, why are they not played on such horns today. i realize that those horns cannot compare to those of today. but i woud still like to see a performance of one of the clarinos or sackbutts

[NelleTrumpet]

I don't know about seeing a performance, but Dave Baum has a natural trumpet discography on his site:

http://www.goucher.edu/physics/baum/ntcdl.htm

Pretty interesting stuff.

[bj]

[PC]

Hello,

Yes, I've got two of Eklund's cd's, and I can only say Wow. I myself play a little nat, usually with amateur ensembles or with my organist in church. I have played 1st on Bach B minor mass and Magnificat, second on some Purcell stuff, the 1st mvt. of Handel suite for trumpet and the Biber mass (1st trumpet in 1st choir of 4 trumpets). The Biber was quite a blast, with a pro player in the orchestra who also got to play the Finger sonata for trp and violin (an English guy, forgot the name, he teaches in Colchester).

Anyway, this to say that actually quite a few people do play stuff on the nat, it's fun and challenging and the sound can be very sweet or fiery (I think a characteristic of small bore but long tube). Nowadays, everyone uses trumpets with vent holes, a technique which started in the late 18th, leading to Haydn's keyed trumpet. This corrects written Fs and As, splitting the natural Fsharpish into F and F# and bringing up the A into tune. Another hole is situated at midpoint between mouthpiece and bell, catching the wave node for the written C arpeggio, thus securing attacks on quite a few notes. This is how most recorded music is played, although if you check some of Chrispian Steele Perkins CDs, he uses an historic instrument on some tracks (with no holes), creating a sweeter sound but funny tuning. I mostly use a compromise, playing mostly with holes closed where I can, cheating on the bad notes (F, F# and A) and on isolated high note attacks (high G, Bb, B and high C, D) or when getting tired. I figure this is not too bad, since I have a modern copy, not a hand hammered instrument (too expensive!) and use my normal modern mouthpiece. Actually, I now work on Purcell's trumpet tune (the wedding thing) and manage sometime to bend the concert D to sound a C# in the second part of the melody.

To cut short, I recommend you to listen to some CDs by CS Perkins, Friedmann Immer, Steven Keavy, Niklas Eklund and Bennett, among others. If you have the opportunity, try learning to play a nat, it is great fun (no valve licks to worry about)!

Cheers,
Pierre.

[ This Message was edited by: PC on 2002-04-30 03:21 ]