CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK

THE EXPRESSION
OF MUSIC

the
trumpet
book
1 Gabriele Cassone
The Trumpet Book,

the
trumpet
the English edition of the
celebrated La Tromba by Italian
Gabriele Cassone received his conservatory
trumpet virtuoso Gabriele Cassone, diploma in trumpet following studies in
is a thoroughly researched, performance with Mario Catena and studies in
composition with Luciano Chailly. He is not only
beautifully illustrated volume by world-renowned as a historical artist, performing
on period instruments (Baroque natural trumpet,
one of the great performers of our Classical keyed trumpet, rotary valve trumpet
time. With more than 400 color and cornet pistons), but enjoys equal fame as a

book
contemporary musician.
photos and musical examples, the Luciano Berio selected Cassone to record his
Sequenza X for solo trumpet, and to premiere his
book offers

The Trumpet Book CD is an audio portrait of
the evolution of the trumpet and its repertoire,
with recordings of masterworks from the
Baroque to Contemporary eras, using five
trumpet
book
Kol-Od, performed with the Ensemble
a comprehensive history Intercontemporain under the direction of Pierre
Boulez. He has also shared the stage with
of the instrument celebrated trombonist Christian Lindberg in
performances of Berios opera Cronaca del Luogo,
and survey of its repertoire. commissioned by the Salzburg Festival. Famous
Cassone provides an insiders view international conductors have requested Cassone
for performances of the most demanding
of trumpet technique, from

different instruments: natural trumpet,
keyed trumpet, alto trumpet in D, cornet,
and modern C trumpet.
This companion disc, compiled exclusively for
readers of The Trumpet Book, includes studio
and live recordings that were previously
unreleased or were not commercially available.
virtuoso performances by Cassone
Thanks to Arcophone-Pirelli RE, Amadeus
magazine, the Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra
of Milan, Academia Montis Regalis,
the
trumpet repertoire: Sir John Eliot Gardiner
named him principal trumpet of the English
Baroque performance practice Baroque Soloists for the entire cycle of J.S.
Bachs Cantatas and the Second Brandenburg
to extended techniques Concerto, and Ton Koopman, director of the
in contemporary music. Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, requested him as
trumpet soloist for the ensembles recording of
The companion CD includes Cantata BWV 51 by Bach.
Gabriele Cassone performs in a duo with
organist Antonio Frig, with whom he co-
of masterworks on historical founded the Baroque music group Ensemble
Pian&Forte, which maintains an intense concert
and modern instruments. and recording schedule. Cassone has given solo

Gabriele Cassone
AGON studios, and Edizioni Suvini Zerboni. concerts in major international venues, including
the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Cit de la
Musique in Paris, La Scala in Milan, the
Mozarteum in Salzburg, New Yorks Carnegie
Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and
the Vienna Konzerthaus. He is featured on more
than twenty acclaimed compact disc recordings
in repertoire spanning the centuries from the
Baroque through the contemporary era.
Gabriele Cassone serves on the faculties of the
Conservatory of Novara in Italy, the Hochschule
in Lucerne, Switzerland, and the Center for
Advanced Musical Studies/Chosen Vale
International Trumpet Seminar in New
Hampshire. He is frequently featured as guest
lecturer and teacher at masterclasses in Europe
and in the United States, and is a regular jury
member at prestigious international competitions
throughout the world.
ISBN 88-87203-80-6
Zecchini Editore
IS
B
N

Zecchini Editore
97
8-

59,00 US $ 75.00 9 788887 203806 CD included

88-
8
72
03
-8
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 Contents

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To the reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX
Forward by Sir John Eliot Gardiner . . . . . . . XI
Preface by Gabriele Cassone . . . . . . . . . . . . XIII
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The Trumpet: Physical Characteristics and

History
1. A definition of the trumpet and its physi-
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cal properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Ancient instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
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The harmonic series . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Length and measurement . . . . . . . . . . 4
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Other tones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Various methods of producing the com-
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plete chromatic scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2. The origins of the trumpet . . . . . . . . . 9
3. The trumpet during the Medieval period 19
4. The Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5. The Baroque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Instrument manufacturers . . . . . . . . . 62
6. The Trumpet from the end of the 1700s
and in the 1800s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

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 Contents

7. The invention of valves . . . . . . . . . . . 75

8. Nineteenth century orchestral repertoire 93

The Natural Trumpet

1. History from the 1600s and 1700s, and
Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
2. Embouchure and mouthpiece placement 114

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3. Articulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4. Pitch, Tuning and Temperament . . . . . 133

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Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Tuning and Temperaments . . . . . . . . . 135

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5. Vibrato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

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Contemporary Music for Trumpet
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
2. Problems of interpretation . . . . . . . . . 142
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3. Physical and theatrical aspects . . . . . . . 143
4. General technical aspects . . . . . . . . . . 143
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5. The trumpet and electronic music . . . . 166
6. Non-traditional notation and improvisa-
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tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7. Theatrical gestures and movement . . . . 170
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Instrumental equipment
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1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
2. The Mouthpiece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
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3. The Parts of the Trumpet . . . . . . . . . . 186

4. Modern Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
B-flat instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
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Trumpet or Cornet in A. . . . . . . . . . . 199

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C trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
D/E-flat trumpets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
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Trumpets in E, F and G . . . . . . . . . . 203

Trumpets in high G, A, B-flat and C . . 204
Low D, E-flat, F and G trumpets . . . . 207
5. Original instruments and copies in use
today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
6. Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

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 Contents

The Mute
1. The mute in early music . . . . . . . . . . 223
2. Modern trumpet mutes . . . . . . . . . . . 229
3. Selecting a mute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
4. Using mutes in performance. . . . . . . . 239
5. Care of mutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Modern Trumpet Technique

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1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
2. Breathing and Sound Production . . . . . 246
3. Arnold Jacobss Song and Wind . . . . . 260
4. The Embouchure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

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5. Studies, Method Books and the Daily
Warm-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
6. Tonguing and Articulation . . . . . . . . . 279
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The Trumpet in Jazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
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1. The Origins of Jazz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
2. Early Jazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
3. The Swing Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
4. Bebop and Latin Jazz . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
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5. Cool Jazz to Hard Bop . . . . . . . . . . . 301

6. Post Bop, Modal Jazz, and Classical In-
fluences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
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7. Free Jazz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

8. Fusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
9. Into the New Millennium. . . . . . . . . . 319
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Index of names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

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Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
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Iconography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

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 The Trumpet: Physical Characteristics and History

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Carved detail from the
quity: tuba, lituus, cornu, and bucina. These can be

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Trajans Column. Note at
the left a cornu player,
interpreted as follows: and in the center, a
bucina player.
Tuba: straight bronze instrument, comprised of a cy-
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lindrical or slightly conical tube and a flared bell.
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Lituus: Etruscan J-shaped instrument, generally Cornu, Museo
Archeologico Nazionale
made of bronze, also used (and later abandoned) by di Napoli

the Romans in the 1st century AD. This name sur-

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vives in poems of the Roman era.

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Cornu: Etruscan C-shaped instrument, later adopted

by the Romans and subsequently modified to a G-
et

shape during the Imperial period.

Bucina: simple instrument formed from an animal
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horn (from the Latin bos=bull, canere=to play).

The correct pronunciation is BOO-chee-na. In the
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late Imperial period, there is also record of the instru-

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ments name spelled as buccina.

The Roman trumpet was used above all as a military
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instrument. The most complete record of the instru-

Bronze cornu from

the 4th-3rd century BC.
British Museum, London

15
 The Trumpet: Physical Characteristics and History

Severino Boetius, De
Aritmetica, De Musica,
14th century, Biblioteca
Nazionale, Napoli

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their hiring party, rich uniforms and cavalry indeed

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an enviable social position of the time. They were also

responsible for musical entertainment at feasts and
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banquets.
Court trumpeters were also used in public appearances
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of their noble employers, in wartime maneuvers, and

during peaceful periods, in the tournaments of the Manesse Codex (detail),
12th century,
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knights. Further, the trumpet figured highly in public Heidelberg University

Library
ceremonies such as coronations, weddings and bap-
tisms. The European courts and independent cities
hired trumpet players, foremost as guardians of the
city, but also to give importance and majesty to festivals.
From the 14th century on, musicians began to form
guilds and fraternities based on the feudal system of

27
 The Trumpet: Physical Characteristics and History

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Detail of the
trumpet bell built by
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Anton Schnitzer Sr.,
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Nuremberg, 1585,
donated by Cesare
Bendinelli to the
Accademia
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Filarmonica di
Verona
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Detail of one of the

two crests
 The Trumpet: Physical Characteristics and History

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in Keyed bugle fingering
chart from a German
method book,
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circa 1830,
Trompetenmuseum,
Bad Sackingen

on an instrument manufactured in Dublin by Mat-

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thew Pace. Evolving from a natural signal instru-

ment, the keyed bugle showed itself to be a very versa-
tile instrument, suitable for introduction into military
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bands, as related by John Bernard Logier (1777-1846)

in his Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Royal
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Kent Bugle. The instrument continued to grow in po-

pularity throughout Europe. Numerous methods for
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keyed bugles were written during this period in Eng-

land, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States.
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In America, the keyed bugle was extremely popular

from 1815 on, especially the smaller E-flat instru-
ment, and was played by performers of great virtuosity.

7. The invention of valves

The introduction of valves (pistons and similar de-
vices) to the trumpet was a very important innova-

75
 The Trumpet: Physical Characteristics and History

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B-flat cornet with three
piston valves, Stolzel mando Ghitalla in the Boston Symphony throughout
tb
system built by Laberte
Humbert in Paris in their respective careers. Voisin used the above men-
1850, Bad Sackingen
tioned J. Thibouville-Lamy model but with only four
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Trumpet Museum
pistons, and Ghitalla used a Bach C trumpet that had
been modified by William Tottle with a rotor applied
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to the main tuning slide: when engaged, the instru-

Piston valve G trumpet, ment was shortened by a tone transforming it in D.
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Perinet system, built by

Antoine Courtois in
Paris in 1862, Bad
In this key, it was possible to make use of the natural
et

Sackingen Trumpet
Museum
overtone series without using the pistons.
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90
 The Natural Trumpet

Later, there was a marked decline of variety in articu-

lation as compared to the 1600s. The inequality in-
herent in the couplets is obtained with different sono-
rities (see Figure 1), and, according to the stylistic
Figure 1

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tendencies of the time, were adapted more for use
in legato and less in fast phrases with more than two
Figure 2 notes (see Figure 2).

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Altenburg makes reference to an articulation he calls
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schwebende, which should be applied to notes written

with a dot above them and connected by a phrase
marking (Figure 3), to be performed with an expres-
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Figure 3
sive crescendo or diminuendo.
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Such figures are frequent in Bach (example from the

Second Brandenburg Concerto, see Figure 4).
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Figure 4

In addition to the schwebende, the uberschlagende was

another articulation of the same sort, but applied to

132
 Contemporary Music for Trumpet

Example from Berios Fast mute changes. Sometimes it is necessary to in-

Sequenza X, Universal

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Edition sert, remove or change mutes very quickly. One piece
requiring fast changes is Takemitsus Paths, in which

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the performer must quickly alternate between open
Hakan Hardenberger and Harmon muted passages. Some performers (in-

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cluding Hakan Hardenberger, to whom the work is
dedicated) choose to mount the Harmon mute on a

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stand, which allows them simply to move the trum-
pet bell onto the mute at the appropriate times in
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the performance. This lets the performer keep both
hands on the instrument and avoid awkward gestures
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between passages.
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Example from In cases where the performer is moving about onstage

Takemitsus Paths,
Schott and cannot place mutes on a table or stand, it is possi-
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ble to carry mutes with them in a small bag tied to their

waist, or even on a specially-constructed belt, as Mar-
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kus Stockhausen did for the performance of many

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pieces of his fathers music (see photo on page 222).

Some performers use a custom-made double-bell
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trumpet that allows them to switch between muted

and unmuted sounds, by means of a dedicated valve
that accesses the second bell. (see photo on page 158).

Pedal tones. Pedal tones on the trumpet are the notes

below written F-sharp2 (sounding E2 on a B-flat trum-

150
 Instrumental equipment

Besson B-flat cornet

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are often parts for two trumpets and two cornets. This
was common practice in Berliozs time around
1833 as the orchestra of that era included two nat-
ural trumpets (valves were added later) and two piston

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valve cornets. These parts should not be played on
four modern trumpets, but rather the original instru-

in
mentation should be respected to preserve the compo-
sers intention in varying the tone color. There are
also important solo parts for cornet in the 20th cen-
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tury orchestral repertoire, for example Lieutenant
B-flat rotary valve Kije and Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev, and
flugelhorn built by G.
Olivieri, in the Istituto Petrushka and LHistoire du Soldat by Igor Stravinsky.
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Brera collection, Novara,

Italy

The flugelhorn is an instrument used most

frequently by jazz musicians. Its use is on the
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rise also in the orchestral repertoire. Its prima-

ry characteristic is its mellow sound, which is
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very effective in slow lyrical passages. The flu-

gelhorn is even more conical than the cornet,
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and like the cornet, uses a deep mouthpiece

with a shorter shank than the trumpet. These
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characteristics help to overcome the inherent

intonation defects and help create the mellow
sound of the instrument.

The structure of the flugelhorn includes a very

short leadpipe that is adjustable, sliding in and
out to tune the instrument, and held in place

196
 The Mute

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Whisper mute (Shastock

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Whispa) and Mel-o-
wah mute (Humes and
Berg)

a wah-wah mute. The cork completely closes the in-

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strument, so that the sound exits only from felt-cove-

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red holes at the end of the mute. The whisper mute
consequently adds a great deal of resistance to the in-
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strument. These mutes are useful for very soft passa-
ges in orchestral music, or in chamber music settings
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where extremely delicate textures are required. They
can also be used as practice mutes.
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Mel-o-Wah mute. The mel-o-wah mute has a shape

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similar to the straight mute, but it also has a conti-

nuous strip of cork, and is used more like the wah-
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wah mute. It can be used for more subdued wah-

wah effects.
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Solotone mute. The solotone or cleartone mute is an-

other mute with a continuous strip of cork, but of a
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more open design than the mel-o-wah mute. Its nar-

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rowly focused sound is reminiscent of old acoustic re-

cordings and early radio broadcasts.
Solotone mute

Hat or Felt Crown. The hat, so called because of its

origins as an old felt fedora without the brim, can ta-
ke many forms. Early jazz trumpeters, who someti-

234
 Modern Trumpet Technique

Embouchure visualizer

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Trumpet players with a weak low range should work
on low buzzing, and those who need to perfect a high
range passage should work on it slowly with the
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mouthpiece, being sure to play all of the intervals

in tune.
Using the mouthpiece alone to practice difficult pas-
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sages that must be learned on the trumpet can be very

useful in centering and improving sound quality. Of-
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ten, practicing by buzzing a passage in which you fre-

quently miss notes will also be difficult, especially the
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missed note. On the trumpet such a note or passage

may have a fuzzy, out of tune sound, while on the
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mouthpiece alone it will generally be difficult to get

the lips to actually vibrate the note. This obstacle
can be overcome by playing small glissandos from
notes close to the pitch that is difficult to produce.
The exercises and methodology by James Thompson
in The Buzzing Book (E ditions BIM) are very useful
to this end.

259
 The trumpet in jazz

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tb
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Clifford Brown
(photo by Francis Wolff,
The second major style of the period was an extension
*c Mosaic Images, of Fats Navarros approach. Clifford Brown (1930-
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www.mosaicrecords.com)
1956) was one of the most brilliant trumpeters of
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all time. His solos had the harmonic and rhythmic

Lee Morgan
(photo by Francis Wolff, sophistication of Bebop but looked ahead towards
*c Mosaic Images,
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www.mosaicrecords.com) Hard Bop. By the time he was 22, he was already a

major figure in jazz.
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His work as co-leader

of a quintet with drum-
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mer Max Roach from

1954-56, his appear-
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ances on jam session

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dates, and his record-

ings with singers are
consistently rewarding.
A number of his com-
positions (such as Joy
Spring, Daahoud,

302