Large ELINT/SIGINT satellite, over 150 meters in diameter. Essentially a giant lightly-framed dish antenna in HEO that listens to the Earth. Successor to the Jumpseat series. Intel from the Trumpet series, along with others like Mercury, Intruder, and the SB-WASS, is believed to be used in Echelon

Also an old winsock dialer for Windows 3.1. Sure it was a bitch to configure, but it was all we had damn it. It has since been replaced by dialers included with Netscape and Internet Explorer. Also the Shiva Dialer which looks a great deal like Windows 95's Dial up networking.

Note: Doing technical support for this product is pure hell.

The Trumpet is a brass instrument used in Marching Band, concert band, and orchestra. One can recognize a trumpet by noting that it is longer than its cousin, the Cornet, has three valves, and is smaller than most other brass instruments. Perhaps due to the strong breath support required to sustain high notes on the instrument, there is a certain degree of perceived arrogance among trumpet players. Either that, or we're really better than everyone else. Traditional rivalries/cross-breeding exist between the Trumpets and the Piccolos and Clarinets, as well as almost everyone else, thanks to our exceptional playing abilities.

The Grand March in Aida was written for trumpets in B natural and A flat, which are (I'm no musician, but I'm led to understand) a bit unusual for trumpets. Decades later, Tutankhamun's tomb was opened and among the contents transferred to the Cairo Museum were two trumpets in just those keys. There exists a recording of a British military trumpeter playing one. It does indeed sound weird, and perfect for the effect in Aida.

This recording was presumably made in the 1930s. I don't know whether the trumpeter made it through the War.

People, people, people. Marching bands? Marching bands? You are defining trumpets as things used in marching bands? Come on, come on. Ska bands. The trumpet is an (forgive the pun) instrumental part of any ska band. Think of a good song. Does it have a good horn lick? Of course it does. That's the horn section, you see. Makes sense. And in the horn section, what do you find, but... trumpets! So, please. Do the baby some respect. Because ska bands are very cool. Much cooler than marching bands, anyway.

It's a bit strange to talk about an history of the "trumpet", an instrument that has changed probably more than any other throughout its 4,000 year history. But here goes:

If you want to talk about earliest ancestors, you have to mention the Shofar and other vague animal bits into which people first blew, hoping to amplify their own voices. China, Tibet, Japan, Palestine, and Egypt all had their own versions, all following rather closely on the heels of the first percussion instruments. cf. these two biblical passages: Leviticus 25.8-9, referring to the Jubilee year:

Seven weeks of years shall you count-seven times seven years- so that the seven cycles amount to 49 years. Then on the tenth day of the seventh month let the trumpet resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blasts shall echo throughout your land

...and Numbers 10, God speaking to Moses:

Make two trumpets of beaten silver, which you shall use in assemling the community and in breaking camp....It is the sons of Aaron, the priests, who shall blow the trumpets; and the use of them is prescribed by perpetual statute for you and your descendents

Already, we know we're no longer talking about ram's horns for the shepherds. The trumpet, probably a strait metal tube, usually of silver or bronze, with a bell at the end, capable only of the natural tones. The trumpets found in Tutankhamun's tomb, probably similar to those described in the bible, are roughly 120 cm long, with a bell diametr of 26 cm. The passages both indicate use for celebration as well as communication, and indicates a quasi-religious significance. cf. the following from the much later book of Revelations, 8.1:

...and I saw seven angels who stood before the Lord, and seven trumpets (salpinges) were given to them

where each blast in turn, heralds the destruction of the earth.

Let's turn now to Greece; the same word in Revelations is used in the Iliad of Homer, book 18, line 219: ...He cried aloud...piercing as the battle-cry of the trumpet which blasts from raiding hosts besieging a city. A 5th century image of a Spartan hoplite show him blowing a trumpet, roughly a metre long and with a much smaller bell than the Egyptian.

In the ancient Olympics, beginning in the 96th games of 396 B.C., there was a trumpet competition. A known trumpeter, Herodoros of Megara's career spanned some 40 years, with 10 successive victories; he is said to have played for king Demetrios Poliorketes, encouraging his troups in battle with his playing.

The trumpets of the Romans were much more varied; the bucina was a curved instrument, the tuba the straight tube of the Greeks. Aside from their uses in war, they were often used to herald the changes of the hours. Instead of ad primam vigiliam ("at the first watch"), we often find ad primam (or whatever number) bucinam. Cicero also mentions their use in calling assemblies: bucina datur: homines ex agris concurrunt

This all changed very little in the Middle Ages; despite the fact that trumpets, which were thought to mimic/amplify the workings of the human voice, were among the few instruments that could be played during mass, and were used to announce royal arrivals, trumpeters were pretty damn low on the social scale. Finally, in the 16th century, trumpeters somehow figured out that at the higher ranges, the overtone series notes were much closer together, and something close to music, as opposed to the same bloody fanfare over and over again, could be played. This soon led to the formation of guilds and academies, something of a band geek mafia to regulate membership and keep the thing elite.

The 18th century saw further improvements; rejected from almost every string-ensemble or chamber concerto because of its tendency to drown out everybody else, the trumpet got it's first real make-over. Key-pitch was standardised, usually to D or E flat, and a shallower mouthpiece allowed for easier play in the higher ranges. Already, Leopold Mozart and Michael Haydn were producing trumpet concertos in the softer, gentler clarino style. Around this time, too, somebody first hit on the idea of curving the tube, reducing the risk of decapitating somebody with your 2-metre-long trumpet during a particularly rousing solo.

Early attempts around this time to make a "key" trumpet failed miserably. One model simply added saxophone-like keys to the tube. Another, the precursor to the trombone, added a sliding mouthpiece, rather awkward and particularly slow. Thanks to the utter decline of the old school nobility and the rise of democracy, the trumpet, ever connected with royalty and the court, suffered in popularity. It took true marketing genius in 1813 to add actual valves, though the new-found ability to play a full scale didn't do much at first.

A brief overview of the piston valve (not those funky rotary valves those French Horn players use). With none of the three valves depressed, the air through the tube travels the shortest possible distance out the bell. Any one valve reroutes the air through another side-tube, lowering the pitch. When more than one is pressed, the air flows through each one in turn. Genius, huh?

Stiff competition from the more tonal and accurate B-flat Cornet led to the development of the B-flat trumpet, the one still used today.

Around this time, in 1825 in Lyons, was born one Jean Baptiste Arban, the grand-daddy of style (or should be) to every trumpet player; he layed out a Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet, describing the instrument and setting exercises to master the beast. If you really want to learn 18 different ways to triple tongue the Blue Bells of Scotland, he's your man (or was; he died in 1889).

The twentieth century saw a bit of a revival for the poor trumpet. A complete make-over, years of hiding in basements triple-tongueing until the tongue went numb, and the rise of swing, jazz, and ragtime brought the trumpet back to the scene. No longer was the trumpet shoved in the back of the orchestra and given all the uninteresting bits (except in Wagner); he ruled the big bands. Even better, jazz let the trumpeter improvise freely, unchained from the score and free to show a full range from the low F-sharp to the highest of double-high-C's. Louis Armstrong, Herb Alpert (with his weird brand of slightly off-pitch and off-rythmn synchronisation), and Leroy Anderson have done much for it.

Contrary, however, to Mr. Crux's statement, the trumpet is not a hallmark of ska. The first wave saw more trombones and saxophones then trumpets, with exception of only a few pieces like Don Drummond's Down Beat Alley or the Skatalite's Lucky 7. They are almost completely absent from the 2nd wave, which is ska only by virtue of some downbeat-calypso rythmn played on hammond organs.. Only in the newest re-incarnation, 3rd Wave Ska, has the loud brass and the fast lick become important.

To quote Reel Big Fish: was that too much? I never know...

For anyone wishing to do some amateur composition for a trumpet, here are some useful bits of information.

The range of a typical Bb trumpet is about three octaves, the lowest note being F# below middle C. The upper octave is sort of negotiable. Many high school players will have a tough time playing a high C (a C two octaves above middle C). Lead players, or perhaps good lead players, in a high school setting will be able to extend their range higher than a C, possibly up to an E. Professional players can obviously top that. Their range will extend to at least the third G above middle C, and if not higher. Maynard Feguson has some notes in his lead charts extending up to the third C above middle C.

Another important issue is counterpoint. It is rather difficult for a trumpet to run between octaves. Woodwinds can do this rather easily with the help of an octave key. However, brass players must change their embouchure. This is rather difficult to do quickly and repeatedly. This is not to say it is impossible, it is just to ask that a composer doesn't write a trumpet part of random notes from alternating high and low octaves.

There are some tricks that are unique to trumpets which may be useful in jazz composition. One is a valve smear or called 'half valving it'. This is denoted by just a glissando from one note to another or a curve indicating a fall. In either case, the valves are only pressed half way down. The sound that comes out will be a sort of whine, but it will have no distinguishable tone. Dizzy Gillespie was able to give these whines a tone allowing him to have a different tone to his playing. A valve smear will be a glissando like on a trombone, only trumpets have no slide, so the glissando can go even farther down.

Lip trills are a very cool sounding trick. On any Maynard Ferguson album there will undoubtably be lip trills. Lip trills are simply trills done using the lips, and the tongue and throat to an extent. Because the trills are done without keys, there is no sudden change in the note. A lip trill is thus a smoother transistion. Lip trills are done exclusively in the upper octave. This is because the lip trill utilizes the alternate fingerings that are very common in the upper octave.

Another trick is a growl. The first trumpet lick in Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing" (The Chips Ahoy Song for the non-jazz inclined) is a growl. This can be faked using a flutter tongue. The real way is a growl in the back of the throat.

One last trumpet trick, which really isn't much of a trick, is a shake. Shakes sort of sound like a lip trill, but are usually done much lower in the range. To do a shake, a trumpet player will basically shake the trumpet back and forth while sustaining the note. This makes the tone go sharp and flat, sort of sounding like a lip trill. However, doing a shake up top is very difficult since the embouchure has to stay very tight to play high notes. A notation for this is basically the same for a classical trill, only you might want to write 'shake' to get your point across.

Trumpets also can use mutes to affect the tone. One common mute in jazz is the plunger. Plungers create a 'waa waa' sound. In written music, the plunger can be open (denoted by 'o'), half open (1/2 +) or closed (+). Harmon mutes can be used as well. Dizzy Gillespie used a harmon mute a lot on his recordings, or the trumpet part in Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here" has a harmon mute part. This creates a more mellow sound. Cup mutes can muffle the sound as in Glenn Miller's "Tuxedo Junction."

TRUMPET
To sound one's own trumpet; to praise one's self.

The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Trump"et (?), n. [F. trompette, dim. of trompe. See Trump a trumpet.]

1. Mus.

A wind instrument of great antiquity, much used in war and military exercises, and of great value in the orchestra. In consists of a long metallic tube, curved (once or twice) into a convenient shape, and ending in a bell. Its scale in the lower octaves is limited to the first natural harmonics; but there are modern trumpets capable, by means of valves or pistons, of producing every tone within their compass, although at the expense of the true ringing quality of tone.

The trumpet's loud clangor Excites us to arms. Dryden.

2. Mil.

A trumpeter.

Clarendon.

3.

One who praises, or propagates praise, or is the instrument of propagating it.

Shak.

That great politician was pleased to have the greatest wit of those times . . . to be the trumpet of his praises. Dryden.

4. Mach

A funnel, or short, fiaring pipe, used as a guide or conductor, as for yarn in a knitting machine.

Ear trumpet. See under Ear. -- Sea trumpet Bot., a great seaweed (Ecklonia buccinalis) of the Southern Ocean. It has a long, hollow stem, enlarging upwards, which may be made into a kind of trumpet, and is used for many purposes. -- Speaking trumpet, an instrument for conveying articulate sounds with increased force. -- Trumpet animalcule Zool., any infusorian belonging to Stentor and allied genera, in which the body is trumpet-shaped. See Stentor. -- Trumpet ash Bot., the trumpet creeper. [Eng.] -- Trumpet conch Zool., a trumpet shell, or triton. -- Trumpet creeper Bot., an American climbing plant (Tecoma radicans) bearing clusters of large red trumpet-shaped flowers; -- called also trumpet flower, and in England trumpet ash. -- Trumpet fish. Zool. (a) The bellows fish. (b) The fistularia. -- Trumpet flower. Bot. (a) The trumpet creeper; also, its blossom. (b) The trumpet honeysuckle. (c) A West Indian name for several plants with trumpet-shaped flowers. -- Trumpet fly Zool., a botfly. -- Trumpet honeysuckle Bot., a twining plant (Lonicera sempervirens) with red and yellow trumpet-shaped flowers; -- called also trumpet flower. -- Trumpet leaf Bot., a name of several plants of the genus Sarracenia. -- Trumpet major Mil., the chief trumpeter of a band or regiment. -- Trumpet marine Mus., a monochord, having a thick string, sounded with a bow, and stopped with the thumb so as to produce the harmonic tones; -- said to be the oldest bowed instrument known, and in form the archetype of all others. It probably owes its name to "its external resemblance to the large speaking trumpet used on board Italian vessels, which is of the same length and tapering shape." Grove. -- Trumpet shell Zool., any species of large marine univalve shells belonging to Triton and allied genera. See Triton, 2. -- Trumpet tree. Bot. See Trumpetwood.

 

© Webster 1913.


Trump"et, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trumpeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Trumpeting.] [Cf. F. trompeter.]

To publish by, or as by, sound of trumpet; to noise abroad; to proclaim; as, to trumpet good tidings.

They did nothing but publish and trumpet all the reproaches they could devise against the Irish. Bacon.

 

© Webster 1913.


Trump"et, v. i.

To sound loudly, or with a tone like a trumpet; to utter a trumplike cry.

 

© Webster 1913.

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