The Trumpet, One of the Most Amazing Musical Instruments

The Trumpet, One of the Most Amazing Musical Instruments

You probably already know this, but the trumpet is one of the instruments that helped develop music genres such as: The blues, jazz, soul and many more. Here’s how it all started...

Trumpet

It all began with the horn. The origin of the horn dates back to ancient Egypt and China. (2000-1000 BC) Than up to the late Middle Ages or baroque era for music, the horn gave birth to many new instruments, one of those were the trumpets. It was mainly used for military purposes and had limited notes due to having no valves.

Than when the renaissance was happening, the trumpet was being used for more of a musical purpose. Cesare Bendinelli was a well known trumpet player during the time for the Vinnese court from 1567-1580 and then changed to the Munich court from 1580 to his death. He is the author of the first ever published book about trumpet lessons.

From 1700-1800 (the classical era for music) the trumpet turned into the slide trumpet, which was a instrument fit for more of a musical feeling and was very similar to a trombone. But the classical era was also a great time for many instruments.

As well, these were amazing times for it was the birth of the classical genre of music. This era was also a great era because it was the era where musicians like Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and many many more flourished.

There wasn’t as many trumpeters as there were pianist but one famous trumpeter was Leopold Mozart, the father of Wolfgan Amadeus Mozart. Leopold’s Trumpet Concerto was completed in 1762. Many trumpeters are familiar with this concerto even in these years.

During the 19th century, the trumpets began to incorporate a valve system with the help of Heinrich Stozel, Friedrich Bluhmel and Francois Perinet for their inventions.

Stozel valve was made in 1814, by Heinrich Stozel, followed by the Rotary valve which was made by the united effort of Heinrich Stozel and Friedrich Bluhmel 4 years later. Than in 1827, Heinrich Stozel invented another valve system, known as the Berlin valve. And in 1838, Francois Perinet created a valve system that is seen and used by many brass instruments of today.

With the trumpet being successfully transformed, the 20th century was than a great time for trumpets. (1900s-2000s) here is a list of some of the famous musical artists that really made the trumpet special:

• Louis Armstrong
• Miles Davis
• King Oliver
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Wynton Marsalis
• Arturo Sandoval
• Maynard Ferguson
• Roy Hargrove
• Clifford Brown
• Rafael Mendez

All of these artists helped in making the trumpet a popular musical instrument, and all of them helped make jazz popular.

Preferably Miles Davis because he had an impact on other music genres. Examples are soul, fusion, bebop, and blues and believe it or not, he had some impact on the development of rock n roll. And Louis Armstrong also recorded one of the earliest rap songs up to date.

Now you know how trumpets evolved over the centuries and what impacts they made to the music industry.

If you haven’t heard a trumpet being played or haven’t really listen to jazz music before, look up some of the names of the artists in my list. Other than that, here's a video of the trumpet being used to play the famous Pink Panther theme.