Royal trumpets

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Grah
Posts: 103
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by Grah »

Reading this article about the crafting of trumpets for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Royal wedding, I get the impression that there are some wrong instrument descriptions being used:

<LINK_TEXT text="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-30/r ... ed/9599796">http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-30/royal-wedding-trumpets-made-in-cow-shed/9599796</LINK_TEXT>

It seems to me that they are bugles and not trumpets. But, the size is going to make them sound more like a trombone :bassclef: than a trumpet :trebleclef: !

Anyway, what could be more attractive for Harry and Meghan than to herald their wedding with a fanfare played on an instrument that sounds like a trombone. :good:
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Neo_Bri
Posts: 1342
Joined: Mar 21, 2018

by Neo_Bri »

The article mentions that they could be "as long as 6 feet" which is probably around a G bugle.
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BGuttman
Posts: 7368
Joined: Mar 22, 2018

by BGuttman »

Trumpet and Bugle refer to the relative levels of conicalness. A trumpet is more cylindrical. In the past trumpets were made without valves much like Waldhorns. Players would use crooks to change the pitch.

There are Herald Trumpet ensembles in the US with different pitched instruments ranging from a regular trumpet length to a bass trombone length.

The one shown in the picture looks very much like the standard of the 16th Century.
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boneagain
Posts: 276
Joined: Mar 24, 2018

by boneagain »

Smith and Watkins both know their stuff. Smith has been one of the greater contributors to brass acoustical knowledge over the last decades.

These "fanfare trumpets" have more to do with baroque trumpets like these:

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_trumpet

than with the valved instruments used by the US Army.

These DO seem a bit wide-bore for playing upper partials, but certainly not conical like a bugle. I wonder if the poor players will be stuck on upper partials, or play more of the lower, bugle-like stuff? The last sentence of the article, a quote from Wright, pretty much says it all, whatever the powers-that-be intend!
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timothy42b
Posts: 1812
Joined: Mar 27, 2018

by timothy42b »

Is it just the angle, or does that mouthpiece look rather large? It looks more like a small trombone mouthpiece than a trumpet mouthpiece.