How Do Trumpets Work?

Series Summary

From Louie to Dizzy to Chet to Miles, and now Wynton and Roy Hargrove, the trumpet has always been one the most popular lead instruments in jazz. Though it does show up in rock, funk and reggae horn sections, and even has a few classical pieces written for it as the lead instrument, our most vivid image of the trumpet is that of a darkened club with wisps of smoke floating around a well-dressed horn player. The trombone is also a popular jazz instrument, especially in larger ensembles. While not as common in jazz ensembles, the flute continues to be a mainstay in symphony orchestras. In this free series of video music lessons, a music store manager will demonstrate the basics of playing the flute, trombone and trumpet. Learn how the trumpet works, how to identify the parts of the trumpet, as well as how to clean it. Also learn how to clean and play a flute and a trombone, as well as how to play them. Chris Behrens will demonstrate playing tips for all three of these instruments and how to play scales on the trumpet.

Video Transcript

"Hi. I'm Chris Behrens with Summerhays Music Center, here in Murray, Utah. And today, we're going to show you how trumpets work. How the trumpets work is you have a mouthpiece; you have a trumpet. You put the mouthpiece into what is called the receiver. Then once you blow the air, the air passes through all the tubes, which go into this valve section. And how you get the different notes on a trumpet is by pressing the different valves. You can either press the buttons one at a time or a combination of the different buttons will give you the different sounds. Then the air will pass from the valve section through the bigger part and come out the bell. And that's what gives you your sound. Also, the different things that can affect the tone, pitch, tuning on the trumpet is the different valves or slides, as they're called. You can adjust the slide for making it be a sharper or flatter tune. And you can adjust the slides for the same thing. And then the biggest part of how you make this trumpet work is blowing air into the trumpet. And what you work on is called your ambisher. And by ambisher, we mean how it looks when you have the trumpet mouthpiece up to your mouth. That is your ambisher and how you blow the air through it. These are just the basics on how a trumpet works. If you have any other questions, you can visit our website at summerhaysmusic.com and ask us any questions you would like."