The piccolo trumpet is the smallest member of the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

family, pitched one octave higher than the standard B trumpet. Most piccolo trumpets are built to play in either B or A, using a separate leadpipe for each key. The tubing in the B piccolo trumpet is one-half the length of that in a standard B trumpet. Piccolo trumpets in G, F, and even high C are also manufactured, but are rarer. The piccolo trumpet should not be confused with the

pocket trumpet 250px, Pocket trumpet in B-flat, with a standard size bell and medium-large bore The pocket trumpet is a B♭ trumpet that is constructed with the tubing wound into a much smaller coil than a standard trumpet, generally with a smaller diameter ...

, which plays in the same pitch as the regular B trumpet.

Types and details

The piccolo trumpet in B is a transposing instrument, which sounds a minor seventh higher than written. It is, however, rarely written for specifically; it is often just used at the player's discretion to cover high material as appropriate. The soprano trumpet in D, also known as the ''Bach trumpet'', was invented in about 1890 by the Belgian instrument maker Victor Mahillon to play the high trumpet parts in music by Bach and

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

. The modern piccolo trumpet enables players to play the difficult trumpet parts of Baroque music, such as Bach's second

Brandenburg Concerto The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' by Johann Sebastian Bach ( BWV 1046–1051), are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, MacDonogh, Giles. ''Frederick the Great: A Life in D ...

and

Mass in B minor The Mass in B minor (), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanc ...

Adolf Scherbaum Adolf Scherbaum (23 August 1909 – 2 August 2000) was a trumpet player who specialised in the piccolo trumpet.Josef Scherbaum

was the first to specialize in the piccolo trumpet repertoire and to discover new baroque works, doing original transcriptions. Maurice André further developed the modern piccolo repertoire, playing the instrument for 50 years. The sound production technique is basically the same as that used on the larger B trumpet. Air pressure and tonguing are different, and players use a shallower mouthpiece for the piccolo trumpet. Almost all piccolo trumpets have four valves instead of three — the fourth valve usually lowers the pitch by a fourth. This extends the low range and provides alternate fingerings and improved intonation for some notes.

Use in "Penny Lane" and elsewhere

The piccolo trumpet solo in

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' " Penny Lane", which introduced the instrument to pop music, was played by David Mason.

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

was dissatisfied with the initial attempts at the song's instrumental fill (one of which is released on '' Anthology 2''), and was inspired to use the instrument after hearing Mason's performance in a BBC radio broadcast of the second

and asking

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...

what the "tremendously high" trumpet was. Eventually Mason recorded the solo using a piccolo trumpet in A. The piccolo trumpet was also used to quote Bach's Invention no. 8 in F major (BWV 779) during the fade-out of " All You Need Is Love". Use of the instrument is now commonplace in many musical genres. Maurice André, Otto Sauter, Guy Touvron,

Reinhold Friedrich Reinhold Friedrich (born 14 July 1958) is a German trumpeter and university lecturer in Karlsruhe. Career Born in Weingarten, Friedrich was from 1983 to 1999 Solo trumpeter at the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt. In 1986 he was awarded a pr ...

Adolf Scherbaum Adolf Scherbaum (23 August 1909 – 2 August 2000) was a trumpet player who specialised in the piccolo trumpet.Josef Scherbaum

, Ludwig Güttler, Wynton Marsalis, and Håkan Hardenberger are some well-known piccolo trumpet players.

References

External links

Maurice Andre website
See section : Piccolo tpt
Piccolo trumpet manufacturers
{{Authority control B-flat instruments A instruments Trumpets

Types and details

Use in "Penny Lane" and elsewhere

See also

References

External links