Why is trumpet a bb instrument

Next post ». Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Meta Register Log in. Follow Following. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Loading Comments A good experiment is to have two instruments, like a trumpet and a sax, play a G not a concert G but their regular G.

If the note matches then they play in the same key, if they dont then they play in different keys. Jameh 44 points Posted by Jameh. I hate this really. What I hate even more is how the tuba reads. The tuba is a C instrument, meaning it reads all of it's music in concert pitch, and yet open valves for it is a Bb exactly like on the trumpet. Why do they make all these confusing rules?? It's called a Bb trumpet because the horn is pitched in Bb tubing length puts it in the key.

So when you play an open C on a Bb trumpet you're actually playing a concert Bb. Now a c trumpet is shorter than a Bb trumpet, so therefore it's pitched in a higher pitch Concert pitch is like the real note.

When someone says play a Bb, you grab a piano and play a Bb Concert pitch is based off the key of C This relates to 'concert pitch'. Instruments such as the piano, flute, oboe, and stringed instruments play at concert pitch; they play a C and it really is a C.

In fact the vast majority of wind instruments don't play at concert pitch! In addition to the trumpet, this is the same for most other brass instruments, and also clarinets, saxophones and Cor Anglais. Now while this may seem complicated, it is actually to make life as a musician a lot easier. If you were to unravel a trumpet it would be a long tube. On that tube you can play a series of notes; make this tube smaller you would be able to play notes of a higher harmonic series. This is the same for all instruments; the longer or shorter the instrument, the difference in range.

However, when you change the length, you change the notes. If you had to learn different fingerings to play and sound a C for instance on all the harmony instruments you'd have quite a job; it's much simpler to use the same fingering on all the instruments and just change the notation of the music instead.

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Lito Reply May 13, at am So, when a B-flat trumpet plays a C, and it sounds B-flat, is the note that is played objectively B-flat, or does a trumpet merely appear to sound B-flat due to the mechanics of sound in an orchestra setting? Markus Reply June 13, at am When I initially commented I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added I recieve four emails with the same comment.

There has to be a way you are able to remove me from that service? Appreciate it! Leave a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. TrumpetHeadquarters on What is Concert Pitch? Lito on What is Concert Pitch? Tags air flow balance Black female Black Lives Matter Black musicians Black women BLM busy change concert pitch Denis Wick diversity endurance fatigue finger fundamentals high notes inclusivity lip pain listening long practice major keys metronome minor keys mistake recovery mistakes money mouthpiece musicianship opinion patience performance anxiety playing high practice pressure private lessons reading sheet music sight-reading time management tips tired tired lips tongue arch trumpet lessons trumpet teacher.

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