![]() The orchestrator should be looking for ways to utilise the unique sound of these instruments, not just in their top octave. Though they’re not a lot higher in physical range, they take the best timbral qualities of the middle-high range of the standard trumpet and make them much more comfortable to play above G5. The answer is to stop thinking of these high trumpets as extensions of range, and start thinking of them as extensions of register or tone colour. 40a: The realities of upper range limits on high auxiliary trumpets. ![]() If our three instruments only give the composer a ceiling of range that’s a few notes higher, then what’s the point? Fig. The B♭ piccolo, pitched a minor 7th higher than the C, peters out for most players at a written A6, sounding G6. The E♭ is only a half-step higher than the D. The D trumpet really isn’t a whole lot higher than the C trumpet in terms of available partials. It’s not about the high range as much as it is about the tone. I would called it “pointed” and “ringing” rather than shrill – at least from a professional player with a great instrument. The D and E♭ trumpets have a wonderful clarity of tone. There’s a self-defeating range of descriptive terminology in many orchestration manuals on the topic of the high trumpets: “piercing,” and “shrill.” It gives the impression of a standard trumpet being pushed past its comfort zone. With this in mind, the sopranino and piccolo trumpets were designed, which can scale these heights with clarity. The natural limitations of timbre make themselves felt even as high as a standard high C6. Some jazz players can get any high pitch from their trumpets, pushing them up above C7, but this is hardly a concert music sound. It takes a trained lip to go higher than this. The modern trumpet is scaled-down in size, so that its clarino register is now manageable using the 8th and possibly 9th partials, taking the player up to a usual upper limit of written D6. This repertoire remains, but the technique does not (except with some period music specialists). This was the octave from written C5-C6 – usually sounding in a higher key such as F. On old-style natural trumpets, tuning was limited to the harmonic series so in order to play melodic parts, a trumpeter had to train their lip to a tighter embouchure, giving the player complete control from the 8th to the 16th partial. “Clarino” also refers to a specific high register, one which trumpet players of the Baroque period made a specialty in the Baroque period. Interestingly, one may still find some scores in which trumpet parts are marked “clarino” in a general sense, intimating a relationship between the two families, though this of course is one of perception rather that technique or construction. ![]() There are even contrabass models for both instruments (becoming more common for clarinet but a somewhat pointless exercise for trumpet). And both have commonly-used bass models extending an octave down from the main models. Both have specialty instruments that are true piccolos – the rare A♭ clarinet and the B♭ piccolo trumpet. Both families have higher models (sometimes called “piccolo” but actually sopranino) in D and E♭. Both have two main models that are tuned by one or two half-steps apart – in the case of trumpets, these are the B♭ and C models. ![]() The trumpet family is similar to the clarinet family in some respects. When scoring for auxiliary trumpets, be aware that considerations of tone are always more important that extensions of range. ![]() 40 from “100 Orchestration Tips,” Part 2: The Brass Section) ![]()
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