Credits
Editing by Samuel Johnstone
Illustrations by Juliane Pieper
Research for this blog was made possible by a generous scholarship from the Berlin Senate.
Tag Archives: half valve
The Double-Bell Trumpet
When I first saw Marco Blaauw’s double-bell trumpet, I was fascinated but skeptical. The effects are great, but are they enough to justify this huge modification of the instrument? Not to mention the expense of having one built! I avoided … Continue reading
Posted in Auxiliary Instruments, Contemporary Techniques
Tagged double bell trumpet, half valve, mutes
1 Comment
Half-Valve
In classical trumpet playing, half-valve sounds are usually unintentional and a sign that you aren’t fully depressing the valve, or that you seriously need to oil your valves because they aren’t coming back up fast enough. This “mistake” has been … Continue reading
Trills, Shakes and Tremolos
Trills Standard half-step trills are easily played across the trumpet’s entire range using the valves. Whole-step trills can be tricky depending on the pitches and fingerings used. Listed below are the more technically awkward whole-step trills on the trumpet. Tremolos … Continue reading
Posted in Standard Techniques
Tagged bisbigliando, half valve, ligeti, lip trill, shake, stockhausen, tremolo, trill
3 Comments
Split-Tones
My first venture into split-tones was over ten years ago for a performance of the piece “Humans in Motion” by Canadian composer Annesley Black. If I remember correctly, there was one single split-tone in my part – one of the … Continue reading