Tuning Slide 4.36- Innovation in the Trumpet Field

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

A dream will not become an innovation if there is no realization.
-- Ciputra

I was doing some Internet surfing the other day and came across a journal I had never seen before. The Journal of Brilliant New Inventions from Technological Advances is a little known publication that itself digs into the deep recesses of technological development. They then report on what seems to them to be particularly interesting possibilities. They do give a disclaimer that many of these ideas are many years down the road. Well, I found one that might be of interest to many of us. A small group in California is working on an electric trumpet. Here is part of the introduction to the article that explains its origins and ideas. I have ignored the more highly technical electronics and acoustics to just center on the basics:

The idea of being able to play a trumpet without actually blowing into the mouthpiece seems like a dream filled with nonsense, a fools errand, a desire of only the laziest among musicians. But it has its roots in another instrument from the last century- the electric guitar. As has been explained in a number of histories of the guitar in modern music, the traditional acoustic guitar had a serious flaw- it wasn’t loud enough. However, with the addition of a microphone-type pickup, or a mike set in front of the sound hole, the sound could be amplified.

But only to a point. That point was the feedback point caused by sound waves entering and being recycled due to the hollow body of the acoustic guitar. To make a long story short, the development of a solid body guitar solved the feedback- and volume limits- of guitars. Electric guitars could now be played at a volume unheard of before. They were now able to be utilized in far more types of bands where they could soar above the other instruments.

Mention “volume” to a trumpet player and you will see eyes light up. There will be this dreamy moment when the trumpet musician will think of all the possibilities that even Maynard Ferguson would never have had the imagination to plan for. Yes, a trumpet can be miked, but, like the hollow-body acoustic guitar, there is a limit, that old devil- the feedback loop.

Jeffrey D. One of the inventors, explained the purpose this way.
Just like the electric guitar giving new possibilities to an old instrument, the electric trumpet turns this original and ancient brass instrument into a 21st Century marvel. We have worked to be able to get the electric trumpet into an almost endless set of possibilities.

With the solid-body electric guitar, the guitarist naturally still had to pluck the strings, but it no longer required a great deal of effort to get the volume up. The strings didn’t need to make much sound- the pickups did all that work.

The inventor of the eTrumpet compared that to the way he expects this new trumpet to require similar skills to the acoustic trumpet.

Just because it is electronic and will not require the level of air pressure to produce sounds does not mean it will be easier to play. An eTrumpeter will need to develop the same dexterity of fingering that an acoustic player has to have. There will not, however, be the same development of embouchure and therefore will not take the same level of physical stamina. Things like the “whammy bar” and then the electronic pedals and effects added never before heard sounds to the guitarists repertoire. Some trumpet players, especially in jazz, have been successfully experimenting with similar effects in live performances. It would appear that this new electric trumpet will bring that new sound into the hands of more people.

The inventor did not go into a great deal of detail on the electronics or how different octaves would be produced since most of that does occur with air pressure and embouchure. The prototype he displayed for the journal article seemed to indicate that an octave switch would be on the left side of the horn where the left thumb could be used to move up the scale. He did not plan on the early versions going below the normal lower F# below the staff or the high C above the staff.

He admitted to some criticism already being aimed at him. He refused to get into any arguments about the “honesty” of the sound or the “sense of cheating” that some have said his instrument would engender. “Anyone can get a sound out of an electric guitar more easily than an acoustic, but that does not make them into an Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix overnight,” he added. In saying this he also made clear that this is not going to be just a toy, but rather a sophisticated and whole new musical instrument.

— Link

The original release date of the commercial version of the eTrumpet was to be this week, but some obstacles needed to be cleared. It is now projected that the release date will be one year from today. And if you did not follow the above link, well, one year from today will also be an April 1.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
— Alexander Pope

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay