4. What it sounds like
It is difficult to belive: the sound pressure of a trumpet on the eardrum can reach 140 decibels, which means it is louder than a jet plane at take-off. This does not mean, of course, that a trumpet has to be played full throttle at all times. On the contrary, the wound brass tubing, if properly used, can generate a fascinating variety of sounds.
The full trumpet set of a big bands makes your whole body swing, the trumpets in Aida call out in triumph, and the quiet and delicately breathed sounds of Chet Baker's or Till Brönner's sentimental ballads go straight to the audience's hearts.
Timbre
Since it is capable of producing such a great variety of sounds, the trumpet by its very nature lends itself to carrying the melody in all imagainble genres of music. In the oeuvre of JS Bach, high-pitched trumpets symbolise heroic and divine harmonies. In marching music, it is the trumpet that drives the band ever onwards. The technique of playing decides the sound. While classical music demands striving for a standardised clean sound ideal, an individual and personal sound is desirable for jazz music. So even non-experts can tell the greats, such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie apart after hearing only a few bars of their music.
Related instrumentse
Many trumpet players take recourse to related instruments such as the flugelhorn or the cornet if they want to achieve particular timbres. Representing the horn family of instruments, they usually have a conical bore and are therefore significantly more mellow in sound than the trumpet.
You can find out more about these instruments in their online guides.
