Trumpet player Don Crenshaw / Dirty Red, Shreveport

Don Crenshaw / Dirty Red, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments,[1] dating back to at least 1500 BCE.

They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the trumpet.

The typical trumpet is a B flat, piston valve horn.

The bronze and silver trumpets from Tutankhamun's grave in Egypt, bronze lurs from Scandinavia, and metal trumpets from China date back to 1500 BCE.[2] Trumpets from the Oxus civilization (3rd millennium BCE) of Central Asia have decorated swellings in the middle, yet are made out of one sheet of metal, which is considered a technical wonder.[3] The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art going back to 300 CE.[4]


The earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used for military or religious purposes, rather than music in the modern sense;[5] and the modern bugle continues this signaling tradition.

In medieval times, trumpet playing was a guarded craft, its instruction occurring only within highly selective guilds. The trumpet players were often among the most heavily guarded members of a troop, as they were relied upon to relay instructions to other sections of the army.

piccolo trumpet
pocket trumpet
cornet
flugelhorn
slide trumpet
bugle
bass trumpet