Academy of Fine Arts

Trumpet
The Trumpet is one of the oldest musical instruments. It was first used for signaling in ancient China (2000B.C.). The earliest trumpet was long and had no valves. In Roman times, the trumpet was played at civilian and military ceremonies. In the late 1300's, it acquired the twice folded shape similar to today's trumpet. Early in history, trumpets became associated with Biblical lore.

The sound of trumpets was meant to represent angels, war, and the end of the world. By the late 1700's, the trumpet became a regular member of the Orchestra. In seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe, the trumpet became very popular. It began to look something like the clarinet, the flute, and the French horn. Later on those instruments developed their own characteristics as wind pieces. In 1815 the valves in the trumpet were invented. Now they are normally made of brass or other metal. Trumpets are played in marching bands, orchestras, jazz bands, brass ensembles, and popular music. Some well known trumpet players from our time are Louis Armstrong, Herb Alpert, and Wynton Marsalis.

The brilliant sound of the trumpet is very popular in the United States especially in marching bands and the popular drum and bugle corps. It is also a favorite of many young people entering band in school programs. From Taps to The Star Spangled Banner, the trumpet adds volumn and flash to the band

Trombone
Given the best evidence, which by all accounts is very much incomplete, the earliest trombone, called the sackbutt and similar names in England, seems to have emerged from Belgium circa 1450. Though the earliest examples of this instrument date to a century later (circa 1550), direct references to musicians and their instruments, and surviving artwork, both establish the existence of the saxbutt circa 1450.

The bells of these earliest instruments terminated in a rimless funnel little wider than 5" in diameter (13cm). Like the modern trombone, these were a tenor instrument, and by the early 17th century there was an alto, a bass and a contrabass version.

These early instruments often came with a variety of crooks, to lower the pitch a tone or more, or in some cases to drop the range of a particular instrument to the next register.

These early instruments were known to have been used to accompany church music, and to have played parts in bands, though parts for these instruments were rarely scored. The evidence suggests that the players of these instruments read from parts that, though not written specifically for these instruments (or any other), were nevertheless intended to be part of the performance practice of the day.
n early jazz the trombone played a more or less functional role, and was usually present as a single instrument. Early jazz bands consisted of a wide variety of instruments, but by the 1930's became more or less standardised, consisting most often of four trombones, four saxophones, four trumpets, and the rhythm section which was made up of bass or tuba, drums, piano, and guitar or banjo.

One soloist of particular note, Tommy Dorsey, was the first to play the trombone as a singing, lyrical solo instrument- a far cry from its more Wagnerian association of the previous century.