Sic Semper Tyrannis

The Musical Questions Answer-Man

A couple common search questions keep referring traffic to this blog, so I thought I would go ahead and make it easy for them:

1) "Difference Between Trumpet and Cornet"-
This is a rather simple matter. The major difference between these two types of instruments is in the shape of the tubing making up the horn. A trumpet is basically a metal tube with a flared end-called the bell. It's stubby, shorter cousin is called a cornet. While the trumpet maintains the same diameter of tubing for the length of the instrument, a cornet's tubing gradually gets wider from the lead pipe, (where the mouthpiece goes), all the way to the bell. This is called a "conical bore." It's the same design as the tubing in a french horn.

This difference in design produces slightly different sounds. In general, trumpets have a brighter, more fanfare-like sound, whereas cornets are known for a more mellow tone. However, this is a matter of degrees. "Mellow" on a cornet means a diffeernt thing than "mellow" on, say, a cello.

Also, the moutpieces for these two instruments are similar but cornets start off with a smaller lead pipe and thus, the mouthpieces are a little smaller than those of the trumpet.

I never figured out exactly why kids are supposed to start on cornets in band class rather than on trumpets, other than the smaller, more compact size of the cornet.

I started on the trumpet when I was in sixth grade and when I was forced to start playing cornet in 7th grade I had a major playing crisis. The world as I knew it had somehow slipped away, so I suppose the difference in playing is more drastic than I had thought.

However, the ranges and fingerings are the same for both instruments. Trumpets are regularly available in different sizes, (Bb and C are the most common, but there are piccolos and all kinds of different transpositions, I remember hearing about D and Eb horns as well), whereas cornets are typically only available with a fundamental of Bb. (I'm sure there are some specialty cases, but I'm speaking in generalities here.)

I mentioned the difference in sound of the two instruments. The cornet had its glory days back in the early 20th century with the virtuoso travelling performers like Herbert L Clarke and JB Arban. In general, for most wind band music, (think Sousa), arrangers write parts for both instruments- cornets are often employed for melodic lines and trumpets for fanfare-like counterpoint.

That's about all I can tell you about the differences between cornets and trumpets.

posted by Mike @ 10:41 AM