I was watching a video of Eric Miyashiro playing his version of the Medusa trumpet, his has 3 bells. And I realized we both have the same problem. When soloing on multiple-belled horns, you must move each bell into the microphone, which can be a bit awkward on stage. It's possible to whack the mic with the next bell or be too close or too far away for good mic levels, which are just more factors that can distract you from making great music. So I started thinking, multiple mics built into the horn? Maybe. But what about a horn that has one massive flare that is divided in half or thirds with the divisions designed to produce different overtone series? And then fabricate a set of mutes for one or two of the bells. I could do most of the design work on rhino (cad program) calculating volumes, tapers and lengths before I ever cut a piece. Then I could mill the parts in halves (2 bells) or thirds (3 bells) and assemble the parts. I could revise my Triton design to incorporate this idea and the name would fit. Something to jot down and consider in a year I suppose.
So I leave for Spain soon and am wondering how well I'll do since I don't speak any Spanish. Yep, I took French and German and somehow dodged Spanish altogether despite having visited Old Mexico and Baja several times. It will be good to be out of my element for awhile, so long as I don't end up lost. My Mom is my traveling companion this trip and I think she studied Spanish years ago so maybe we'll be okay. I'm excited to go! We're probably meeting with potential clients as well as a local music store owner who may become a dealer of some of my more standard instruments. And I think there's a masterclass in the works. Then it's on to Italy where I'll be giving a masterclass and showing my horns to some of the best orchestral trumpet players in Rome. Very exciting, but again, I don't speak the language. Let's hope everyone is patient with me. I suppose I can simply play music and they will understand. I would like to write about the mechanics of trumpet playing and design at least a few times a week so please send your requests or questions. Today, I'll briefly discuss bore sizes in standard Bb & C trumpets... There is much confusion and some controversy over this subject. I often hear that you must play a large bore trumpet in orchestra or to have a big sound. This simply isn't true. Although extreme bore sizes can affect the overtone series, it really is unnecessary to design with multiple bores in the Bb/C range of instruments. This is simply because so many other factors affect the overtone series and changing bore size makes consistency more difficult even with a lot of practice. The SHAPE and VOLUME of the following can greatly affect the overtone series whether your goal is bright or dark, focused or broad; oral cavity, mouthpiece cup, throat, backbore, venturi, leadpipe taper, tuning slide and bell. So why have companies changed bore size so many times? Good question and if you know the answer please let me know. My guess is that they were experimenting with multiple inside diameters of tubing and more than one stayed in production due to customer demand. Rather than developing many of the factors mentioned above, they kept small, medium, medium large and large bore versions rather than trying new leadpipes and bells. In my opinion, this had to be an expensive mistake...more on that another time. Back to building trumpets... Jason
3 Comments
AEG
1/15/2011 12:21:18 pm
More from the Einstein's Wife project. . .realize these are not exactly trumpet questions. . .but it is a mind question. . .which presumably partially drives (trumpet) design innovation. Am looking for accounts of internal process of mathematical abstract thought and creativity. . .what is it like when you are designing/creating/implementing. . .is it visual? Instinctual? Linear? Linguistic? An integration of various sorts of thought? Is it a something that is already complete that finds you, and your task is to become intimate with the details of execution? Does the form come first, or the content-or does the content eventually arrange itself into the final form, perfect in the sense of being complete? How much is applied effort/rational thought, and how much is involuntary/intuitive thought? Does an idea run endlessly in your head like music does, for better or for worse? Does it come suddenly upon you like falling in love, seducing you into its own reality until that idea IS your reality? Does it come with a whole family of siblings who also want to be actualized and are noisy and distracting while you are trying to focus on the first idea/project? Is it analogous to musical processes/composition? I'm just a writer/musician and could be totally off with this. . .maybe it's a very literal/linear process and therefore not all that interesting to write about. The people I know who are good at that sort of thing tend not to be the greatest at translating their thoughts into words, and not particularly interested in doing so. Would very much appreciate it if you find these questions interesting enough to spend time on. And you know you can get translation apps for your phone, right? Most people in Europe speak English anyway.
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Tiki
1/18/2011 09:43:03 am
Just have two brief questions regarding your trip:
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John
2/13/2012 09:14:58 am
Smith Watkins agree's with you on the lack of need to have various bore sizes. I would imagine it was far easier for the OEM to simply change bore size then it was to spend time and money trying to design a new leadpipe or bell profile. Bach had what 78 bell mandrels that he had made through trial and error and look how few have remained in constant use especially after Selmer bought Bach.
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Jason Harrelson
Inventor, Musician, Educator and Founder of Harrelson Trumpets, Trumpet Momentum and Harrelson Momentum. Archives
August 2024
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