Cornet

The cornet is a member of the brass (Hornbostel–Sachs 423.232). Listen to 2 recordings and learn how it makes its sound.

Listen to the cornet

100,1 Tre melodier spillet på kornet

2:18CC0 1.0by Gottfried Ruben , Ruben-samlingen …Wikimedia Commons

2:18

Rm-sursilv-il cornet da nuschs

0:02CC0 1.0by Speaker: Erwin ArdüserWikimedia Commons

0:02

Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.

How the cornet makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the cornet belongs to the brass (lip-vibrated aerophones): the player's buzzing lips set the air column vibrating – trumpets, horns, trombones, tubas and the didgeridoo.

More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.

Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.

From Wikipedia

The cornet (, US: ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B♭. There is also a soprano cornet in E♭ and cornets in A and C. All are unrelated to the Renaissance and early Baroque cornett.