Listen to the trumpet
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the trumpet makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the trumpet 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.
Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.
Range of the trumpet
The typical range of the trumpet runs from E3 (164.8 Hz) to B♭5 (932 Hz) – about 2.5 octaves. Harmonics extend its sound far higher.
From Wikipedia
The trumpet is a brass instrument. The most common type of trumpet is a transposing instrument in B♭, with pitches sounding a whole step lower than written. The trumpet family includes instruments ranging from the piccolo trumpet, with the highest register in the brass family, to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B♭ or C trumpet.
Other brass
Trombone
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Tuba
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
French horn
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Brass instrument
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Vuvuzela
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Didgeridoo
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Cornet
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Flugelhorn
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Questions people ask
Real questions from the Stack Exchange community – follow a link to read the discussion.
- Why can a flugelhorn easily play its fundamental frequency, when a trumpet can't? · Physics SE
- C Trumpet in Beethoven's 5th symphony · Music SE
- Is there any difference between a soprano trombone and a slide trumpet? · Music SE
- How long can a professional trumpet player go without practicing before seeing detrimental effects? · Music SE
- Trumpet low C♯ and D · Music SE
Frequently asked questions
What does a trumpet sound like?
Listen to 5 recordings on this page. As one of the brass, its sound comes from the way the player's buzzing lips set the air column vibrating.
What type of instrument is the trumpet?
It is classified as brass (lip-vibrated aerophones) (Hornbostel–Sachs 423.233).
Sources & credits
- Trumpet loop 1 (Carrai Pass) by Pannage – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Lick Trumpet by ChickSR – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Trumpet 03 by Mozart – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Night on the Docks - Trumpet (ISRC USUAN1100136) by Kevin MacLeod – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Acid Trumpet (ISRC USUAN1100339) by Kevin MacLeod – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q8338 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Trumpet – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by PJ , background cropped by EWikist – CC BY-SA 3.0