Trumpet Mouthpiece Research Articles

The wreck of the Gloucester revisited

Abstract The wreck of the frigate Gloucester off Norfolk on 6 May 1682 has always figured in histories of the Restoration period; it was taking James, Duke of York (the future James II and VII) to Edinburgh to collect his wife Mary of Modena and his daughter Princess Anne after his years of exile in Scotland. It has long been known that there were royal musicians on board, two of whom were drowned, though interest in the subject has been rekindled by the discovery of the wreck and an exhibition of artefacts from it in Norwich in 2023. Some other historic wrecks have proved to contain musical instruments, including the Mary Rose and several Dutch ships, though the Gloucester is unique in that a musical artefact—a brass trumpet mouthpiece—can be matched to documentary evidence concerning the musicians on board. Court documents concerned with replacing lost instruments and compensating survivors and the families of victims show that those on board included four royal trumpeters and a kettledrummer (Walter Vanbright, who was drowned); a five-man group drawn from the Twenty-Four Violins, led by the composer Thomas Farmer and including Thomas Greeting (who was also drowned); and the oboist, recorder player and bass violinist James Paisible, who had apparently been working in Edinburgh in the Duke of York’s household. Paisible may have been a member of Farmer’s string group, though there is a possibility that he was accompanied by three other French musicians, forming a separate recorder/oboe consort. An anecdote concerning James rescuing the string player Edmund Flower from drowning throws light on the musical and religious politics on board the Gloucester: the earliest version, published in 1730, claimed wrongly that the duke ‘turn’d him out of his band because he would not turn Papist’.

Successful disinfection of trumpet mouthpieces using domestic steam disinfection.

There have been numerous reports in the literature describing the diversity of microbial flora isolated from woodwind and brass instruments, with potential infection risks for players, especially when such instruments are shared. Steam disinfection has become established as a trusted method of decontamination; however, there have been no reports on the employment of this technology to disinfect parts of musical instruments, hence it was the aim of this study to examine the fate of bacterial and yeast pathogens on artificially contaminated trumpet mouthpieces and to evaluate whether such disinfection is an effective method of disinfection for such instrument parts. Trumpet mouthpieces were artificially contaminated with 18 microbial strains (17 bacteria from four genera (Enterococcus, Escherichia, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus) and one yeast (Candida)), each at an inoculum density of approximately 1·5×107 colony forming units and subjected to a disinfection cycle. The experiment was repeated including 50% (v/v) sterile sputum as soil. No bacteria or yeast organisms were recovered post disinfection, including following recovery and with nonselective cultural enrichment techniques.

A laboratory investigation of the effect of trumpet mouthpieces in an introductory musical acoustics course

In our introductory musical acoustics course for non-science majors, a major goal of the course is to introduce students to the principles of scientific thinking and investigation. Many students have preconceived ideas or beliefs about factors influencing the sounds produced by musical instruments. It is the role of the instructor to help students frame their ideas into scientifically testable experiments, which can be conducted in the laboratory. In our course, we have designed a laboratory activity to challenge students to explore the role of the mouthpiece of brass musical instruments. A parametric model of a trumpet mouthpiece is customized by students in order to investigate the effects of changing mouthpiece geometry on the trumpet acoustics. The models are manufactured on a 3D printer and used in the laboratory to make input impedance measurements. Students compare their quantitative results to the qualitative conceptions they held before completing the laboratory investigation.

Trumpet mouthpiece manufacturing and tone quality

This article investigates the relationship between the shape of the mouthpiece and its acoustical properties in brass instruments. The hypothesis is that not only different volumes but also particular cup shapes affect the embouchure and the tone quality in both a physical and perceivable way. Three professional trumpet players were involved, and two different internal cup contours characterized by a "U" and a "V" shape with two types of throat junction (round and sharp) were chosen, based on a Vincent Bach 1 [1/2] C medium mouthpiece. A third intermediate contour was designed as a combination of these. Over 600 sound samples were produced under controlled conditions, the study involving four different stages: (1) Simulation of air-flow, (2) analysis of the sound spectra, (3) study of the players' subjective responses, and (4) perceptual analysis of their timbral differences. Results confirm the U shape is characterized by a stronger air recirculation and produces stronger spectral components above 8 kHz, compared to the V shape. A round throat junction may also be preferable to a sharp one in terms of playability. There is moderate agreement on the aural perception of these differences although the verbal attributes used to qualify these are not shared.

Homemade “woodwind” and “brass” instruments.

PVC pipe is an ideal material for the construction of wind instruments, both “woodwind” (using a reed) or “brass” (using the lips). Instruments can be made using a combination of PVC construction along with parts of actual musical instruments, such as a clarinet mouthpiece and reed or a trumpet mouthpiece, or they can be manufactured entirely from PVC and other materials. For panpipes, the lengths of the tubes are easily determined by choosing a standard pitch frequency and the basic interval between tones (e.g., 440 Hz and equal temperament) and then using basic physics to calculate the required tube lengths. For instruments using side holes, the locations of the holes can be determined by choosing a standard pitch frequency and interval and then calculating the required distances of the holes from the driven end of the pipe. The basic theory will be reviewed, and several different instruments will be demonstrated.

A model for precalculus students to determine the resonance frequency of a trumpet mouthpiece

The trumpet mouthpiece as a Helmholtz resonator is used to show precalculus students a mathematical model for determining the approximate resonance frequency of the mouthpiece. The mathematics is limited to algebra and trigonometry. Using a system of mouthpieces that have interchangeable cups and backbores, students are introduced to the acoustics of this resonator. By gathering data on 51 different configurations of mouthpieces, the author modifies the existing Helmholtz resonator equation to account for both cup volumes and backbore configurations. Students then use this model for frequency predictions. Included are how to measure the different physical attributes of a trumpet mouthpiece at minimal cost. This includes methods for measuring cup volume, backbore volume, backbore length, throat area, etc. A portion of this phase is de-signed for students to become acquainted with some of the vocabulary of acoustics and the physics of sound.

Computer simulation of a trumpet

In an effort to generate realistic trumpet mouthpiece pressure waveforms, a player-trumpet model was created that consisted of the player's lungs, the player's airway, the player's upper lip, and the trumpet. The player's lungs were modeled as a constant pressure source. The player's airway (from lungs to lips) was modeled as a resistance of 20 acoustic ω (cgs). The player's lip was modeled as a swinging-sliding door having 1 deg of rotational freedom and one degree of translational freedom. The trumpet was modeled in terms of its pressure response to a volume-flow impulse. Equations were solved iteratively to give (1) lip opening as a dynamic function of the forces and torques acting on the lip, (2) volume flow as a function of lip opening and the pressure difference across the lips, and (3) mouthpiece pressure as a convolution of volume flow with trumpet impulse response. Waveforms were calculated and displayed for the lip-opening area, the volume flow through the lips, and the pressure in the mouthpiece. The lip-opening area and mouthpiece pressure waveforms were realistic when compared to experimental waveforms in the literature. However, there are still too few experimental data to constrain the model in terms of lip closure time and total air flow on sustained notes. Simulation data will be presented and compared with experimental data. [The work to be reported was carried out while the author was on leave at IRCAM in Paris. René Caussé supplied player and trumpet data and Duanne Dudley supplied trumpet impulse data.]

Mouthpiece forces produced while playing the trumpet

A transducer for measuring the force applied to the trumpet mouthpiece during performance is described. The device allowed the players to perform on their own instrument and in their usual manner. The results of tests on 60 subjects showed that during playing the force between the mouthpiece and instrument increased with increasing loudness and ascending pitch but that there was no significant correlation between mouthpiece force and proficiency or style. The maximum force which the players could tolerate was greater for high proficiency players than for medium.

Impedance and impulse response measurements using low‐cost components

A thin 27‐mm‐o.d. disk transducer (from Radio Shack 273‐060 signaler) is RTV sealed to the end of a measurement tube whose 15 mm i.d. not only approximates the transducer disk's nodal circle but also the i.d. of a clarinet, sax, or trumpet mouthpiece. A 10‐mm‐o.d. electret microphone element (Radio Shack 270‐092) mounted through the tube wall near the piezo driver picks up the resulting pressure signal. When the high mechanical impedance driver is excited by a sinusoidal sweep via a 6‐dB/oct integrator, the resulting pressure signal gives an excellent view of the input impedance of the air column over the musically useful range to 3.5 kHz since the driver resonance is at ω0/2π≃5 kHz and bandwidth g≃ω0/6. A ramplike drive voltage (running between op‐amp supply limits) of the form A (1 − e−gt/2) for θ⩽t⩽2π/ω0, and constant thereafter, gives a clean pressure pulse ≃ const.(1 − cos ω0t) whose FWHM≃0.1 ms is convenient for impulse response studies. Drive signal spectrum, piezoelectric coupling, and driver‐to‐tube coupling each minimize transducer second‐mode ringing effects. Driver‐to‐mike proximity effects are small, visible, calculable, and easily allowed for in both impulse and sinusoidal drive usage. The driver is not quite rigid, perturbing the air column slightly, but corrections are straightforward. Applications for research and in teaching labs will be described. [Assisted by NSF.]

Influence of the trumpet mouthpiece on the input impedance of the instrument

The mouthpiece of a brass instrument such as the trumpet serves two important functions (among others): that of lowering the frequencies of the higher vibration modes so as to put them in tune, and that of increasing the input impedance of the higher modes so as to make them playable. Acoustically, the mouthpiece consists of a capacitance (the cup) in parallel with a resistance and inductance in series (the orifice and backbore). It has a resonance frequency of the order of 800 Hz. In the vicinity of the mouthpiece resonance, the impedance peaks of the trumpet tube and bell (without mouthpiece) have magnitudes of 200–300 Ω. When the mouthpiece is attached, the resonance frequencies of the combination are lowered to values for which the input impedances of the trumpet tube and bell are small. These low impedances in series with the mouthpiece orifice resistance result in input impedances for the whole instrument which are some 3–6 times the impedances without the mouthpiece. This impedance amplification is essential in order to make the higher modes playable. [Work supported by the NSF.]

Trumpet Air-Column Overloading

The sound output of the trumpet is rich in harmonics. Since sound-pressure levels (SPLs) in the air column of the instrument are high (measurements of SPL in the mouthpiece range up to 165 dB), it has been suggested that harmonic production is due to acoustic overloading of the air column. This hypothesis has been tested in four different ways: (1) The amount of second-harmonic production was calculated with the use of some simplifying assumptions; (2) trumpet input impedance as a function of SPL was measured; (3) two separate standing waves were set up in the trumpet air column and the difference frequency produced by them was measured; (4) a signal was fed from a driver into the closed trumpet mouthpiece through a capillary tube, and the ratios of harmonic amplitudes in the driver to amplitudes in the trumpet output were measured. Calculated second-harmonic distortion was more than an order of magnitude smaller than measured, and none of the three sets of measurements showed significant air-column overload effects. The conclusion is that acoustic overload is not a primary cause of harmonic generation in the trumpet. [This work was supported by the National Science Foundation.]

Trumpet Intonation Improvement with Multiple Helmholtz Resonator Terminations

The conventional trumpet mouthpiece has already been shown, theoretically and experimentally, to behave as a Helmholtz resonator termination of the trumpet air column, changing the apparent length of that column with frequency. Further theory indicates that for musically proper placement of the upper playing modes, a more nearly ideal termination would be a multiple Helmholtz resonator. Experiments confirm this.

British Trumpet Mouthpieces: Addendum

British Trumpet Mouthpieces: Addendum

Early British Trumpet Mouthpieces

Early British Trumpet Mouthpieces