Re: [Harp-L] Name any other instrument that...

[George Miklas <harmonicat@xxxxxxxxx>]

After reading some very good replies, it just dawned on me why there are
trumpets in other keys....

There has been music written for a very long time for instruments with a
mouthpiece for buzzing the lips.... All of these instruments are NOT
diatonic, and they are NOT chromatic.  They follow the "harmonic series"
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)

Regarding my earlier example of the trumpets... well during the Baroque
period, "Natural" trumpets did not have valves... The "valved" trumpet was
not yet invented.  Therefore, if a composer changed keys for the strings,
he had to write an instrument change for the brass.

This also went into play with "church modes" employed by early composers.
If the piece was written in Dorian mode with trumpets, then "Trumpets in D"
would likely be indicated in the music.


  In other words... what ever the "fundamental (first) note is, that is the
"key" of the horn...the second note is one octave higher...the third note
is a 5th higher than that, the fourth note is a 4th higher than that It was
during the Baroque era that brass instruments were

On Saturday, December 6, 2014, George Miklas <harmonicat@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Robert, to answer your question, NO.  But there are instruments built in
> more than one key for reasons [maybe] similar to singing songs in different
> keys.  For the human voice, the key of a song is chosen so that the
> vocalist is singing in their range.  While Bb trumpets are widely accepted
> as the standard key, there are also trumpets in C, D, Eb, and Piccolo (high
> Bb). The primary reason that a trumpet player will play a trumpet in any
> key other than Bb is "because the composer wrote [transposed] the part that
> way" Another reason I have heard is that "the valve combinations (scale
> patterns) lay easier to play"
>
> On Saturday, December 6, 2014, Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx');>> wrote:
>
>> A student pointed out that harmonica is the ONLY instrument you change for
>> each key. Are there others?
>>
>> Robert Hale
>> Serious Honkage in Arizona
>> youtube.com/DUKEofWAIL
>> DUKEofWAIL.com
>>
>
>
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-- 

   - *HARMONICA GALLERY SALES* and *REPAIR SERVICE* ââ New!* HOHNER*
   Harmonicas <http://www.HarmonicaGallery.com/hohner>  ââ *HARMONICA
   REPAIR* Done Right by George <http://harmonicagallery.com/repair> ââ Used
   / Refurbished <http://www.HarmonicaGallery.com/contact>


   - *GEORGE MIKLAS* Harmonica Performing Artist and Entertainer
   <http://www.harmonicagallery.com/home1>  and member of Old Time Country
   Music Hall Of Fame (NTCMA.net)  *HARMONICA WIZARD MARCH
   <http://www.HarmonicaGallery.com/sousa>* by John Philip Sousa


   - *SOCIETY *for the *PRESERVATION *and *ADVANCEMENT* of the
*HARMONICA **SPAH
   *-  <http://spah.org/>*a non-profit, membership organization dedicated
   to serving the harmonica community. <http://spah.org/>*