Think trumpet and your mind will likely conjure up images of the great Louis Armstrong playing this instrument with such skill, mastery, and passion. There were and still are many accomplished trumpeters – Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis among them – but for many people Armstrong will forever remain the most famous of them all. As he himself said, “My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that trumpet.”

By the time Armstrong and his contemporaries like Freddie Keppard started to play the trumpet at the beginning of the 20th century, the instrument had been – in different forms – around for a long time.

Of mice and (great) men

Long before the trumpet joined the brass family of instruments, which also includes the tuba, the trombone, the cornet and the euphonium, it was just a primitive device used by ancient civilizations like the Greeks and the Egyptians (in fact, pictures of the trumpet were found in King Tut’s tomb). In those days, trumpets were made from animal horns or shells, a far cry from the brass and copper used today. They also didn’t have valves or keys. However, their primary purpose was to signal or announce various events rather than play music, so the primitive construction was in line with the needs. Trumpets were also used as “war” tools – not exactly in the same way as actual weapons, but, rather, to send signals on battlefields. This was, needless to say, a dangerous job, because the enemy would target the trumpeter to prevent him from signaling to his army. And, though we hesitate to mention this in the same breath as the great Louis Armstrong, this instrument was also used to herald the arrival of the Mighty Mouse: “So let the trumpet players play, For Mighty Mouse is here today!” Just saying!

Bring on the music!

It wasn’t until the 18th century that the trumpet became a bona-fide musical instrument when a famous composer of that era, Joseph Haydn , wrote the Trumpet Concerto in E flat major/ In the following century, due to improvements in its build and sound, such as addition of the valves enabling the trumpet to play the chromatic scale evenly, the trumpet had become an orchestral instrument. However, the trumpet’s heyday, especially in the United States, happened with the advent of jazz. In the early decades of the 20th century, jazz ensembles used the trumpet as the lead instrument because it was the loudest of the lot! Today, there are several varieties of trumpets for different musical scales. The most common of them is the B-flat trumpet; other types include the F, D, E, G and the smaller C trumpet .

Blow your own trumpet!

“He seems determined to make a trumpet sound like a tin whistle,” a Welsh politician, Aneurin Bevan, once observed. We don’t know who Bevan was referring to, but we are guessing that the player in question either didn’t take lessons or didn’t practice enough. If you like a high-energy, vibrant and powerful sound that can play all types of music – classical, rock, pop, soul, and, of course, jazz – then a trumpet is for you. Are you ready to start learning but don’t know where? Hey Joe Guitar Is synonymous with top-of-the-line music lessons: one of our teachers will come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn or Riverdale residence or work place, and teach you or a family member to play the trumpet – or any other instrument for that matter. Private music lessons are the best way to ensure your trumpet sounds…like a trumpet, and not like a tin whistle!

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At Hey Joe Guitar, we live in the present. We don’t spend much time dwelling over the past, but we do sometimes look back at certain aspects of history, especially those pertaining to music.

By the same token, we often wonder what the future holds. We don’t have a crystal ball, of course, but we are curious about what new music-related developments are ahead.

We thought this would be a good opportunity to explore the past and future world of musical instruments – the ones that no longer exist and those that haven’t been popularized yet.

So come on board our time machine and let’s go for a ride!

It’s history!

A great number of instruments invented in centuries past are still in use today, even though they had been modified and modernized in the meantime. However, some are no longer in existence.

Obviously, we can’t mention all of them here and now, but let’s have a quick look at some musical relics of the past:

• Besides the lyre, ancient Greeks also played and listened to the cithara, aulos, and hydraulis – string, reed, and keyboard instruments respectively.
• The Mayans played the trumpet-like hom-tah , which was made of wood, clay, or gourd.
  Its built and deep sound was similar to the didgeridoo used by indigenous Australians.
• The medieval precursor of the oboe, the shawm , was made in Europe from the late 13th until the 17th century. With its loud and shrill tone, it was used by military bands during the Crusades. During the same era, there was also the pear-shaped string instrument called the rebec , as well as the psaltery , a cross between the harp and guitar.
• An instrument that did not survive the Baroque period in its present form was the lautenwerck keyboard, a combination of the lute and harpsichord. One of Johann Sebastian Bach’s favorite instruments, it emitted a smooth and mellow tone.

As we said, it is impossible to cover all the extinct instruments here, but at least you have a quick overview of some of them.

Looking ahead…

Obviously, we cannot predict the future – musical or otherwise. (As Doris Day famously sang: “Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see.”)

However, this article is giving us a glimpse into what instruments might be developed.

Among them are some truly imaginative ones, like GEPS, a “data glove” that lets the wearer create electronic music with hand gestures; the tine organ; and even something as unusual as the sponge.

Of course, all these (and other) instruments are bound to create new sounds, or at least change the ones we are used to hearing. What will the music of the future sound like? Again, we can only guess, but perhaps this video will provide some answers.

Here and now

We have some great and not-so-great news. Let’s start with the latter: as talented as our teachers are, they cannot give you lessons in instruments that no longer exist or those that haven’t been manufactured yet.

Now for the great news: if an instrument has already been invented and is in use – like the guitar, piano, drums, and many others – you came to the right place. We offer lessons in a wide variety of string, woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments, and give voice training as well.

Just contact us and we’ll send a terrific teacher to your Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Riverdale home or office.

Isn’t it wonderful to be living in the present?

Photo by unknown, available under Creative Commons License

The post New York City Guitar School Sounds Out the Past and Future Instruments appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

What does a carrot sound like? Does it make, um, a grating noise? And what about a zucchini or eggplant? We bet you never thought you’d be asked these questions, but we like to surprise and keep you on your toes! Not only that, but we actually bring you answers, so today you will learn something new and totally amazing. Wait, you’ll see!

Play your veggies!

Honestly, we are not making this up – let us introduce you to …the Vegetable Orchestra, a group of innovative Austrian musicians who tour the world and perform on instruments made from fresh vegetables. The question that begs to be asked is “why?” As the musicians explain it, veggies “create a musically and aesthetically unique sound universe.” And there is more: “There are no musical boundaries for the Vegetable Orchestra’” the band points out. “The most diverse music styles fuse here – contemporary music, beat-oriented House tracks, experimental Electronic, Free Jazz, Noise, Dub, Clicks’n’Cuts – the musical scope of the ensemble expands consistently, and recently developed vegetable instruments and their inherent sounds often determine the direction.” So what does a carrot, pumpkin, cucumber, and red pepper combo sound like? Judge for yourself!

The soup’s on!

You may be wondering where do the musicians get their instruments every day? As you can see , before each performance, the band shops for fresh vegetables. Then they start carving, drilling holes, and otherwise prepping the veggies for that night’s concert, making sure that a carrot can be used like a flute and pumpkin is hard enough to be a drum of sorts. And the experimentation never ceases. “We constantly develop new instruments,” the musicians say. “Each time we perform we refine our instruments or experiment with new variants.” What happens once the performance is finished? Obviously, unlike the conventional instruments, veggies tend to go bad, but the band doesn’t believe in wasting food. So at the end of each concert, the musicians make a big pot of vegetable soup that they serve to the audience.

Not breaking with tradition

At Hey Joe Guitar, we love our veggies – to eat, not to play them. In fact, when it comes to making music, our teachers are traditionalists – they like their guitars to be made from wood, the trumpets from brass, and they don’t expect any instruments to be edible. So if you want your music teacher to show you how to blow into a carrot or beat on a pumpkin – sorry, we can’t help you with that. But if you or your child want to learn to play a “regular” instrument, one of our awesome teachers will come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn or Riverdale home or office and give you lessons.

Photo by unknown, available under a Creative Commons License.

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