Cornet
The cornet is a brass musical instrument characterized by its long, hollow tubing that flares at one end, and it is played by blowing into a mouthpiece and pressing valves to create sound. Although similar to the trumpet, the cornet features a conical bore which produces a mellower and quieter tone, making it suitable for different musical contexts. The history of the cornet traces back to wooden instruments in the Middle Ages, evolving into the brass versions we see today, which became prominent in the early 19th century. The modern cornet typically plays in keys such as E flat, C, and B flat, and is about 13 to 16 inches long, making it more manageable for beginner musicians.
Famous cornet players include jazz legends like King Oliver and Louis Armstrong, who initially favored the cornet before transitioning to the trumpet for its recording capabilities. Despite the trumpet's popularity, the cornet remains an integral part of many brass ensembles and military bands, showcasing its unique sound and versatility in various musical settings. The instrument is often recommended for young musicians due to its easier handling, contributing to its ongoing relevance in music education and performance.
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Cornet
A cornet is a musical instrument made of a long hollow brass tube that flares at one end. It is played by blowing into a mouthpiece and depressing one or more of the three valves along its length. It is similar to a trumpet but different in a few key ways that distinguish its sound. While both cornets and trumpets can play the same music, their sound differences often cause them to be used in different situations in musical ensembles. Although the trumpet may be the better known and more common instrument, the cornet has an important place in many musical compositions.
Background
The name cornet comes from the French word cornette, which was derived from a variation of the Latin word cornua, which means "horn." The word's first application to a musical instrument came in the Middle Ages when it was used to refer to an instrument made from an animal's horn. About the fifteenth century, cornets were wooden instruments. At that time, cornets were made by taking a curved piece of wood, rounding it into a long curved cylinder, splitting it in half, down its length, and hollowing it out. The two halves were then glued back together to form a long, curved tube, which was reinforced with a decorated leather covering. Finger holes down the length allowed musicians to play different notes. Some cornets were straight, but these were harder to play and fell out of favor very quickly. They disappeared in the mid-1600s.
Cornets of this era closely mirrored the tones that the human voice could reach, making it a good accompaniment to vocal music. It also was used as a substitute for a human voice, carrying the melody of some musical pieces. The cornet could play a full scale, but it was difficult to play because it relied a great deal on the placement of the mouth and lips on the mouthpiece. Gradually, these challenges caused this type of cornet to fall into disuse, with many composers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries noting that the same parts could be played by other instruments.
The contemporary brass cornet began to develop in the early nineteenth century. At that time, horns made of long, straight brass tubes with a mouthpiece on one end and a flared bell on the other were used as audio signaling devices in the military and by hunters. The most common of these instruments were known as natural trumpets and bugles. In 1810, Irish bugle maker Joseph Halliday added keys to a bugle to make it easier to play different sounds. A few years later, inventors Friedrich Blühmel and Heinrich Stölzel added valves to a horn. This version was patented in 1818. By 1828, French inventor Jean Hilaire Asté, who was also known as Halary, had added valves to a horn that had its metal tubing twisted back upon itself. This instrument was known as the cornet à pistons or cornopean. Some of these horns were meant to be played with the open bell facing backward over the musician's shoulder, while others had the bell facing upward at a forty-five-degree angle.
By 1855, Antoine Courtois, a famous horn manufacturer in France, began producing the first modern cornets. These were called modele anglais, or "English model." They became very popular in British bands and then spread to the United States and other countries.
Overview
A cornet is made up of about 4.5 feet (1.33 meters) of brass tubing. The inside of the tubing tapers slightly along the entire length, from the bell back to the mouthpiece. This is called a conical bore and is different than the consistent cylindrical bore of a trumpet. The conical bore gives the cornet a sound that is mellower and quieter than the sound of the trumpet. Contemporary cornets are generally pitched to play in the keys of E flat, C, and B flat.
Along the tubing between the bell and mouthpiece are a number of other specific parts, including valves and tuning slides. Keys on top of each valve are used to activate the valves; the combinations in which these are depressed combined with the way the musician blows into the mouthpiece create the instrument's sound. A cornet also has four tuning slides: one slide on each valve and one additional slide. The slides are for maintenance; they help adjust the sound of the instrument, allow the instrument to be cleaned and oiled, and provide a way to clear out saliva and other moisture that collects inside the instrument.
If a cornet's and a trumpet's brass tubing were stretched out and laid next to each other, they would be nearly the same length. However, the bends and hooks in the tubing of a cornet make the instrument shorter from mouthpiece to bell. A cornet is about 13 to 16 inches (33 to 41 centimeters) long. A trumpet averages about 19 inches (48 centimeters) long. The cornet's shorter length makes it easier to handle and play; for this reason, some experts recommend cornets for young musicians who are just learning to play.
For most of the first century after the modern cornet design emerged, it was the most popular instrument in many musical ensembles. Some famous musicians who played cornets include Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver, a jazz band leader who often used a mute—a cone made of metal or another material that the musician moved in and out of the cornet bell—to alter the sound, and Louis Armstrong, also known as Satchmo, another influential jazz musician. Armstrong and many other cornet players later switched to trumpets because they sounded better on recordings. However, cornets continue to be used in many brass ensembles, and military bands frequently feature them alongside trumpets.
Bibliography
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