Acoustical behaviour of “baroque” trumpets with vent holes

The trumpets for which baroque composers including Bach and Handel wrote viruoso solo parts were natural (valveless) instruments approximately twice the length of a modern C trumpet. Playing chromatically in the high register of a natural trumpet requires great skill, since only the approximately harmonic resonances of the fixed-length air column are available. In the second half of the twentieth century several makers collaborated with performers to develop variants of the natural trumpet incorporating three or four finger-holes. Such instruments, widely used in modern ensembles playing baroque music, are best described as ‘vented trumpets’. The way in which the finger-holes are used differs from the use of tone-holes on the cornett, the keyed trumpet and the keyed bugle. In general, vented trumpets are designed to approach the timbre of natural trumpets while facilitating control of intonation and accuracy in playing. In the present paper, the acoustical foundations for the function of the three- and four hole systems are explored. The study draws on input impedance measurements, computational modelling, and playing tests of typical vented and natural trumpets. Parameters quantifying the timbre of vented trumpets are compared with corresponding values for natural trumpets.