Some may ask “are there any trumpet choirs at the professional level”?
Not many……
The most important trumpet choir that I have had any contact with is not even a trumpet choir any more. I’m speaking of one of my favorite brass ensembles of all time and was/is the Kings Brass.
The Kings Brass began as a true trumpet choir with all of the members of the trumpet family represented i.e. piccolo, C, D, Eb and Bb being represented as well as the bass trumpet. This ensemble had such an impact on me many years ago and that was the reason I wanted to form our first trumpet ensemble at the University of Northern Iowa. The sounds and even more important were the wonderful arrangements of this group. The arranger at that time was the very talented Dan Marvin and I purchased every arrangement offered at the time. The ensemble was the brain child of Prof. Tim Zimmerman and if you would like to learn more about this talented ensemble’s activities, go to http://www.kingsbrass.org/about.htm
As you will notice the all trumpet ensemble has morphed into a constantly performing full brass ensemble. Be sure to check out their concert schedule which tells you that this is one of the most performing ensembles on the planet.
Professional trumpet ensembles can take many forms. My ensemble while living in Branson, Missouri was a trumpet quartet and performed regularly around the area. All of our arrangements were mine and learning to compose for such a small and limited range instrumental group was a challenge. From this simple beginning spawned my web site. trumpetensemblemusic.com which has been in service since August 8, 2013. Our site currently lists over 1,700 arrangements which may be the largest library of trumpet ensemble music available today.
Trumpet ensembles at a professional level are very difficult to sell to the public because of the limited timbre, limited range as well as limited endurance. Even with a bass trumpet and every mute available, it still comes out sounding like trumpets.
Check out these great groups to understand what is possible in the trumpet ensemble world.
Louis Larouche Trumpets Ensemble
Simón Bolívar Trumpet Ensemble
Enjoy………….
