Testing A Possible New Way To Tune A Trumpet

This was a recent post on one of the more active trumpet bulletin boards and caught my inquisitive eye. After careful reading I decided to test the good Doctor’s theory. I will reserve my conclusions until our next post so that you will not be biased in any way when you do your own test.

Carefully follow the instructions written by its originator and in our next post, I will give you my take of this new thought.

Try it and see if it works.

Testing A Possible New Way To Tune A Trumpet

I would like TM to participate in a simple test. If you can, please participate. Here goes:The idea suggests that tuning a trumpet to itself involves matching the pitch of two distinct areas of the trumpet. The left side containing the bell which can produce a resonant pitch and, the right side which contains most of the piping which can also produce a pitch. A byproduct of the idea, if found to have support, is the removal of the person having to play a tuning note. Many will want to ask questions, boo hoo the idea or say the math doesn’t support it or the physics of sound and the trumpet just doesn’t work that way. So far I’ve had people with doctorates in mechanical engineering and Ph.D’s in acoustics to argue pro and con about this idea. I think maybe it’s best to just throw it out there and try it and see.

If the trumpet sounds and plays better after using this method of tuning then I’d say that it seems to have merit. Preliminary results are very promising but the sample is small. If possible, please try this new way of tuning and see if your trumpet plays and sounds better and, if the instructions are too involved or the idea seems kinda dumb, don’t waste your time with it and move on to a Post that has worth. Its dumb to entertain something you feel is dumb. That would be a dumb waste of time. If you can, please post the brand of trumpet(s) you tested and on what trumpets did the methodology work or not work). If the new way appears to work, then we can say it was mass tested first on TM and take the credit. If it doesn’t work and the current results are just coincidences (which is possible), then we can say we tested it and found no support for the idea.

The Two Sides

The left side of the valves (the bell side where the all important resonant tone is given off) The right side of the valves (where most of the piping is located).

Equipment needed:

1 well rosined violin bow or the use of the finger to tap the bellrim.1 well made trumpet (current results suggest that cheaper made trumpets can not be tuned with this method)

Methodology: (Follow in Numerical Order)

1. Take the tuning slide out of the trumpet.

2. Bow or tap the bell rim of the trumpet making sure no part of the hand or tuning slide are touching the bell. You will find that the bell will ring very noticeably.

3. Next, put just the top part of the tuning slide into the lead pipe making sure that the bottom part of the slide is not touching the bell. The bottom part of the tuning slide will be pointed back toward you and not touching the bell.

4. Next, blow a steady stream of air (Do Not Buzz The Lips) through the mouthpiece and at the same time, carefully move the tuning slide back and forth like a trombone slide. Get your ears use to the air changing pitch as you move the slide.

5. Next, bow or tap the bell rim again to get the tone in your ears.

6. Next, move the tuning slide back and forth while blowing a steady stream of air and find the air pitch that matches the bell’s resonant tone and stop, leaving the tuning slide where the two sounds match.

7. Next, look at how far the tuning slide is out. Measure it and lightly mark the half way point with a magic marker. For example: If the tuning slide is out and inch, make a light dot with a magic marker the half way point which would be a ½ inch.

8. Next, put both parts of the tuning slide into the trumpet as you normally would. Put the slide in the trumpet up to the mark you made (the half way point) and play the trumpet for a while and assess how it feels and sounds. If it works, the trumpet should sound more vibrant and easier to play.

The preliminary findings suggest this method appears to work on most brands of trumpet. However, it doesn’t seem to work very well with cheaply made trumpets.

Submitted to Trumpet Master.com on 7/3/13 by Dr.Mark