Before considering the tone of a modern trumpet in the concert hall, let us turn our attention to the nature of the internally measured spectrum of various notes on a Baroque D trumpet replica. A week after the series of measurements on the modern Bb instrument, Charles Schlueter and I joined forces to make similar observations on the Tarr Model replica that we discussed earlier. Figure 15 shows the strength of the partials of concert A₃ played at various dynamic levels.

Figure 15: Internal partials of concert A₃ played on a Baroque trumpet

Because the pitch of this note is only a semitone below that of the written C₄, played on the modern trumpet (see Fig. 13a), we may assume that the player's lip tension, etc., is roughly comparable on the two instruments. A superficial comparison of Fig. 15 with Fig. 13a does not give an impression of great difference between the two spectra. Closer inspection shows, however, that at all playing levels the third partial of the Baroque instrument is somewhat stronger relative to its brothers than is the case for its modern counterpart.

Analysis of the higher tones played on the Baroque trumpet gives results that are quite reminiscent of those obtained for the modern instrument. However, the increased strength of the second and third partials relative to that of the fundamental component in the Baroque instrument becomes even more pronounced for the higher notes than it is for the lower one upon which we have already remarked.

Trumpet Acoustics
Acoustical Preliminaries
The "Water Trumpet"-- An Analog to What Happens inside a Trumpet
The Function of the Player's Lips
The Function of the Pipe and Bell--Inside the Air Column
The Cooperation Needed for Musical Results
The Baroque Trumpet
The 'Internal' Spectrum of the Modern Trumpet
The 'Internal' Spectrum of the Baroque Trumpet
Relation of Internal to External Tone Color Spectrum
The Menke Trumpet
The Problem of Clean Attack
Mahillon in Retrospect
Conclusion
Bibliographic Notes