| Hi,
The C trpt sound , traditionally a smaller , more compact sound, has " morphed " thru the years into more of a
Bb trumpet sound. This is a contribution mainly of the American Orchestras and Players.
The French trumpet community still use the smaller bells and M bores like the original Bessons to get that traditional C sound , were the English Symphonic players still perfer the Bb tpt for a majorty of their symphonic playing and switch to C less frequently.
Remember Maurice Andre and that beautiful " oratorio " sound he got on his Selmer Picc ( .415 bore ) compare that to the Big, Full Schilke picc. sound that is preffered today.
I belive the Schilke Picc ( which is by far the " State of the Art " choise )is .450 bore and some companies offer .460 bore piccs. This is an attempt to get the sound to be ever bigger and rounder and getting a less tempermental scale, plus having more easier to play ie; more buyers
Even in the quasi-legit movie soundtracks that are being recorded for the big blockbusters ie; John Williams types , the trumpet section of the recording orchestra prefer and perform mostly on C trpt. ( this was Bob Malone's primary clientele in the beginnig ) ever tweaking them to sound more B flatish yet desirering the control and ease of playing of a C trumpet
I believe the great work done by Bob Malone was to answer a call to attempt to get C's to have the same temperment as a Bb thus making them somewhat easier to play. Don't get me wrong - I did not say they WERE easier to play.
Also, you can see this development of Bach bells and bore sizes and how they have increased in size and " flair "thru the development of the line.
I have a Mt. Vernon C trumpet that has a 236 bell and a .448 bore which was somewhat standard in the late 50's and I think we can all agree Mr. Bach was always on the cutting edge of what the trumpet community wanted. I also have a Mt V Eb/D with a 311 bell on it. This bell is what Bach uses on Picc. trumpets now.
I actually had to put a Bach #7 pipe on it to get that more contemporary C sound.
The Germans orchestras have been the only ones to tradidtionally embrace a very dark timre in all of their higher pitched instruments.
My 2 cents
Larry |