Pocket trumpets....WHY?

[MartyNeilan]

Isn't a pocket trumpet the answer to a question nobody ever asked?

[Tubaryan12]

Why?..because someone somewhere will always pay for something more compact....Piggy tubas for example...someone would make a compact piccolo if they thought it would sell

[Chuck(G)]

...someone would make a compact piccolo if they thought it would sell

They already do--it's called a garklein recorder (all of 6" long):

[tubatooter1940]

I used to take my mid-70's Yamaha dreadnought guitar sailing.On one trip,the boat was crowded and I had to share my bunk with that huge instrument.
My wife bought me a Martin Backpacker,guitar and case = 3 pounds.I was prepared to hate it because it sounded like a ukelele and tended to want to roll-requiring the player to trap it under his or her right elbow. But hey,the thing had a full neck,was easy to fret,held a tune and could be stowed anywhere.I learned to live with it as a travel instrument.

[Daryl Fletcher]

I guess the best known performer who regularly used the pocket trumpet was probably Don Cherry.

[Dan Schultz]

Pocket trumpets???

I say simply "trumpets... why?"

I think trumpets should be banned. Cornets and flugelhorns will do nicely

[Dylan King]

Steve Loza, a friend here in L.A. who teaches ethnomusicology at UCLA plays a pocket trumpet these days. Even in jazz concert situations. He actually likes the sound better! That's Latin jazz for you.

[windshieldbug]

Isn't a pocket trumpet the answer to a question nobody ever asked?

No, the person who asked it was some marketing dink who was responding to "How can I possibly sell more trumpets to people who already have one, and probably one they already like?"

[Rick F]

I say let's keep them in the pocket.

[ThomasDodd]

i understand pocket trumpet. tiny things made to play unbarably(to my ears) high. what i don't get is their mouthpiece... a true piccilo trumpet mouthpice is like 'flat' almost. i don't get it,,

No. A pocket is a standard Bb trumpet, wrapped tighter, so it's smaler. Uses a standard mouthpiece. Almost always 3 valves.

A piccillo trumpet is shorter than a normal Bb (half the length?), so it plays the higher register better, Kind of like using an Eb or F tuba instead of a BBb or CC tuba. Tends to have 4 valves.

[Carroll]

I bought one because it was cheap and unbearably cute. I keep it beside my podium and can grab it at a second's notice, demonstrate a part, phrasing, articulation, etc. and keep on teaching. Sure, I could use a full size trumpet... but this thing is really darling. I have a trumpet player buddy who borrows it for long drives so he can practice on the road (not recommended) and put it in his suitcase.

[ThomasDodd]

Please also caution your Bud against Mr Thomas Dodd- should Mr Dodd encounter him practicing on the road its a virtual certainty that the good TD'll feel obliged to use hi vehicle to cut him off in order to save the public......

Only if he's leaving the scene of an accident.

[Ames0325]

Slightly off-topic but

Here's one of my buddies...(first two clips are played on the piccolo trumpet in a concert we did last year...third clip is "regular" trumpet)

http://www.ryananthony.com/SoundClips.htm

bloke "If you were in NYC last week and didn't hear him sub on Principal Trumpet with the Dallas Symphony in Carnegie Hall on ' Zarathustra and Carmina Burana, you missed it."

Thanks Bloke that was some terrific listening.
Amy

[hurricane_harry]

at corps our brass head always has his pocket trumpet in his car. one day he was playing when he was stuck in traffic.

[MaryAnn]

How about just plain cute... at least I think...

My thoughts exactly. I played one once....belongs to a friend. It played fine, was red! and was cute.

MA, who is getting ready to record Bugler's Holiday with a couple of friends, on trumpet.