Trumpet: was Re: [tuning] Re: Hexatonic scale in 11-EDO

Hi Luke,

Check out the Don Ellis big band recordings recently issued on CD for a
quartertone trumpet-based big band sound. In fact, Ellis published a
quartertone trumpet method book. By adding a single valve, a brass player
can play much more than quartertones.

My good friend David Grego has built a quartertone tuba. Right me privately
and I will give you his phone number in Hoboken, New Jersey. First he added
a valve to a "poor" tuba and it improved it greatly. He had been worried
about ruining his instrument so he made a prototype. Years later he is
fluent on a great quartertone tuba. As Ellis had found, the extra valve
opens up the instrument. It has a bigger sound. And it gives most of the
treasure trove of microtonal intervals.

Most modern trumpeters effect quartertones by having the right-hand pinkie
remain on the slide, which they move expeditiously. Louis Babin of Montreal,
Quebec is quite adept at playing quartertone trumpet slide (as he is a
composer of quartertone rooted music).

For complex varieties of microtones, I have successfully employed trumpeter
John Charles Thomas (upstate, New York, but working in NYC). While using a
standard trumpet he can lip any microtonal interval or tuning because he has
learned to hear in cents and can make the fine embouchure adjustments.

The actual placement of the valve is beyond my area of expertise. Good luck
in your odyssey!

Best, Johnny Reinhard