The

Piccolo
B b.A
Trumpet
by V incentCichowicz

Selmer
With the adveflt of the a-valve piccolo trumpet
nuch of the formidable music ol lhe pasl has been
sreatly lacililaled. Although the piccolo trumpel le
as sucb is not new, the present in8irumeDts are so
improved in terms of quaiity, responseand intona
t ion th a t lhe c hoic eof p l a y i n g l h i s m u s i c o n th e m 1 2 o I 1 2 I
is no lon8er a question of tradinS one set o[ diffi- t t T 2
culti$ fo. another. This however requires m un- i
de.standin8 of lhe instrumenl, its potential and
anapproach I o achievefamiliarity and control.
3 4 4 3
The piccolo B, {Al t.umpel is equipped with a 4th
valve which edds a perlect 4lh downward 1o the 1 T 2 T
t T
P J, A Y iD NOTATION ACTUAL PI TCR
L 1
1
z
T T
t
z
Therefore music which descended below the ca'
t AL i l rl ) o f lhe 3- v J hF rn s l ru me n t ts n d n o s l b a -
ro q u e n u s ic c alled f or th e s e n o te s ) c a n n o w b e
played on the4-valve iDstrument with relative ease.
lr w i l l b e s eenlhar lhp d d d i l i o n o t Ih F 4 l h rJ Ire i n
combination wilhany or all of lh olher valves nol
o y allows us to descend beyond the ranse oI a
3-valve irutrument but allows us a larser number
of aliernare tineerin8s which can be used for tech
nica lfa cilily or iD adius l i n l o n a l i o n ,
The followins tinserine chart will show the pos
si b i l i ti e s :

2 0 2 I 7 2
t
4
1 4 .1 4 3 l z
T T t 3 z
! t 1 1
! I T T
! i

coryighlF1972's.h''.|b'd'|'dim
 except when the tessilura is exceptionally demand
ins such as in the Bach ljrondcnbD.s Conco.lo
N o. 2, A Mi D of Moss orthe C h.i sl mdsOrol ori o,E x-
ampl e: l f 6 pl ayer nornal l y pl ays on a V i ncenl
Bach No. 1 lor e{tuivaletrl). usually a lC, 1y.C o.
1%Cwill work well in most situations. lf a playe.
I I 2 o 2 0 2 '|
2 usesaBach JC, 5C. o.7C he can often use lh latr,
,
mouthpi ecej n the pi c.ol o.
N ow i f l he parti cul arpart b too strenuousor the
quai i ty of sound or i D tonati odi s faul l y, then the
3 I 4 2 1 3 use of a smal ternoul hpi ce i s reconmended.E x'
T t T a 3 ample: Bach 7D or 7DW. 7E or 7EW o. 1ovtrC.'AI-
ter a player lamiliarizes himself wilh lhe instru-
ment he is usually able 10 dcide for himself whn
a chanse is desirable. One word of warnin8r The
4 I 1 3 1 mouthpiece cotrtemplatedmust be tested ov. lhe
z i full ransc of the inslfument, with great emphasis
on l he mi ddl e and l ow er tone! ol the resi sl er and
lhen movin8 inlo the upper reaches of lbe inst.u
meD tasparl ofa nos' cal Ii nc.Indi scri mi natesl ri k-
i nsofsi nS l ehi sh l onesi snol a usefutw ay to j udse
a parl i .ul ar mouthpi ece(or i nstrumeD l l and can
be di si l l usi oni ns;hen these sanc tores are used
There fl.c a few more possibililies bul lhis con'
i namusi cal contexl .
p ri se sa p r a. t i. al, : hnr t lo c o v c rm a n y a l te rn d ti v e s .
TUNING
Note: A pedal [C] can be produced on the i.stru
Sincc no inslrumenl made is absolutely perlecl
me n l ,b !l is of ient oot lat fo ra n y p ra c l i c a l u s a a e .
by itself in intoDation, il is necessa.y for a player
No l a ti o n is in play ed p i tc h c s n o te s w i l l s o u n d l o l earn or " psych out l he i nstrumenl l and hi m-
on octdve higher. (Bhpilch) sel fl mi ghl addl l o getmusi 0al resul ts.
' l hree notes a.e vi tal i n dei ermi D i ngw here the
(8b PtrcH) coNcERT tuni nS bi t i s to be sel for 8ood overal l i ntonati on.
1!'R ITTE:'{ RECISTER PITCII P i l chcdi n B . w e tuD ethusl yl
P L A Y }: D SOUNDING
P!

a)
HOLDING THE INSTRUMENT
Th e re a r e luo pos s ibili ti e 6to r ma n i p u l a ti o no f l h e P i tchedi n A w e w oul dl une thusl y:
4lh valve. The first. {the one I personally pEfer)
is using the fi.sl finger of the left hand. The olher P LA TE D S otrn-r
Otrn-D IN G
is l o u sethe lit t le t alhJ li n g e ro fl h e ri g h l h rn d .
On e sh ould t f y bolh ne th o d s to r a p e ri o d o f ti n
b e l o red ec idinson onc o r i h e o th e r. Mo s t p l a y e rs
(i n cl u d i neM aur ic eA nd re l p re l e r th ei i rs l me th o d .
lr the three-notesaiJlerfecrly spacedfo. run-
ing, one is indeedforlunalciaod hc needn't con
CHOICE OF MOUTHPIECE
Th i s i s a m os t im por t a n l o o n s i d e ra ti o ni n o b ta i n
ing l h e pr oper r es ult s l ro n th e s e i n s l .u me n ts .
.,,.(i
.con
. 'n hinself
t i - 'e l t
r*:
'a , r*
wirh
w , l h any
d n v alrcrgiions.
',./-
d l l r l i l i . m s . However
H o w c v p r more
more

n,.,,.Lurp.di i ,.hi r"-1,1dr_S , b .h,Ll d b'

Md n y p l a y F r s\ pF r nr o B e t l h . L , .l rF s u h eb v u s i n E "

t '
ivoided !d'0rally as rb,r usually hrve tit rdvcse citocr on
mu u l h p ic 'ns c im ili" r r o rh l rr n u rm a l m o u l h p i e c F s .

l:';:::p::;:l;"
o ft n t han not one ma y h a v e to c o m p e n s a teb e -
ca u seone or m or e o t th e s e n o te s ma y n o i b e a b -
so l u t elypr f ec rand a i u d i c ro u s ru n i n s o f th e i n -
strumenl will result in senerally Cood overall in-
EXAM P LE T O c lav e to ow i d e
One should tune to the lower note since it is eas-
ie. lo "humor" or lip down the sharp nole than to
ra i se lh f lat one. I s h o u l d m a k e c l e a r th a t I a m
speaking of ve.y small disftepancies-if they a.e
l a r8 e, c om pens alio nma y b c d i ffi c u l l o r i m p o s si -
b l e to c or r ec tand t h e n o n e s h o u l d i n v e s ti s a teth e
p o ss ibilit y of t he m o u th p i e c en o t b e i n 8 p ro p e r o r
being poorly fittedto tbe instrument. [Al this point
I am a8sumins that the player is sufficiently ad-
vanced and skilled so as to somewhat elimiDaie
tbe possibility that the difficulties are basic play-
in8 problms,l Anothe. solution is of cotrrs to use
alternale finge.ings for the upper noles- Rapid
p a ssages us ually . e e d n ' l b e a l t re d i f p a s s e d
lhrou8h. Example:
They should be altered in notes of some lensth or
those which begin or terminate a passase. Exam-
L
No w lel u! t ak e t h e o p p o s i tep ro b l e m -th e o c-
to ve i 3t oo c om pr es s e d ."
Ex a m p l e :
CO M PRESSED
ASdin lhe solution is similar: tune ro the flat oore
a n d ti p down t he s ha .p o n e .
The middle note lthe fifth) of the three noie
Sro u p c an be us ed l o b a l d n c F o u r" th e Iu n i n g.
Let s assumewe have the octaves pretty well lin-
cd up . w e c-n l hen e\pecl l hat the " fi fth' l i n d
properly piayed and constructed instrumentl wiil
also "line up" quite well. If it seems to deviate a
bii (sharp or flatl a luriher ninor adjustmnt of
l hc l uni ng bi l can bc madc l o bri ng i t cl ose r in
tune. However I preler an alternale tinSerins be-
cause in the final analysis lhe octave is lhe most
oitical and I prcfer nol to dislurb its location too
' l he l st. 3rd and 4th val ve sl i dos shoul d dl so be
' ' runcd. Thi s i s prrti uul arl y true i l one i s pl ay ins
rhc i nsl rumenl pi rLhed i n A . P l ) l he fol l nwing
succession of notes:
A dj ust the 1s1val ve sl i de unl i l sood w hol e-half
sl ep rel ati ons} i psare esl abl i shcd.' l heF-(l ' F rcla-
l i onshi p i s parti .ul arl v i mporl ant i n cstabl i sh ing
' I he 3rd val ve sl i de shoul d be adj ustedsi ni l iar -
ly. Play the following succession of notcs and try
lo dchieve a balance between lhe lenSths ne.B-
sary lo kep the Ab, G+, Er and D proportionally in
l f D s or C + predoni nai e i n a si ven pi ecoof mu sr c
l hen tl ,e 3rd sl i dc nay be l en8thenedmorc E e ner -
D usl y.Fami l i ari l y and usasew i l l soon i ndi cal ct hc
Th" Juurrhr e ql i dp,.dnhF rer i n rhp l ol l us inB
-,\
nanner: Il l he 4l h val ve i s usedpri nrari l y l o exlcnd
l hr ransedow nw ard i l usual l y ha, to be pul l ed our
l ,etw eenya"and 1s" .Il ow ever, i l l he 4rh val ve will
be used pri n.i pal l y for al l ernate fi ngefi ngs it
shoul dbe extendedD ntysl i shtl y.
In evaluating these lesls a stroboscope can be
pa.licula.lyuselul.
HOW TO PRACTICE
A specific appmach is often iSnored with 8ne.al-
l y l Fsql han i dcdl resul rq.I mal c the l ol l ow rns s. n-
e.al sussestionsfor a pra.tice procdure,
warm up and p.actice a fcw baeic exercises on
a regular Bb o. C tfuhpel for about len to fifteen
minutes. This atlows the player to "wA.m up" his
enbou.hure aDd set or focus his playins on a la-
miliar inst.umenl. Re$l a lew minutes and besin
playirg simple scale or arpeSgio patterns jn the
lower register of lhc piccolo trumpet and then
sradually work upwr.d. Allow about ten to fif
tccn minutcs lo accompli$h this. lJse oI lyric, vocal-
i se l yp e m us ic dl t his p o i n l i s p a rl i c u l a rl y h e l p fu l
and one s'ill begin playing lho inslrument wilh a
sre a l e r s ens iliv ily f o. l h e re s p o n s e ,l i m b re a n d
control, $hich is not so roadily rchieved by menly
p i cki n s up t hc ins t r um o n l n n d l h e n p l u n g i n g i n l o
wh a te vc rlit er aiuf eis at h a n d .

SUGGf,STED PRACTICE MATf,RIAL

The 100 Eludes of E. Sachnecan bs utilized wilh
minor modificaiioDs as it affords nolattoD to bring

Re.ertly a seriee of solo pices for the piccolo

trumpet has been publishd by cerard Billaudol
and edited bv JeanThilde which provides lhe play-
er with an ex.ellent mbdium in which to explore
th ere so ur c esol t his ins t.u m e n l .
Most baroque music in D najo. wiu be sreatly
$implified by perfo.manc on th piccolo A lrum-
pet. This allows the player lo play in the key oI F
on lhis instrument, avoidinS the awkward rineer,
idgs enou.lered when thc same music is played

IL AYED O \ T RUM P E TIN D

P I , A l' E I) ON PICC, IN B'

P LA Y E D ON PICC.IN A

Needlss lo say, a lhorough comnand of trans-

position is necessary and a player's imagination