The diameter is
three-eighths of an inch along the cylindrical length; it then widens
out for about fifteen inches, to form the bell.
When fitted with a slide for transposition--an invention for the
trumpet in the last century--this double tubing, about five inches in
length on each side, is connected with the second length. It is worked
from the center with the second and third fingers of the right band,
and, when pulled back, returns to its original position by a spring.
There are five crooks. The mouthpiece is hemispherical and convex, and
the exact shape of it is of great importance. It has a rim with
slightly rounded surface. The diameter of the mouthpiece varies
according to the player and the pitch required. With the first crook,
or rather shank, and mouthpiece, the length of the trumpet is
increased to six feet, and the instrument is then in the key of F. The
second shank transposes it to E, the third to E flat, and the fourth
to D. The fifth, and largest--two feet one and a half inches
long--extends the instrument to eight feet, and lowers the key to C.
The slide is used for transposition by a semitone or a whole tone,
thus making new fundamentals, and correcting certain notes of the
natural harmonic scale, as the seventh, eleventh, and thirteenth,
which do not agree with our musical scale.
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