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Fellow cornet players I'm pleased to announce that the forum is open. I will be adding more topics within the next few days. Please let me know about any topics that you think should be on the forum . Enjoy...

Cornet Players Are Free To Be Free

   I admit that I am a little biased towards brass instrument, especially cornets. I am a cornet player after all.  I’m always looking for ways to promote the queen of the brass and her uniqueness. I look for every opportunity I can to expose people to her. When  I tell people that I play the cornet they follow up with  “ What is a cornet”  Usually the  first response I get when I show someone a cornet  for the first time in their life there is a look of confusion on their face. One day a 13 year old told me that my getzen 3850 looks like an old fashioned trumpet.  Here in the states most people are familiar with trumpets but few know what a shepherds crook cornet looks like. As far as they are concerned any brass instrument that is 20 inches long must be a trumpet.  When I play my cornet for them the first thing they comment about is how nice and different it sounds.  This is when I take the opportunity to ask them which instrument has the nicest sound, the cornet, trumpet or sax. Their answer is the cornet.

   I’ve always wondered who or what determined the saxophone to be the ultimate wind instrument. You can walk up to any Jane or Joe Blow on the street and ask them what is their favorite instrument and 9 times out of 10 they will say the sax.  How did the masses get hooked?  Who or what convinced them. Sure the serpent shaped instrument does have its appeal and is very effective in capable hands but what is it that draws Jane and Joe to it, even when it is in the hands of less gifted individuals. How much longer must we endure saxophones playing another cliché line imbedded in a smooth jazz chart and then forced to say how nice it sounds. When are the 20 minute sax solos at jam sessions going to end? How many times must we be trapped in an elevator and forced to hear squawking.   Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever know.

   I think us cornet players can make a dent in the sax-is-the-ultimate-instrument myth. We have so many tools at our disposal.  The fact that we are not that well known means we are free to roam and be individuals. We can craft our own image and not bow to the image the masses and their manipulators deemed is real. We are not forced to follow a canned blueprint when is comes to making music.  No one is expecting us to screech like trumpets or slide up and down the stage on our knees with our horns trust out. Our sound is not associated with cheesy " B " movie soundtracks or pay per view horizontal mamba videos.  We are free to be cornet players. Let’s use our cornet players  freedom to our advantage. 

What Makes a Cornet a Cornet?

   It’s an age old question and not an easy one to answer. What is the difference between the cornet and trumpet?   Part of the reason why it is so difficult to explain the differences is because the two instruments are so alike. They look almost alike, they are both high brass instruments and the same basic technique is used to make them make music. If we throw in the fact that they almost sound the same, we end up with a ball of tangled thread to unravel.

    The traditional way to explain their differences is to just say cornets are more conical than trumpets and because of this cornets are mellow and not as brilliant. Some claim that it’s the way the horns are shaped, also known as wrapped. The cornets nice curves will make it more mellow and agile than the trumpet. The newest way to explain the differences is to just say it’s the mouthpiece because manufactures are building cornets and trumpets so much alike. Oh and lets not forget about the sound. The British Bands have a cornet sound and we Americans have a different cornet sound. The Brits use allot of vibrato us Americans don’t. Brits where handed cornets when they came out of the womb and we Americans are loud and rowdy and that’s why we love trumpets

     I’m going to attempt to answer this question but this time in a different way. First let’s deal with the basic truths about both instruments. For examples I will use the shepherds crook cornet and the workhorse B flat trumpet as our subjects.

Without dealing with myths here are some facts.

1) The trumpet and cornet are keyed in B flat.  And when both horns unwrapped will be roughly six feet long made out of brass.

2) The cornet will be more conical than the trumpet and the trumpet more cylindrical than the cornet.

3)  The trumpet will have a C cup bowl shaped mouthpiece and the cornet will have a deep V cone shaped mouthpiece.

4) Cornets have a more compact wrap than trumpets and are better looking. The bell is closer to your ears so that it is easy to hear all that sweetness coming out of the business end. .(This is just my opinion)

5) Cornets usually have bigger bores than trumpets.

6) Everything that I mentioned when added up all together will make the cornets tone richer and mellower. It also affects the way  the two instrument s are played.

Fact number 1 takes care of itself. There is no confusion and  we can move on to fact number 2.

   

In fact 2,  if we assume that we have two tubes of equal length and set them side by side with one tube shaped more like a cone and the other one shaped liked a cylinder we will have the basic building blocks for a cornet and trumpet. Manufactures will play around with these basic shapes and use different ratios in order to optimize the tone of the instrument. In general cornets are not totally conical and trumpets are not totally cylindrical. The instrument with a more conical shape will be warmer, mellower and richer in tone than the instrument with a more cylindrical shape. The cylindrical shape leads to a brilliant, strident and cutting tone.

    In fact 3, the mouthpiece plays a significant role in the tone of the cornet and trumpet. The mouthpiece is also the route most musicians take in order find the quickest fix when it comes to playing a cornet versus the trumpet. Allot of trumpet players complain about cornets being too stuffy. Other complains include that they can’t play high notes as easy and have less projection and endurance. They like the nice warm sound coming out of the horn but they are too tired to stand up after five minutes of playing. The first thing they want to do is find a trumpet mouthpiece with a cornet shank and stick it in the front end of their cornet. In the process they loose some of the qualities of a cornet that makes it a cornet.

    Traditionally cornets used deep V shaped mouthpieces with narrow cookie cutter type rims and trumpets use C cup shaped mouthpieces with fat comfortable rims. Currently there are manufactures that make hybrid mouthpieces for both trumpet and cornet.  The V shaped cornet mouth piece has less resistance than trumpet C cup bowl shaped mouthpieces. Resistance is felt as backpressure. Each player needs a certain amount of backpressure in order to get the horn to make music. If there is not enough backpressure (resistance) the cornet/trumpet player will feel as if they are running out of air and will huff and puff until they become tired to blow down the house. If there is too much backpressure (allot of resistance) the cornet/trumpet player will feel like they are forcing the instrument to make music and become tired and their heads explode. Cornetist must compensate for the lack of resistance with their embouchure. An added benefit that we cornet players love is that we have more flexibility with dynamics, control over our sound, and more agility. The drawback is that if we don’t use proper technique, our chops and endurance will suffer.  Because of the resistance and fat rims built into trumpet mouthpieces there is less stress placed on the trumpet players embouchure. Their sound is more brilliant, and they can produce more volume and power with less effort. In the end it’s easier for them to play higher and have increased endurance.

   In fact number 4, cornets do have a tighter wrap than trumpets and to my eyes they look nicer than trumpets. But do they really effect the sound of the instrument? I would say yes but for me it has more to do with the closeness of the bell to my ears. I’m able to hear the subtle changes I make in my sound while I’m playing and there is more feedback.  I think realistically the crook in a shepherds crook cornet does have some effect on the shape of the bell and ultimately the sound. Every shepherds crook cornet I’ve heard sounds warmer and had more of a human quality in their sound than a trumpet or long model American cornet or trumpet.

  In fact number (5), there are just too many variables involved with bores. Back when trumpets first made their appearance on the jazz scene they were called peashooters. This was because they had smaller bores than cornets the bore is basically the diameter of the tubing on the instrument. Bores are usually measured at the second valve slide of a cornet or trumpet. There are many factors that a builder must consider when designing a cornet or trumpet and point (5) is not carved in stone. My getzen 3850 has a .462 bore. There are definitely trumpets that can be bought off the shelf today that have bores greater than .462. There are many trumpet and cornet models pushing .470. Generally peaking, bigger bores will open the horn up and make it have less resistance and freer blowing.

   Fact number (6) is perhaps the best answer of all. You can judge a tree by the fruit it bares. If horns where trees, their fruit will be their sound. There have been blind studies that demonstrate the cornet can be mistaken for a trumpet and most people can’t tell the difference, especially people who don’t play either horns. This is a problem because if both horns sound so similar, how are we going to be able to tell them apart and then explain the differences to the curious and uninformed. It’s easy for seasoned cornet and trumpet players to tell the differences because they know what to listen for. I would argue that a key factor missing is the way they are played. Additionally the way they are designed determines how they are to be played

      Today we hear trumpets  in every kind of music imagined. In the hands of a great players like Wynton Marsalis , Melvin Jones, and Joe Grandsden  it is an amazing instrument.  They can be screaming, loud and in your face or serene and gentle. One could easily argue that there is no need for a cornet I definitely disagree with this argument and again this boils down to how the instruments sound and how it is played. Just because you can play a trumpet in allot of situations, it doesn’t mean that they are ideal for everything.  Cornets are an intimate instrument and their unique abilities still make them relevant today. Their tone is ideal for lyrical and emotional music and with a deep V cornet mouthpiece it has a human-like quality. Their precision and agility allows them to play extremely fast passages and each note is clearly defined and clean and excellent example is Richard Marshall. Trumpet players can play clean and clearly defined too, but it is the subtle nature of the cornets tone that gives it an edge in area. When cornet players were ruling the roost, they would mimic the great violinist and vocalist of the day while trumpets were restricted to just playing fanfares and viewed as crude contraptions. It was the trumpets ability to cut through the amplified bands and loud night clubs during the big band era that eventually gave them a foothold. In the end, it was musical taste that determined the destinies of   the cornet and trumpet. Today cornets are making headway again in jazz and they are a mainstay in traditional Dixieland music. Even with C cup trumpet mouthpieces it’s easy to hear the lyrical nature of the horn. The Brass Band tradition in the UK helped to keep the cornets rich mellow tone, agility and lyrical ability alive and encouraged renewed curiosity in its abilities. All of this is because tastes in music are changing.

    The next time you’re asked why your cornet is different from a trumpet. Don’t try to explain it. Just show it and then the person that is asking the question will understand.

Cornet instincts vs Trumpet Instincts

   After studying cornet players and drawing inspiration from them.  I’ve been able to pick up some instinctual differences when compared to our trumpet brethren.  I’m the kind of person that pays close attention to a musician’s stage presence. You have some musicians who pace across the stage like felines and then there are those who stay planted in one spot looking as if they had roots extending into the stage. The only way you can tell they are playing is if you’re close enough to see their fingers moving. Some musicians are laid back and look as if they are almost meditating while others look like they’re chopping down a tree with a butter knife. They really make it look hard.  

     Trumpet players and cornet players are two different musical beasts. Trumpet players tend to strut onto a stage and have the appearance of scouting a new territory. Cornetist on the other hand are more laid back. Cornet players float onto the stage almost effortless. With a slight nod the cornetist reassures everyone on stage that they are a team player. We are here to partake in the brotherhood and not take over.  

    It’s rare these days to see more than one cornetist on a stage in a jazz setting. We have been almost exterminated, but we will be back shortly. Our breed is making a comeback. Trumpet players seem to run in pacts. It’s not uncommon to see allot of them roaming a jazz jam session worth going to.  If there is more than one trumpet player on stage, each one would act as if they marked their territory. Each is exercising their valves or tapping their feet. Nodding their heads in approval of their pack members’ improvisational agility is also common. While all this is going on, they are all plotting to play a higher note than the trumpet player before them, when their turn to solo arrives. With their legs spread apart, shoulders raised, and backs arched in a 45 degree angle they will heave their axes to their chops and begin howling  away when it ‘s time for them to take a solo. Trumpet players look like they are putting allot of effort into their playing. This is their nature. They must display their power and aggression. With red faces, eyes bulging, and necks blown out of proportion they make sure that everyone knows that they are the creature of that moment and time. If they make mistakes or crack a note they know that the crowd appreciates their effort.

    Cornet players make it look easy on the jazz stage. Our approach to the horn is not the same as the trumpet player. Lyrical playing is our forte. We won’t purposely crack a note or play a double F after a long 8 bar 32^nd note expression of musical instinct. We know that there aren’t  too many of us roaming the jazz clubs. We are solitary and free to be ourselves and no one is going to walk up to us a say that we sound like a famous trumpet player. Most of the time the audience won’t have a clue about what our axe is gong to sound like.  Old timers and seasoned musicians might have a clue but even they are confused sometimes.   Yes, our instincts are different but this is a good thing.  Every horn can’t be a cornet. The music jungle is not that kind.

It has more curves and its prettier than a regular trumpet

    A couple a weeks ago at a   Joe Gransden  jam session in Decatur Georgia.  I felt a tap on my right shoulder. As I turned around I noticed a women barely old enough to drink She said something to me that I’m sure many cornet players have heard before, especially here in the states.  “That is a nice looking short trumpet” she said. I wanted to correct her on the spot but held my tongue. I knew that I shouldn’t feel insulted but I’m a cornet player and proud of it. The woman had a simple innocent query.  The trumpet is a noble instrument with a rich pedigree. I should be proud that my Getzen 3850 was misidentified.   Just as I was about to explain to her that my horn is a cornet she continued to say “It has more curves and it’s prettier than a regular trumpet “After she said that  my guard went down. She was on roll. I wanted to here more from her. “Is that what makes it sound so different?” The icing on the cake was when she said “I love the sound”.

   It’s in situations like this one we should take full advantage of the uniqueness of the cornet. Cornets do have a pleasing and graceful shape. Any shepherd’s crook short model is an eye catcher. Notice how eyes suddenly home in on your horn when you pull them out of a nice warm gig bag or case. Trumpets don’t get that kind of response from non trumpet players. Sax players are also suffering from this little unpleasantly    Lets not forget about the tone of the cornet. I could have explained to the young woman the technical stuff that made my horn stand out but that was not what she was interested in. She was caught in the cornets grip. I had no choice but to let her experience the magic of the cornet “My instrument is a Cornet and thank you” I finally said to the young woman” “Can I touch it” she asked. I nodded my approval. She smiled and touched my horn. 

Taking the Plunge as a Cornet player

      After a 15 year layoff from playing the trumpet,  I’ve  decided to jump back into the music scene . This time with my head on strait and with clear goals, I’m ready. The trumpet is no longer my passion.  I am a cornetist. I've been in the wood shed for the past  three years mastering the cornet, teaching students and  learning jazz standards over again. It wasn't an easy road but sometimes in life you must take a road you never would think that you would end up taking. I never would have thought that I would end up in the middle of Georgia as a cornetist.
      I ended up on this road due to the downturn in the economy. Just five years ago I worked as a courier in the Atlanta area and then everything started going to hell. The courier company I contracted with began loosing their contracts and before I knew it, there was not enough business. I had to find some other way to make extra money. Like so many others we have to do what ever we can do to survive.  After sending out resumes asking friends and family for leads , I  had few bites and  no catch.  I decided to use what God gave me. I am a musician and I need to put my talent to use.
       I played trumpet from fourth grade all the way through high school and eventually joined the US Army and became an army bandsmen. After my stint in the Army, I left and went to New York and began gigging around town.  I took any gig I could but most was jazz related and session work with some salsa tossed in. I met my wife and wanted to settle down and decided that being a freelance musician wasn't going to cut it. I got a job working for the Guggenheim Museum.  I still had the desire to play but eventually with all the pressures of work I  gave up playing trumpet soon afterwards and sold my horn out of frustration because my trumpet playing was only getting worse. I didn’t touch an instrument for the next 15 years.
     After  13 years living in a cramped queens NY apartment, my wife and I made the decision to buy a house in a Atlanta suburb, start a business and go for the American dream. While working as a courier in Atlanta, my wife encouraged me to start playing again. I wasn't all that happy as a courier and was convinced that my days were numbered and I would eventually get killed while plowing my van through the crazy Atlanta traffic. I needed some way to relieve the stress.  It didn't take much convincing from my wife and I soon decided on the horn that I wanted to buy. For me, my choice of horn was easy. I always loved the tone on the flugelhorn and because I was getting back into music for fun I bought a Yamaha Bobby Shew inspired flugel. Hell my goal was just to have fun and not make money. I had a job anyway. Well we know what happened with that.
   One day while practicing on my flugel something clicked in my brain and the tone of the flugel started to sound too heavy to my ears and I felt that it just wasn't my voice. I realized that I've been bitten by the music bug again. I started to take my music serious again. I bought a Kanstul Chicago 1001 which is a copy of the classic benge horns. It was the horn I played while I was in the Army and gigging around New York years earlier. Like so many other trumpet players I spent tons of money on mouthpieces and paraphernalia that became nothing but paperweights.   Suddenly I was seeking that perfect sound concept I heard in my head. I searched high and low for that sound until one day I jumped onto youtube and heard a cornet solo played by David Daws. He is a brass band cornetist and one of the best in the world. There was a human quality to his tone that reminded me of the sound concept I wanted. I continued my journey and began seeking out other cornet players. Players like Roger Webster, Richard Marshall, Phil McCann and Gerald Schwartz. All of them had a certain flavor that made them sound different from each other. However, they all had all had one thing that really makes the cornet stand out. That one thing is the almost human like quality in their tone. One other thing I noticed too was that they where playing the short model shepherds cook cornet.
   After hearing the cornet I thought to myself that this horn must have showed its head somewhere in the jazz scene in the past. I did my research and eventually discovered that it was indeed very popular in jazz. In fact it was the go-to high brass jazz instrument during the dawn of jazz.  However, as jazz bands got larger, the local nightspots became louder and instruments got amplified the trumpet became the high brass instrument of choice. Cornets just didn’t have the power and brilliance to cut through the new and louder stage.
    Not to be outdone, the cornet went through a few changes in order to compete with the newer and louder trumpet for attention. Two changes in particular were the Bach styled trumpet mouthpieces for cornet. Instead of the deep v traditional cornet mouthpiece, also known as a cookie cutter, this concoction was simply a trumpet “c “cup mouthpiece on a cornet shank. The other change was the long cornet. Instead of having a shepherds crook, it had a strait bell. The changers added up made the cornet more powerful and brilliant. Now the cornet can cut through the noise. The idea worked a little, especially for Dixieland, but in the allot of cornet players just gravitated to the trumpet. Allot of trumpeters and diehard cornet players argued that this is what eventually caused the decline of the cornet. The long cornet was just simply a trumpet that looked sort of like a cornet. The lines became too blurred. The cornet moved closer to sounding like a trumpet and the trumpet became civilized. The main hold-out for the human like cornet sound was the brass band scene in Europe, in particular the UK.
     I didn’t give up on finding jazz cornetist in America after I learned how the cornet fell out of favor. Louis Armstrong began his career playing the cornet. I even have a couple of photos of him holding a short model. shepherds crook. Buddy Bolden, Bix Beiderbecke, Nat Adderly, Warren Vache, Thad Jones, Art Farmer and Chet Baker. These guys are the masters I have to look to and learn from.
     I've always been aware of the cornet and I remember seeing long cornets sitting in the corners of band rooms from elementary through high school. They were just sitting in the corner with dust collecting on their cases. Like so many young trumpet players I thought they looked like funny trumpets that sound just like regular trumpets and  had a stuffy feel. Since looking cool was one of my priorities there was no way in hell that I was going to be seen with one of them things stuck to my face. The next time I remembered playing the cornet was when I was in the Army Band.  We used Bach cornets. I can’t remember the model number but I do know they were long cornets. The only time we would drag our long cornets  out of their cases were in concert band rehearsal and during concerts.  I know for myself I hated to play the thing as with everyone else in the trumpet section... However I do remember that their small sturdy cases made good foot rests and card tables on long bus rides to concerts.

   Eventually I sold my flugel and  found  enough money to buy my very first and only cornet. There were many brands and models of cornets to research and finally after a month it was between the Kanstul 1530 and the Getzen 3850. In the end I decided to buy the getzen 3850 with rose brass bell. The Getzen was reasonably priced, has a gorgeous tone, and the best valves in the business.    

  

     For the next year I played nothing but cornet. The only instrument that can help me achieve the sound concept in my head is the cornet and I had no use for the trumpet anymore.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not biased against the trumpet. In fact I like to listen to a well played trumpet especially in jazz. The tone of the trumpet  does not  match the sound concept that I hear. Eventually, I got to the point to where I thought that I was ready to venture out into the local jazz seen and test my cornet skills. This is where I really began to run into the realities of playing the cornet vs. trumpet.

   Playing the cornet at home vs. playing a cornet in a live jazz setting are two very different animals. Now I see why so many cornet players including Louis Armstrong switched over to playing the trumpet. Unlike practicing in the comfort of your own home, you don’t get the instant feedback from the sound bouncing off the walls that are close by.  You must find a way to cut through amplified guitars, amplified keyboards, loud drums, and other assorted noises associated with restaurants, clubs, and other large or outdoor venues. All of these things help to absorb the sweet sounds coming out of the end of your cornet and robbing you of the feedback you need. Trumpets have enough edge and power to cut through with little effort. For the next year I went on what seemed to be a never ending journey to figure out how to make the cornet sound like a cornet while not playing it like a trumpet in a jazz setting.

   Finally, I figured out how to make it in a live jazz setting while playing the cornet. And this is without amplification too. Just listen to some of the old turn of the century recordings of cornet players like Herbert L Clarke and John Baptist Arbans. These guys did amazing things with their cornets and without amplification. The first thing you must do is realize that the cornet is not a trumpet. They are similar in many ways, but they are truly different horns.  The strength of the trumpet is its brilliance and power. The cornet is not about power. Its strength is in agility and finesse and precision.  In a jazz setting, if you play the cornet like a trumpet you are going to get worn out real fast. If you intend to get on the stage and try to blow the walls down  and crack glass while playing above the staff all night you are going to be in for a big surprise. I know because I’ve been through it. If you feel the need to wail on the cornet like a trumpet player save your money and breath and stick to the trumpet.

  

   Another thing that I learned was that mouthpiece safaris do nothing but delay your progression on the cornet. I went through tons of mouthpieces sometimes switching back and forwards from one to another. The switches would usually happen after I stick to a mouthpiece for a week and as soon as I had a bad night at a jam session, I would try to fix it by switching to another mouthpiece. I got to the point to where I couldn’t play in public anymore. I couldn’t even hear myself on stage anymore. It felt like I was playing in a black hole every time I was on stage. Things were so bad that I spent more time trying to squeeze notes out my horn than concentrating on the chord changes. One thing snowballed into another. I became so obsessed with this problem that I was forced to stop relearning all the head charts that I’ve forgotten how to play and focus on just getting notes out of my axe.

    Then one night during a jam session, I had an epiphany. After a bad set of not being able to hear myself on stage I borrowed a trumpet from a friend. I played and again the same thing happened. My sound went into the mysterious black hole. I was playing the trumpet. This was not supposed to happen. Trumpets are supposed to cut though all the noise and the room wasn’t  packed that night. Not only did it not matter what mouthpiece I was using but now it didn’t matter if I was playing the cornet or trumpet.   There was something wrong with my technique. I wanted my cornet sound concept to have the presence of a trumpet but when I played the trumpet, I was trying my best to alter its sound to match the cornet concept in my head. I was a mess.  Since there where no cornet players willing to take a shepherds crook cornet into a jazz scene that I could learn from living in my neck of Georgia, I was on my own. Instead of running home with my head down, I went home and began from scratch.

   The first thing that I did when I started from scratch was decide on the mouthpiece that would help me reproduce my sound concept efficiently and with enough presence to be heard.  Then I decided to stop playing in public until I was able to get my cornet sound to project. Then I focused on learning more jazz standards. I wasn’t going to go out again until I achieve theses two objectives.  The mouthpiece I chose was the Denis Wick 2b cornet mouthpiece. I know that some of you are probably thinking that I must be crazy to want to play jazz on such a huge mouthpiece.  I’m a cornet player and I can care less about belting out a double “f “or double high “C”.  My sweet spot  is from f# below the staff to high “C” tops. I have no need to play higher even though I can. The thing I like about my Wick 2b and Getzen 3850 setup is that I can belt out plenty of sound with a slight touch of brilliance on more aggressive lines and purr like a kitten on ballads.

   I’m back and I have my sound concept. I have enough head charts memorized that I wont be standing on stage looking like I can’t find my way home.  Like I said earlier, it has been a long journey and I have come far. I’ve come back into the world of music and I’ve found my voice. I’m jumping in and I would like to invite cornetist from all over to help spread the news that Cornets players can gig too.