Bb/C Piccolo Trumpet - Chrome with Gigbag + Mouthpiece. Excellent entry grade instrument

The C trumpet was created to make transposing easier. For instance, if a piece of music were in the key of E, it would have to be transposed up an augmented fourth on the Bb trumpet, whereas on the C trumpet, the music would be transposed up a major third. The augmented fourth is awkward to transpose to, and the C trumpet takes away some of the awkwardness. However, as with everything, the more experience one has with transposing, the easier it becomes. The C just makes it a little easier to get the experience. Also, the sound is much brighter than that of the Bb trumpet; therefore the C trumpet is more popular for orchestral playing.

A piccolo trumpet still takes a lot of maturity and a certain degree of talent to play, but it does lower the fundamental an octave, making centering pitches easier. A piccolo trumpet has half the amount of tubing that a regular trumpet does. This causes it to be pitched at an octave above a regular trumpet in the same key.

Many piccolo trumpets have four valves. The first three serve the same purpose as the three valves of a standard mezzo-soprano trumpet. The fourth valve lowers the pitch (not always a perfect fourth), so it is roughly equivalent to the combination of the first and third valves. (It is usually not exactly equivalent because generally the combination of first and third valves is sharp, whereas the player tunes the fourth valve to give an in-tune perfect fourth.)

Contrary to popular belief, playing a piccolo trumpet does not automatically extend the performer's high range. It does, however, reduce the number of possible notes that can be played with any given fingering, thus potentially transforming blatantly wrong high notes into merely cracked or out-of-tune notes. This in itself would not account for the instrument's popularity. Rather, the piccolo trumpet is valued for the tone it produces, which is a result of its shorter tubing, smaller bell, proportionally narrower tubing, and the somewhat shallower mouthpiece cup and different mouthpiece backbore often employed by its players.

More common in other musical venues, such as baroque chamber music and brass ensembles, the piccolo trumpet nevertheless has a role in jazz and big band music.

Please note that this is a very basic entry-grade piccolo and does not in any way measure up to a US$4500 Schilke or Yamaha piccolo in C. It's a great tool if you want to get an introduction to the C piccolo without any of the excessive investment. At an unbeatable no-nonsense value price...