The piccolo trumpet is the smallest instrument in the trumpet family. It plays one octave higher than the standard B♭ trumpet. Most piccolo trumpets can play in either B♭ or A, with a separate leadpipe for each key. The tubing in the B♭ piccolo trumpet is half as long as the tubing in a standard B♭ trumpet. Piccolo trumpets in G, F, and high C are also made, but they are less common.
The piccolo trumpet is different from the pocket trumpet, which has the same pitch as a regular B♭ trumpet.
Types and details
The piccolo trumpet in B♭ is a transposing instrument, which means it sounds a minor seventh higher than the notes written on the sheet music. It is not often requested specifically in musical scores, but players may use it to perform high-pitched parts when needed.
The piccolo trumpet in D, also called the Bach trumpet, was created by a Belgian instrument maker named Victor Mahillon. It was first used in the late 19th century to play high trumpet parts in music by composers like Bach and Handel. Early versions had three piston valves and a long, straight shape, but by the early 20th century, most were made with the shorter, curved design of modern C and B♭ trumpets. Composers such as Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring, Petrushka), Ravel (Boléro), and Britten (Peter Grimes) included the trumpet in D in their works.
In 1862, a Czech instrument maker named Červený made a piccolo cornet in high B♭, but it was not widely used. The modern four-valve piccolo trumpet became popular through the efforts of Adolf Scherbaum and Maurice André at the Conservatoire de Paris. Scherbaum was the first to focus on the piccolo trumpet’s repertoire, discovering new Baroque music and creating original transcriptions. André continued this work with the instrument maker Selmer Paris throughout his career. The piccolo trumpet allows players to perform the challenging high-pitched parts found in Baroque music, such as in Bach’s Second Brandenburg Concerto and Mass in B Minor.
The way sound is produced on the piccolo trumpet is similar to that of the larger B♭ trumpet. However, air pressure and tonguing techniques differ, and players use a shallower mouthpiece for the piccolo trumpet. Most modern piccolo trumpets have four valves instead of three. The fourth valve usually lowers the pitch by a fourth, which helps extend the instrument’s low range and improves the accuracy of certain notes through alternate fingerings.
Use in "Penny Lane" and elsewhere
The piccolo trumpet solo in the Beatles' song "Penny Lane," which helped introduce the piccolo trumpet to pop music, was played by David Mason. Paul McCartney was not happy with the first attempts at the song's instrumental fill (one of which is included on Anthology 2) and decided to use the instrument after seeing Mason perform on a BBC television broadcast of the second Brandenburg Concerto. He asked George Martin what the "tremendously high" trumpet was. Eventually, Mason recorded the solo using a piccolo trumpet in A. The piccolo trumpet was also used to play a part from Bach's Invention No. 8 in F major (BWV 779) during the fade-out of "All You Need Is Love."
Today, the piccolo trumpet is commonly used in many types of music. Some well-known piccolo trumpet players include Maurice André, Otto Sauter, Guy Touvron, Reinhold Friedrich, Adolf Scherbaum, Ludwig Güttler, Wynton Marsalis, Matthias Höfs, and Håkan Hardenberger.