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Enjoyed giving a natural trumpet masterclass to the brass students at Newcastle University. This is the beautiful Armstrong Building.

A post shared by Russell Gilmour (@trumpetruss) on Feb 1, 2019 at 3:21am PST

We began by playing examples of resultants (difference tones) and I explained why resultants are important for any kind of brass playing, as confirmation of excellent tuning between different players. This acted as a good warm up and a simple, structured way to find the tonic key of the natural trumpet. The students could hear the difference tones quite clearly; they are remarkably clear and it is a fantastic experience to hear three pitches produced by just two players.

I had brought a Renaissance trumpet (replica of Veit 1651), two Baroque trumpets (replicas of Ehe III 1746), an English slide trumpet (original: Cubitt, c.1880), two E-flat duty trumpets crooked down to D-flat (by Keat from 1902 and 1916) and two coiled trumpets with holes (Finke, c.1970). I asked the students to place them in chronological order in terms of use (rather than by year of manufacture of the replicas) which led to interesting discussions. I was also able to show the evolution, advantages and compromises of both the three and four hole systems of finger holes (invented in the 1960/70s). I used the Finke coiled instruments to explain the three hole system and I added a set of finger holes in place of a ventless yard on the replica baroque trumpets by Ehe III to show the four hole system; I played examples on each.

Playing without holes and all together, we played music by Monteverdi and Dauverné. I explained a little about general brass technique and more specifically: the style of each piece, the symbolism of the registers of the natural trumpet, and the differences between the principalé register and the clarino register.

After quite a lot of playing and rehearsing these pieces, we made a recording to send to the Head of Brass at the University, who sadly couldn’t be there with us.

Towards the end of the masterclass we played some short excerpts from Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir [BWV 130] by Bach. I included the Bach as I wanted to show the students an example of some more extreme natural trumpet parts; while Monteverdi and Dauverné are interesting the Bach showed a different, more virtuosic style of writing for the natural trumpet. I wanted the students to know that the natural trumpet had a lot more to offer in terms of repertoire.

Throughout the course of the class, I had explained to the students a little about myself and that I play the natural trumpet the majority of the time in my professional career. I also mentioned a little about my education at the Royal Northern College of Music and later as a principal study Historical Performance student at the Royal College of Music. I told the students that the reason I began playing the natural trumpet is because I went to a masterclass given by David Staff in 2006 at the Royal Northern College of Music. That class inspired me to want to play the natural trumpet. Specialising in that instrument is almost solely the reason I have a career now.

I thoroughly enjoyed presenting the masterclass and it was great to meet the students of Newcastle University. While I was leaving the Armstrong Building I realised that it had been recently refurbished and I walked past the King’s Hall, which I suddenly recognised. I had performed Handel’s Deborah [HWV 51] in The King’s Hall at Newcastle University with the Newcastle Bach Choir under Eric Cross. I had also played Bach’s B Minor Mass [BWV 232] with them at the Sage in Gateshead. I’ve always enjoyed exploring Newcastle and I hope to return again soon!