I recently got an email from a trumpet player, Lee, who reminded me about a topic I’ve been meaning to blog about for a while. In his email about a different topic Lee mentioned that the range requirements for trumpet player are more demanding than that of trombone. While on the surface this could be correct, I’m not so certain that this is really true. There certainly is a lot more nuance that goes beyond how high each of those instruments are expected to play. There’s also the range where these instruments spend the most time playing as well as the length of time in a given performance. Of course that’s going to depend also on the style of the music and what the individual piece is. It’s really hard to quantify this and often it gets framed as which brass instrument is harder to play, which is not really a useful argument.
Regardless, as someone who has spent a lot of time studying scores of great composers and arrangers I’ve noticed that the playing demands placed on different brass instruments are not always comparable. A phrase played on a Bb trumpet in a particular range is going to have a completely different quality if played an octave lower on a trombone. A trombonist pasting out an F above high Bb can sound exciting, but it doesn’t have quite the same punch as the equivalent G above high C on trumpet. Then we also need to consider how much a particular brass part plays on a given piece of music. If I were asked to play a NOLA brass band style sousaphone part in the equivalent range on tenor trombone or euphonium I think I would be gassed by the end of one set, maybe sooner. Good arrangers come to an understanding of what good brass players are capable of and write parts accordingly.
Are there some ways to objectively look at the playing demands placed on different brass instruments? Maybe, but all the ways I can think of have their limitations. Still, I find this an interesting thought experiment and did some “back of the envelope” analysis to see if I could come up with anything that might tease out an understanding.
While I’m not really a brass doubler, I do find it useful to practice trumpet from time to time and while I was a student, particularly in high school, I played all the brass instruments in different ensembles. I also taught all the brass instruments for a while back when I was teaching at Adams State College and ended up working on my chops on all the brass to try to be able to keep up with my students. But honestly, I found it more effective to simply transpose and play along on trombone with my students on other brass instruments because it provided a better model. I’m providing this background simply to point out that I’m not completely inexperienced on every brass instrument, but also to acknowledge that I’m only expert on trombone (and some might argue not even on that). My background as a composer and arranger writing for brass might be more relevant, since I’ve had a chance to discover through trial and error what works well for different brass.
Suggested Ranges – Orchestral
The easiest way to look at the demands on brass range I could think of was to look at orchestration and arranging sources to see what is recommended by experts. Are trumpet players generally required to play a greater range than tubists? Which brass instrument seems to require the widest range or the highest range? For my purposes in this post I’m going to focus on trumpet and trombone in particular, but also discuss tuba and French horn when I have some info to share.
One of the first books I was assigned as an undergrad for scoring music was The Study of Orchestration, by Samuel Adler. I have the 2nd edition, so your copy might be different. If you’re not familiar with this text, it is largely concerned with orchestral arranging, so these ranges might seem a little smaller if you compare this to big band playing.
Bb Trumpet
This text suggests a range of 2 octaves and a minor 6th for trumpet. The highest recommended note is the 9th partial. The Adler text also helpfully describes the characteristics of the registers for each instruments. For trumpet it describes the lowest written F# to the B above as “rather dull,” the middle C to A above the staff as “clear bright and most articulate,” and B above the staff to the D above the staff as “brilliant but strident.”
French Horn
Horn is a different animal than the other brass instruments. The fundamental pitch of the instrument is actually lower than a trombone, but they tend to be scored on higher sounding pitches. The range demands on a horn are larger than on the other brass, Adler recommends a playable range of just under 4 octaves. We are cautioned, however, that the lower register are difficult and to be avoided in fast passages. Written C below middle C up to G below middle C is described as “dark and may be a bit unfocused.” Above that to written middle C is “deep and solid.” From there to G on top of the treble clef staff is “bright and heroic” and above that is “brilliant and loud.” The highest suggested note is way up in the partials and I’m too lazy to count and figure it out. If you’re a horn player help me out in the comments.
Tenor Trombone
The suggested range for a tenor trombone is 2 octaves and a diminished 5th, a whole step smaller than trumpet, but then Adler provides some additional upper register notes in the parenthesis. Adler writes, “Theoretically, the quarter notes . . . are possible, and many professional players can play them, but they are difficult and risky.” If we included the highest note in the above suggested range the tenor trombone has a range of 3 octaves and a minor 2nd. The lowest pitch up to the G on the bottom of the bass clef staff is described as “dark and rather nondescript.” From there to the F above the bass clef staff is labeled as “very strong.” G above the bass clef to the Bb whole note in the tenor clef above is “very intense.” The highest suggested whole note is the 8th partial.
Tuba
Adler’s suggested range for writing for tuba is 3 octaves and a major 2nd, but it is covered in the text that tubists will often play instruments pitched in different keys. The lowest suggested pitch above, F, to the Bb two ledger lines below the staff is described as sounding “deep and heavy.” From the C below the staff to E in the staff is indicated as sounding “very strong” and above that is “getting weaker but quite intense.” The highest recommended pitch for tuba is the 13th partial, I think.
“Winner of the Range Contest”
It’s not a contest, but the horn wins with almost 4 octaves. Tuba comes in second with 3 octaves and a major 2nd. Trumpet and trombone are about the same, roughly 2 and 1/2 octaves, depending on which pitch you go with for the highest recommended note on trombone.
Suggested Range – Big Band
For suggested ranges for big band writing I grabbed Nelson Riddle’s text, Arranged by Nelson Riddle. I’ve got several good books on arranging for big band, this just happened to be the first one that I grabbed off my shelf.
Trumpet
This suggested range is very close to Adler’s suggestions. For some reason the lowest note is a half step higher, so 2 octaves and a Perfect 4th. If you know Nelson Riddle’s arranging you know that he would often write his lead trumpet parts higher than suggested.
Trombone
Riddle describes the recommended range of the trombone differently from the trumpet, like Adler. The two notes at the beginning of the above example are almost the same as the equivalent trumpet range, 2 octaves and a diminished 5th. But Riddle also adds some pedal tones (personally, I wouldn’t recommend too many pedals on tenor trombone and the lowest I can think of in classical repertoire is the pedal G in the David Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra.) He clarifies his upper register suggestions as “The upper notes. . . are all practical and easily available to experienced professionals, but younger and weaker lips usually have ‘A’ or ‘Bb’ as a ceiling, and the high ‘D’ in particular seems to be the starting note of a kind of ‘stratosphere’ which is closed to all but the very finest players.”
French Horn
Riddles range suggestions for horn are difficult to follow. The above image is a recreation of what is in the book, but there’s not much description on what all that means. He covers the French horn in his chapter on woodwinds and then later in the chapter on brass. I may be missing a complete discussion on what ranges he recommends for horn, since I’m skimming.
Tuba
Riddle’s suggested range for tuba is a bit smaller than Adler’s, 3 octaves total.
“Winner of the Range Contest”
Again, not a contest, but at least according to Riddle the tuba “wins” at 3 octaves. I won’t attempt a guess as to what he feels is the playable range for the horn. The trombone might be considered to eke out the trumpet a hair. That said, I tend to think of the playable ranges of trumpet and trombone as being equivalent to each other (for professional players), but with some caveats that I mentioned earlier and that I’ll get into now.
Playing Demand Comparisons – Big Band Lead Trumpet and Lead Trombone
Something important for composers and arrangers to consider when writing for brass is how much time the players spend actually playing and how much rest they get in a given piece. Nelson Riddle notes, “The brass section should be used for punctuation and support, and should not be given the sustained passages you would assign to string players, who can saw away for hours without rippling a muscle or generating one drop of perspiration.”
Since most of my own writing and much of my playing is for big band, I’m most familiar with that repertoire. One thing I’ve noticed with most of the great arrangers is that the trumpets generally are used more sparingly than the trombone section. I think there are two main practical reasons why. First, the lead trumpet part in the upper register is often saved for the exciting shout chorus and it’s helpful to give the trumpet section a chance to rest a bit before they are required to play up there. Secondly, the range of the trombone section alone is a bit more rich and solid sounding than a the trumpet section up an octave by themselves. While there are certainly times when the trumpet section can carry a passage on their own, it’s more common for that section to be blended with the saxophone or trombone section. You don’t have to go very high before 4 trumpets alone start to sound “tinny” whereas the trombone section voiced an octave below is in a range that sounds rich and clear.
But I wanted to come up with a more objective way to measure my impressions here. I grabbed a chart out of my own library, A Little Minor Booze by Willie Maiden, written for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. I figured something out of the Kenton library might make for a representative sample of what is expected in modern big band playing. I looked at the lead trumpet and lead trombone parts and worked out a couple of different things that would give us a glimpse into the different playing demands. I worked out the required range for both parts, but also looked at what the average note and median note was for both parts. I also looked at how much of the chart each player would have the metal on the mouth. It’s not really an accurate comparison, a quarter note playing a 6th partial concert F isn’t as demanding as playing that same pitch for a whole note. Controlling for that sort of variable is too much work for a blog post (and just guess at how much effort it took to write this post already), but I think it could be done if someone was interested enough.
Here are the results using some charts to compare.
Following this chart takes some explaining. In order to easily calculate these numbers I assigned the number 1 to the concert E below the staff for both trumpet and trombone (the lowest recommended non-pedal tone note for both). The F above that was assigned the number 2 and so on, all the way up to the written “double C” on trumpet at number 43. Here’s another way to look at this data.
Lowest Pitch Played
Lead Trumpet (written)
Lead Trombone
The lead trombone part was required to play the equivalent of an octave lower than the lead trumpet part.
Highest Pitch Played
Lead Trumpet (written)
Lead Trombone
On the second to last measure the lead trumpet has to play a “double C.” This is a major 6th higher than the equivalent highest note on the lead trombone part. The lead trumpet part has an entire range of two octaves, the C in the middle of the staff to the C two octaves above. The lead trombone part has an entire range of 2 octaves plus a minor 3rd.
Average Pitch
Lead Trumpet (written)
Lead Trombone
The average pitch for the lead trumpet part came out to a diminished 5th higher than the lead trombone part.
Median Pitch
Lead Trumpet (written)
Lead Trombone
The median pitch, that is the middle between the highest and lowest notes played in both parts, has the lead trumpet part a major 3rd above the lead trombone part.
Mode Pitch
Lead Trumpet (written)
Lead Trombone
The mode pitch refers to the pitch that occurred most often in the part. The lead trumpet mode note was the equivalent of a Perfect 4th higher than the mode note in the lead trombone part.
Measures Spent with the Metal on the Mouth
Lead Trumpet
Lead Trombone
The entire chart of A Little Minor Booze is 108 measures long (not counting the quarter note pickup). The lead trumpet part has at least one note in 33 measures, compared to the lead trombone part having 53 measures with something to be played.
Summary Impressions
First of all, let me make it clear that all the above really doesn’t tell us which brass instrument is the most demanding to play, but it might give the composer/arranger some ideas on what brass are capable of and how to write more idiomatically for those instruments. For big band writing in general, my best guess is that the lead trumpet will typically be required to play higher, but the lead trombone part will be required to play a wider range in general. The trombone section will typically need to play for longer periods of time with less rest, whereas the trumpets, who probably need to play more in the upper side of their range, will get more rest. If you want your trombone parts to be higher than typical you might want to write them with more rests than normal. Likewise, if you want your trumpets to play more throughout your arrangement you should write their range lower than you might otherwise. If you want to look at which instrument is required to play the widest range in general, you can probably assume French horn can cover the most range, followed by tuba, trombone, then trumpet.
My general thoughts on range capabilities for similarly experienced brass musicians is to pretty much think of them as the same. Take the roughly 2 and 1/2 octaves for trumpet and transpose that down an octave for the range of trombone and euphonium. Drop that down an octave for tuba standard range. Those aren’t perfect, but they will give you a decent idea to work with so that instead of having to memorize ranges for 3 different brass instruments you memorize 1 range and transpose by octaves. French horn, of course, is different and you’ll need to learn their range if you’re going to write for that instrument effectively.