Cornett players? - WindWorks Trumpet Academy by Mystery to Mastery | WindWorks Trumpet Academy by Mystery to Mastery

This topic has 5 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 10 months ago by mats.dahlund.

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- 18 September 2019 at 12:25 am #31989
  
  mats.dahlund
  Participant
  
  Yes, you read that right, cornett with a double “tt”, not cornet! I do not play any of the common brass instruments, but am learning the cornett (cornetto, zink or whatever name you might know them by).
  
  However, the whole MTM concept makes such a lot of sense to me that I will give it a try anyway.
  
  My question:
  Does anyone have any experience of adapting the exercises to suit the cornetto? E.g. harmonic slurs are a bit difficult to get started with, when there is a full octave between the first and second harmonic! And if I start at the second harmonic I am already into an uncomfortably high range!
  
  And the small mouthpiece, that you need to get a really sweet sound from the cornetto, makes aperture corner control very difficult. Chould I perhaps give the toungue level more attention to make up for this?
  
  Any advice is welcome!
- 18 September 2019 at 7:17 am #32005
  
  bo.lundquist
  Participant
  
  I play “cornetto” with a big Monette B2S3 ( Bach 1.1/4 )and my comrades in the brass orchestra use even bigger ones (V-shaped). I found that smaller mouthpieces made the quality of the tone more like a trumpet. I use my trumpet for the #wihsc.
- 18 September 2019 at 11:18 am #32010
  
  Greg Spence
  Keymaster
  
  Hi and welcome to WindWorks Mats.
  
  Tongue level cannot substitute for pitch change without knowing what the aperture corners are doing.
  
  Are there any alternate fingering positions you can use to get a lower but closer harmonic?
  
  You will see as you work through the course why I am so keen to learn more about this instrument. I am going to source one. The relationship to the voice as mentioned in this video is very exciting.
  
  Cheers Greg,
- 18 September 2019 at 3:07 pm #32019
  
  mats.dahlund
  Participant
  
  Bo,
  Using your approach for sure would take care of both the problems I mentioned. For various reasons I never went this way (explaing why will take a longer answer), but now I feel that I must give it try with larger mouthpieces, and see what it actually does for the sound.
- 18 September 2019 at 3:24 pm #32021
  
  mats.dahlund
  Participant
  
  Hi Greg,
  thank you for taking time to comment, and for being clear about the toungue level.
  
  Unfortunately there are no fingerings that give less than an octave between the first and second harmonics, and all the second harmonics are so high that a slur to the third is bit too difficult for a beginner trying this exercise.
  
  The instrument is so short that we need to use all of the first and second harmonics, and when we run out of them, you start to need some fingerings I do not even begin to understand, in order to find higher notes.
  
  Of course I could do slurs that involve change of fingering, but this would to some extent defy the purpose of the exercise, would it not?
  
  I am very pleased to know that you are interested in the cornett! I need to be off for work now, but would be very happy to continue this discussion later.
  
  Thanks
  Mats
- 19 September 2019 at 11:32 pm #32098
  
  mats.dahlund
  Participant
  
  I think I might have found a way forward, regarding the harmonic slurs. I managed to fit a cornett mouthpiece to a bugle. It´s a dirt cheap plastic bugle, with not the best of sounds, but at least it lets me practice harmonic slurs from concert Bb to G, which is far less daunting than the full octave from low B to mid-staff B, which is the closest and lowest that the cornett can offer. Maybe if I can make that work, perhaps later I can move on to full octave slurs on my instrument?
  
  I still think it it is worth some effort to try to follow the MTM concept, even though I have such a different instrument. Even after doing a very moderate amount of the most basic exercises, I find I get a more full and resonating sound from the cornett, and with less effort, which is what is all very much about.
  
  In case someone is interested, Bruce Dickey has made a good compilation of fingering charts for the cornett: http://www.brucedickey.com/fingering-charts
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