Good question, and the short answer is…there is no short answer. There are so many cornet and trumpet designs…it can be complicated! ;-) That said, most modern cornets and trumpets can be distinguished by quick visual inspection (cornet designs more compact and curvy, trumpets longer and usually with slightly bigger bells) but the more complicated truth is that this is not always the case. Things get even more complicated when we go back in history. For example, I’m thinking of my Conn New Wonder cornet from about 1918 as I type this, which frequently gets misrecognized as a trumpet. I’ve even seen Conn New Wonder cornets mislabeled in brass specialty shops as trumpets-so it’s easy for even professionals to make this mistake. There are also a couple of stories floating out there about instrument designers intentionally making trumpets that visually look like cornets and vice versa. So…one can’t always believe your eyes. It may be better to use your ears, but even then it can be tricky. From a sound standpoint, while every aspect of an instrument contributes to its sound, I find that it’s mostly the conical bore shape of the cornet, along with a more traditional v-shaped mouthpiece, that helps me create that slightly mellower sound. Our sound concept (what’s in our musical imagination) is also important too, even beyond the design of the instrument or mouthpiece. If I try, I can make a trumpet sound a bit more like a cornet. But it’s often harder to go the opposite direction and make a cornet sound as blazing and brilliant as a trumpet can be.
P.S. A personal dream of mine would be to get an instrument maker (Yamaha? …???) to do a deep dive into recreating the Conn New Wonder cornet design. I personally find that modern cornets designs are extraordinarily different than these older instruments, and to me, I feel like we’ve truly lost something about what I suspect the cornet sound used to be like. I’m ready and waiting to assist in that project whenever someone wants to take it on. I wonder if we could collectively create a market for an instrument like that…come on internet, don’t let me down! ;-)
While I’m on the topic of cornet advocacy, I just have to share that I’m so proud of the 4th and 5th grade students at my school who have begun rallying around the cornet, to the point of petitioning to start what they call the “cornet awareness society.” I love it. Love it, love it!
Why do some cornet models look more compact and others look closer like a trumpet? I’ve played both and don’t remember the difference in sound…
Good question, and the short answer is…there is no short answer. There are so many cornet and trumpet designs…it can be complicated! ;-)
That said, most modern cornets and trumpets can be distinguished by quick visual inspection (cornet designs more compact and curvy, trumpets longer and usually with slightly bigger bells) but the more complicated truth is that this is not always the case. Things get even more complicated when we go back in history. For example, I’m thinking of my Conn New Wonder cornet from about 1918 as I type this, which frequently gets misrecognized as a trumpet. I’ve even seen Conn New Wonder cornets mislabeled in brass specialty shops as trumpets-so it’s easy for even professionals to make this mistake. There are also a couple of stories floating out there about instrument designers intentionally making trumpets that visually look like cornets and vice versa. So…one can’t always believe your eyes. It may be better to use your ears, but even then it can be tricky.
From a sound standpoint, while every aspect of an instrument contributes to its sound, I find that it’s mostly the conical bore shape of the cornet, along with a more traditional v-shaped mouthpiece, that helps me create that slightly mellower sound.
Our sound concept (what’s in our musical imagination) is also important too, even beyond the design of the instrument or mouthpiece. If I try, I can make a trumpet sound a bit more like a cornet. But it’s often harder to go the opposite direction and make a cornet sound as blazing and brilliant as a trumpet can be.
P.S. A personal dream of mine would be to get an instrument maker (Yamaha? …???) to do a deep dive into recreating the Conn New Wonder cornet design. I personally find that modern cornets designs are extraordinarily different than these older instruments, and to me, I feel like we’ve truly lost something about what I suspect the cornet sound used to be like. I’m ready and waiting to assist in that project whenever someone wants to take it on. I wonder if we could collectively create a market for an instrument like that…come on internet, don’t let me down! ;-)
While I’m on the topic of cornet advocacy, I just have to share that I’m so proud of the 4th and 5th grade students at my school who have begun rallying around the cornet, to the point of petitioning to start what they call the “cornet awareness society.” I love it. Love it, love it!