Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a “buzzing” sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century they have been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded oblong shape.

There are several types of trumpet; the most common is a transposing instrument pitched in Bb with a tubing length of about 148 cm. Earlier trumpets did not have valves, but modern instruments generally have either three piston valves or, more rarely, three rotary valves. Each valve increases the length of tubing when engaged, thereby lowering the pitch.

The trumpet is used in many forms of music, including classical music and jazz.

The most common type is the B♭ trumpet, but low F, C, D, E♭, E, G and A trumpets are also available. The C trumpet is most common in American orchestral playing, where it is used alongside the B♭ trumpet. It’s slightly smaller size gives it a brighter, more lively sound.

Embouchure:

While performing on a brass instrument, the sound is produced by the player buzzing his or her lips into a mouthpiece. Pitches are changed in part through altering the amount of muscular contraction in the lip formation. The performer’s use of the air, tightening of cheek and jaw muscles, as well as tongue manipulation can affect how the embouchure works.

Farkas embouchure

This is the configuration that very many trumpet players use. The lips are neither rolled in or out. There is a combination of a smile and pucker (puckered smile) which will create a taut chin.

The lips have little resistance when they are not curled. Because of this, the lips tend to be blown apart in high registers and much arm pressure have to be used just in order to seal the embouchure.
A solution to this problem, is raising the tongue, which reduces the pressure on the lips. The tongue will be raised all the way in the extreme register, so that it touches the molars and the top of the mouth.
The procedure of reducing pressure by raising the tongue is described by Claude Gordon in his mouthpiece chapter. (What he did not explain, was that the tongue must be raised all the way up to the roof of the mouth in order to create any significant resistance.)

The sound can be very nice with core and a good balance of harmonics. This happens when there is a good balance from smiling and puckering, creating an oval aperture.

The lips will protrude slightly into the mouthpiece, so some players will bottom out on shallow mouthpieces.