A Philosophical Essay of Musick

The touch of the thumb hinders the sound of the string less when it is placed at the point where the vibrations cross The "node" in modern physics, where the string does not move than when it is in any other part. We see that when any large string has a full vibration, such a touch would immediately extinguish the? sound. This causes the Trumpet Marine original: "Trumpet Marine"; a tall, single-stringed bowed instrument used to imitate a trumpet, when the thumb is placed upon it, to produce such a note where the division of vibrations lies exactly under the thumb.

Speaking of the counterfeit trumpet Referring again to the Trumpet Marine, I must observe that the true trumpet seems to produce all its notes by "breaking" The process of overblowing to reach higher harmonics, which causes the metal to jar and gives such a loud sound. I suspect the true capacity of the air contained within a trumpet, in comparison to its bore, would naturally match a note an octave below what is commonly called the "Note of the Trumpet." I believe this because a fourth below that note is so easily sounded; that fourth is actually a fifth to the true tone, assuming the true tone is placed eight notes lower. Just as the air easily divides into three parts to produce a fifth, it may well triple that division to produce a second above the trumpet note. As for the rest of the notes a trumpet will easily produce, they are the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sharp. These arise from the simplest divisions of the monochord A single-stringed instrument used to measure musical intervals and are therefore most readily produced by "breaking" when the strength of the breath and the action of the lips direct it. Since the trumpet is unable to play in a flat key, the Sackbut An early form of the trombone, as I observed before, is made in such a way that it may be lengthened to fix this defect. This allows it to give any note the player desires. However, when the player needs to sound an octave or a fifth above, he never lengthens the instrument; without any movement of his hand, the note easily breaks into those higher chords.

The trumpet shares the same nature as pipes, and therefore properly leads me to speak of the varying notes upon pipes. This variation is so regular and so widely used that the entire range of music depends upon it.

I have shown that sound causes motion not only in solid bodies, but also in the denser parts of the air within its reach.