You played Hindemith on THAT?! Seriously?

That might be what someone would say to me when I tell them about my Eb trumpet phase.  Yeah, I had a point in my undergrad years when I literally played everything I could on an old Bach Eb I'd borrowed from my prof.  Unlike most other Ebs, it was a long bell, large bore model, and I loved the thing.  It had a large, orchestral sound that most other horns of its size lacked.  Besides the usual concerti (Haydn, Hummel, and Neruda), I also played the Hindemith sonata on it, which most people would be completely perplexed about.  Everything but the first movement sounds fantastic on that instrument, the second is especially nice to listen to.  However, I'd get some very odd looks from others when I pulled out that horn.  I mean, something as GIANT and MANLY as Hindemith requires a GIANT, MANLY Bb horn.

I noticed pretty quickly the three main schools of thought people had regarding instruments.  The first, and first I was exposed to through my professor, is to play the instrument that puts each piece into the most comfortable key to play in.  Although I followed this when I was younger, I soon realized that it's just as much a crutch as a convenience, as I sometimes feel like I'm admitting I was defeated on another horn.  Also, this doesn't take into consideration the sound of the horn.

The second, and my favourite, is to choose your horn due to the quality of sound produced.  This varies from piece to piece, and performer to performer (for example, I prefer playing the Halsey Stevens in C, while my professor plays in Eb-D-Eb, and the other trumpet prof plays entirely in Bb).  This method can be combined with the other, however, as playing the J Haydn (as opposed to M Haydn, which DOES exist) in C, though it would sound nice, gets to be a real chore when the trills kick in, which diminishes the quality of the performance.

Then, there seems to be a train of thought around that is PLAY EVERYTHING IN Bb.  Or PLAY EVERYTHING IN C.  People who devote themselves to a single instrument, and won't hear otherwise.  It's more common in Europe, from what I understand.  Thankfully, I don't know many people who follow this.  What is more common is the inverse, which is to boycott a certain size of horn (I know someone who refuses to play Bbs in any situation that doesn't go lower than concert F3, and even then tries to get away with it).

While I said already I push the second method, it's up to each person to figure out which horns work for them.  It might also be that shorter/longer horns just don't sound as good when they play it that helps make the decision.  Most trumpet players could get away in like with naught but a Bb, C, and Picc, and I know that I'll be living that way most of my grad studies/early career.  I'm actually looking at buying my first Picc soon, so perhaps I'll post about that later on.  But first... well, let's just say that next time, we're REALLY getting into the good stuff.