The Royal Wedding day was a trumpeter's dream with the instrument's prominent role in the royal wedding of HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It proves how music is indispensable to the culture and great occasions within a nation.I was glued to the TV screen watching the Royal Wedding in order to enjoy the full range of superb trumpet calls, fanfares and music. 

The event reminded me of my young days as a chorister of St Paul's Cathedral, when we sang for special services and events that involved the Royal Family and I remembered the thrilling sound of the fanfare trumpeters playing the Old Hundredth from the organ gallery above the choir stalls. I am glad to play an instrument that has close associations with power and royalty, having performed on one or two memorable occasions with various members of the Royal family present.

This week I have been working with a group of student composers who are in the process of writing music for the trumpet - as you can see in the short video clip - we had fun exploring the principles of how the instrument works.

The International Music Fair in Hamburg featured a new trumpet with its bell manufactured from carbon fibre http://www.dacarbo.ch/en/home
many years ago I remember playing a trumpet with a pyrex bell - it sounded similar but was much heavier. Anyway, Dacarbo,  the manufacturers of this latest trumpet design claim that a whole tone of range can be gained without any further effort - sounds tempting to me - but the cost of the instrument would negate that in my case.