The Firebird is a type of

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

with the standard three valves and the addition of a

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

-style slide. It was invented by Maynard Ferguson and Larry Ramirez and remains an exceptionally rare, specialist instrument. They were occasionally produced by Holton.

History

Hybrid or "duplex" brass instruments equipped with both a slide and valves were built as early as the 1860s, by instrument makers Besson and Conn. Jazz trumpet player Maynard Ferguson and Holton (now a division of C.G. Conn) worked together to develop Ferguson's first trumpet, Model ST302. The designer of that trumpet, Larry Ramirez, spoke to Ferguson about a valve/slide trombone that he had designed some 12 years earlier, and this eventually led to Ramirez designing a new valve/slide trombone for Ferguson, called the

Superbone The superbone (sometimes known as the double trombone) is a hybrid tenor trombone in B that has both a slide like a regular trombone and a set of valves like a valve trombone. History Trombones that combine both a slide with a set of valves ...

, in October 1974.Email correspondence with Larry Ramirez After touring with the Superbone, Ferguson spoke to Ramirez about making a trumpet with the same valve/slide capability. In order to preserve the length of tubing required to make a B trumpet, the slide could only be made with four positions instead of the standard seven on a trombone. The bell was bent up approximately 20 degrees so that the slide could clear the bell when extended. This instrument was dubbed the “Firebird”, and went into production on or around May 28, 1983 as Model ST303. By 2000, Ramirez came up with a design for a full seven-position Firebird trumpet. The slide was a telescoping slide-within-a-slide assembly that could be extended to twice its length. Only two of these were made—the first prototype and a second one years later when the first was damaged.

Technique

The Firebird may be played strictly as a valve trumpet, or using the valves and slide in conjunction. With only the first four slide positions available, some lower notes (low F, G, A, C, D, E, and the second A) require the use of valves. Higher As can be achieved using normally out-of-tune harmonics, since the slide allows for microtuning adjustments. The horn may be gripped with either the left hand or the right hand, and the valves may also be operated by either hand, which is facilitated by the presence of two pinky rings on the top of the horn. Similarly, the slide may be operated by either hand, giving the player the option to finger the valves with the right hand and operate the slide with the left, or vice versa. Other than the slide, the Firebird's playing technique is no different from standard trumpet technique.

Notable players

Popular artists who have used the Firebird on recordings and live performances include: *

Axel Dörner Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German trumpeter, pianist, and composer. Biography Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988–89) and at the Music Academy in Cologne (1989–1996). From 1991 he studied t ...

* Maynard Ferguson * Leonel Kaplan * James Morrison

References

External links

Firebird page (archived)
on trumpetstuff.com
Firebird page
on konakkol.com {{Trumpets Brass instruments B-flat instruments Trumpets