Mel-O-Toons - The King's Trumpet (1960)

A quick history of the trumpet.

Producer: New World Productions

Playlist for Mel-O-Toons: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=446E95B198A2D256

Mel-O-Toons presents

The King's Trumpet

[music plays]

Do you recognize that music?

That's right. It was the trumpet.
The king's trumpet.

And here's a wonderful story about that music.

In a far away land, there one time lived
a shepherd king who owned many flocks

and had many shepherds who
tended sheep for him.

One day, this king wanted to call
all of the shepherds together.

So he sent a runner for them.

When they arrived,

The king spoke to them and said,

"Pay heed, ye shepherds.

Henceforth, when I call ye,
I will no longer send a runner.

For look. I have fashioned for myself
an instrument made from the horn of a ram.

With it, I can make many tones.

So hark, shepherds.
If you should hear me playing this,

[music plays]

Come home at once.

This instrument we will call, a shofar."

Soon each shepherd made his own shofar,
and each made up his own call.

They all made a set of calls,
so they could speak to each other.

And while the sheep grazed,

one could often hear the call of the shofar
echoing from hilltop to hilltop.

Later, when the king became mighty,
he had an army.

And the shofar was used to call men to war.

As time went on, men learned
to work with metals.

Soon, they found that horns could be made
of brass, and gold, and silver.

These horns could play many more tones
than could the ram horn.

So the kings had trumpets made
to play their special calls.

They also found that if they made a trumpet long,
they played a low notes, like this,

[music plays]

And when they made the trumpet short,
they played high notes, like this,

[music plays]

Now in England, there lived a king named
Richard the Lionhearted.

And when he made ready to go forth
with his army of knights,

he would call his band of trumpeters and say,

"Ho. Master of the Trumpet. Sound off."

And the Master of Trumpet would reply,

"Aye my lord, trumpeteers prepare!

Sound the tucket!"

Then, as the king and his knights marched
into the great cathedral for prayer,

the trumpets could be heard
playing music like this,

[music plays]

Early in the eighteenth century,
a wise musician said,

"We need many trumpets because
each one plays only a few notes.

Now, let me see. If I make a trumpet
with a piece of metal

that moves up and down in a pipe and
put a hole in the side of that piece of metal,

I can use it to connect the
different pipes to my trumpet.

When I push it down, air will go through
a long pipe and make a low sound.

And when I let go, the air will go through
a short pipe and make a high sound."

Now, he had a trumpet with a valve
that played many tones.

Later, trumpet makers built a trumpet
and put three valves in it.

Musicians found that they could play
all of the notes in the scale.

One day, a musician brought his
trumpet to the king and said,

"Sire, I present to you a new invention,

a three valve trumpet."

The king looked at the instrument curiously
and said to the musician,

"Play that instrument musician,
and let me hear what it can do."

So, the musician raised the trumpet
to his lips and played a tune like this,

[music plays]

The king was very pleased and
the musician was greatly rewarded.