Clarion (instrument)

Clarion is a name for a high-pitched trumpet used in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also a name for a 4' organ reed stop that produces a high-pitched or clarion-like sound on a pipe organ in the clarion trumpet's range of notes. The word clarion has changed meanings over centuries and across languages. Today, in modern French clairon refers to the bugle, while in Italy chiarina refers to modern trumpets of historic design, made from bent tubing and without valves, similar to the natural trumpet. Resembling these instruments is the modern fanfare trumpet, like the chiarina or natural trumpet, but with the option of using valves. Clarion became a musical term to refer the upper register of the standard trumpet. However, a clarin trumpet did exist with a narrower bore than the standard trumpet and a "broad, flat mouthpiece," designed to "play the high partials." In war the trumpet historically had a harsh sound, often described as, "like the braying of an ass." As technology improved the ability of trumpets to take pressure and reach more notes and higher notes, that higher-pitched sound became the focus of the term clarion. By the 14th century, it was described as high-pitched, shrill, or clear sounding. In general (and not all early writers agreed) the clarion was a shorter trumpet with narrower bore. For example, a 1606 author named Nicot wrote that while the term clarion had once referred to a group of high pitched trumpets with a narrower bore, by his day it was the higher pitches in a sound range that any trumpet should be able to play. The narrowing of the bore and the manufacturers' control of how gradually it widened changed the tone of new instruments. Rather than braying, the trumpets took on the sound of...