Device Lexicon: Part 2 - Low Trumpet Fanfares (feat. The Patriot)

Everybody has been saying that James Horner reused his "Danger Motif" over and over again in many scores (which by the way he defended in one interview as one of his artist's signatures) but also John Williams uses a recurring signature sound in action and particularly danger sequences.

You can find it in lots of his action cues and while it is not as literal copied as the James Horner motif, it is a relatively similar gesture each time.

We can for example hear it in this cue from THE PATRIOT (ca. 2:20 onwards) for which I unfortunately don't have the score sheet but it is relatively self explanatory. I'm talking about the low trumpet "fanfares" which are often based around one note, sometimes are melodically a bit more moving but generallyremain in the low and lowest register of the trumpet. Most of the time, he has more than one trumpet playing these motifs in unison.

When we learn about the trumpet, most people immediately associate it with the heroic, triumphant high register sound that we know from all these iconic themes but there is a side of the trumpet that is relatively easily forgotten which is that low register which can really have a threatening and menacing, sometimes even nasty quality and the knowledge about it is a great addition to any orchestrator's arsenal.

A few details on this device:

As I mentioned already, he often uses it in unison of several trumpets as this feels even more threatening. It is usually a single line and more rarely a diad or even a triad. Be aware that (as with every line that is near the upper or lower limits of a brass instrument) this register is relatively tricky to control for the player. Intonation issues are quite common and you need quite professional players to get enough bite into this register. While these notes can be quite loud and intense (especially at higher dynamics) they don't cut through as easily as high trumpets, if you want them to be clearly present you need to orchestrate around them accordingly. In the example from the Patriot notice how Williams leaves space for these notes between the horn lines (which would cover them completely). They are barely louder than the strings in their first few statements. In the later part they move more into the higher register where they become more prominent and can cut through a more dense orchestration.

These fanfary double/triple tongue figures are quite a bit more effective than just having longer notes in such cases as they create a nice biting drive. Long loud notes are quite tricky to control in pitch and unless you have really good players they will often start to pitch fluctuate a bit. However, there are definitely also moments when they work exceptionally well.

So what we should take from this specific device is that you should not forget that Trumpets have a low register that can be extremely effective in the right moments.