Mock trumpet

The mock trumpet is a single-reed woodwind instrument popular during the second half of the seventeenth century, especially in England. By the 1720s, the mock trumpet was documented in use in the New World.

The mock trumpet predated the chalumeau and may be one of the primary predecessors of both the chalumeau and clarinet. Mock trumpets are keyless reed-pipes, closed on one end by the natural joint of the cane and wrapped in leather. The reed is idioglottal, meaning that it is a tongue cut but not detached from the reed itself. The reed was placed on the upper side of the instrument and vibrated against the upper lip; the pipe had six tone holes on top and one in the back. Documented music for the mock trumpet primarily includes tutors and method books, indicating that this was an instrument studied in the Western Classical tradition.