When your father and brother both played brass instruments from a young age, it was inevitable that conversations often turned to "which country makes the best trumpet?" With famous trumpeteers such as Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis dominating the airways for almost nine decades, you could be excused for thinking the Americans and their Bach Stradivarius trumpets are the best at blowing their own horn.
But no. It's actually the precison craftsmanship and industrial design tenure of Germany that gives this country the title of unassuming trumpet royalty ... for more than two centuries.
Back in1818, two Germans horn players, Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel invented and patented the box tubular valve – the invention that would spur the evolution of the modern day trumpet.
Germany’s design legacy - and long list of design legends - continues to deliver some of the best trumpets ever built and that keep their value; brands like Condor, Weimann, Bessons, J. Scherzer, and Jürgen Voigt.
Isn't it interesting that often those who blow their trumpet the loudest, are not always the most talented. Thought for today.