Schilke Music Products
| Schilke Music Products, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| legal form | |
| founding | 1956 |
| Seat | Melrose Park , Illinois |
| Branch | Musical instrument making |
| Website | http://www.schilkemusic.com |
The Schilke Music Products is an American manufacturer of trumpets and mouthpieces . To this day, instruments are handcrafted there that are sold worldwide. It is not a mass-produced item manufacturer, which is also reflected in a significantly higher price. Unlike other manufacturers, each instrument is only offered as silver-plated or gold-plated. This goes back to the opinion of the company founder that lacquered instruments significantly worsened the responsiveness and the blowing resistance.
The founder
Renold Otto Schilke, Sr. (born June 30, 1910 in Green Bay, Wisconsin , † September 5, 1982 in Arizona) comes from a musical family. While his father was a singer and his mother an organist , Renold learned to play the cornet at the age of eight . At the age of 11 he was a soloist in the Holton Works Orchestra. In 1928 he began studying the trumpet in Chicago with Edward Llewellyn, first trumpeter of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra . On the side he earned some money with a small mouthpiece manufacturer. Llewellyn also played mouthpieces from the Chicago- based company.
In the 1920s, Schilke was able to make a living from his musician salary and also attended courses in a technical school for toolmaking . He also studied metallurgy and music at Northwestern University in Evananston and the University of Chicago .
In the late 30s he worked as a civilian worker in arms production and successfully played the trumpet in various line-ups. After the death of his friend Llewellyn, he took over his post in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra .
In 1956 he finally founded a company to manufacture trumpets . The first trumpet on the market was the B1 model from 1962, which is still one of the best-selling Schilke trumpets today.
Schilke Music Products
Schilke has been making trumpets and mouthpieces since it was founded in 1956. Unlike many other wind instrument manufacturers, the specialization in this instrument has remained to this day. The only exception is the ST20 trombone series . Bb, C, Eb / D and G / F trumpets and piccolo trumpets as well as cornets are offered in various versions.
Today 40 employees produce each instrument by hand. Due to the very bright sound and the easy response, the instruments are used more in jazz than in classical music. Some classical representatives, such as Alison Balsom , also rely on Schilke trumpets.
Most of the trumpets still sold today were developed between 1956 and 1965. The numbers are well below those of mass manufacturers such as Yamaha or Bach.
Typical of Schilke trumpets are the obligatory green felts and the fact that Schilke (unlike all other manufacturers) sells the instruments without a case and mouthpiece.
Well-known musicians
The following is a small selection of musicians who use or still use Schilke products:
- Jon Faddis : Schilke S42 and various mouthpieces
- Dizzy Gillespie : Trumpet as a gift from Jon Faddis
- Wynton Marsalis : Bb and Piccolo Trumpets
- Arturo Sandoval : B1 and X3
- Alison Balsom : Schilke E3-L
- Maynard Ferguson : various mouthpieces
- Louis Armstrong : various mouthpieces
Model names
The model designation always consists of a combination of letters and numbers (e.g. B1 or X3 ). The numbers provide information about the chronological order of the market launch. The B1 is the first Schilke trumpet to appear on the market. The letters make a statement about the bore diameter: For Bb trumpets, X stands for the largest, B for the smallest bore. In between there is still the "S" class. An "L" at the end of a model name stands for a detachable bell.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated September 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://abel.hive.no/trumpet/playerhorn/
