Trumpets have three valves and are made of cylindrical tubing. The sound, like on all brass instruments, is made by buzzing your lips into a mouthpiece and supporting the sound with air from the lungs. The cylindrical shape makes the sound of the trumpet very piercing. The trumpet most people use today is the B-flat trumpet. If stretched out straight, it would be about 54 inches long.
The C trumpet is used mostly in orchestras. The C trumpet is one step higher than a B-flat trumpet and about six inches shorter—48 inches long.
Cornets look very much like trumpets, but they are conical (cone-shaped; that is, their tubing gradually increases in size from the mouthpiece to the bell). The cornet has a sweeter, more mellow tone than the trumpet. Beginners sometimes start on the cornet rather than the trumpet because the tubing is coiled more tightly; as a result, it is a little easier to hold and balance
A bugle is a type of trumpet that has no valves. Because it has no valves, it is mostly used for "bugle calls," which don't require you to play many different notes. The earliest bugles were made from the horns of young bulls. Bugle is an Old French word for "young bull."
The flügelhorn looks like a short, fat trumpet, but is really a bugle with valves. It is conical, which gives it a dark, mellow tone. It was named for an eighteenth-century German hunting official, called a "flügelmeister."
The trumpet has some very ancient relatives. One ancient trumpet, called the Shofar, is made from a ram's horn and is still used today in Jewish religious services. When Egyptian Pharoah Tutankhamen's tomb was opened in 1922, an ancient kind of trumpet was found inside the many treasures.
