Answers from Confessions of an IC Music junkie

1. The cornet has as much tubing as the trumpet but it is "wrapped" tighter so it looks smaller. It also has a narrower bore by the mouthpiece, giving it a more cylindrical taper than a trumpet. Cornets are mellower and softer in sound and were used primarily in the brass bands and early professional bands of the 19th century and early 20th century.
   
2. Composers sometimes write the cornet parts a bit more melodically and the trumpet parts for more bright, fanfare-type parts. This has become more tradition than logic. All trumpet majors study on trumpet these days; there are no cornet majors in the music school. Trumpet players usually just play the cornet parts on their trumpets, but there are exceptions.
   
3. There are levers on the top and foot pedals that work like the accelerator pedal on a car. The more you push down, the higher it goes.
   
4. They are an octave apart. Tubas have exactly two times the tubing of a euphonium.

Back to Confessions of an IC Music Junkie