As long as there has been music, there have been trumpets. Whether it’s the cupping of the hand against the lips, blowing into the horn of an animal, or buzzing the mouthpiece of a brass instrument, humans have always had an innate sense of how to trumpet.
Beginning in the Stone Age in southeast Asia, trumpeters began to gather in groups to share techniques, music and to play together. The Indian word for conch shell (a beloved type of trumpet all over the world) is ‘dung’. When the word migrated to the landlocked Tibet, it became the root word for all their various trumpets. As the word crept towards the West, it also became a shorthand for trumpet gatherings as well.
These gatherings were very informal and diverse. It could be a chance meeting of 2 trumpet players, exchanging calls on a rooftop, or it could be a force of 1,000 trumpeters assembled for a sonic assault on an invading army.
Until the mid-20th century, dung were always considered somewhat of a secret, although it’s next to impossible to keep the sound of a dung from attracting onlookers. In the late 1960’s, American and European trumpeters began to arrange public dung performances. Today’s dung carry on this long aural tradition, presenting a variety of repertoire that showcases the entire range of what the trumpet can do.
