Old farmer and Vietnam’s largest trumpet

      The 5.5m, 300kg trumpet crafted four years ago by farmer Dinh Van Manh, 64, in Xuan Tien commune, Xuan Truong district, Nam Dinh province, is still the largest one in Vietnam.
The huge trumpet was made accurately in every detail. One only needs to blow lightly on the trumpet to make sweet sounds.
“This trumpet is 1,000-fold bigger than a normal one. I chose the trumpet because among wind instruments, it is the most difficult to manufacture a trumpet,” Manh explained.
In mid 2004, a man ordered Manh to make the largest trumpet in Vietnam. Manh agreed and started researching technical drawings.
“There are rules in casting a trumpet. Workers must ensure that the trumpet has precise details. However, the biggest difficulty is material and casting the piston valves and bores,” Manh said.
Each trumpet has three major parts: the bore, the valves and the tubing. It is the most difficult to cast the valves to ensure good sound for the trumpet. Manh worked nearly six months to make the valves for the largest trumpet in Vietnam.
The artisan used pure brass to cast this trumpet. “If we had used bronze with impurities, the sound would not have been as good,” Manh said.
Manh spent nearly one year making this instrument. He was very happy when the trumpet could produce a sound as loud as thunder.
This trumpet is displayed at Bui Chu Church, in Xuan Ngoc commune, Xuan Truong district.
At the age of 60, Manh is busy producing wind instruments. Each orchestra has 14-15 wind instruments. Manh knows as much about wind instruments as a professional musician. He said that to make wind instruments, workers must understand technology and musical theory.
The artisan came to love wind instruments when he was small. As his family was poor, he couldn’t buy a wind instrument. The boy, thus, tried to cast one for himself. After 21 times of failure, Manh experienced his first success.
From that first trombone, Manh can now manufacture all kinds of wind instruments. The prices of Manh’s instruments are much lower than those of imported ones, and are guaranteed for over ten years.
He made the largest trumpet in Vietnam at a cost of nearly VND80 million while a normal imported trumpet is over VND100 million.
“Casting wind instruments has been going on in Xuan Tien for many years but this job is being threatened by Chinese products,” Manh said.
Casting wind instruments developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to serve churches. Since the 1950s, this job has faced a recession. At present, only Manh’s family casts wind instruments in Xuan Tien.