Thousands of years ago, our ancestors discovered that by blowing into the narrow end of a horn taken from a dead deer or ram, or into a large conch shell, they could produce a sound much louder than that of their own voice. They used this to warn members of their tribe of approaching danger, and then learned to vary the sounds to make music. Later, long trumpets made from straight metal tubes were used by armies to sound the attack and frighten the enemy. Today, they are still used by military bandsmen on ceremonial occasions. The trumpet has a mouthpiece shaped like a small cup and the end where the music comes out opens up like a bell. To make its bright, exciting sound, the player’s lips vibrate against the mouthpiece – rather like blowing a raspberry. Musical trumpets like Toby have their tubes bent rather like a paperclip, but if stretched out they would be 2 metres long. They have three valves which are pressed in various combinations to alter the length of tube the vibrating air travels along and so produce different notes. Trumpets belong to the family of brass instruments. Jazz musicians still recognise their origin by calling them horns.