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On a music sheet I am reading, the letters "H.V." (without quotation marks) are written occasionally just above specific notes, above the top line of a bar, but lower than where chords are written, and in a smaller font. The music sheet is for trumpet. I have tried googling, as well as looking for it on here, but without finding anything.

Guessing from the acronym and the context, I thought it might mean high volume, but I can't find anything by googling that either.

Thanks for any help

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  • 1
    "Half valve", perhaps?
    – Kilian Foth
    Dec 8, 2017 at 8:58
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    What is the piece and what instrument is it for? Can you post an image, so we can see it in context?
    – JimM
    Dec 8, 2017 at 11:21
  • It's a jazz piece originally written for Bb trumpet, and I am transposing it for guitar. HV seems to mean half-valve, and I now wonder if it is similar to a bend on guitar
    – Max D
    Dec 8, 2017 at 18:59

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If this is jazz/swing music, then quite possibly "Half - valve," as described in the online Dolmetsch dictionary,

the opening of stops or valves on instruments like the trumpet, French horn, cornet and tuba, used by jazz musicians when they are approaching a glissando, attempting to change the pitch of a tone without hitting the note or its closest interval, and in the process of highlighting blue notes, for vibrato effects and tremolos

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  • Sounds right, this is jazz music. If I understand correctly, a glissando by half-valve on the trumpet would be similar to a bend on the guitar? (That is my target instrument for this trumpet piece)
    – Max D
    Dec 8, 2017 at 18:56

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