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How do trumpet players use their lips to produce sound?

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Four children play musical instruments in a row, including a flute, trumpet, and tuba, focusing intently as they perform together indoors. — musical instrument Children playing musical instruments.

Trumpet players produce sound by using their lips as a "lip reed," a technique fundamental to all brass instruments. When a player presses their partially closed lips against the rim of the mouthpiece and blows, the lips vibrate.1

This vibration creates a tremor in the airflow that is transmitted into the instrument's tubing, causing the air column inside to resonate at a frequency matching the lips. To control the pitch and produce specific notes, the player adjusts their embouchure, which is the precise positioning and tension of the lips in relation to the mouthpiece.1

By varying the tension and speed of lip vibration, the player can select different notes within the instrument's harmonic series. Experienced players also use these adjustments to fine-tune the pitch, compensating for slight intonation discrepancies that can occur when using the instrument's valves.21