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Bell up: raise the bell of the instrument for a bigger, rougher sound.
Printed over horn, trumpet, trombone or woodwind parts (oboe, clarinet), often shortened to Schalltr. auf and given an exclamation mark, at the start of a loud passage. It lasts for that passage, ending with Schalltrichter ab or the next rest.
Abbreviations: Schalltr. auf, Schalltr.auf, Schalltr. auf!
Raising the bell sends the sound straight at the audience and makes it brighter, harsher and more visible — a theatrical gesture as much as an acoustic one. Mahler uses it for climaxes in winds and brass alike, sometimes with mutes for a strident, forced colour. It works only at loud dynamics and for short stretches, so give players a moment to lift the instrument.
Mahler, Symphony No. 5, first movement, trumpets, m. 368: “mit Sordinen, Schalltrichter auf!” — muted and bells up together, with fff in the next bar.
Schalltrichter auf is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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