Not intending Vegeta to be a major character, Toriyama introduced Vegeta in the series as very short and slightly stocky, with upright standing hair and a defined widow's peak. Vegeta's role for most of the series is primarily to be a rival of the series' main protagonist Son Goku, however he slowly progresses into one of Goku's allies and friends. Being evil at his introduction, Vegeta soon finds refuge on Earth and reluctantly assists the series' protagonists in saving the Earth from threats. In the series, Vegeta was born on the fictional planet also called Vegeta, and is the prince to a nearly extinct extraterrestrial warrior race called the Saiyans. Vegeta first appeared in the manga series in volume 17, or Dragon Ball Z, episode 6 of the anime adaptation as the series' primary antagonist. Vegeta is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball franchise created by manga artist Akira Toriyama. Most professionals agree that a piccolo should be made out of only one material, as two separate materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion lead to tuning inconsistencies. The composite piccolo is durable enough for marching and produces a fair quality sound. In more recent years the piccolo has also been made out of a plastic composite material. A popular compromise combines a metal head joint with a body made from wood. Many piccolo players find that wooden piccolos offer a more mellow timbre than metal ones. Piccolos may be constructed out of wood, metal, gold, plastic, or a combination of all of them. The fact that it is so high does not help as it is rather conspicuous when out of tune. Its small size makes it difficult to construct completely in tune and causes what would be small pitch variances in larger instruments to become rather significant. The piccolo is somewhat notorious for being difficult to play in tune, as evidenced by the jokes circulating among musicians that defines a minor second as “two piccolos playing in unison,” or that the only way to get two piccolos to play in tune is to "shoot one of them". It is increasingly difficult to sustain notes in the third octave, especially softly.
For example, John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" carries a piccolo solo. The piccolo can be quite noticeable in concert marches. Also, flute players with large fingers may find it difficult to press the smaller piccolo keys accurately. Though the fingerings are the same, the embouchure and other differences do require a separate effort to learn.
Not all flute players play piccolo, although most professional players do. Triple-woodwind orchestral works typically include two flutes and one piccolo or three flutes with a piccolo double. (Vivaldi’s concertos, however, were originally for the sopranino recorder). Nonetheless, there have been many concertos and solo pieces written for the piccolo, written by notable composers such as Persichetti, Vivaldi, and Todd Goodman. Thus, it is often used only as an ornamental, "flavor" or "garnish" instrument, or not at all. Often in orchestras, the piccolo player doubles up as a second or third flute because not all orchestral pieces include piccolo parts.īecause the piccolo's sound is in a very high register, it has a potential to be strident or shrill. It is mainly used in orchestral pieces but there are a few pieces specifically for it. In addition to the standard C piccolo, there is a piccolo pitched in D♭ that is sometimes used in bands, and one in A♭, rarely used outside Italian marching bands. Also, many alternate fingerings may be used to tune the individual pitches, as many are consistently out of tune. Fingerings on the piccolo correspond to those of the flute, but sound an octave higher as the piccolo is considerably less than half the size of the flute. Music for the piccolo is written one octave lower than concert pitch.
Like the flute, the piccolo is normally pitched in the key of C, one octave above the concert flute.