Chronicles of a Comeback Trumpet Player
These are the trials and tribulations of a comeback trumpet player, roughly forty years after
last playing in high school.
First a little background.
I started playing the cornet in 5th grade and played all through high school.
From 8th grade on I was first chair.
In junior high school our band director was JB "Chick" Rounds, probably my favorite
teacher of all my schooling. We not only had a really great, award-winning concert and
marching band, but also a great stage band, the Kerr Hot Shots. This was Mr. Rounds real specialty and my
personal favorite. He actually played saxophone with the Tommy Dorsey band in the '40s.
Man, I loved playing in that band!
Moving on the high school our director was Albert Buswell. At first I (and some others) felt disappointed.
It seemed that he didn't like or care about stage band, just the concert band. Now, let me say
right up front, he was really good with the concert band. I did figure out eventually that my impression
wasn't exactly right. We did have a stage band and it wasn't bad, but we suffered from missing any good
(actually ANY) players for certain parts. At various times we had a baritone and french horn playing the
trombone parts. They were good, especially the french horn player, Allison. She was one of the best in the
state, but it just didn't sound like it was supposed to.
After high school I though about going out for the OU band, but didn't figure I'd have time, as I was going
to be an engineer! Plus, I knew I wasn't going to be a professional musician and had no desire to be a
music teacher, so what good would taking band be in college. Boy! what a bad decision that was! Not only
did I discover I didn't really want to be an engineer, but I'm sure I missed out on a lot of enjoyment I would
have experienced in band. Attending and playing at the football games alone would have been worth it!
Oddly enough I did actually continue my trumpet after high school to some degree. I took some private lessons
from Jim Baker, the director of the Blue Angels Stage Band at Western Heights High School. And I sold my cornet
and bought a trumpet. I had always wanted a trumpet but my high school director had a STRONG preference
for cornets.
Eventually I did give it up, for the most part. Now, something inside was telling me I never really believed
I would never play again. I've tossed out lots of stuff over the years, but have never let go of my trumpet, mutes,
or any of the huge stack of music and instructional material. I actually kept my trumpet out in the living room,
on a trumpet stand up until my son came along. At that point I decided I'd better not leave it out where little hands
could get ahold of it! Once he got old enough to not worry about that, back out it came.
Every so often I would pick it up and amaze myself how well I could still play my last hs solo.
Well, at least for the 5-10 minutes that my chops would last! lol.
Once in a while I would see some note about a community orchestra and think "gee, that would be fun," but if
I actually looked into it the practices were at a time I couldn't do, so nothing ever came of it. That is until
about a month ago.
I happened to see a tweet about the local community orchestra having auditions. I checked the website and
found out they practice in the evening. "I can do that!", I thought. So I picked up the ole trumpet and
tested it out. Sure enough, I was still amazing on the old solo (ha ha)... for about 5 minutes! But that
was enough to spark the fire. I started practicing a little each day and my endurance got a little better.
I announced to my son that I was going to audition. That received a semi-sarcastic "ok, dad" from him and
when his mom heard about it, a good laugh from her. But I pressed on...except I wasn't totally committed yet.
I held off signing up for an audition spot until the very afternoon of the auditions and managed to get
the last avaiable spot! But I did go.
So what happened next? How was the audition? Did I make it?
--Next up: The Audition!--
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 September 2009 17:59 )
