First Baptist Church, Greensboro- 150th Homecoming

So tonight I played for probably the biggest job I have ever had. Back in May, I emailed churches around the area to try to get my name out there so I could make some money (I have learned that you can't sit around and expect for people to know your name... and most churches are willing to take a chance and hire "young" musicians) and I heard back from a handful, but was hired right away by First Baptist Church, Greensboro. I played for one service in May, and was contacted that night about playing for their 150th homecoming.

I originally thought I would be doing basically the same thing I did in May- playing with the orchestra, consisting mainly of middle and high schoolers, and I would play 3rd trumpet to add some support to the middle and high schoolers so they could get some experience playing lead (really a great thing for them, and a great warm-up for me so I can practice afterward). When I walked into rehearsal yesterday, I was VERY surprised to see that 1) it was not the orchestra I played with in May and 2) I was probably the only one with anything less than a masters in music. I saw my main professors wife, a few of my other professors, and musicians that play in Greensboro Symphony Orchestra (the other two trumpets both got a DMA under Dr. Bach right before I got here). Needless to say, I kinda freaked out.

Thankfully, I was able to hold my own with all of these professionals and received many compliments. Of course, I made my share of mistakes, but thankfully nothing too bad. To top it off, I will be playing there again at the end of the month, and maybe a few more times before the end of the year.

So it really does pay off to just jump in and contact people and let them know you are here. Some people may frown on it, that you shouldn't "beg" for jobs. My feeling is this- people need musicians and they will inevitably call my professor when they need a trumpet. If they do call him, I am 99.9% sure that the job will go to someone other than me. If they have my name and number, and even what I typically charge (much lower than some would pay originally because I do not feel that I have the experience yet to warrant the paychecks that some places hand out) then they will call me first. This is not a bad thing, it is just the music business, and you have to work it however you can.

So, first job of the school year- complete and a success! And there is nothing like a nice check to help pay for a trip to Scotland!

Brass Pedagogy

This is going to be the start of a “Trumpet Blog” that I am going to try my best to keep up over the next year while I complete a Trumpet Performance and Music Education degree. It will consist of assignments (like this blog) for various classes, discuss things I am finding in my own playing and in my student’s playing, and things that I do in lessons. So here goes…

Recently, I had to complete a “research” assignment for a Brass Pedagogy class that I am taking. To clear the air, pedagogy is “intended to provide knowledge, experiences, and insights that result in learning”. The initial assignment was to come up with five main things (tenants) that we think are critical to brass playing. My original five were posture, breathing, wind pattern, buzzing, and co-ordination (I will expand on each of these with my thoughts, and the thoughts of many other professional musicians, at a later time). We were then given “the world” of brass pedagogy books to do our research with. That is what I am going to talk about today, because from here on out I will most likely be referring to them quite a bit.

The first book, and probably most valuable to me at this time, is Trumpet Pedagogy by David Hickman. This is what I like to call “the Bible” of trumpet pedagogy books. The book discusses almost every element (if not all elements) of trumpet technique and performance. Some things go into more detail than I currently understand, however it does give a very thorough explanation for everything. One thing that I really like about this book is that it seems to go hand in hand with what my different private lesson instructors have taught.

The second book is not as thorough, but still has a lot of good things to say. Trumpet Technique by Frank Gabriel Campos addresses a lot of technique elements but does not give as much detail as Hickman’s book. It seems like a good read if you are interested in learning more about technique, but doesn’t help as much if you are looking for ways of applying this technique.

The final book is another good one, but again not as thorough as “the bible”. Brass Technique and Pedagogy by Keith Johnson has a more general approach because it is not only covering trumpet, but all of the brass instruments. This book is another one that I will likely refer to because the thoughts seem to be in line with those that I have been taught, and am teaching.

Hopefully these books will help me over this next year as I try to finish these two degrees. I know that I have already picked up a few things and used them in my own playing and teaching, so I am sure that they will prove to be beneficial.