Many years ago I visited with a great trumpet player at North Texas State. His name was Larry Ford. Larry, unfortunately past away at a very early age and we who knew him, miss him greatly. During our visit, I mentioned that I preferred playing second parts over lead parts and his response was, “Why? Playing second part is much more difficult than playing lead”. In some ways he was correct. Playing lead has definite requirements and second part players also have their own distinct responsibilities. As a lead player, you are expected to play with assurance and power. As…