This morning I filled in for one of the trumpet players in a local Worship Band. To say it was a challenge would be understating the situation.
The majority of the charts were “kicking” funk charts and something I have had little experience playing.
On the drive home I mulled in my mind why I was uncomfortable playing funk rhythms and soon the reason came to me. I have never played in a Funk Band before! How could this have happened? Then, after reading Wikipedia’s definition of the term Funk Music, It came to me. Funk music began after most of my active playing in early Swing, Dance Band and Shows was established. Everything I have done throughout most of my life was based on rhythmic subdivided in nothing shorter than an eighth rest…..Funk on the other hand makes use of subdivisions of sixteenths and thirty- seconds. What a revelation that was. Where had I been from the mid-60s to the present? How could I have neglected this important era in popular music. During my tenure at UNI, my student bands were playing Funk on a regular basis but as the director I seldom played the intricate parts myself.
To illustrate my point, I have included a typical swing chart as well as one of the Funk charts we played this morning.
You might wonder if I was able to play successfully during the service and judging from the reaction of the band, I think I pulled it off, but only because I put in some regular practicing on the music beforehand.
I loved the experience and would enjoy rejoining this “younger than me” ensemble again. I have trumpets older than many of these talented players.
As an interesting side comment, the lead trumpet player’s first question to me was “How long have you been playing trumpet”? That was a question I have never been asked before this morning and my response was “a very, very long time”.
