In two words……we don’t. Why do we have to brush our teeth? In two words……we don’t. But, if we want to play well just as we may want to keep our teeth, we have to do things if we want a favorable outcome. As a young aspiring musician, I spent endless hours in many practice rooms pounding out scales and exercises in order to improve my playing. As an older player attending North Texas State (now the University of North Texas) I spent on an average six to eight hours practicing every day. Now as an older (old) trumpet player…

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…

We recently were approached by one of our readers by the name of Ronald Ross who volunteered to submit material pertaining to the selection of music for any upcoming weddings. We want to thank Mr. Ross for his contribution and be sure to visit his blog at Loud Beats for more interesting features. How To Choose the Right Music for Your Wedding It is a tough job to plan a wedding and it requires patience and ability to innovate instantly. Right from the beginning to the end, you are peppered with an endless number of snags and many choices. The…

Some of my readers may be questioning my choice in featured musicians today, due to the fact that this young man does not even play trumpet. He is a composer, singer, song writer as well as a great person. Oh…..did I mention he plays guitar? Put your hands together for an astonishing young musician who will succeed in his chosen field as an accomplished musician. Let me introduce you to my new friend, Daniel Hardin… Here are a few questions I sent him to more fully understand his tallents and drive. • How did you get started in music?/When did you…

Some may ask “are there any trumpet choirs at the professional level”? Not many…… The most important trumpet choir that I have had any contact with is not even a trumpet choir any more. I’m speaking of one of my favorite brass ensembles of all time and was/is the Kings Brass. The Kings Brass began as a true trumpet choir with all of the members of the trumpet family represented i.e. piccolo, C, D, Eb and Bb being represented as well as the bass trumpet. This ensemble had such an impact on me many years ago and that was the…

For thirty years, I taught at the University of Northern Iowa in various capacities. When I started my tenure there, we had established a very active Brass Quintet which toured all of Iowa playing concerts and giving clinics nearly every Friday during the school year. One such year, we logged in over fifty-two concerts. Because of this concerted effort to recruit the best brass players in the state we began to feel the growing pains of our ever enlarging trumpet studios. Mr. Keith Johnson and I were teaching nearly eighteen trumpet majors each and eventually we added an additional instructor…