3 May, 2012: Recently, I've taken up the trumpet. Even more recently I've become quite serious about the trumpet. The big band I work with here has a gig and our second trumpet player has a dance recital that same night. There are few musicians on this island to fill her shoes, and so I've decided to make an attempt. While she is pirouetting and grand jeté-ing all over the place, I'll be trying to squeak out some double c's and maybe even taking a few solos (but I'll only solo on flugelhorn- it makes me sound way better than I am).
Two weeks is not enough time to learn 20-25 big band charts on any instrument, let alone one that you were relatively unfamiliar with just a few weeks ago. I'd like to share some of the things I've learned throughout this process:
1) the trumpet smells like a chainsaw
2) it's way cooler to play trumpet than any other instrument in a big band.
3) at my experience level, trumpet forces me to use my ears more than I typically do while improvising on saxophone, piano, guitar, etc. I have to be very deliberate about what I want to play so that I can hit the correct partials.
4) trumpet changes lives.
TRUMPET CHANGES LIVES is the title of my newest book/philosophy/energy drink series. I now think that the thing this country needs more than anything else is more trumpet. If a presidential candidate would run on this platform, he or she would surely dominate. If you start a speech off with a couple of ARBAN's exercises, you're sure to sway some votes. The trumpet puts an end to all self doubt. I now know that I can literally do anything. Thanks Heinrich Stolzel for changing my life.
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