It seems that every friend I ever had is here at the International Trumpet Guild Conference. Seven of the eight people I played with in the North Texas Wind Symphony trumpet section are here. My first teacher, Kevin Eisensmith, has always been deeply invested in ITG, and can be counted on to attend every year. My most recent teacher, Keith Johnson, is receiving the Award of Merit at this year’s Conference. Rob Murray, the host of the Conference and Professor of Trumpet at Columbus State University, is an old friend and colleague from the University of North Texas Wind Symphony’s annual recording sessions. I ran into two former students from Eastern Kentucky University, Ben and TJ, who are now with the Army Bands Program, stationed at Ft. Knox.

As great as it is to see all these people, the highlight was seeing Scott Meredith and John Wacker again. (Scott now teaches Trumpet and Jazz at the University of Wyoming; John teaches Trumpet and Band at Western State College of Colorado.) Some of my best memories from North Texas were with Scott, John and Ward Yager (who is now my colleague at The U.S. Army Field Band in Washington, DC). Twice a week, we met at Scott’s office to read trumpet quartets and orchestral excerpts. Scott had an incredible library of orchestral literature. Between that and access to Keith Johnson’s file cabinets (Sorry, Keith, if you’re reading this), every session we were playing something new.

I met all of them in Fall 2001. Ward was from Memphis, Scott and John were from Wyoming. John had been Scott’s high school band director, had later left music teaching, completed law school, and finally gone back to music as a graduate trumpet student. He and Scott have been friends all of their adult lives.

I went to North Texas to study with Keith Johnson. He had an incredibly simple, intuitive, Yoda-like approach to trumpet technique that I needed to apply to both my playing and my teaching. The legendary jazz program, the titanic music library (which I still think of as Hogwarts’s Room of Requirement), the Wind Symphony led by Eugene Corporon, and the reputation of the College of Music were all bonuses. All these things have proven invaluable to me and my career, and Keith Johnson’s approach to the trumpet continues to be the cornerstone of my own approach. But the greatest part of my education happened in that dingy little TF office, playing quartets with Ward Yager, Scott Meredith and John Wacker.