Today was the final day of the Conference. As great as it’s been, I was ready to be back home, soaking in the quiet.
The day started with the dress rehearsal for the Festival of Trumpets. The jazz groups decided not to meet until 1:30 (just before the concert) so the rhythm section wouldn’t be stuck there all day, so my only rehearsal was for the concluding fanfare. 50 trumpets on a single piece is a lot for anyone, but Malcolm Arnold’s “Hoffnung Fanfare” is a worthy ending for this conference.
One part of the week I won’t miss is the exhibit room. The trumpet conference exhibit room is the price you have to pay to attend these things. Imagine a 6,000 square foot-room with hundreds and thousands of trumpets and mouthpieces on display. It’s actually kind of beautiful. At least at 9:15 AM it is. Instruments of all shapes, sizes and finishes are shined up, and many are of the highest quality. A few exhibitors mill around talking to one another, but mostly it’s quiet. Then… at 9:30… the doors open.
Many of the attendees are great at the exhibits. College kids seeing what’s out there, older players getting back into it after years without playing, talented little kids with their parents buying their first serious instrument.
But there’s also That Guy.
At any given time, there’s at least one That Guy in the exhibits. The guy who sets the stereotype. That Guy who isn’t really interested in buying a trumpet, but just picks up trumpets and plays as loud and high as he can. That Guy’s motives are a mystery to the rest of us. Everyone seems to know it’s bad form. Everyone complains about it. And yet there’s never any shortage of That Guys. Some of them do it when a famous player is around. Others seem to test the theory that, of all the people in the room, they can play the loudest and the highest. All around them, eyes roll and exhibitors politely turn away, the way you might do if a strange old man did something shameful on the sidewalk. Who are you, That Guy? Why don’t you know any better? Didn’t you have a teacher once? Or parents?
Marvin Stamm said it best. This morning, he was at the Shires exhibit talking to a That Guy about one of their trumpets. That Guy picked up the horn and played a scale from G above the staff as high and as loud as he could make a noise. As with most That Guys, it sounded like a toothless old sawblade tearing through sheet metal. Pleased with himself, he smirked at Marvin, waiting for a response.
“Do you know any songs?” Marvin said quietly.
“Sure, of course!” said That Guy.
“Why don’t you play one of those.”
One cool aspect of this year’s exhibits, though, was the wide variety of trumpet manufacturers. I last attended an ITG Conference in 2007, when the exhibits were dominated by the biggies: Bach, Yamaha, Conn, Schilke, Blackburn and the like. This year, the buzz was around companies like Adams, Shires, Schagerl, Larson and others I’d never heard of, but that make great instruments. The market seems to have gotten more competitive in my absence.
The last event I was able to catch today was a presentation by Tom Hooten, the new Principal Trumpet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It conflicted with a rehearsal, so I was only able to catch the first 20 minutes, but even that was extremely valuable. His approach suggests his ability came from diligent study and methodical practice more than natural talent, and those players always make the best teachers.
2:00 PM was the Festival of Trumpets. It was pretty well-attended; much better than I expected, given the week-long saturation of trumpet music. Improvising solos back-to-back with such high-level players was a great experience, and “Hoffnung Fanfare” was a trumpet nerd’s fantasy. When it was over, my colleagues and I said our goodbyes, broke down the booth and drove back to the airport.
This was the most personal ITG Conference I’ve ever had, by a mile. Seeing so many old friends doing so well in our field was extremely rewarding, as was seeing how much respect the Army Field Band gets. Thanks to everyone who expressed interest in the Army Field Band trumpet opening, Army Bands recruiter Dan Engle and Old Guard bugler Jessie DeJesus. Thanks to David Marlatt of Eighth Note Publications, Greg Slechta of Select-A-Press, Jim Stephenson of Stephenson Music, and Bruce Gbur of Prairie Dawg Press for their advice regarding music publishing and distribution. And a shout-out to new friends Tim Weir, John Manning of the West Point Hellcats, and Kevin Whalen, formerly of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Great getting to know all of you… I’m already looking forward to the next time.