Etude Book

I stood up in front of a hundred curious, gleaming eyes. “Hey guys,” I began, “I’m going to show you why the trombone is the coolest brass instrument ever!” I immediately whipped the slide out and performed a series of sequential glissandos, each one with more vigor than the last. That morning, I was performing with my school’s jazz band at the KIPP Elementary Academy in Philadelphia. Over a decade passed since I had last stepped foot in a Philadelphia school, when I attended the James Dobson School in kindergarten, yet the cozy gymnasium and the children’s crisp uniforms instantly evoked memories of my childhood. But one thing I did not remember from the past was having the opportunity to experience jazz at a young age. Thus, I desperately wanted to display the awesome power of brass instruments that is the soul of jazz music and inspire the kids to partake in the timelessly euphoric journey of music that I am blessed to have taken.

This piece is once again played by the trumpet, the piano, and the trombone whom all make up the brass trio. The mood set in this piece has the sound of mischief and power. The dynamics in this song are found thin the forms of accents on individual notes, as the entire song is played at a loud volume. The use of pausing in this song gives the listener the ability to appreciate each of the three instruments additions to the piece, and adds excitement for when they reenter. The was a very bright and brassy tone color used in this piece, implicated by the playing of crescendoed dynamic accent notes and staccato articulation. My favorite part of the piece was towards the end when the trumpet played in dissonance with the other two and created a thee tone chord out of the three instruments that was pleasing to the ear. The texture of this piece was polyphonic because of the use of both the trumpet and the trombone for separate melodies and the piano playing the repeated harmony. The piece was interesting because the melody was changing keys continuously, making the listener unable to predict what would be played

I began playing the trumpet in the fifth grade. Back then, I loved playing the trumpet. We had band practice at the end of the school day every Tuesday and Thursday, and I looked forward to those rehearsals every single week. I loved it because in elementary school, the directors didn’t care about my tone quality. They didn’t care about how talented I was. They couldn’t care less whether or not I practiced. I loved it because it just gave me an opportunity to socialize with my friends more.

I played it repeatedly until I perfected it, but then I just needed more music to play. My parents bought me a few books full of trumpet music, and I spent countless hours perfecting the solos from those books. I particularly enjoyed playing music by Herb Alpert, and I found that I could listen to a recording of one of his songs and then emulate his stylistic techniques when I played the same song. As I played the trumpet more often and got better at it, I realized that I enjoyed playing solos in general, regardless of whether I was playing a solo on my own or playing a solo in our music for band

According to the classification system of Hornbostel and Sachs, they are classified as ‘trumpets with finger-holes’. They flourished mainly in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, but began a decline in popularity from the second half of the seventeenth; from 1700 onwards their use fell off dramatically, even though in some parts of Europe they persisted until the early 1800s. Their modern revival dates only from the second half of the twentieth century;

“Of course you don’t. But he’s the best trumpet player in the world. I’d give anything to play like him” (117).

Against the lush green field of the White River State Park, stood the impressive stage. The show began with a riveting American fanfare, encompassing the brass section. Undoubtedly the trumpets took center stage here. The trills of these brass instruments painted this piece vividly. Accompanying the trumpets, were the rich deep whispers of the tubas and horns, lightly adorning the melody. This was then followed by the

A thirteen-year-old eighth grader has been in concert band for four years and will always be motivated. Playing the French horn is one of Spencer Bauman’s unforeseen talents. Devoted and hardworking, many hours and days go into mastering the instrument. Practicing diligently, Spencer spends an hour Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at school rehearsing and everyday after school getting private lessons. Eagerly, Spencer Bauman is preparing for All District Concert Band which is a county wide competition. In preparation, he had to memorize four songs at high school level for a judge who will dictate where to play from. The composition also included a chromatic scale, a series of musical notes played in an order, completed at a fast rate without

Boschnak’s “Expositions” tears into a puissant rhythm and groove after an intriguing intro featuring the deep tones of the bass clarinet, which, together with bowed bass reinforces the foundation’s density with swaggering stance. Rather intelligible than sprinting, the trumpet solo that follows, momentarily complemented with clarinet punctuations, disembogues in a bridge that leads to a vocalized ostinato interlude, obsessively iterate by the guest

Marchiando a great teacher, he was also special performer. Regents Professor of Trumpet at Arizona State University David Hickman wrote, “Dr. Marchiando is one of the finest trumpeters of his generation. He is an experienced soloist, chamber, and orchestral performer who brings a great deal of experience and enthusiasm to his teaching. He is also one of finest personalities I have ever worked with.” I believe Hickman’s assessment of Dr. Marchiando is quite accurate based on performances I have heard of Dr. Marchiando either as a soloist or with the New Mexico Philharmonic. He plays the trumpet with a beautiful sound and great musicality and there was never a time in the performance setting that these key element were not in the forefront of this performance. Currently I use many of Dr. Marchiando teaching principles in my own teaching, therefore I will continue to focus on what I too believe is two of the most important concepts when playing trumpet sound and musical phrasing. Finally, the last principle I would like to take away from Dr. Marchiando teaching is the ability to multiple techniques to teach the same concepts so that I can individualize in lesson more to the needs of each

Vuelta del Fuego is a Mexican based piece designed to captivate the “Zorro” like sound generated in Hollywood films. It combination of this with the “over-the-top romance” feel of Mexican style gives it a certain uniqueness and swagger to each melodic line that is passed throughout. Translated to “(The) Ride of Fire” this piece is long imaginary thrill ride that elevates an ensembles musicianship to the next level. Its fast tempos in combination with difficult melodic lines make this piece enjoyable to listen to, and it is slowly becoming a staple in the brass quintet

The trumpet can help push the rhythm along and keep things percolating. Whether which role the trumpet now, it will always be a lead instrument that will catch peoples

Besides John Armstrong’s son are a handful of professional-level students more than qualified to meet the challenges and expectations with interpreting John Armstrong’s compositions. The challenges for these performers include exploring atmospheric colours and timbres while showing the overall narrative and dramatic flow of the piece. Like every composer, John Armstrong only asks his performers “to make me sound good!” and the line-up of performers on November 5th will most certainly be apt to the

Not only was the balance impeccable with the whole ensemble, but the trumpets as well. The trumpets did not overplay and were not on top of everybody’s sound when playing within the ensemble. But when it was their time to shine, they let us know, playing triumphantly and with great confidence. The balance between the first and second trumpets was also something played masterfully. Perfectly in tune and in time with one another is a hard task to accomplish, but these two trumpet plays have got it done. One of the tracks that stood out to me the most was “Amazing Grace”. In this piece, all the trumpet solos were great, but the first slow solo required several listens. As with my solo coming up in “American Elegy” this coming concert, I wanted to diagnose the sound and tone. The style was very open and light, leading to a warm and gentle environment. The tonguing matched the style perfectly by using more of a do, or soft tongue, rather than using tu, or hard tongue. Something I am striving for in this coming

Today the trumpet is used for making music in many different kinds of musical situations. It is used in musicals with other instruments for theme music as well as dance music. The modern day trumpet is also used in marching bands, concert bands, as well as jazz bands. My favorite setting where the trumpet is used is brass choir, where only two trumpets are used along with a trombone, tuba, and French horn. There are so many venues that the trumpet is used that many do not think about, such as rock bands and even country bands. When most people think of the trumpet, they think of marching bands or concert bands, but in reality the trumpet has a much wider variety that it is used for in today’s world than many think.