Malibu morning picture of the day - Friday, October 3, 2014

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

Friday is upon us and once again it's blue and clear out here at the coast.

Once in a while you get picture that shows that clouds cast shadows upon the water. Usually they're so high and the light is so diffused that it's not perceptible, but in today's picture you can see the cloud-to-shadow relationship that was even more evident in person.

This morning, the water had that silvery quality that I haven't seen in a while at this time of day. The also-ran pic hints at that.

Last night I sat in with my trumpet with the school's wind ensemble and filled in gaps in instrumentation in some of the pieces that have four and five trumpet parts. Most composers write three trumpet parts, having all three play triad chords; if additional notes are needed the composer will put them into the lower brass instruments. If there are fourth and fifth parts, they are usually doing something in counterpoint to what nos. 1-3 are doing, and in a very loud section.

The US Army Herald Trumpets from their website

 Before he took his music professor gig, the director used to be the conductor of the Pershing's Own army band as well as the ensemble called the U.S. Herald Trumpets.  The latter group was in town and he had them play with the band on four pieces as well as presenting a set of their numbers. There are 14 trumpeters and two drummers.

Tenor, Eb soprano, Bb melody, bass trumpets
from the US Army Herald Trumpets site.

Those of you who are musicians out there may be thinking that 14 soprano instruments are overkill and lack depth. But those of you who are true band-trumpet nerds know that there is a whole family of voices in the trumpet clan, and the both tenor and bass trumpets are represented in this group. So they are really a full range brass ensemble (almost, no tuba-level bass voice). The timbre is very bright and impressive for fanfares and the like, but most people probably would not want to sit through a four-minute concert piece of all trumpets (I would though, but I'm a band nerd).


My employer, being a relatively small school, has a hard time recruiting instrumentalist students. There is currently only ONE trumpet player enrolled, a freshman. He was glad when I showed up for few of the rehearsals before the concert. It's too bad he's the only one. If a student wanted a range of playing opportunity, this is the place to be then since they'd need to play in wind ensemble, pep band, orchestra, the fall musical, the spring opera, and the jazz band. So they have to find helpful volunteers like myself and hire ringers.

Gotta tell you, sitting in a trumpet section with 20 other trumpeters who are actually all competent (if you play in groups, usually half are terrible...) was exhilarating. You can hear the note that you are adding to the chord resonate through your body. If you've never played a wind instrument in a large ensemble (that plays in tune), it's hard to explain. It's not as much a total-body experience when you play a stringed or keyboard instrument, which I have. I think choir singers know this feeling. I think this is why string players, like guitarists and violinists etc. move around a lot when they play, wanting  to involve their entire body in music making. Wind instruments are tough taskmasters in that they force the essence of life, breath, out of you, otherwise it sounds like crap.

Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend. Supposed to be hot in L.A.

Love,
Pops