Early Years
I think I was born with an appreciation for music although my folks were not musically inclined themselves. I’d say I had the early beginnings of becoming a musician long before I ever put a trumpet in my hands. I was greatly influenced by the big movies of the day that were just as well known for their scores and musical themes as well as their storylines. Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Patton, Bridge Over the River Kwai, The Longest Day were some of my favorites that I would reenact and play with my toys while singing or humming those famous themes. In amongst the popular rock music of the day I would also intermix movie soundtracks to listen to.
What moved me from listening to playing music was really due to my older brother’s influence. He is 3 1/2 years older and picked up saxophone in the 5th grade and to that point was the only person I knew who could play a musical instrument. He gravitated towards the sax and quickly became one of the best musicians at school, being featured during concerts. Seeing his success is really what motivated me to follow in his footsteps and pick an instrument when I hit the 5th grade.
However I have always been lazier than my older brother – even still to this day - and saxophone has a lot of keys to learn. I know, I’ll try the trumpet because it only has 3 keys. Little did I know that lazy decision put me on a lifelong path of fulfillment (and frustration). From 5th through 8th grade you sort of learn the basics of an instrument, but by your 8th grade year, those students who have a natural talent as well as the discipline to practice are easily distinguished. I took to it like some kids take to sports and by 8th grade I had excelled to the top of the pack. I even saved up enough allowance money to turn in my rented student model trumpet to purchase a professional Bach trumpet. By my freshman year, I came into the high school band and challenged the lead trumpet play for the 1st chair and knocker her down to second chair. That is pretty unheard of for a freshman to do in any high school. What’s worse is that she was a good trumpet player who was a jr and had been playing in the shadow of another trumpet player for years who had just graduated. Naturally that really bent her out of shape and I had a pretty good crush on her but that is for another story.
Formative Years
Throughout high school I enjoyed the same success my brother developed for his four years before me and I had a reputation to live up to. I didn’t disappoint making all-state for 3 years (I can’t remember if I auditioned my freshman year or not) and performing various solos in both the concert band and jazz bands. It was my experience performing in the all-state bands that sealed the deal for me to want to study music after high school. The level of skill and quality of music performed was unlike anything I had participated in to that point and I was all in.
When I started high school I also joined a local American Legion community band who performed concerts and marched in parades throughout the year. I also took trumpet lessons from that band’s director who between his guidance and my own high school band director were some of the most influential people who encouraged me to continue to pursue and study music. I certainly had a love for it. Another interesting note is that many of the musicians who also played in the American Legion band were also veterans with many being part of the Greatest Generation. My education being around such patriotic giants didn’t end on the music page and I certainly learned what it means to be an American. My dad also served as a reservist in the military so I was already predisposed to be appreciative of those who wore the uniform from a very young age.
As I rounded my senior year in high school, my brother was wrapping up his senior year at college, also studying music. Once again I followed right behind him to the same college and same degree. We ended up both getting a BA in Music Business from the University of Massachusetts.
This photo was taken from my senior class yearbook where my friend Arianne and I were voted "Class Musicians".
Military Musician
All throughout my college years I lived close enough to the University to commute from where I had grown up and as such I still remained a regular player in the American Legion band. There was a euphonium player who played in that band who was also a member of the 39th Army Band and he invited me to audition to become a member. I sat in with them and they sounded great – almost as good as the university bands I was performing in at school and I got to play all different styles of music. It was a paid job playing my trumpet, they would even give me extra money for school and it appealed to my sense of admiration for people who served in the military.
The commitment as a reservist was 1 weekend a month (although this band broke that into 4 weekly rehearsals a month) and a 2 week tour of duty in the summer. Sounded like a pretty good deal and it didn’t take me long to decide to join. I took the winter semester of my sophomore year of college off to go to Army basic training. In the Army, a musician has a primary duty of playing their specific instrument for various military functions/needs as well as community outreach (my job was an 02 Bravo – trumpet player) and a secondary job of perimeter security. So we learned all the same sort of things that an infantryman needed to know. I fondly remember my hand grenade and bayonet training and especially my training using an M-60 machine gun. Fun times! I actually did pretty well and was rated as an “Expert” marksman.
I spent about 2 and ½ years in the 39thArmy Band until I graduated college and once again was called to follow in my brother’s footsteps. My brother and I also both had an interest in personal computers and it was largely the wild west in the mid 90’s with businesses adopting personal computers at a very rapid pace and developing their first web sites. To complete his degree, my brother did an internship with NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants) in California and eventually was hired on with them. He and I both had developed a certain amount of computing skills in parallel with our music skills and my brother eventually promoted to becoming NAMM’s IT manager but he had also started a business writing FileMaker Pro databases and supporting Macintosh computers on the side. I had developed skills using Windows computers as well as being able to build web sites.
When it was time for me to finish my degree, I also interned at NAMM and when I was done with the internship we both started working in my brother’s side business full-time. However, when I moved to California, I transferred to the 40th Infantry Division Band to continue with my military contract. However that unit was quite a bit different than the one I had left. After being in for only 1 month, I looked for a new unit and found the 562ndAir Force Band. I auditioned and was accepted on the spot. Shortly thereafter I requested to be let out of my Army contract (which my Army band commander could have refused but thankfully didn’t) and the next day I enlisted in the United State Air Force.
Unlike the Army, an Air Force musician doesn’t have a secondary duty beyond playing their instrument even though we still had to be trained and qualify on the M-16 every couple of years and still do other normal military training. I spent the next 20ish years getting paid performing, traveling all over the world and country and promoting to the rank of Master Sergeant before I retired, earning a small pension and benefits that will kick in when I turn 60.
The Second Half
Playing in the military had largely been my only musical outlet while my brother and I built up our business and my wife and I raised our family. It was absolutely the best of both worlds. I had a profession with the business that afforded me a very good living while at the same time I had a second job that fed and honed my musical talents. I will say that I learned a great many things more than music being in the service. As I rose in rank I had opportunities to perform additional duties within the band. I managed the band’s computer systems, I was the stage manager for gigs, I eventually took over operations and oversaw several tours, and I eventually worked my way into overseeing the finance and payroll of the unit. Unfortunately as you go up in rank and especially once you reach the Sr Staff level as I had, you spend less time with your horn on your face and spend more time being a manager or an administrator. When I finally decided it was time for me to leave, aside from it being one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, I was pretty burnt out. I came home from my last drill and I put the horn in its case and closed it, maybe for good.
It sat there for almost exactly 3 years. What caused me to pull it out was my youngest son who started taking an interest in playing trumpet himself. Well I could certainly help him with that. One of his teachers noticed how well he was progressing and asked him what his deal was. He told him that his dad was helping him out and that I used to play trumpet for the Air Force. His teacher happened to be the director of a local community band and gave my son his phone number for me to call him. So I did and he invited me to sit in with his band. It was decent band and from the moment I sat in the section, in the back row of the band, I knew I was home. I fell in love with music all over again.
Within a month I had purchased a brand new trumpet and had given my old professional model (the Bach) to my son to start his journey. By the second month I purchased a brand new flugel horn and a double case to carry them both. I was on fire getting my chops back in shape for about a year and joined the band’s board of directors before Covid hit. Ugh, now what? No rehearsals but I still practiced. I discovered that there are many professional recordings of the music we were playing and I started practicing along with recordings. For all of Covid I would average about 3, 1hr practice sessions a week and even recorded a few to post on FaceBook because, well they sounded pretty good.
After Covid lifted and rehearsals resumed, I decided to enroll my son in private lessons and also thought what better way to spend some time with him than to join him in back to back trumpet lessons. And wow that has changed my world! Besides building a great set of memories sharing something my son and I both love doing, our teacher has helped me break down barriers that have plagued my playing for decades. Because of these lessons and upping my practice game to at least 5 1 hour sessions a week, I am playing better than I played in college which up until now has been the high water mark of my skill level. I am still loving playing and practicing, so much so that I auditioned for the best community band in San Diego and again was accepted on the spot – so now I am in two bands.
What's Next
I am just starting my 51st year on this planet (as of 2024) and am really enjoying life. I have a great family, a reasonably successful business with my brother (who I love to compete with on all sorts of things). I have another hobby of racing cars which I won’t go into. I now play in three bands, two of which I am just a player in and the other I am the section leader of the section. I have computer skills, I have access to a ton of great music, I am a decent writer and again because I am a trumpet player, I have the delusion that other people would find what I have to say or do, interesting.
...enter the idea of what would happen if I started a YouTube channel where I could feature some of the pieces I am already rehearsing and/or enjoy playing? Give an opinion of the pieces or describe how I may have altered the trumpet parts to make them a little more interesting for others to adopt and provide links to various resources on the web that I use going about my business as a section leader. Would anyone be interested? I don’t know, maybe? If you read down to this part of my dissertation, maybe I do have something here. I guess I will find out.
Fun photos from memory lane
