trickg

I'm Patrick Gleason. I, like my father, was born in Imperial, Nebraska. My grandfather was born in 1894 in a sod house on a homestead along the northern banks of the Frenchman river, about 10 miles from Imperial, so as you can see, my family has a long history with Chase County, Nebraska, and the town of Imperial.

One of my earliest influences in music is a gentleman who now goes by the name and title Dr. J. Gordon Christensen, or just Mr. C for short. He was my kindergarten-6th grade music and chorus teacher. Like Manny, I've always enjoyed singing too. He has had an immeasurable influence on my life and in my music, but I'll get back to him in a bit.

My first instrumental music influences were the school band concerts. I had three older sisters, two of whom played all through high school. At the time, there were more kids in the band in my highschool than not, and the band had a strong program, ranging from about 75-100 kids, depending on the year. I used to climb up to the very top of the bleachers at the concerts and sit on the commentators platform. I loved the huge sounds of both the concert band and the jazz band, and I used to love to watch Kurt Johnson play drums. (He was VERY good, but sadly, he stopped after high school.)

Probably my biggest influence for the trumpet in the beginning was my older sister Kathryn. She was four grades older than me, and was playing a beater King cornet that we had gotten from a cousin. (I still own it.) I initially started band playing alto saxaphone because I had an older cousin who was a very good sax player, and I wanted to be like him. But back to my sister, she was very successful with the horn, regardless of how bad it was, and when she hit 8th grade, she hit my parents with an ultimatum: get me a new horn, or I quit! Money was tight (even my sax was a used Conn) and since the King cornet had almost no trade in value, my mom asked if I would be willing to allow them to trade the sax for a new horn for my sister, and then I would then switch to playing her old cornet. I agreed. She got a Yamaha YTR 73(X)T, (supposedly designed after the Schilke B1) and I got her cornet. Anyway, back to why she was my influence, not only did I start playing trumpet because of her, I was constantly working to improve so that I could play some of the things that she could play. She was an excellent trumpet player and I don't think she realizes just how good she was - sadly, she too stopped playing after high school.

Up until 7th grade, I was always good enough to be either 4th or 5th chair among my peers - among the best, but certainly not THE best in my grade. One day in 7th grade after a situation much to long to describe, my band director at the time, Jeff McQuistan, basically told me "Pat, you can play, you just don't practice." So I started practicing and by the time 8th grade rolled around, I was first chair for most of the year. I know I'm probably getting too detailed, but there are a couple of key events in my life that led to my continuing to pursue the trumpet, and I would be remiss not to include them.

As I got into high school, I continued to improve, regardless of the fact that I really didn't study trumpet - I just played music! After my Freshman year in high school, the band started a decline that picked up speed and if it wasn't for J. Gordon Christensen, I would not have gone anywhere with the horn. He accompanied my contest solos when I was in high school, and he also started inviting me to play for church on Sundays where he was the Organist. (Side note: J is a faboulous classical organist and holds ALL of the degrees from the American Guild of Organists - no easy task!) He kept pushing me by giving me music to play that I thought was too hard for me at the time, but he always insisted that I could do it and he pushed me further musically in High School and beyond than anyone else. He is my mentor and friend, and since he is an only child bachelor, it is already pre-arranged that I will be the one to care for him if and when he becomes infirm with age.

But back to the trumpet, one of my biggest mistakes in High School is that I focused on music and trumpet to the exclusion of just about everything else, to include my grades, and although I graduated, I was no academic superstar, although I probably could have at least made the honor roll. As my time in High School drew to a close, the decision about what to do next loomed, and at the time, I simply didn't want to have to worry about it, thus, when an Army Recruiter stopped on my doorstep, and after one thing led to another, I wound up auditioning for the Army Band program. I played in two Army Bands in the Washington DC area for 10 years. I played a lot of neat jobs and met a lot of neat people, but eventually it wore thin. Enough was enough, and I decided to leave it. It wasn't all bad either - without the Army band program, I wouldn't have met my wife, I wouldn't have my kids, and I wouldn't live where I do - an area chock full of outstanding musicians and where gigging opportunities abound.

I like to joke that I got my "education" in music from the Gigging School of Hard Knocks. I'm short on real education, but long on gig experience, and I believe that there are things about music and gigging that you just can't learn in college. That being said, I'm only an ok player although I have always been able to hang with the ensembles that I have gigged with, but one day I hope to continue that education in music for real, because I also believe that there are things about music that you just can't learn on the gig. At the moment, I'm just not willing to sacrifice the time away from my family for academic pursuits.

More later!

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Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius