Good morning,
I just got done my first 2 hour session for today and wanted to share my day yesterday at the Chosen Vale Trumpet Seminar, hosted by Ed.
Let me just say off the top without Ed's vision towards creative music I don't think I would have ever become anything as a player. Yes I have a long ways to go and am very excited for this current journey! Ed's power as a teacher and a creative thinker is truly inspiring for me as well as everyone who works with him.
When he said I could "audit" for a day I was extremely excited. Originally I had planned to attend the entire event but performing and studio recording conflicts (i.e. mortgage payments!) made me only able to attend one day.
Let's just show you the beautiful views of CV, hosted at the Enfield Shaker Museum:
Another image from the "stone Mill" 
This beautiful area lends itself to an extremely relaxing environment.
I ran into Ed and he gave me the quick run-down of the Seminar events that day. I was extremely excited to go see Gabriele Cassone's first session. Let's just say he did not let me down in the least. In this early morning seminar he led the participants (who had the choice of going to Ed's session, Tom Stevens' session, Mark Gould's session, and Cassone's session... WOW
) through a very throrough warmup. He spent a LOT of time on breathing... which made me remember how vitally important that is!
He then proceeded to run the participants through Thompson, Stamp, and Clarke. Each time he played was truly magical for me. His total ease of playing and how he "casually" approached the instrument was such a refreshing sight to me! Anyone who's heard him play Berio or seen the Brandenburg clip online can realize just how much of an extreme virtuoso he was.
A few participants then played for him to comment on. The level of playing at this seminar is FAR higher than I ever thought I would hear. SCARY!!! INSPIRING!!! and WOW! come to mind. His comments (and sight-reading!) were right on.
After lunch Mark Gould gave a wonderful class on Teaching. Who's better to talk about that subject than Mr. Gould. I loved his honesty, intensity, his humility, and passion. I especially love his "vibe" because he's willing to take chances and say his mind. His "Pink Baby Monster" is a perfect example of him speaking his mind musically. In fact everyone at CV has that same attitude. None of this "head in the sand" towards new music. It was completely refreshing for me as I'm preparing for a new CD which will be totally new to me and exciting!
David Rosenboom then gave a session with 5 brave souls. They were playing music that was not notated in a modern way... which led to a LOT of improvisation. You might be able to see it below:
I really enjoyed this session as I've been writing new music on my CD the same way. It takes a very open mind to take a chance with this time of composition/improvisation but the players did a great job on it!
Another highlight was hearing the acoustics in the chapel:
Note the two angelic trumpeters above the performers... very cool. I have some audio clips from this session that are pretty cool but the video's terrible. I might put them up later.
More pics:
Ed ran this session and it was excellent as well!
I also got a chance to run over to Mr. Gould's session with another trumpet ensemble playing Ewazen I do think:
After dinner Thomas Stevens (who I sat next to during Gould's masterclass. For me that was like sitting next to Louis or Clifford... I grew up listening to his great solo recordings and trying to sound like him exactly... and failing to everytime) ran a masterclass with a bunch of BRAVE musicians. He's a honest teacher who really doesn't hold any punches. The comments were all right on, the music was incredibly stimulating, and musicianship was fantastic.
On my drive home I just tried to soak it all in... even one day has given my own playing far more focus. I am anxious to record my next disc as I feel like it's the right thing for me to do musically... trying to stretch and create new things that I haven't done before will be really exciting.
If you can imagine the amount of joy I had for one day imagine the performers' joy after two weeks. I can safely say that this will be a life-changing moment for some of those participants. These are the future stars and torch-carriers of the instrument, and I felt very humbled in everyone's presence.
Thanks again to Ed for inspiring me yet again. EVERYONE should apply for next year's session. I hope that I can be a more active participant in the session next year and might even come up for another day if I can get one off from my recording/teaching schedule.
Best,
T