| Re: Grass Roots
Walk into any class of 8 year olds and play the trumpet in front of them, reflecting the energy and vitality that they have, and they will be thrilled! That´s what I would encourage all TMers who can, to do! Let´s not forget that this is an exciting instument, and creates a noise that the kids can get off on.... loud and vocal, just like playtime! Also, at that age kids have no problem with abstaction, so it´s easier to "speak" to them (especially rude noises!). My friend Oren Marshall is very gifted at this type of work... you may have met him in London Ed, he´s a very special Tuba player.
And now I also have to comment about development, and I´m sorry if I´m seeming heavy handed (says he modestly!) but these are the facts... I had a grandfather who played in the big bands of the 30´s, his brother toured with Louis Armstrong, and my couisin was Jimmie Deuchar... all fantastic trumpet players and all of their time. I was lucky to be in England with my Grandfather (after that I was in Ireland) and he tought me wonderful basics... I have since played jazz, in indie rock bands, electro'acoustic music, and have ended up concentrating (for there is a lot of it involved, I can assure you!) on freely improvised music for the last 17 years, and have had the great honour of playing with many of the originators of that music (John Stevens, Derek Bailey etc..) so I would say that I am of my time, as much as I can be! But for me this is a natural state of affairs.
I believe there has been a bottleneck, for many years, where talented players develop through the educational system (anywhere) and are then given extremely limited options to forward their "career". It´s all far too structured for me! All instrumentalists should also be taught to sing (for wind players this is an advantage!) and should be encouraged to compose at an early age... my son, 10, is a flute player (not my choice, the little rebel!) and has written a theme song to an imaginary film we´ll never make, but oh!
Educators (and, by the way, I´m not one of them!) need to adapt with the times.... that playstation tune the kids hear over and over again... play it! and if we´re really in a time where we don´t know what motivates, we need to ask the kids, and their gift will eventually centre itself. Lets not forget, we´re all passionate trumpet players on this site, but not everyone wants to play the trumpet! All people who play instrumets should not just be considered future interpreters, but MUSICIANS, and be told that their individual expression is an extremely powerful thing, when developed.
So I´ve skimmed a couple of topics, but here´s the bombshell. I feel very disappointed that the trumpet player with the highest profile in the world, and a most glorious technique, has abandoned any thought of furthering the repertoire, since he has the most clout to commission pieces from the great composers of today. I am of course referring to Wynton......
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Ian
Eng Bessons: Proteano Bb/A and C/Bb //Warburton 3M10
Weltklang //Warburton 3FLX |