“Oh, Holy Night,” Glenn Ledbetter and Nancy MacDonald
This Christmas Eve was much like all the many others in our home—we have our traditions: a fabulous meal; a program of prayer, readings, musical solos, Christmas carols; the opening of presents; and a “midnight” snack featuring familiar family fare. As usual, our local daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter shared it all with us. Normally, our grandson, Isaiah, would be present, also. This year, however, he is in South America! So we “made do” without his cheerful energy and wit. My wife and I played “Oh, Holy Night,” me on my Jupiter pocket trumpet and she on her Kawai piano. Our middle-school-aged granddaughter, our violist, played numerous songs from her school repertoire.
Granddaughter solos on her viola
Another tradition is that on Christmas morning, our relatives, the Kellys, drive over to our side of town for a visit—coffee or tea or apple cider and cookies. But this year, instead, we visited them at their condominium in downtown Edmonds. There, I played “Auld Lang Syne” on my Jupiter pocket trumpet, and we ate some of my wife’s wonderful oatmeal muffins as we talked and caught up on family news.
What could be better? Not much. But it would be nice to have all 9 grandkids and their parents show up at our home some Christmas Eve, wouldn’t it? It has not yet happened (hint, hint).
Please click on the photos (above, right) to enlarge them, and click on the video below to hear the first half of “Auld Lang Syne.”
Concert Orchestra, Bryan Kolk, Conductor, Garfield High School, Seattle, 20 December 2018
Aidan Grambihler, Principal Trumpet, Concert Orchestra, Garfield High School, 2018-19
On 20 Dec 2018, all the orchestras at Garfield High School gathered with the choirs and bands to present their Mid-Winter Concert to a packed audience in Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center in Seattle. The principal trumpet in the Concert Orchestra is my student. He’s been taking lessons with me almost three years, starting in his last year at Washington Middle School (see my blog posts of 13 April and 25 July 2016). For several years, it’s been his ambition to play in the GHS orchestras. He’s made it, and I’m proud of him!
Here is a photo gallery of the GHS Concert Orchestra, followed by some others on the program. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
GHS Concert Orchestra
Other Orchestras, Band, Choir, Soloist, and Ensembles
ET1 Kyle Rushing (saluting) dedicates the Navy’s ceremonial wreath at Evergreen-Washelli’s Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Seattle
About 200 people gathered on 15 December 2018, at Veterans Cemetery, Evergreen-Washelli, in north Seattle at the 9th local Wreaths Across America (WAA) ceremony to remember our fallen military personnel who are buried there. The annual, half-hour event was emceed by Lorraine Zimmermann of the Veterans Memorial Wreath Foundation (VMWF). The guest speaker was Doyle Burke, retired Washington State Guard Command Sergeant. Then 7 wreaths were dedicated by representatives of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, and POW/MIA.
Using my favorite Getzen bugle, I sounded “Taps” immediately after the Honor Guard of VFW Post 1040, Lynnwood fired the rifle salute. It was my seventh such performance. The ceremony concluded with the Parade of Wreaths. Finally, those in attendance placed wreaths on many of the gravestones of those servicemen and women who are buried there. The event’s message was “We collectively thank our military and their families for our freedom!”
For more detailed information on WAA, please use the Archives (see left column) to find my posts about previous local WAA ceremonies:
9 January 2013
16 December 2013
28 April 2015
5 February 2016
30 December 2016
29 December 2017
Mark your calendars for plans to attend the 10th annual ceremony on 14 December 2019. Volunteers and donors may contact Lorraine Zimmermann at https://www.facebook.com/Veterans-Memorial-Wreath-Foundation-362631617642740/. Following is a photo gallery of scenes at this year’s ceremony. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
For my final trumpet show in 2018, I performed “Things Remembered” at the Aegis of Lynnwood Retirement Community on 14 December for an audience of about 25. In the past year, I’ve presented either this 1-hour show or another, “Showtune Favorites,” at 8 different retirement communities in Lynnwood, Bothell, Redmond, and Mercer Island. I want to do more in 2019—it’s wholesome and fun! And I have prepared a third, entirely new show, “In Retrospect,” for return appearances at retirement communities where I’ve already performed.
“Things Remembered” is my Christmas show. It consists of a dozen Christmas songs, mixed with a dozen hit songs from musicals and movies that are well-known favorites among the residents of all retirement communities—songs like “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz,” (1939), sung by Judy Garland, and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), also sung by Judy Garland. The residents sing-along and chuckle at a few of my jokes, too.
I play one cornet and two trumpets, sometimes with a Harmon mute, and use four mouthpieces. One mouthpiece, the Wick 4, makes the cornet sound like a flugelhorn, so in effect, I play four horns during the show.
Aegis of Lynnwood
Aegis operates 31 facilities in Washington (16), California (14), and Nevada (1), according to the website, http://www.aegisliving.com. In Washington, all 16 retirement communities are in the Greater Seattle area. Six more new ones are planned to open through 2021. Aegis Living ranks in the coveted list of Top 50 Best Places to Work in America in 2017, amid 600,000 companies on the employee review site, http://www.Glassdoor.com.
Dan Carlson, SMS Band Director, conducts “Good King Wenceslas”
The 2018-19 Skyview Elementary (5th Grade) Band performed its first concert at Skyview Middle School (SMS) on 12 December with more than 100 family and friends in attendance at 8 o’clock in the morning. Dan Carlson, Director, is in his first year at SMS. Jane Lin is the instructor for percussion, Tyler Rogers teaches woodwinds, and I teach brass for the eighth year.
The full band performed three pieces from its instruction book, Standard of Excellence: Comprehensive Band Method, Book 1 by Bruce Pearson. They were “Good King Wenceslas,” “Jolly Old St. Nicholas,” and “Jingle Bells.” In addition, each instrument section got to perform individually its own chosen selection. First, the percussion section played “Hot Cross Buns,” followed by the woodwinds (“Merrily We Roll Along”), and concluding with the brass (“Lightly Row”).
The next day after this concert, the band met in the SMS cafeteria for a pot-luck party to complete its fall schedule.
Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Dan Carlson, Band Director, Skyview Middle School, Bothell
Jane Lin, percussion instructor, conducts “Hot Cross Buns,” played by the percussion section
The woodwinds section plays “Merrily We Roll Along”
My first weekly trumpet lesson with my 44th trumpet student was on 4 December. Two weeks later, he dropped. But no worries—all is not lost. He’s also taking piano lessons (and has for the past two years), but taking lessons on both instruments is just more than he and his family want to handle at his young age (10). Besides, his sister is taking piano and guitar, too, so there’s a lot of music being played in their home.
He’s a 4th grader at Wedgewood Elementary School in Seattle. At our first lesson, I asked him what attracted him to trumpet. “It’s size and weight,” he answered. He walks to and from school daily, and he simply did not want to carry something like a cello. When we started, he already had Bruce Pearson’s Standard of Excellence, Book 1, Trumpet, so we began with that, learning how to make notes on a brass instrument. During our last lesson, I gave him the music for the first four bars of “Happy Birthday,” which he managed quite well.
We parted amicably, and I encouraged him and his mother, saying that he can still become a good trumpet player if he wants to take band in the 5th grade. In my experience, it’s very rare that a fourth-grade trumpeter will stay with private lessons. They burn out. They simply need to grow and develop just one more year, and then most of them will make it. There are many good reasons why almost all elementary schools start band classes in the fifth grade. The kids are bigger and stronger, their hands have grown, and they have more maturity, discipline, and motivation. My 44th student pleasantly accepted this, and indeed, he may join band class next year. He certainly has had a good head start. Good luck, warm regards, so long for now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
My Christmas trumpet show is called “Things Remembered” because, by using some old favorite songs, I walk the audience through the common pattern of life that we all share—living single, falling in love, getting married, raising a family, celebrating Christmas year after year, laughing at jokes, overcoming adversity, facing retirement, and celebrating the fantastic blessings of life in America during our wonderful time in human history. On 1 December, the first day of Advent this year, I performed this show for an audience of 25-30 residents and staff at Overlake Terrace Retirement Community in Redmond.
The show consists of 24 songs, half from musicals and movies and half about Christmas. All are favorites of the age group living today in retirement communities. They sing along as I play. And as they listen to me play and talk, they recall where they were and what was happening when they first heard and learned those songs—“Things Remembered.”
For variety and fun, as appropriate for each song, I play three instruments (two trumpets and one cornet) and use four mouthpieces and one mute. One mouthpiece makes my Super Olds cornet sound like a flugelhorn, so in effect, it’s like playing four different instruments for them.
Overlake Terrace provides independent, assisted living, memory care, and respite services. For more information, here is the link to the website: https://www.stellarliving.com/overlake-terrace/. And for a tour of the interior of the facilities, please see the photo gallery here: https://www.stellarliving.com/overlake-terrace/photo-tour/. The 14 photos show the main lobby entrance, café, and dining room; model bedroom and living room; family rooms, library, exercise room, activity room, and movie theater.
Overlake Terrace is part of Stellar Senior Living, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The group consists of 8 retirement communities, including two in Washington (Redmond and Kent), two in Utah, two in Idaho, and one each in Colorado and Arizona.
The photos below are courtesy of Overlake Terrace. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Veterans Day ceremony, Cottage Lake Elementary School, Woodinville, with Kelsey Brady on piano, 11-09-2018
Some schools take Veterans Day very seriously and conduct superb ceremonies for the students and their guests. On 9 November, I sounded “Taps” at two such schools—St. Matthew Catholic School in Seattle in the morning and Cottage Lake Elementary School in the afternoon. Each ceremony was different, and both were outstanding. The chief organizer at St. Matthew was Kara Herber, 4th grade teacher, and at Cottage Lake, Kelsey Brady, music teacher. Ms. Herber found me through Bugles Across America (please see http://www.buglesacrossamerica.org/). Brig. Gen. Raymond W. Coffey, USAVR, referred Ms. Brady to me.
Ensign Shirkydra Roberts, U.S. Navy, was the principal speaker at St. Matthew. Please see her IAME website, https://impactaspiremotivate.com/. IAME stands for “Impact, Aspire, Motivate Enterprises.” General Coffey commands the 10th Region of the U.S. Volunteer-Joint Services Command, a ceremonial unit that conducts military honors at various events in the region. Please see my blog posts of 11 July and 17 December 2018, and 19 June 2014.
I closed each ceremony with the sounding of “Taps” on my wonderful Getzen bugle (see my blog post of 4 May 2015 ). Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Most Veterans Day ceremonies in the USA were held this year on the observed holiday, Monday, 12 November, but VFW Post 1040 elected to conduct theirs on the real date, Sunday, 11 November—celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the signing of the World War I armistice at 11 a.m. on 11/11/1911.
Using my beautiful Getzen bugle, I sounded “Assembly” to call the ceremony to order, followed by the entrance procession, led by the Northwest Junior Pipe Band playing “The Marine Corps Hymn” honoring the 243rd birthday of the Corps. NWJPB was followed by the Legion of Honor of the Nile Shrine Center and the Honor Guard of VFW Post 1040 of Lynnwood. As the ceremony closed, I was honored to sound “Echo Taps” with my trumpet student, Aidan Grambihler, trumpeter in Garfield High School’s Concert Orchestra in Seattle. Bryan Kolk is conductor of GHS’s three orchestras.
Aidan started lessons with me almost three years ago (please see my blog post of 13 April 2016). As Aidan has learned, playing bugle calls helps a trumpeter keep sharp articulation and slotting.
Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
NW Junior Pipe Band
Legion of Honor, Nile Shrine Center
Honor Guard, VFW Post 1040, Lynnwood
Courtesy of Lynnwood Today
Kevin Auld, NWJPB Director
NWJPB
Capt. Keith Sessions sings National Anthem
Major General Raymond Coffey
Myra Rintamaki, Gold Star Mother of Cpl. Stephen Rintamaki
Glenn Ledbetter, VFW Post 1040 Bugler
Martin Spani, US Marine Corps Veteran and Ceremony Emcee
By Myra Rintamaki
Boy Scouts of America, Lynnwood Troop 49 and Cub Scout Pack 331
Window cleaners on the job, north tower of Skyline Towers of First Hill, a Presbyterian retirement community
Today, at the fourth annual Skyline Memorial Walk, some 225 names of deceased family members and friends were read aloud as the bell was tolled. Then “We Remember Them” by Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer was also read aloud. And finally, I sounded “Taps” on my Getzen bugle, here for the third straight year (see my posts of 10 Nov 2016 and 19 Nov 2017). Rev. Elizabeth Graham, Chaplain at Skyline Towers Retirement Community in downtown Seattle, presided over the ceremony which attracted about 20 residents, mostly women. The group then took the Memorial Walk in the courtyard outside the meeting room where they found, among the lovely plants, individual signs bearing the names of the departed.
On the job at Skyline Towers Retirement Community in downtown Seattle
Rev. Graham said that about two weeks ago, a notice was sent to all the residents and staff, inviting them to identify loved ones whom they would want to be remembered at this ceremony. Here is an excerpt from “We Remember Them,” honoring and paying tribute to those who have passed:
“At the rising sun and at its going down; We remember them…At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn; We remember them…When we are weary and in need of strength; We remember them…When we have joy we crave to share; We remember them…For as long as we live, they too will live, for they are now part of us as, We remember them.”
Afterwards, looking up, I saw two courageous men high up the side of the building, dangling off thin lines, working, defying gravity, cheating death, earning a living, serving others, producing something of value—clean windows. We will remember them, too. For as John Donne wrote in 1624,
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
event was emceed by Lorraine Zimmermann of the Veterans Memorial Wreath Foundation (VMWF). The guest speaker was Doyle Burke, retired Washington State Guard Command Sergeant. Then 7 wreaths were dedicated by representatives of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, and POW/MIA.
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My first weekly trumpet lesson with my 44th trumpet student was on 4 December. Two weeks later, he dropped. But no worries—all is not lost. He’s also taking piano lessons (and has for the past two years), but taking lessons on both instruments is just more than he and his family want to handle at his young age (10). Besides, his sister is taking piano and guitar, too, so there’s a lot of music being played in their home.
The show consists of 24 songs, half from musicals and movies and half about Christmas. All are favorites of the age group living today in retirement communities. They sing along as I play. And as they listen to me play and talk, they recall where they were and what was happening when they first heard and learned those songs—“Things Remembered.”
For variety and fun, as appropriate for each song, I play three instruments (two trumpets and one cornet) and use four mouthpieces and one mute. One mouthpiece makes my Super Olds cornet sound like a flugelhorn, so in effect, it’s like playing four different instruments for them.
![CottageLakefrontofschool[1]](https://i0.wp.com/glennstrumpetnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CottageLakefrontofschool1.jpg?w=496&h=238&ssl=1 "CottageLakefrontofschool[1]")
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Glenn's Trumpet Notes 