Awaiting cue to sound “Taps”—click to enlarge and read Jumbotron screen. Photo by Ben Van Houten, Seattle Mariners photographer
Glenn Ledbetter, VFW Post 1040 Bugler, Lynnwood, sounds “Taps.” Photo by Ben Van Houten, Seattle Mariners photographer.
UW Joint Navy and Air Force ROTC Color Guard. Photo by Ben Van Houten, Seattle Mariners photographer.
The Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros, 3-2, at T-Mobile Park in downtown Seattle on Monday, 27 May. That was Memorial Day, and the Mariners’ pre-game activity was to “Remember and Honor” those military personnel who died in service to our country. The Joint Color Guard was comprised of University of Washington students who are in the Navy and Air Force ROTC programs. And one bugler was assigned to sound “Taps” after a moment of silence—me!
It was a dream come true! On 17 August 2014, I had sounded “To the Color” at a Mariners’ minor-league Aquasox game at the ballpark in Everett. And that inspired me to want to sound a bugle call at a Mariners game in Seattle. Ten years later, it happened, thanks to someone else. Unbeknownst to me, Monica McNeal, Gold Star Families of Washington, had referred me to the Mariners. Gold Star Mothers were also honored between certain innings of the game. Please see https://www.goldstarmoms.com. and my blog article of 2 November 2023.
I’ll be 84 next week. You’re never too old to have dreams and set goals—and if you need to, straighten your teeth!
Thus ends the “Lost Buzz Saga.” To read the whole story, please see my posts of 10, 12, and 21 June, plus this one, which is the climax. I invite your “Likes” and “Comments;” simply click on the links below this post.
The Mariners kindly recorded the pre-game activities. Here are the links for viewing the videos:
On Memorial Day this year, I sounded four bugle calls:
MorningStar Senior Living at Silver Lake, Everett
“Assembly” and “Echo Taps” at the ceremony hosted by VFW Post 1040 at Veterans Park in Lynnwood.
“Taps” at the retirement community, MorningStar Senior Living at Silver Lake, in Everett.
“Taps” at the Seattle Mariners baseball game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
Judah Deuman, a senior trumpeter at Lynnwood High School, played the “echo” part of “Echo Taps” with me.
Veterans Park, Lynnwood
These were very significant, “comeback” performances for me. I had not played in public for the past five months.
In my previous blog article, I divulged that during last December, I was having trouble playing my horns. My orthodontist predicted that I should be able to play my horns again by Memorial Day. Sure enough, it happened!
Now, what else could happen? Sciatica, that’s what. While sounding “Assembly” during the morning ceremony in Lynnwood, I discovered I could not hold a steady tone while standing, due to my lower back pain. So, for the rest of the day, I sounded “Taps” while seated on my walker and did just fine.
Who said that old age is just a number? Well, if that’s true, then jail is just a room.
The privilege of sounding “Taps” at the Mariners game that evening is presented in my next blog article.
In Paris, there’s a music museum. A friend told me about it several years ago, and finally, I found it and went to see it on 7 May—the Musee de la Musique in the 19th arrondissement, northeast of the Louvre and Eiffel Tower.
A docent on the second floor, who plays trumpet, told me about a special trumpet on display on the fourth floor. She said it was used at the premier of Verdi’s Aida in Cairo, Egypt in 1871, over the objections of Verdi himself. She could not leave her post and come upstairs to show it to me.
Egyptian trumpets found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb
But before I repeat what else the docent said, let me say something about the opera itself. The orchestral instrumentation calls for 6 Egyptian trumpets. They play the melody of the now-famous “Triumphal March,” when the victorious Egyptian troops parade into the city of Thebes after defeating the Ethiopian army.
The docent’s story was that Verdi insisted that the orchestra use authentic period trumpets which had no valves. The lead trumpeter, however, did not want to use them. So, in rehearsals the trumpeters used the Egyptian instruments, but at the premier, they brought trumpets with one valve. Verdi was furious, but there was nothing he could do. These trumpets became known as “Egyptian trumpets” or “Aida trumpets.”
So, I spent my time on the fourth floor. Until then, I had thought that valves were not added to natural trumpets until the 1830s. But I was thinking three valves, and I had always wondered how trumpeters could play the “Trumpet Voluntary,” written by the English composer, Jeremiah Clarke in the 1690s, without valves. Well, it turns out that that piece was the originally written for keyboard instruments. An organist would simply use the trumpet stop. [Maybe trumpeters at that time used keyed trumpets—but that’s another story for me to learn.] I did not see any four-valved trumpets on display.
It also turns out that the transformation of the trumpet (from its natural straight or curved tubal shapes without values to curved, looped shapes with valves) did not take one giant leap from no valves to three valves in the 1830s. In other words, it did not suddenly leap from being able to sound only harmonic tones (like a bugle) to sound all notes in the chromatic scale. It progressed from having no valves to one valve, to two valves, to three valves during the period 1788-1830s. And for the first time in my life, I saw samples of such trumpets in the Paris Music Museum!
Classic 1871 “Egyptian” or “Aida” trumpet
Is this the display spoken of by the Museum Docent?
When did trumpeters begin to play “Trumpet Voluntary” on actual valved trumpets—does it take one, two or three values to play it? In the key of C, I think you could play it on a two-valved trumpet, if the first value permitted you to play the Ds and Fs and the second value permitted you to play the A (along with the first valve) and F#.
The most prolific baroque composer for trumpet was Giuseppi Torelli. He is thought to have composed his Sinfonia with Trumpet in D (G. 8) in the 1690s. Henry Purcell’s The Fairy-Queen was first performed in 1692. Handel’s Water Music Suite No. 2 heavily features trumpets. It premiered in 1717. Vivaldi composed his Concerto for Two Trumpets in ~1720s. Jean-Joseph Mouret composed his Suite de Symphonies in 1729. Its Rondeau is used as the theme music for PBS’s program, Masterpiece. Handel composed his Messiah in 1741. His Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749), especially movements 1 and 4, features trumpets. Leopold Mozart composed his Concerto for Trumpet in D Major in 1762. Hadyn composed his Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major in 1796. Hummel composed his Trumpet Concerto in E Major in 1803. Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony in 1822-24. What kind of trumpets did trumpeters play for each of these? The first valve was invented in 1788. The second valve was added in 1815.
In the museum, I took many photos so that I can now give you a rudimentary tour showing the evolution of the trumpet. There are photos of some very weird-looking instruments, as well as shots of Chopin’s piano, some portraits of composers, and a video of a guest musician playing a forerunner to the French horn that looks somewhat like the modern mellophone. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Chopin’s PianoChopin’s piano (left)Video with Sound
In April, my wife and I went to Italy for the first time–Milan, Venice, and Florence, wow! Our overseas travels have usually been to the UK and Paris in July-August. But a huge magnet drew us into Italy this spring—our granddaughter was studying in her freshman year at New York University’s campus in Florence and her 19th birthday was in late April.
Stage before concert, Vivaldi’s Church, Venice
Our first stop was Milan to see the magnificent Milan Cathedral. Then we saw “The Last Supper” painting by Leonardo da Vinci at St. Maria delle Grazie church. Next, we attended an opera at the fabulous Teatro Alla Scalla. At the cathedral, we saw not only the interior but also a portion of the rooftop. At the opera house, we saw Giacomo Puccini’s La Rondine (The Swallow).
Next was Venice, where our hotel was near the Piazza San Marco. Also, nearby was Church of the Pietà – Saint Mary of the Visitation. It’s known as “Antonio Vivaldi’s Church” because he became a priest there so that he could compose, teach and perform music. He was there, with several interruptions, between 1703 and 1740. He produced over 500 compositions. On 22 April, we attended an evening concert by the renowned ensemble, I Virtuosi Italiani (The Italian Virtuosos)—superb entertainment!
“Things Remembered” is the name of one of my favorite one-hour trumpet shows. But that show is not the remembrance that still bothers me. Instead, it’s the memory of those five days, 16 to 20 December just before Christmas. On the 16th, I performed two bugle calls at the Wreaths Across America ceremony in Seattle, which I wrote about in my previous post here. And on the 20th, I performed my trumpet show, “Things Remembered,” at The Bellettini,” in downtown Bellevue. I struggled to play my horns on both days, and afterwards, I did not touch them again for the first four and a half months this year. What happened? Let me tell you.
Suddenly, a few days before the 16th, my buzz into the mouthpiece went bad. My lips would not respond to the air flow unless I blew quite hard. But you can’t play every note of every bugle call or song at “FF” volume. I’d blow, and at first, only air would hiss through the horn before a note would suddenly burst out. It was sort of like stammering or stuttering, when the words just won’t come out of a person’s throat for a few seconds, followed by a shout. I’d lost the ability to fade out down to “pp” and softer. I’d lost some control of dynamics and the ability to express certain emotions through the horn.
At first, I thought it was simply stiff lips that had lost their flexibility from not enough practicing. I thought I could overcome it if I warmed up for at least 20 minutes. But no amount of warming up would eliminate it. On the 16th, my “Assembly” didn’t sound normal. I struggled a bit with “Echo Taps,” too. It didn’t help that I had to stand and play without my cane, hunched over from lower back pain.
So, should I cancel my show at The Bellettini? I love The Bellettini, the staff, and the residents. They had invited me back for the fifth time to present a new show which they had not yet heard.
I couldn’t bear the thought of canceling, even if I wouldn’t sound normal. I had three more practice days to improve. If I didn’t sound better, would they forgive me? Or would they walk out and never invite me back again?
Yamaha Allen Vizzutti, Bach 1.5C, 3C, 8C, and Getzen 3C, 7C trumpet mouthpieces
No amount of practicing changed things. I reached a certain level, and nothing improved beyond that. Then I hit on another idea: what about changing mouthpieces? Up to now, I’d been using only my favorite, the Allen Vizzutti mouthpiece by Yamaha. So, I broke out my entire (but small) collection of six trumpet mouthpieces and tried each one. I got the best results with my Bach 1.5C. Eureka!
I arrived quite early, set up, and went into a side room to warm up for a half hour. Then I came out and did the show—not normal. But no one walked out. They were very tolerant and forgiving, and besides, they were enjoying themselves. After all, we’re all in the same age group–we could be classmates!
Afterwards, numerous residents came up to thank me and say how much they enjoyed the two dozen songs from our era–such great songs with which they could sing along!
And then, a tall man came up, thanked me, and said in a kind voice, “It’s hard to play when the buzz won’t work right, isn’t it?” He said he used to play saxophone and luckily, with a reed mouthpiece, that problem can’t happen.
“Yes,” I said. “But they liked the music and had a good time.”
He agreed sympathetically and complimented me for doing my best on an off day. Was that really all it was—just an off day? I worried that my playing days might be over entirely. I might never play again in public. I simply knew that I would never let myself play like that again.
But the experience of those five days begged the question: what caused this problem? It had never happened to me since I began playing in fifth grade.
I thought, “It must be my two front teeth”—my central incisors in the upper jaw. You see, for those readers who are young, your teeth can start to migrate in old age. Mine had been slowing creeping toward the middle of my mouth for several years, so much so that the left front tooth had actually slid outside and over the right one. It was overlapping and pushing itself outward against my upper lip, and it was probably also pushing the right tooth backwards toward my tongue.
Is this TMI–“Too Much Information?” Well, how else will you know what to do when this happens to you? Keep reading…
I developed a new theory. The crooked front teeth were diverting the air flow, ruining my buzz. So, last January, I went to see my orthodontist, Dr. Zachton Lowe in Shoreline. He advised plastic aligners by Invisalign instead of metal braces. He said it would take about sixteen months to straighten all my teeth.
“Can I play ‘Taps’ on Memorial Day?” I asked.
“Yes, I think so.”
And so, I did! The Bellettini taught me a huge lesson. Please read all about my Memorial Day performances in two blog posts which are soon to be posted in a few days–but first, I’ll post next about the music on our spring trip to Italy and Paris.
Glenn Ledbetter warms up his bugle while using practice mute to muffle sound
For the first time, I used a cane to walk to my position for sounding “Assembly” and “Echo Taps” once more on my Getzen bugle at this, the 15th Annual Ceremony called Wreaths Across America (WAA). “Assembly” silences the crowd and opens the event. “Echo Taps” signals its conclusion. Just like two years ago, Laurence Stusser played the “echo” part on his trumpet with me (please see my blog article of 31 December 2021).
The cane was necessary, of course, because of my continuing sciatica nerve pain in my lower back and down my leg. But that was not my only trouble at this performance.
Photo by Glenn Ledbetter
I noticed that I was suddenly having some trouble with articulation, slotting, and tone control. It puzzled me. Nothing like this had ever happened since I originally began playing my cornet in fifth grade! At this writing, however, in hindsight, I now know what was causing the problems. More in subsequent blog articles.
For more information about WAA and past ceremonies, simply use the Search box in the upper right column. Search keywords “Wreaths” and “Wreath-Laying” for different results. Also, check out https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org and https://www.vfw1040.org.
All photos except two (as marked) are by Phil Onishi Photography. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Outdoors at 9 a.m. on Saturday, 11 November, at VFW Eagleson Post 3063’s hall in Ballard, I sounded my first bugle call of the day, “Assembly.” It called to order their Flag Ceremony to dedicate the Post’s new flagpole. Two speeches followed, one by the Post Commander, Alyson Teeter, and the other by Harold Rodenberger, the Post’s legendary veteran. A plaque honoring Rodenberger was unveiled.
As the old, worn flag was lowered, I sounded “Retreat.” Then, as the new, crisp flag was raised, I sounded “To the Color.” Afterwards, the Post hosted an open house (please see https://vfwseattle.org/). Those were the first three of seven bugle calls that I sounded during the day, using my Getzen Field Trumpet (i.e., bugle).
Joseph Fitzgerald invited me to do this. He’s a good friend and a former student of mine (see my blog post of 17 November 2017 in the Archives in the left column). He is Captain of the Post’s Color Guard and a former Commander of Post 3063. By the way, the Post “willingly accepts for proper disposal all United States Flags that are no longer wanted or are worn and no longer fit for display.” The Post’s name honors Lt. James Mills Eagleson, Army, WWI, who died in 1919 (please see https://www.facebook.com/uwlibscimed/posts/696495093858841).
Veterans Park, Lynnwood
Pvt. Walter A. Deebach, WWI
At 11 a.m., I again sounded “Assembly,” calling to order the annual Veterans Day ceremony, hosted by VFW Post 1040 in the City’s Veterans Park in downtown Lynnwood. As the Post’s Bugler, I’ve been doing this since 2011. Performing several songs on his bagpipe was Kyle Gaul, Piper. To end the ceremony, Laurence Stusser and I sounded “Echo Taps.”
This post honors Walter A. Deebach, Sr. in its name. He was a WWI Army private who fought in France and Germany and suffered lung damage from mustard gas used by the Germans. He was the leader in founding Post 1040. Please see an article by his daughter at https://myedmondsnews.com/2014/11/looking-back-father-walter-deebach-wwi/. She writes that in 1943, he was appointed “Director of the VFW’s Rehabilitation and Service Department for the State of Washington, with his office in Seattle. For the next 25 years, until his retirement in 1968 at the age of 70, assisting veterans and/or their survivors was his work.”
Fairwinds, Brighton Court, Lynnwood
At 2 p.m., I opened my trumpet show with a march, “British Grenadiers,” that is more than 300 years old. This was my fifth performance at this retirement community. I have six one-hour trumpet shows, and when retirement communities celebrate the military, as on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Flag Day, Armed Forces Day, and others, someone always invites me to perform “I Stand for the Flag.” It consists of 24 patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. I wear my VFW Post 1040 uniform.
The two bugle calls in this show are my favorites [besides “Taps”]–“Sunset” (British) and “Tattoo” (American). When I started the show, there were about 20 people in attendance. By the time it ended, the audience had doubled. I felt like “The Pied Piper.”
I got home about 4 p.m. It was a very satisfying Veterans Day. We owe so much to those who have served, do we not? As the saying goes, “If you eat your meals in peace, thank a Veteran. Freedom is not free.”
Not only was this my first performance of my one-hour trumpet show [I have six different shows] at the Sunrise of Mercer Island retirement community, but also it was the first time I’ve ever been asked for my autograph! Ha, who am I?—Mickey Mantle? Joe Montana? Beethoven? Louis Armstrong? Nope. Just an ancient trumpet player, as old as dirt.
After I performed “I Stand for the Flag,” a lady in the front row handed me a pen and one of my handouts, so I happily signed it. Maybe I should have my survivors engrave that on my tombstone: “He signed one autograph.” Success!
Another elderly lady in a wheelchair rolled up to me and said, “I’m 100 years old, and that was the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard!”
Well, anyway, what a kick in the pants it was for me on the 248th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps (10 November) and the day before Veterans Day 2023!
The resident capacity of this retirement community is only 48, and about 15 (~one third) attended my show. Two are Veterans, one Army and one Army Air Corps, WWII. And my goodness, did they all earnestly sing and hum along with me, as I played 24 patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. I used four horns, my Getzen trumpet and bugle, Super Olds cornet, and Austin Custom Brass (ACB) flugelhorn. They asked, so I explained the similarities and differences among them. At the end, we stood, said The Pledge of Allegiance, and rendered the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Afterwards, they told the staff member who assisted me that they wanted me to come back for another show. What more could any old performer want—requests for both an autograph and a return performance? I’ll take that any day. “Play it again, Sam.”
Who is not a Sousa fan? I certainly am, so I joined the Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band in order to perform at the umpteenth annual concert celebrating the 169th birthday of John Philip Sousa, America’s foremost composer of military marches. He was a Marine and conducted “The President’s Own” Marine Band from 1880-1892. He wrote more than 130 marches and operettas. I play my flugelhorn among the baritone section of the band. Why “sedentary?” Because this band does not march!
A sold-out crowd of 80 came to little Kenyon Hall (see http://www.kenyonhall.org) in West Seattle on 5 November to enjoy 1.5 hours filled with 13 Marches. The crowd was quite engaged and even boisterous at times. After the band played “El Capitan,” the band director, Liz Dreisbach, passed out some lyrics from Sousa’s operetta of the same name, and they sang as if they were a choir in the cast. They ate Sousa’s birthday cake during the intermission. And with noisemakers, they became percussionists, on signals from the band’s Sedentary Majorette, Edith Farrar, when the band played “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.”
Sousa (1854-1932) was born in Washington, D.C. and is buried there, too, at the Congressional Cemetery along the west bank of the Anacostia River, a tributary of the Potomac River. Annually, on 6 November, the Marine Band performs “Semper Fidelis” and “Stars and Stripes Forever” (our national march) at his gravesite. You can witness this year’s ceremony here: https://www.dvidshub.net/webcast/33126. If you have trouble with the feed from this link, try the Chrome browser.
Kenyon Hall is operated by a non-profit organization and presents live vaudeville, musical, and theatrical performances and arts-based education. It is home of the 1929 mighty Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ and is West Seattle’s lighthearted entertainment palace. The building is 110 years old and has recently undergone some important interior remodeling. New siding is also planned.
They had me back again for the fourth time! But this time, on 26 October at The Bellittini retirement community in Bellevue, it was to perform a different one-hour trumpet show.
“In Retrospect” is designed to draw the audience into recalling many common experiences that we all share through our lifetimes–when we were teenagers, when we were dating, when we were grown and single and later married, when we were raising children, when we were very happy, when we had troubles, when we lost someone whom we dearly loved, and as we are now, aging. I selected 24 popular songs from the residents’ era that are about many such common experiences.
How does a solo trumpet evoke such memories? Well, first, I use four horns and second, I play songs written to express those specific life circumstances. We simply match the song’s message and sentiment with the most compatible horn.
Each horn has a different timbre (“tam’-ber”), meaning tone quality or tone color. The sound of the trumpet and pocket trumpet is brilliant white, sharp, piercing. The cornet produces a more rounded, mellow, tan tone. The flugelhorn’s sound is big, fat, round, deep, rich brown, similar to a euphonium or mellophone. So, for the sad, slow, blues song, “St. James Infirmary,” I use the flugelhorn. For the bouncy, happy, fun song, “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” I use the trumpet. For the dreamy, lilting love song, “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” I use the cornet with a Bach 8C mouthpiece. For the idealistic, wistful, slow song, “When I Fall in Love,” I use the cornet with a Denis Wick 4 mouthpiece.
It all works quite well. The audience likes it. “In Retrospect” is becoming a favorite show of mine. You should hear it!
Please click on the images below to see the full instruments.
Glenn's Trumpet Notes 