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.
On Saturday, 30 September, my Sinton High School (SHS) Class of 1958 met in Fulton, Texas to celebrate the 65th anniversary of our graduation. Our class graduated 76 seniors on 23 May 1958. As our members now continue to dwindle, we gather each fall for another reunion. We attended school in nearby Sinton, Texas, a town of about 5,000 and the seat of San Patricio County. Fulton is a coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi.
The Inn at Fulton Harbor
Initially, our class met every 10 years…then every five years. Meanwhile, I was living in Seattle and Mercer Island, and I declined every invitation to attend, always promising to attend the 50th reunion. In 2008, my wife and I showed up. We liked it. We liked the people and the event. And that was the year that the group decided to meet every year “till death do us part.”
Charlotte Plummers, Fulton
Only Covid interrupted our sequence. Every year, we stay at The Inn at Fulton Harbor, where the group rents a meeting room on a Saturday. We talk amongst ourselves there in the afternoon, go across the street to eat supper at Charlotte Plummers Restaurant, go back to the meeting room, and talk some more. That’s it. Very simple. We say goodbye on Sunday morning and wait till next year.
Then things changed. In 2022, I offered to entertain the group after supper in the Inn. The leaders accepted. So, I played five songs on my Jupiter pocket trumpet, handed out the lyrics so that they could sing along, and told five jokes. First was our Alma Mater, “Maroon and White,” written by an SHS student, Daniel E. Sharp, in 1925. Next was our Fight Song to the tune of the march, “On Wisconsin.” Then came The Beatles’ song about aging, “When I’m 64.” After that came “What a Wonderful World”–Louis Amstrong’s recording in 1967 was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Then we stood, faced the flag, hands over hearts, said the Pledge of Allegiance as we had done every morning in Grammar School, and finally finished with “God Bless America.”
They enjoyed it, and I was asked to do it again this year. I used the same format and changed only the jokes and two songs: “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” The former was written in 1980, and the latter was made popular by The Mommas and The Papas’ recording in 1968. We reminisced about (a) the Sinton Plymouth Oilers, our town’s semi-pro baseball team which won the national championships in 1951 and 1957, when we were sixth graders and seniors, respectively, and (b) our crushes and dates in high school. Again, it was fun! Lots of stories and laughter and teasing.
This was my fifth performance at Fairwinds, Brighton Court (FBC) in Lynnwood–the most, so far, at any of the 29 retirements communities in the Greater Seattle area where I have presented at least one of my six trumpet shows!
Glenn Ledbetter plays “You’re a Grand Old Flag” on his Jupiter pocket trumpet.
The occasion, this time, was Flag Day, the 14th of June 2023. Flag Day commemorates the adoption on 14 June 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress, of the USA flag. The idea of celebrating this event was born in 1885. For more information about Flag Day, please use the Archives column to the left to see my blog post of 16 July 2019.
At FBC, I performed my show, “I Stand for the Flag,” which consists of about two dozen patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. I used four instruments: my Getzen trumpet and bugle, Super Olds Cornet, and Jupiter pocket trumpet. With the trumpet, bugle and pocket trumpet, I used my Yamaha Allen Vizzutti mouthpiece, and with my cornet, I used to two mouthpieces, a Denis Wick 4 and Bach 8C.
This year, Gold Star Mothers’ Day occurred on 24 September, almost one year after a very significant event that lingers in my memory—the dedication ceremony of the Gold Star Mothers Families Monument in Veterans Park in Lynnwood on 2 November 2022—exactly one year ago today. At the end of the ceremony, Laurence Stusser and I sounded “Echo Taps” for the local Gold Star Mothers who attended, along with a crowd of about 300.
Front view by Cody Sexton, Lynnwood Today.
Woody Williams formed a foundation to establish Gold Star Mothers Families Monuments in as many communities as possible in all U.S. 50 states and territories. There are now at least 131 Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments across the United States, and an additional 65 underway for installation. Three are located in Washington state in Walla Walla, Forks, and Lynnwood.
Glenn's Trumpet Notes 