Glenn’s Trumpet Notes

News & Tips for Trumpet & Cornet Students

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Posts Tagged ‘trumpet’

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Six Student Trumpeters Solo at 2013 Northwest Trumpet Arts Festival at SPU

Posted by glennled on March 6, 2013

Cole, a junior at Edmonds-Woodway High School, plays with Peter Bond of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York

Cole, a junior at Edmonds-Woodway High School, plays with Peter Bond of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York

Yes, the evening concert at the fourth annual NW Trumpet Arts Festival on 3 March at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) featured five highly accomplished, professional trumpeters, headed by Peter Bond of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York and Dr. Brian Chin of SPU and the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra.

But I went to the festival to hear the kids play. The afternoon program consisted of two Master’s Classes and a Student Concert. Peter Bond taught the class on “Practicing Fundamentals,” and Chad McCullough taught the one on “Practicing Jazz Improvisation.” There were almost 50 people at these sessions. Dr. Chin emceed the event, sponsored by the Yamaha Corporation, Kennelly Keys Music, and SPU.

The Student Concert gave six trumpet students the golden opportunity to play, with piano accompaniment, in a non-competitive environment for their peers, the five professional artists, and an appreciative public audience. All the students played very challenging music. They received written feedback from the professional trumpet artists and a classy festival T-shirt. What a special event this is! As it continues to grow, the festival aims to draw at least 100 people.

Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

Posted in Festivals & Competitions | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Come to the Trumpet Arts Festival at SPU on Sunday, 3 March

Posted by glennled on February 4, 2013

Picture1 - MS PublisherTrumpeters! Want to become your best? Want a quick study on playing the trumpet? Feel like you’re stuck on something and just not getting any better at it, no matter what? Want to hear how advanced, professional trumpeters do things and what they’ve learned through their years of experience? Want to ask them a question about something?

Here’s your chance on Sunday, 3 March—attend the Trumpet Arts Festival being held at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) in Queen Anne. Please see http://trumpetarts.com/NW_Trumpet_Arts_Festival/Welcome.html.

The following trumpeters are featured this year: Peter Bond, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, NYC; Anthony Di Lorenzo, soloist; Chad McCullough, jazz soloist; Judson Scott, University of Puget Sound; and Brian Chin, SPU. To learn more about them, please see http://trumpetarts.com/NW_Trumpet_Arts_Festival/Artists.html.

It’s a full program:

  • At 2 p.m., the Masterclass: “Practicing Fundamentals”
  • At 3:30 p.m., the Masterclass: “Practicing Improvisation”
  • At 4:30 p.m., Student Concert open to the public
  • At 7:00 p.m., Artists’ Concert open to the public
  • At 9:00 p.m., After-hours Jazz Jam at Thai Fusion, 15 Nickerson St

If you like, you can bring your horn and piano music and play for the Artists. They will give you written comments on your performance. This is supportive, professional, expert feedback, not a contest. Bring your own pianist/accompanist, or rehearse for a half hour and perform with the pianist furnished by the Festival.  An extra $40 fee covers the cost. For details, please see http://trumpetarts.com/NW_Trumpet_Arts_Festival/Students.html.

The location is the E.E. Bach Theater, SPU,  3307 Third Avenue West, Seattle. The cost is $25 tuition for the day and $10 for the evening concert only. Come learn more about yourself and your horn and hear some great music!

Posted in Festivals & Competitions | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Does Rossini’s “Cinderella” Opera from 1817 Play Well in 2013?

Posted by glennled on January 22, 2013

On Sunday, 13 January, it was time for my wife and me (opera novices) to be re-introduced to Gioachino Antonio Rossini, the blog_poster_cinderella, 1-13-13composer whose nickname was “The Italian Mozart.” We were both familiar with The Barber of Seville, but it was so long ago, we can hardly be sure of when, where and what. So off we drove to McCaw Hall not knowing what to expect to see and hear at the Seattle Opera’s matinee performance of Cinderella (La Cenerentola)—almost 200 years after it premiered at Teatro Valle, Rome, 25 January 1817.

The prince wins Cinderella in Seattle Opera’s La Cenerentola, with sets and costumes designed by Joan Guillén - Photo © Elise Bakketun

Prince Ramiro wins Cinderella in Seattle Opera’s “La Cenerentola,” with sets and costumes designed by Joan Guillén – Photo © Elise Bakketun

It turns out that Rossini’s Cinderella is a romantic comedy of the bel canto (“Beautiful Singing”) kind. The story was altered by librettist Jacopo Ferretti both in characters and in plot, but yes, in the end, the prince does get the lovely, virtuous Cinderella as his bride. This takes two acts stretched over three hours (including a half-hour intermission). During the pursuit, there are lots of laughs and some extraordinary singing.

The basic premise of the opera, writes Spreight Jenkins, General Director of the Seattle Opera, is that the prince wants to marry someone who loves him for himself, not his position, power or wealth.  That romantic ideal still plays well in 2013 in Western society, does it not? Cinderella, called Angelina in this opera, is a forward-looking person who also will marry only for love but wants respect, too. She is not a male-dominated person, and she is not ambitious to become a princess. She stands up for herself, knows what she wants, and wins it fair and square on her terms—her man must be willing to make an effort to win her. This idea of feminity is still modern and plays well in 2013 in America and elsewhere, does it not? Jenkins writes in Encore, “There’s a lot of humor, but we see in Angelina a far more recognizable and believable young woman than many created in the nineteenth century. She is generous when she wins, and altogether she is a really charming person who might fit very well into the twenty-first century.”

Here’s what the bel canto style meant when it was dominant from the 18th century until about 1840, according to the experts at Wikipedia:

  • an impeccable legato production throughout the singer’s (seamless) range
  • the use of a light tone in the higher registers
  • an agile, flexible technique capable of dispatching ornate embellishments
  • the ability to execute fast, accurate divisions
  • the avoidance of aspirates and eschewing a loose vibrato
  • a pleasing, well-focused timbre
  • a clean attack
  • limpid diction
  • graceful phrasing rooted in a complete mastery of breath control

    Alidoro (Arthur Woodleyj), tutor to Prince Ramiro, has other plans for Cinderella - Photo by Alan Alabastro.

    Alidoro (Arthur Woodleyj), tutor to Prince Ramiro, has other plans for Cinderella – Photo by Alan Alabastro.

The music was written to show off the exceptional quality of the singers’ voices. I especially enjoyed the various ensembles. The precision of the attacks, phrasing, and breath control were remarkable and often, as intended, funny! I imagine it would be quite challenging and possibly exhausting to sing for so long in that style. Among the voices I enjoyed the most were those of Angelina (Cinderella), mezzo-soprano; Alidoro, bass; Dandini, baritone; and Don Magnifico, bass.

Courtesy of Seattle Symphony & Opera Players' Organization

Courtesy of Seattle Symphony & Opera Players’ Organization

I enjoyed listening to the orchestra, too, hearing and watching how the music from the pit matched the action on stage. It’s great fun to play trumpet in the orchestra of a musical or an opera. I did both long ago on the college level—but now I’m just a happy spectator. I wonder if any of my trumpet students will ever have that wonderful experience. I hope so. That would please me, as did this .  😉  Please click on any photo to enlarge it:

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Dire Straits: “They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band”

Posted by glennled on January 17, 2013

dire-straits-sultans-of-swingLately, I’ve been listening again to Dire Straits, a British rock band led by Mark Knopfler. Their biggest selling album, Brothers in Arms, has sold over 30 million copies, and their worldwide album sales exceed 120 million. The band’s career spanned a combined total of 15 years (1977-1988, 1991-1995). Their most popular songs include “Sultans of Swing,” “Money for Nothing,” “Walk of Life,” “Brothers in Arms,” “Lady Writer,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Tunnel of Love,” “Private Investigations,” “So Far Away,” and “Your Latest Trick.”

In the “Sultans of Swing” song, a crowd of young boys in the honky tonk, “dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles,” are drunk as they listen to a band called the Sultans of Swing. Two lines, sung with dripping disdain, catch my ear: “They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band, It ain’t what they call rock and roll…”

Well, now, wait just a minute! You can’t dismiss all us horns. Those boys obviously don’t know their jazz music history and don’t even care about learning it either. No, even though the Sultans of Swing may play some swing music on their rock and roll instruments (guitars, keyboards, synthesizer, and percussion), that’s not the swing music of the great Swing Band Era, ~1936-1944. And all those big bands did feature trumpeters—and some great ones, too!

Want to hear some swing trumpeters from a time long gone by? Try these, for seven of the best:

Yeah, that was then, way back when I was a boy. Today, I also love the “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits even though they trash us trumpeters. But someday, they, too, will be bye-gones, like brown baggies and platform shoes.   😉

Please click on any image to enlarge it.

Posted in Selected Trumpet Music | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

“Mele Kalikimaka” Honors Lost Family Matriarch on Christmas Eve at Home

Posted by glennled on January 12, 2013

Glenn Ledbetter plays "Mele Kalikimaka" on his Super Olds Cornet (1954)

Glenn Ledbetter plays “Mele Kalikimaka” on his Super Olds Cornet (1954)

Our family tradition on Christmas Eve includes singing Christmas carols after dinner and before opening gifts. My wife plays piano as we sing, and a few years ago, we added a couple of trumpet solos to the program. This year, I played “Mele Kalikimaka” because on all our minds was the recent loss of my wife’s mother, Ruth, who died peacefully on 12 October. This was our first Christmas without her.

To Ruth, Hawaii was paradise. She and her husband, Mac, first went to Waikiki to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They always returned annually until he passed away, and then she continued to go back. In all, she vacationed there for 39 straight years! She was a bright spirit, and we miss her so much.

“Mele Kalikimaka” means “Merry Christmas,” and Robert Alex Anderson wrote the song in 1949. Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters recorded the song in 1950 on Decca 27228 (78 rpm)/9-27228 (45 rmp). To hear their recording, please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJhYrC8Rq8w.

For my second trumpet solo, I played “Angels We Have Heard on High,” a traditional French carol.

Posted in Musical Events at Home | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

Exceptional “Winter All Bands Concert” by Hamilton International Middle School in Seattle

Posted by glennled on December 24, 2012

Symphonic Band, Hamilton International Middle School, Seattle

Symphonic Band, Hamilton International Middle School, Seattle

“The music program at Hamilton is thriving,” said Daniel Rowe, Music Director of Bands, “and we’re making beautiful music!” The standing-room only audience responded in loud applause as the Symphonic Band from Hamilton International Middle School (HIMS) prepared to play the concluding, ever-popular piece, “Sleigh Ride,” by Leroy Anderson. The two-hour Winter All Bands Concert was held on 13 December in Lincoln High School Auditorium in Wallingford in Seattle.

The Finale: Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride"

Concert Finale: Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride”

The total membership of the four bands at Hamilton is 295 student musicians: the Beginning Band has 58 members, Cadet (86), Concert (75) and Symphonic (76). That’s almost one-third of the entire student body of about 1,000. The growth that’s underway is exceptional. Mr. Rowe recalled that the Concert Band had 31 members only three years ago. Some 600 students are involved in the bands, orchestras, jazz ensembles, and choir. The music program is supported by the non-profit organization, The Friends of Music at Hamilton International (FOMAHI)—see www.fomahi.org, which coordinated arrangements for this concert. This year, Hamilton musicians will perform in almost 40 concerts.  Before Mr. Rowe came to Hamilton, he taught in the highly successful music program at Eckstein Middle School (see my post of 14 December 2011).

Six trumpeters in the Cadet Band, HIMS

Six trumpeters in the Cadet Band, HIMS

I went to hear one of my trumpet students, a 6th grader, perform in the Cadet Band. On top of that, I got an unexpected surprise—my very first cornet student also performed in the Symphonic Band (see my post of 14 August 2009). He’s now an 7th grader, and he switched to tuba last year. Both these students had made the Seattle Public Schools’ All-City Honors Elementary Band (see my posts of 10 April 2011 and 2 April 2012). It was a thrill to me to see and hear them both perform on the same stage on the same night! Both come from great families, and it was fun to see the relatives there, too.

Each band had its highlights, and I’ll mention only a few. The Cadet Band featured its 15 trumpeters in “Trumpets of Symphony Hall” by Don Brubaker. Among the four pieces played by the Concert Band, “The Hunger Games,” arranged by Jay Bocook, was very impressive. The clarinet soloist, Sadie Morriss, accompanied by the Symphonic Band, drew a standing ovation for her performance of “Viktor’s Tale” by John Williams. And the Symphonic Band demonstrated its high skill level by performing the superb “My Neighbor Totoro” by Joe Hisaishi, arranged by Yo Goto.

Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

Posted in School Concerts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Photo Gallery of Winter Concert at Skyview Jr. High in Bothell, 12-12-’12

Posted by glennled on December 20, 2012

Please click on any of the 32 photos to enlarge it.

Posted in School Concerts, Skyview Junior High | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Arcade Mocha Kicks Off Winter Concert at Skyview Junior High in Bothell

Posted by glennled on December 17, 2012

AM LogoAs the fans filled the stands in the gym at Skyview Junior High in Bothell, they were entertained by Arcade Mocha, a jazz combo formed by eight students in 2011. People were coming for the Winter Concert of the orchestra and 7th, 8th, and 9th-grade bands. Arcade Mocha played Christmas songs and other pieces for half an hour before the concert began.

Vaughan has been my trumpet student since 2010

Vaughan has been my trumpet student since 2010

It was their 19th gig so far (see http://www.facebook.com/ArcadeMocha?ref=ts&fref=ts). They play for festivals, auctions, fundraisers, variety shows, promotional events, and such at malls, stores, coffee shops, churches, schools, and more. For example, during the holidays in 2011, they played at the Barnes and Noble Book Fair in Woodinville, and twice in 2012, they played at the Crossroads Mall in Bellevue. Last November, they played at “This is the Night,” the Skyview Spaghetti Dinner, and helped raise $1,700 in funds for the Music Boosters and

Music Department of the school. Musically, they’ve stepped up into jazz circles by playing twice at afternoon gigs at Tula’s Jazz Club in Belltown in Seattle (see www.tulas.com).

This group of talented teenage musicians launched from the Skyview Jr. High music program (see http://www.nsd.org/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=429).  They practice, using The Real Book of charts, every Saturday at the home of their booking agent, Dianne Kinney, 425-275-8696, dianne@adamkinney.com.

Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

Posted in School Concerts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Husky Alumni Band Cheers UW to Victory Over Stanford, 17-13

Posted by glennled on October 16, 2012

Victory celebration!

Everyone knows that while Husky Stadium is now being rebuilt for next year, the football team is playing its home games in downtown Seattle at Century Link Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders. Everyone sees the UW Husky Varsity Marching Band on the stadium steps at the north entrance prior to the game, in the south stands during the game, and on the field for pre-game and half-time shows. But who knows whether the Husky Alumni Band is even there—and if so, where are they?

Well, yes, we were there Thursday night (27 September) to see the Huskies upset the 8th-ranked Stanford Cardinal, 17-13. We were seated in the SW quadrant of the stadium—high up in Section 327!—cheering as loudly as everyone else.

UW Husky Varsity Marching Band

We played at three pep rallies prior to the game, one with the Chinese Dragon at Hing Hay Park in the International District, one in the north parking lot of the stadium, and one in Occidental Street on the west side of the stadium. That earned us free tickets into this big game. Recall that there was a time when it was questionable whether the Husky Alumni Band would have a role to play at the home games this year (see my post of 18 November 2011), but that was settled. We’re there, helping raise money for HMBAA scholarships, and we’re very happy. It’s such fun, and I love playing trumpet. Some of us even joined the massive crowd on the field after the game to celebrate the victory. Go Huskies!

Photos are by Louis Figueroa and Gary Nakayama, courtesy of the UW Husky Varsity Marching Band conducted by Dr. Brad McDavid, Director. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

Posted in HMBAA - Husky Alumni Band | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Puccini’s Grandest Opera, “Turandot,” is Different

Posted by glennled on August 31, 2012

Emperor (upper center), Turandot (middle center), and Prince Calaf (lower right)

Yes, I’m an opera novice—I’ve seen only three other operas by Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly (see my post of 31 May 2012). None of these prepared me for the showy spectacle of Turandot by the Seattle Opera which my wife and I attended on 5 August at McCaw Hall. And the three others set me up to expect Turandot to end in a very different way.

Speight Jenkins is my opposite. He’s been attending opera for more than 60 years and is General Director of the Seattle Opera. In the August edition of “Encore Arts Programs,” he writes that Turandot was a smash hit when it premiered at Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, Italy on 25 April 1026, sixteen months after Puccini’s death. It scored successes everywhere it was performed, but inexplicably, it disappeared from New York opera after 1930 until it was resurrected in 1961 by the Metropolitan Opera. Nine performances were given that season, evoking ovation after ovation, and “suddenly Turandot leapt onto the gold standard.” According to orchestra conductor Asher Fisch, Puccini operas are so popular that the composer accounts for 25 percent of all the operas produced today (see http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2018771976_opera29.html).

Then in 1990, writes Jenkins, to celebrate the World Cup of soccer, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras (Spaniards), and Luciano Pavarotti (Italian) created The Three Tenors. They first performed a concert together on 7 July that year at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome. At the climax, Pavarotti’s sang the aria, “Nessun dorma,” from Act III of Turandot. This became his signature aria. That, coupled with the success of that concert and the tremendous sale of their recording, made the aria synonymous with opera. “Fifty years ago, ‘Nessun dorma’ was just another aria in the Puccini canon, not even one that most opera lovers could recognize,” writes Jenkins. “Now it is clearly the most well known aria in opera to those who have never set foot in an opera house.” See the following performances:

Timur, dethroned king of Tartary, mourns the death of Liu, a slave girl who commits suicide rather than betray Prince Calaf

Puccini died in December, 1924, before finishing Turandot. He left few notes about how he intended to end it. Others finished both the music and libretto. Hence, for me, the surprise ending.

Turandot, based on a Persian fairy tale and set in China, is the story of an icy, man-hating princess named Turandot (soprano). No man shall possess me, she declares, yet there is pressure from the emperor and the people for her to marry. So, if any man of royal blood can solve three riddles, she agrees to marry him. If a man tries and fails, he will be killed. By the time Prince Calaf (tenor) arrives, 40 suitors have been decapitated. He is confident, in love with her, and determined to succeed. He solves the riddles. She still resists, however, so he gives her a means of escape: if by the next dawn she cannot give his name, he will tell it to her and become her 41st victim. Lui, the self-effacing, sacrificing woman who is caretaker of Calaf’s father, is tortured during the night to make her reveal his name. Such is her love for Calaf that she dies rather than do so.  Dawn comes and Calaf tells Turandot his name. Meanwhile, she admits to being attracted to him, unlike any of the others, and in the climax, declares her love and agrees to marry him.  The emperor and the people rejoice!

A Puccini opera ends with a happy marriage? I would never have believed it. My friend John, one of my trumpet students and frequently an extra in numerous operas in Seattle, agrees. “If Puccini had written the ending,” writes John, “I am sure Prince Calaf would have realized his true love was Liu (the slave girl) and then killed Turandot and then killed himself. That’s an Italian ending.”

So, to me, Turandot is different. Not only is it a grand spectacle in which the heroine doesn’t die in a tragic ending, but musically, Puccini pushes the soprano and tenor toward the limits of the range of the human voice. The roles require a full, dramatic, powerful, heroic sound. I may be wrong, but it seems to me there also is more dissonance in the orchestra, which can be almost overpowering at times, and fewer melodies in the score. Here, Puccini is more akin to Wagner than in the other three Puccini operas I’ve attended.

Afterwards, my wife and I talked things over at an outdoor table at Ponti’s Seagood Grill along the Ship Canal near the Fremont Bridge. It’s a favorite restaurant of ours, one we seem to save for special occasions. The opera and dinner were her gifts to me to celebrate my recent birthday. What could be better?  😉

Performance photos are courtesy of the Seattle Opera. Please click on any picture to enlarge it.

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