Posts Tagged ‘trumpeter’
Posted by glennled on July 19, 2011
Navy MoH, 1861; awarded to Navy, Marines & Coast Guard
Of the millions of men and women who have served in the United States military, including me,
Army MoH, 1862
only3,457 have received the Medal of Honor. Six are buried at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park on Hwy 99 in north Seattle.
These men, plus a Silver Star recipient, were honored on 16 July at a special ceremony, as reported in my blog post below (2 July). The ceremony featured the unveiling of seven large, permanent, granite markers, engraved with their individual stories of heroism. In August, these are to be placed at the respective graves, so that visitors may read them on site.
Here are some interesting facts about the Medal of Honor, extracted from the website of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society (see http://www.cmohs.org/). The first medal was awarded in 1863, during the Civil War. During that war, in which there were about 625,000 deaths, 1,522 Medals of Honor were awarded. During the Korean War, 136 medals were awarded, and 248 were presented during the Vietnam War. Others: WWI (119); WWII (466); Iraq (4); and Afghanistan (5).
At last Saturday’s event, at least two local TV stations had cameras present and carried stories on the evening news. Please watch the video
Air Force created as separate military branch, 1947; distinct design of AF MoH authorized, 1956; AF design adopted, 1965
(1:48) from KOMO-TV for the excellent report, “Heroes honored: ‘They did things I can’t even imagine doing’.” See www.komonews.com/news/local/125696063.html. The editing and presentation are outstanding. Included among the scenes is one brief clip of me playing “Taps” shortly before the Retiring of the Colors.
As the audience of about 100 family and friends, many with raincoats, hats and umbrellas on this cool morning, slowly arrived, the Washington Letter Carriers’ Band played a 30-minute opening concert. Reportedly, this band is the oldest of its kind in the state, founded in the late 19th century.
Seattle’s soft rain fell upon us in the beginning and quit about mid-way through the ceremony. As the keynote speaker, MG James M. Collins, Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), summarized each man’s story, he asked the family and friends of each hero to stand for recognition and honor. Scott Sheehan, General Manager of Evergreen Washelli, said that as a result of this event, another person who is
Glenn (right) sounds "Echo Taps" near firing squad - Photo by Janelle Squires
buried there has been identified as a recipient of the Silver Star and will also be honored with a marker.
Then a firing squad of seven fired three volleys. At the command, “Present Arms,” I commenced sounding “Echo Taps” while standing nearby. Roy Pollock, lead trumpeter of the WLC Band and my fellow member in the Husky Alumni Band, played the echo from near a large tree across the open field.
Families lay flowers on markers of the seven valiant men - Photo by Evergreen Washelli
Super Olds cornet (1954) - Photo by Janelle Squires
Roy Pollock waits (beneath tree) to sound echo in "Echo Taps" - Photo by Janelle Squires
Posted in Ceremonies & Celebrations | Tagged: Air Force, Army, band, cornet, echo taps, Evergreen Washelli, firing squad, heroes, Husky Alumni, James Collins, KOMO-TV, Medal of Honor, Navy, Scott Shehan, Silver Star, Super Olds, trumpeter, Washington Letter Carriers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by glennled on February 6, 2011
Mercer Island was my home for 33 years. One of my two sons (now living in New Zealand) played drums in the MI High School Band. And now my 15th trumpet student is a sophomore in that same school and plays trumpet in that same band. Also like my drummer son, she
Drum Major, MIHS Marching Band
has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). It’s easy for her attention to drift from one thing to the next, and it’s hard to stay focused on something for a long time.
She first learned to read music and play trumpet when she was a young girl, but then she transferred to another school and did not play for three years. To her dismay, when she returned to school at M.I. and resumed playing trumpet in the band, she found that she had forgotten much of what she’d once known about how to read music. Now she manages to play ok but wants to improve. Marching band season is over, she’s moved into concert band, the music is more complex and difficult, and she wants to play it well. She realized she must return to the basics and re-study the fundamentals…with a trumpet tutor.
I am the lucky man who is privileged to help her. We started her private lessons on 18 December 2010. She already plays with such a sweet, solid tone. Now all we need to do is help her learn all those notes over a two-octave range, learn all those music notations, strengthen and train her embouchure, and develop her hand-to-eye coordination and muscle memory. As that happens, her confidence and pride will soar. She will play as well as, or better than, most of her classmates. And, in turn, she will enjoy music and her band membership even more!
She says she had a great time when the 300-member MIHS band went to England a month ago to march in the colossal 2011 London New Year’s Day Parade (see www.londonparade.co.uk), joining some 10,000 performers from 20 countries who marched in front of about half a million spectators along the 2-mile route. The parade, which began in 1987, is broadcast by over 700 TV stations worldwide and is watched for some three hours by about 200 million viewers. This was the M.I. band’s first appearance in this, the 25th annual parade. Roughly 200 M.I. band students made the trip. The kids and community raised about $80,000 in support of those students who could not otherwise have gone. Go to the links below to watch videos of the MIHS band’s performance in London. Other USA bands participating came from Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Almost one out of every four students in Mercer Island High School is enrolled in the band program! The program consists of four concerts bands, the marching band, jazz bands, and the “Animal Band” (see http://www.misd.k12.wa.us/schools/hs/hsband/bands.html). The successes, awards and accolades won by these bands are numerous; for example, over 50 students were selected to participate in the All-State and All-Northwest honor ensembles during the last five years.
Next year, they will march again in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. Hmmmm….now if only the UW Husky football team can just win enough games next season, maybe they’ll get to play in the Rose Bowl game itself. Go, Huskies! And then she and her fellow M.I. band members can watch our own Seattle team play there. It’s so much fun to be in band! 🙂
There are at least four videos of the MIHS Marching Band’s performance in London on YouTube:
Posted in New Students - Intro Posts | Tagged: ADD, All-Northwest, All-State, Animal Band, Attention Deficit Disorder, band, basics, concert, embouchure, fundamentals, hand-to-eye coordination, high school, honor ensembles, Huskies, jazz, lessons, London, M.I., marching, Mercer Island, MIHS, muscle memory, music, New Year's Day Parade, Rose Bowl, Seattle, sophomore, Tournament of Roses, trumpet, trumpeter, tutor, UW | Leave a Comment »
Posted by glennled on December 25, 2010
This past Sunday was different from any other in my long life. I’ve played in marching bands, drum and bugle corps, concert bands, orchestras, ensembles, operas, and musicals. As a teen, I led congregational singing, but until 19 December 2010, I had never played trumpet in a church orchestra.
Archangel Gabriel Wall Relief, Church of San Michele, Florence, Italy, 1359 A.D.
My wife and I have heard and joined in congregational singing with this orchestra at a local community church several times this year. It is the best of its kind that I’ve ever heard in the Greater Seattle Area. The compositions and arrangements are sophisticated and even challenging at times.
One Sunday in the church bulletin, there was an offer to consider new members in the orchestra. I auditioned and was accepted as a substitute trumpeter. There are three regular trumpeters and several subs like me. The lead trumpeter has been there well over 20 years and plays at least a dozen instruments. Another regular also has been there more than 20, and the other more than 15.
The day I played, there were about 18 musicians in the orchestra; sometimes there are as many as 25-30. The choir numbered about 50. On this occasion, we were not playing “And the Trumpet Shall Sound” from Handel’s Messiah. Instead, this was the music:
- “Festival of Carols” (a medley of four)
- “Angels We Have Heard on High”
- “The First Noel,”
- “Come, Emmanuel,”
- “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
Bass Performance Hall, Ft. Worth, TX, by Tony Gutierriz/AP, 14 June 2002
I had not known that “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was written as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow after he had lost two wives and one of his sons had been severely wounded in the Civil War. He wrote the words on 25 December 1864. About four months later, the Civil War ended and peaced reigned over the land once more. Later, the poem was modified and became a carol. Its last two stanzas read as follows:
“And in despair I bowed my head;
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said;
‘For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!’
“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!'”
Can you worship with a horn? Until last Sunday I was not sure—maybe concentrating on playing the music correctly would displace worship. No, to my pleasant surprise, it did not. It was a moving experience. You can worship with your horn just as surely as you do with your voice in song. And it’s especially poignant when you’re accompanying an excellent church choir like this one. Volunteer and try it someday—you’ll like it.
Posted in Church Music | Tagged: And the Trumpet Shall Sound, Angels We Have Heard on High, Archangel Gabriel, bands, Bass Performance Hall, carols, choir, Church of San Michele, Civil War, Come Emmanuel, community church, congregational singing, Florence, Ft. Worth, Handel, horn, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Italy, mega-church, Messiah, orchestra, Seattle, St. James Cathedral, St. Mark's Cathedral, Texas, The First Noel, trumpet, trumpeter | 2 Comments »
Posted by glennled on December 23, 2010
Mr. McGinn leads the Jazz Band
Mr. Shawn McGinn, director of bands and orchestra at Skyview Jr. High in Bothell, wore a tuxedo with cummerbund, and the students were all dressed in solid black. That tells you how classy this concert was! It was held last Thursday in the 600-seat Northshore Performing Arts Center (NPAC), and the house was packed.
Like all of Mr. McGinn’s school concerts, this one was well-organized and well-rehearsed. The students knew what was coming and what to do when the time came…and they did it well! It was a very entertaining and impressive evening event.
More than anything, I am impressed with the breath and depth of the music program he is building. It has to be one of the best within the Northshore School District, and it’s getting bigger and better all the time. At this concert, the opening act was a self-directed jazz sextet with vocalist, and that was followed by the orchestra, conducted by Mr. McGinn. Next he led the 7th grade band, after which he conducted the 8th-9th grade band and the jazz band.
Wow! There are about 180 students under his tutelage. They are at about six levels of proficiency. Makes you wonder when and where all
The Orchestra
these groups practice. And remember, Mr. McGinn has been doing this for several years! That really pulls and stretches a teacher. Does this man have passion and drive? Does he have purpose? As an audience member, it’s a pleasure to witness all these people on stage, striving with their leader for excellence.
And just think: this is happening all over America and in some form or another, all over the world. Music is a giant. It pervades every culture. How did this come to be?—because the gifts of natural musical talent and ability are not rare. Yes, great talent is indeed quite rare, but many, many people worldwide are born with excellent musical talent and then develop outstanding abilities. It is quite common among us. Why? Is there some noble, universal purpose to this? For me, the answer is clearly yes—so we can express ourselves, so we can communicate with each other in infinite ways by infinite means, so we, too, can create beauty, so we can give and share among our communities. When we play our instruments and sing for others, even in the school cafeteria or NPAC or Husky Stadium, we are on the world stage.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear the Words of Aldous Huxley: After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Jazz Band
7th Grade Band
8th-9th Grade Band
Trumpeter takes a solo
Another trumpeter solos
Another trumpeter solos
Opening Act: Jazz Sextet with Vocalist
Posted in School Concerts | Tagged: 7th Grade Band, 8th-9th grade band, Aldus Huxley, band, Bothell, Husky Stadium, jazz band, music, Northshore Performing Arts Center, Northshore School District, NPAC, Skyview Jr. High, trumpet, trumpeter | 2 Comments »
Posted by glennled on November 27, 2010
Have you heard of the Marine Military Academy? Neither had I when I got an email from a parent in Lynnwood inquiring about private lessons for her son, a trumpeter, coming home from Texas for vacation during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. At first, I wondered, does “marine” refer to the navy, merchant marine, oceanography, biology, or what? No, none of the above—it’s the U.S. Marine Corps, of course! We arranged four one-hour lessons while he’s home in November, and I now have my 13th student.
The Marine Military Academy (MMA) is in Harlingen in south Texas, only about 11 miles from the Rio Grande River and the border with Mexico. Forty-five years ago in 1965, it was established as a private college preparatory school for boys, grades 8-12 (see www.mma-tx.org). It is the only Marine prep school in the USA, and the typical enrollment is about 350-400.
My student is 17 and a senior. As a cadet at MMA, he plays in the school band. Three bugle calls get used regularly in the daily/weekly routine of school life: “Attention,” “Adjutant’s Call,” and “Taps.” For Pass in Review, the band plays the stirring march by John Philip Sousa known as “Semper Fi”—that’s short for Semper Fidelis (Latin, meaning “Always faithful”, the motto of the Marine Corps). And they play the moving “Marine Corps Hymn” (Halls of Montezuma), too, among many other pieces of music. For next year, he’s now considering three universities in Washington, Illinois, and Texas, and the Naval Academy in Maryland.
His dream is to play trumpet in The United States Marine Band, known as “The President’s Own” (see www.marineband.usmc.mil/). God bless the Marines and all our military and all our veterans, way back to the Revolutionary War, 1776-1783.
Trumpeters in “The President’s Own” Marine Band
Freedom is not free. It’s a universal, human desire, and its costs, for every generation on this precious globe, are high. In these Thanksgiving holidays, I pray he lives his dream, God willing.
Posted in New Students - Intro Posts | Tagged: adjutant's call, attention, band, bugle, cadet, Christmas, Halls of Montezuma, Harlingen, Illinois, John Philip Sousa, lessons, Lynnwood, march, Marine Corps, Marine Corps Hymn, Marine Military Academy, Maryland, Mexico, military, Naval Academy, prep, preparatory school, President's Own, Revolutionary War, Rio Grande River, Semper Fidelis, Taps, Texas, Thanksgiving, trumpet, trumpeter, United States Marine Band, Washington | 2 Comments »
Posted by glennled on May 28, 2010
A full house of about 12,500 fans packed Key Arena in Seattle on Wednesday night to hear one of the greatest bands of my lifetime, the Eagles. The audience was mostly “Yuppies” and “Boomers” in their mid-30’s to 60’s, and Glenn Frey, guitarist and emcee, jokingly called it their “Assisted Living Tour.”
Indeed, Tim Schmit, bass guitarist and soulful crooner, got sick while in Seattle and had to be treated at Swedish Hospital. That resulted
in a two-week delay from the original concert date. The delay caused about 800 ticket holders to take a refund, but then those tickets quickly resold. Floor tickets cost upward of $250.
The old guys appear to be in great shape—no over-the-belt paunches hanging off these fellows! Man, they are good! The primary four are Schmit, Frey, Don Henley, lead singer, guitarist and percussionist, and Joe Walsh, exceptional guitarist and rebellious rocker. They started recording 38 years ago in 1972. They’re backed by about 10 other musicians: masterful guitarist, Steuart Smith, a pianist, keyboard artist , violinist, two drummers, three saxophonists, and one trumpeter.
Man, does this band
have depth and power! They deliver strong voices, rich, tight harmonies, interesting rhythms and syncopation, and meaningful lyrics—just a consistently solid, fluid sound by a polished, impassioned team of musicians. Everyone appreciates excellence and mastery in any field of human endeavor, and these guys have delivered hit after hit after hit. That’s part of what prompts Henley to introduce “The Long Run” as their “theme song after 40 years of doing this.”
When we dig deep inside ourselves and, through hard work and practice, develop our God-given natural 
gifts, talents, and strengths into masterful skills and abilities, and finally, produce a useful, needed, sought-after product, we spread joy to the world. The Eagles are among the best bands in my lifetime to have done that. The crowd ate it up and would have stayed all night.
Among my favorites (not in priority order): “Hotel California,” “I Can’t Tell You Why,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “In the City,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Desperado,” “Take It to the Limit,” “Get Over It,” “Pretty Maids All in a Row,” “Take It Easy,” “Heartache Tonight,” “Seven Bridges Road,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Wasted Time,” “New York Minute,” and “One of These Nights.”
Posted in Professional Concerts | Tagged: band, concert, Desperado, Don Henley, Eagles, Get Over It, Glenn Frey, Heartache Tonight, Hotel California, I Can't Tell You Why, In the City, Joe Walsh, Key Arena, Life in the Fast Lane, Lyin' Eyes, New York Minute, One of These Nights, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Pretty Maids All in a Row, Seattle, Seven Bridges Road, Steuart Smith, Take It Easy, The Long Run, Tim Schmit, trumpeter, Wasted Time | Leave a Comment »
Posted by glennled on November 21, 2009
Today I went to the Northshore Performing Arts Center (NPAC) in Bothell to hear my 9th grade trumpet student play with his school group in the “Northshore Jazz Festival.” I sat next to his Dad at the end of the row of seats occupied by their family, including his Mom, siblings, and one set of grandparents.
There were 25 jazz ensembles and bands on the program, some traveling from far away places such as Wenatchee, Langley (on Whidbey Island), Bremerton, Arlington, Monroe, and Snoqualmie. They played from 8 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Each group played three pieces. During lunch, the jazz ensemble from Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, played a concert. The festival was not a contest. It was a show. Each group got to show how well they’re playing at this stage of the school year, and a group of professional musicians, instructors and conductors critiqued each band. They made written notes and recorded audio comments, as feedback for the band directors and members to consider later.
I started snapping photos with my Blackberry phone camera when my student’s group appeared on stage. They sounded good and were well-rehearsed. Several key players seem to form the core of the group. My student is lead trumpeter. In the middle of the second piece, he improvised a solo! Afterwards, his Dad proudly said to me, “He nailed it!” I gave him thumbs up and a broad smile. Those lessons are paying off. Way to go, man!
Posted in Festivals & Competitions | Tagged: 9th, Arlington, arts, bands, Blackberry, Bothell, Bremerton, center, Central Washington Unversity, concert, contest, critiqued, Ellensburg, ensembles, Festivals & Competitions, grader, improvised, Island, jazz, Langley, lead, lessons, Monroe, nailed, northshore, Northshore Jazz Festival, Northshore Performing Arts Center, NPAC, performing, show, Snoqualmie, solo, trumpeter, Wenatchee, Whidbey | 4 Comments »
Glenn's Trumpet Notes 
