Tuning Slide-3.40: Looking Out for #1

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready
to square off or get into a fight or something.
-Wynton Marsalis

I knew I had to address this myth sometime again. It crops up regularly. So I figured what better time than the week before April Fool’s Day. (How’s that for setting up a problem for the reader and the writer? Neither you nor I will know if I am being serious or not. Actually, I have a hunch that by the end you will figure it out!)

Here it is, then. Our myth or misconception of the week:

• Trumpet players are obnoxious, self-centered, prima donnas who only care about what they play.

Look up “trumpet player” on the “Urban Dictionary” and you will find:

A trumpet player is someone who:
a) plays the trumpet. obviously.
b) kisses amazingly. Trumpet players not only have the strongest lips in the entire marching band, it makes them great kissers.
c) In marching band, the best section there ever was. The lead part. Without this section, there is NOTHING. If you are a trumpet player, you are the best
d) Most are cocky, love to show off, and [brown nose the] band directors and get what they want.
Obviously, the trumpet player is the backbone of any band.

Perhaps the two most common trumpet jokes:
Q: What's the difference between a trumpeter and God?
A: God doesn't think he's a trumpeter.

Q: How to trumpet players traditionally greet each other?
A: "Hi. I'm better than you."

I know I have used some of these comments before. It is hard not to address this issue since it is so prevalent. It is also difficult to address the issue since we have all known trumpet players who fit the stereotype. Sometimes that trumpet player is us.

(Not to leave other musicians out, I have also known many instrumentalists and singers who also fit the stereotype. Old joke: What do you call the music department? The war department.)

Let’s start out with the obvious. The trumpet is a loud instrument. It is often given the lead. It has the ability to soar above almost every instrument in a band. The trumpets are expected to be strong and lead in many situations. I am told it is also a difficult instrument to learn to play. I learned so long ago, that part is lost in the myths mists of time.

Because of all this and perhaps more, it does take a certain kind of personality to become and remain a trumpet player. One has to be ready to be seen and heard. One has to be willing to take certain risks. One has to be open to calling attention to themselves simply because of the instrument they play. Not everyone can do this. Some of it is skill; some is personality; some is mental. (I realize that this, too, is a stereotype. But I must admit that when I see an otherwise shy child say they want to learn trumpet, I do believe they will succeed- and it will change them. But then again, music changes all who play or sing.)

But, and this is never to be forgotten, we, ourselves, are number 4 out of the 4 most important things about making music:

• Music is #1
• Fellow musicians are #2
• The audience is #3
• You, the indiidual musician, are #4.

• I look at the music on the stand in front of me. 
• That is more important than I am.
• I look at the other musicians I am playing with. 
• They are more important than me.
• I look at the audience who has come to enjoy the music. 
• They are more important than me.
• I look at what myself, and my needs and concerns are fourth in line.

The only time a trumpet player is the most important player in the band is when they have a solo. And even then I wonder.

In reality if we are to make music that is powerful and interesting, none of us can do it alone. With the rare exceptions of outstanding soloists playing music for one- and only one- instrument, we are all important to each other. We need the others- they need us. We work together. Just because the trumpet may be the loudest or most visible at times, does not make us any more essential than all the others.

During the last concert I played in this past February I sat there in awe of what we were playing. It was an amazing concert with some difficult and interesting music. At one point I had something like 40 or 50 measures of rest. The sound of the horns and clarinets mesmerized me; the bass clarinet solo was spiritual. I almost lost count I became so entranced. That piece needed all of us.

Life is something like a trumpet.
If you don't put anything in, you won't get anything out.
-William Christopher (W. C.) Handy

It takes all of us doing our best on our parts to bring the whole together. It is not our job as individuals to outshine the others in the band. It is not our task to single-handedly turn a group into something better. It is not who we are to be in music to make sure everyone knows we are good. If our music doesn’t do it, nothing will.

So this week’s Holy Truth, and it is not an April Fool’s joke:

• It’s the music. Always the music!