Andrew McCandless, Trumpet

Growing up in my house birthdays were always accompanied by the question, “well, are you feeling any older sugar?” It was my grandmother who asked it. Her name was Zula Shoemaker and she was my father’s mother. We all called her Grandma Shoemaker. Her husband was a man named Frank Shoemaker who we all called Papa. They were a sweet couple who traveled together a lot and were always there if you needed them. So every year at everyone’s birthday she would call sometime during the day and ask her question. It became a bit of a tradition in our family.

I’m thinking about this because last week I turned thirty nine and my sister e-mailed me with the question. So this week I’ve really been thinking about it. I believe it’s because I actually feel a lot older now than I used to. I’ve decided however that instead of dwelling on my own age issues I’m going to change the question. Here is my new question. Are you getting any better sugar?

I think that we all want to answer that question with a confident yes. I tell my students at the Glenn Gould School that if you aren’t getting better you’re getting worse. There aren’t any holding patterns in our business. Expectations will always rise with time as will the competition. The best we can hope for is to keep getting better.

Getting better isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work, thought and commitment to improve consistently over time. In short it’s difficult. Always try to ask yourself the question. Always try to give yourself an honest answer. If it’s not going the way you want that’s fine. There are plenty of ways to get better, just look for a different one. The only crime is in not searching for new ways to improve. They’re out there; you just have to find them.

So that’s my thought this week. Am I getting any better? I hope so. Next week I’m playing the world premiere of Bramwell Tovey’s new trumpet concerto, “Songs of the Paradise Saloon”. It’s about twenty five minutes, uses six different trumpets, and ends on a high concert E on C trumpet. I’m hopeful that I’ve improved enough in the past year to be able to play it. I guess we’ll know soon.

Best,
Andrew