There was a time in my life when I wasn’t so excited about playing the trumpet. I was in the Kansas City Symphony and for a variety of reasons the passion was on holiday and I was floundering with my playing. Where I had once gone to auditions and regularly made the finals, I was finding myself not making it past the first round. It was also evident at work; things that usually came easily to me started becoming difficult. I was at a crossroads and I didn’t know what to do.
In the end I did three things that really helped to change my direction. The first and most important to this story is that I auditioned for the National Repertory Orchestra (NRO). I was 22 at the time and even though I had a job I thought I could learn a lot by being around young players. The picture above is of me and my fellow trumpet section members, Elbert Pruitt and Todd Craven. I think it was 1992? They were and still are great guys. We got along right away and had a terrific summer. I think one of the things that set us off on the right foot was when we were walking together before the first rehearsal and Elbert busted out with this question: “Ok guys, what kind of mouthpiece do you play?” That question represented exactly why I went to the NRO – I wanted to be around people who were excited about mouthpieces and lead pipes.
The next two important decisions that resulted from my summer at the NRO stemmed from the fact that I didn’t want to let my environment control my trumpet playing, and that I realized I still had a lot to learn. I started scheduling lessons with top professionals and also with myself. I would assign myself studies to learn, set a date and a time one week later and perform them. I tried to emulate my lessons with Barbara Butler as much as possible which of course meant a lot of verbal abuse! (If you ever read this Barbara I only said that for dramatic effect. Well, sort of…) I also decided to resign my position in Kansas City and return to the Eastman School of Music. It was one of those turning point moments for me and it really changed my career.
So thanks Elbert and Todd! I couldn’t have done it without you! By the way, what mouthpiece are you playing???
Andrew
Ps. It’s hard to believe that I ever looked that young!
