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| Without
the constant positive influence of so many
different teachers, my skills in music might
have never had a chance to grow very far.
Going back to that moment in the third
grade, when my teacher, Mrs. Hamilton, let me play
the auto-harp for a school concert, I saw that performing was always a part of my nature. |
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most consistent musical influences were the band
directors, since I saw them every day.
Through the seventh grade, my band director was Mr.
Don Curl. When
he moved, his replacement was Norman Lang, my eighth and
ninth grade band director (who I learned later was close
friends with, and a former college roommate of, Marvin
Stamm).
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| Mr.
Lang continuously displayed his "normalcy" by
being 100% available and accessible as a person.
This tended to make him stand apart from most all
other teachers. That
honesty also meant that when he made demands, he
believed that the students were capable of achieving
them. |
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| Having
him follow me through high school as the high school
stage band director was a great opportunity.
Jazz and big band music seemed more intimate than
concert band, and that mutually shared enjoyment was
what I felt music was meant to be.
It was largely due the efforts of Mr. Lang that
the school was able to get the phenomenal trumpet
soloist, Bud Brisbois, to join the stage band for their
spring concert of my graduating year. |
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| In
high school, the band director was Carroll McMath, who
had that position for at least 30 years.
He saw it all, and his experiences gave him all
kinds of ways to be an example to young people, while at
the same time being a strong leader.
There were no harder working teachers than Mr.
McMath, and the results he got from the students he had
were often exceptional.
The competitions that the band went to were
opportunities not just to hopefully "win first
place" -- they were just as important as moments of
great musical learning.
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| Having
both Mr. Lang and Mr. McMath as influences in my life is
a blessing. With
both of them in attendance at my ventures to the
prestigious Texas All-State Band Festivals in 1968 and
1969, I could sense how genuinely excited they were at
having students in attendance.
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| Next
to their influences came the meticulous guidance I
received from my trumpet teachers.
The good fortune of being given lessons in the
sixth and seventh grade from John J. Haynie cannot be
over-emphasized. It
was crucial to my learning, and undoubtedly, Mr. Haynie
was a patient teacher with a sometimes stubborn student
like me. His ability to demonstrate, and do so simply, made learning
more easy. Seeing
the simplicity of his demonstration was itself like an
additional lesson in "how to teach". |
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| Following
the 2 1/2 years with Mr. Haynie came one year with
Patrick Hasty, then a graduate assistant at NTSU.
Mr. Hasty's guidance continued along similar
lines to those of Mr. Haynie.
That eighth grade year was a critical one for me,
and his teaching helped me improve my skills.
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next two years my teacher was Douglas Smith.
I believe Doug was pursuing his doctorate degree
at the time. Mr.
Haynie used to marvel at the fact that Doug, who was so
gifted on the trumpet, would take off the entire summer
to work with kids at summer camps.
To me that didn't make sense, because of the
inevitable and most uncomfortable "moment of
truth", when, after a few months, he would face the
trumpet and start all over.
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was only much later when I learned that there are
lessons to be learned only when such a "break"
is taken from routine activities.
These lessons may not always be the same ones
from one such break to another, but for those people who
do this, they are very important, and are available only
by taking time off.
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| Doug
Smith's influence on my development is only bested by
that of Mr. Haynie.
His sincere and overflowing support was often the
highlight of my week, and I always wanted to do my best
for him. I
believe that I would get myself frustrated when at
lessons when I did not play well -- sometimes it was
hard for me to see any "good" coming from such
a lesson, as though I'd had a "bad" lesson. |
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| In
spite of those feelings, Mr. Smith did help me improve
quite in many ways.
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| The
following year my teacher was A. Keith Amstutz, who also
was pursuing his doctorate at North Texas.
The one year I studied with Keith was personally
a difficult year, but even with various challenges, he
did a very good job in helping me continue my learning.
I believe it was during that year that I was
first shown a "C" trumpet and a
"Piccolo" trumpet -- new and exotic things to
me!
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| My
final year in high school saw me back with Mr. Haynie
once more, and for that my gratitude continues.
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| In
college I had a variety of trumpet teachers:
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Max
Morley
Lyman
Brodie
Tom
Parriott
Jim
Linehan
John
Haynie
Gerard
Schwartz (at the Aspen Music Festival)
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is without a doubt that several of the fine trumpet
students who were there with me were also positive
examples of trumpet excellence. Among those include:
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Ray
Sasaki
Jack
Evans
Joe
Rodriguez
Jay
Sollenberger
John
Thomas
Leonard
Candalaria
Richard
Watson (from Evanston)
Galindo
Rodriguez
Laurie
Frink (at Aspen Music Festival)
Barbara
Butler (at Aspen Music Festival)
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surprising positive influence during my freshman year
came from a graduate student who accompanied me on the
piano for a few performances.
Jim Gardner was into all kinds of music, but I
first knew him as a rock-solid pianist.
Into that first year, I learned that he also
played the trumpet.
He rarely practiced (this is not an
exaggeration). On
one of the weekly "departmental" trumpet
recitals, he played a Herbert L. Clarke solo.
To me that was a truly amazing thing in and of
itself, and here was a piano player doing a really good
job!
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| The
other teachers who I only briefly crossed paths with
were still strong presences in my life and in the
musical life of the students. One of the great ones was Leon Breeden. From the year I began playing the trumpet, I was being taken
to NTSU to hear the Lab Band concerts, in the Spring and
in the Fall. Before
I was ever in college, Mr. Breeden was having a most
positive effect on my musical education.
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| The
music he chose -- much of which was written by students
or by such professionals as Stan Kenton, Bob Florence
and Lennie Niehaus -- along with such talented students
as Lou Marini, Tom Malone, Larry Ford, Gary Grant, Ed
Soph, Sal Marquez, and such guest soloists as Maynard
Ferguson, provided me with my own window into the world
of great music being played by great musicians.
It was as though the Big Band Era was alive and
well, in the backyard of Denton, Texas!
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