Friday, June 1 - 3:30 p.m.

Former students, friends, colleagues, and interested ITG participants gathered to hear of the life and legacy of Walter Chesnut, a former professor of trumpet at UMASS who passed away just before the 2007 ITG Conference. Throughout this heart warming presentation Professor Chesnuts' commitment to music, education, his students, and his university was abundantly evident. Through testimonials from former studentsDoug Pursell, Brooks Holmes, and Linda Hannah we were able to learn about the man, the teacher, the musician, and the optimist that expemlified everything that this extraordinary human-being represented. Through video we were able to see him perform one ofhis famous fanfares at commencement (after he was paralyzed and wheelchair-bound) and to see him (before his accident) give an amazing presentation on the last variationof the Carnival of Venice using one finger to play this technically challenging variation with all three fingersworking! We also heard audio of Walter performing a fine performance of the last movement of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto with Arthur Fiedler conducting the Boston Pops.

After a spinal injury put Walter in the hospital he was told he would be bedridden for the rest of his life. Not only did he regain the use of his hands, but he learned to walk again eventually climbing stairs and adhering to an exercise schedule that would have exhausted any of us. By working with faculty across the UMASS campus, Walter Chesnut was able to use specially made trumpets engineered to make the most of limited number of things he could do so that he could once again make music on the trumpet. This presentation wasa great tribute to a man who never let life and the awful things thrown his way keep him down... very special presentation for a very special and loved man.