[TPIN] Suggestons for high school trumpet players

[Robert DeSavage]

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:08:14 -0500
From: Dave Lee <davesjazz at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [TPIN] Suggestons for high school trumpet players
To: Tualatin Valley Brass <tvbrass at gmail.com>, tpin
<tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
Message-ID: <C419C25E.AA65%davesjazz at sbcglobal.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I see (as a private teacher) this come up a lot....i think, for the most
part many students (especially middle school and up to 11th grade or so)
make decisions to buy "professional" horns for these reasons:

1) "the good players use pro horns"
2) parents want their children to be/have "the best"
3) the looks of pro horns (many in silver...many student models in lacquer)
are appealing
4) band directors sometimes push this transition
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Being a parent, I know the bit of line item 2 where I wanted my kids to have 
'the best'. Because I am of that nature, I certainly hope that this would be 
the case for all good parents. But on the flip side of the coin, parents can 
be 'too good' to their kids where they end up turning their kids into snotty 
nose monsters. Case in point - A few years back when I was delivering mail 
on my appointed rounds, I spotted some kids getting off the school bus. One 
kid was carrying a Bach trumpet (I can recognize a Bach case a mile away). 
To make a long story longer, when the kid's feet hit the sidewalk, he 
dropped the horn case on the sidewalk from waist level. I sounded him on it 
and asked him why he did such a stupid thing. He was flippant about the 
whole thing when he told me that the horn was 'just' a lacquered horn and 
that he'd get his old man (as he referred his father) to buy him a silver 
plated Bach. Needless to say, I nearly had a total meltdown and wanted to 
wrap the horn around his neck. If you had a brat like that, would you be 
inclined to want to buy him 'the best'? Not me! If anything, I'd buy him a 
pick and shovel ('the best' though) to prepare him for a life that his 
attitude calls for. Lots of kids have it made these days and don't 
appreciate it. To see a kid do that to a high end horn is disgusting. 
Especially so being a middle class working man who was playing on my 
'hoopdee' 30 year old Getzen that was on it's last legs with little in my 
pocket to buy a new Benge or Bach. Believe it or not, it took me a long time 
before I was able to own a high end horn. Even though I was married with 
kids, I have my parents to thank for that. One night they paid a visit to 
where I was playing. During a break, I sat down at the table with them. I 
remember my mother nudging me and asking me when I was going to get rid of 
the (as SHE put it) 'piece of ****' I was playing on and buy a new horn. Of 
course my reaction was "You must be kidding. My daughters need braces." Lo 
and behold, a couple of days later my Dad called me on the phone and told me 
to go to Coffey Music and pick out whatever horn I wanted as a gift. I'll 
always cherish that horn and never will I mistreat it like that kid did to 
his Bach.

BOB D