My Trumpet Story
I was born in East Texas, March 9, 1954. I was fortunate to spend my ‘kindergarten through high school years’ in Rusk, Texas, population at that time of around 3500 residents. Most of my primary school years were spent living with my mother and brother in a small frame house a block from the town square. My grandparents owned a furniture store on the square. Later, in my teens, I helped around the store and delivered furniture to folks in mostly rural Cherokee County. During my junior high school years my mom remarried a very nice man, Floyd Dotson, and we moved to his house which was close to the new high school I was to attend. The music program was strong due to Lester Hughes, who taught both the junior high and high school bands, and my mother, who taught choir. My mother was also the 1st Methodist Church choir director and music director of the Cherokee Theater. The town was close knit and and there was a feeling of everyone looking after each other. Music was important there. As an eighth grader, I was able to solo with the high school band at the 1968 Hemisfair in San Antonio. As a senior in high school I served as 1st Chair Trumpet in the Texas All State Youth Orchestra. In addition, I toured England with the Music for Peace ensemble, Frederick Fennell conducting.
In 1972, I began a music education degree at the University of Texas at Austin, the self described “Live Music Capital of the World”. It was a wonderful place at a wonderful time. I studied with Frank Elsass who as a young musician in New York was a cornet soloist with the Goldman Band. Kent Kennan was also a professor at UT and wrote his sonata for Dr. Elsass. I later studied with Raymond Crisara when he became the trumpet professor. I received an excellent education there and won the 2nd trumpet job with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Akira Endo conducting. While in Austin, I also took lessons from Wayne Barrington, former hornist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He instilled in me an enthusiasm for orchestral playing. After graduating, I stayed at UT to obtain a masters degree in performance. I also studied with Robert Nagel and original members of the New York Brass Quintet at the Yale Summer School of Music at Norfolk. The following two years I was on the music faculty at Amarillo College. My final goal was to get in an orchestra and I decided I wanted to study with Thomas Stevens, principal trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I was accepted to the University of Southern California and was planning my leave for Los Angeles when I contacted USC with a question. The person whom I spoke with relayed that… “Oh, Tommy Stevens quit”. I remained in Texas. A couple months later I attended a recital by Anthony Plog at Sam Houston State University. It was a wonderful performance and afterword I went backstage and literally asked if he would be my teacher. He did not know me at all, but said “OK”! I repacked and left for LA and he became my trumpet teacher and mentor for the remainder of my life.
While I was in LA the Utah Symphony Orchestra announced auditions for the second trumpet position. I applied, but my resume was rejected due to lack of experience. Tony Plog, who had previously been associate principal trumpet with the Utah Symphony, wrote a note to the personnel manager stating that I merited an invitation to the audition. I won the audition and started with the orchestra September, 1980. It was an interesting time to become a member of the USO. My first year was the orchestra’s first season without the eminent Maurice Abravanel as music director and was also the first season in a new visually magnificent and acoustically pleasing hall. The next three years were a transitional period for the orchestra, but the community supported the orchestra and interest in the new Symphony Hall was high.
The USO management, with the support of the musicians and board, chose Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Joseph Silverstein as music director in 1983, a position he held until 1998. He was a wise choice. The experiences he absorbed leading the strings of the BSO while sitting a few feet from the myriad of conductors gave him a solid foundation to lead the musicians of the USO.
He was a fabulous violinist and most impressive for me was his awareness of the appropriate role of music director. Having been an orchestra musician for 33 years, he did not buy into the grand maestro myth. On the rare occasion of committing a conducting miscue, he would hark back to his days as concertmaster with the BSO. With a self effacing expression, he would say something like “what is this idiot doing?” He was comfortable with himself, an attribute that comes with being a great musician. A few years later when the USO principal trumpet position came open, the finals came down to myself and two other very fine musicians. I am indebted to the audition committee with Silverstein’s blessing for selecting me to become the principal trumpet of the USO in 1990, a position I held for 20 years.
In 1992 Maestro Silverstein allowed a me to take a leave to play Solo Trumpet (equivalent to American orchestra Principal) of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. I loved playing in the orchestra there. I also respected the Swedish people and their system of social integrity. The orchestra toured that year in Scandinavia and also in Spain which included the World Expo 1992 in Seville. I enjoyed performing with the conductors the musicians of the orchestra requested: James DePreist, Osmo Vänskä, Paavo Järvi, Leif Segerstam, and Lev Markiz who conducted my first services with the orchestra recording the challenging Ernest Bloch Symphony in C sharp minor.
While in Europe I was exposed to baroque performance practice and upon returning to Utah, I joined my interested friends in forming the chamber orchestra Colors of the Baroque. The name was derived from a CD that Anthony Plog and I put together for Summit Recordings.
In 1998 the USO hired the multitalented Keith Lockhart as music director, a position he served until 2009. During his tenure, the orchestra continued to expand its repertoire and the demands on the trumpet section were ably met by Ed Gornik, Peter Margulies, and Jeff Luke who served as acting principal. Also, I was fortunate to work with Travis Peterson who was appointed principal trumpet in 2013 as I continued to serve in the section.
Over the years I have shared friendship with wonderful musicians and I have learned valuable lessons from my students.