JOv2
Well-Known Member
Great read. Thanks! The HS I attended was definitely a cut below yours. Our director used to play in those Vega$ pit bands in the '60s so he had a foot in site reading chops, a foot in lounge-jazz, a foot in schmaltz, and a foot inIT'S SHOWTIME, PEOPLE, LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!. I didn't align with his musical vision so I didn't really learn much from the overall program. I took private lessons (trumpet and organ) and learned all dots and lines and stuff there. College was better overall, but by that time I was so strung out on the likes of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard that I could no longer play in the orchestral ensembles. (By this time I had been irreversibly cursed by you know...the natural tendency to swing notes and such and I just could no longer play it 100% straight as written -- I had learned to relax and play "loose and tight" (jazz) using the written music as a guide, as opposed to "rigid and tight" where the obvious requirement is to play the score as written and then as further edited by the conductor.)e're lucky that we had two bands in high school. It was difficult to get into symphonic band--only a select few were chosen. The rest went to the concert band. Our director pushed us quite hard--symphonic band was not the easy gig.