OM45GE - Posted - 11/05/2016:  04:51:25

Last night the US Army Field Band played at our high school. As usual, they did a great show.  My son Ethan got to play trumpet with them. We got to spend time with several of the band members they were all very nice.  He's played with the Air Force band too. 

 

chuckv97 - Posted - 11/05/2016:  14:40:58

He and you must be very proud - looking at that photo, he's mixing in with a lot of experienced players, which is always a good thing.

OM45GE - Posted - 11/06/2016:  03:32:44

Thanks Chuck. It is great experience for sure. He's sat in with pro jazz and blues bands as well.  It will be interesting to see where he goes with this.  

bubbalouie - Posted - 11/06/2016:  08:05:58

Good on him! I played tuba in grade 7 & 8 before I got to high school so I entered the Sr. Concert band due to my ability & the lack of people interested in playing tuba.

Every year we got to play with the Vimy military band for a couple days.

Both bands would pick a piece & we would learn it & then play them separately & together.

It was in a cool old stone armory building too.

It was interesting to see how the pros worked.

As a job there was lot's of sitting around waiting for different sections to get their parts right.

The military band was discontinued but they have a great volunteer band of the retired members that play a lot of charity events.

I will never forget the experience & regret not keeping up with it due to the high cost of tubas.

I would encourage your son to stick with it. 

OM45GE - Posted - 11/06/2016:  08:46:46

Thanks Bob. I am pretty sure music is a permanent part of Ethan's life now. He's a multi-instrumentalist. Trumpet is is primary instrument, but he also plays trombone, euphonium, flugelhorn and a little clarinet. He played tuba for a while but said it interfered with his trumpet. He's also performance level on piano and plays mandolin with me and my mates.  

chuckv97 - Posted - 11/06/2016:  12:09:37

quote:

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Originally posted by OM45GE

 

Thanks Bob. I am pretty sure music is a permanent part of Ethan's life now. He's a multi-instrumentalist. Trumpet is is primary instrument, but he also plays trombone, euphonium, flugelhorn and a little clarinet. He played tuba for a while but said it interfered with his trumpet. He's also performance level on piano and plays mandolin with me and my mates.  

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Bill..,I hope you advised him to study banjo in case other things don't work out for him.......😎

Edited by - chuckv97 on 11/06/2016 12:10:05

OM45GE - Posted - 11/06/2016:  15:44:09

LOL. He had messed around on my banjo but says he doesn't like it. Same with the guitar. On the other hand, he took to the mandolin like a duck to water. 

bubbalouie - Posted - 11/07/2016:  19:53:50

We went on a high school band trip to Johnson City N.Y. the triple cities & we were billeted with familys of the kids that came up to Canada.

We were blown away by how modern & big their school was.

It was a real eyeopener! We were wandering around downtown & I saw venue that had Johnny Winter playing. I still kick myself.

I bought a Pink Floyd double album, UmmaGumma at a fraction of the price up north.  

It's funny I was playing brass in a concert band but I was still up on what was new in the early 70's.

It would be weird to only like one kind of instrument or genre of music though.

I can't get the space out of the middle.

Edited by - bubbalouie on 11/07/2016 19:57:12