Clymer began his master class by discussing the tremendous variety of musical challenges that he faces as a freelancer. He performs in venues ranging from cornetto in early music concerts to piccolo trumpet in church performances. He recommended Robert Nagel's Trumpet Skills as an excellent method for conditioning, and demonstrated several exercises with exceptional ease of playing, with incredible flexibility and technique. He moved on to mention that even within the symphony environment, musical demands range from Beethoven piano concerti to the contemporary "Pops" concert. With this in mind, Clymer chose to review selections from the Gershwin orchestral repertoire for today's master class.

Clymer's first selection was Cuban Overture. Clymer noted that although it is a lesser known work, it is the work most like playing in a big band ­ lots of trumpet solos, little rest, and exposed parts. Clymer's demonstrations exhibited total command of the musical and technical demands of the piece. He noted that in the more challenging technical passages, "laying into the licks" became even more important.

The next selection for study was the Porgy and Bess Symphonic Pictures as arranged by Russell Bennett. Clymer demonstrated several different bags to place over the bell to produce different subtleties of tone color. He also mentioned the need for different mutes ­ plastic, fiberglass, metal, and others.

Clymer suggested that American in Paris be approached as a strictly orchestral piece. In the first, slower solo, he discussed the necessity of keeping rhythm and time constant while applying judicious use of pitch bending. The pickup note to the faster solo in the Charleston style may be played as an eighth note (as written) or sometimes as a quarter note.

In his review of Rhapsody in Blue, Clymer stated that he plays this excerpt on his B-flat trumpet, with a solotone mute rather than harmon, and explained the use of the alternate fingerings for Ab`` and Bb``.

For the Piano Concerto in F, Clymer mentioned that though he prefers the C trumpet for the solo, some of his colleagues perform the solo on the E-flat instrument. He emphasized the need to know the accompaniment because of the effect it has on note shaping.