He outlined his thoughts in three main areas: community, sharing, and mentoring.
Community
Trumpeters (as are all musicians) are going to the internet in record numbers:
This global community has much to offer: information, career-networking, life-long friendships, and value in that there is ALWAYS someone to help and offer advice. Anderson gave many examples of interesting real-life stories of various people from around the globe who were helped by the trumpet internet community.
The following established internet forms of communication follow:
- TPIN (Trumpet Players International Network). This site was founded by Anderson. Currently there are about 1,000 subscribers, and is an email discussion list where the messages come to one’s email mail-box.
- Trumpet Herald, started by Todd Davidson, is an on-line web site driven forum. One must go to that site to read and post messages.
- Rec.music.makers.trumpet is a network news group on trumpet. This also requires a web-browser or a network news reader to visit.
- Trumpet Corner. From the Selmer Corporation and moderated by Karl Sievers, is concerned with pedagogical content.
- New to the ITG web site is the Ask the Teacher portion of the ITG Youth Site. These are valuable sites for pedagogical information.
In discussion forums the information communication is asynchronous. However, in Live Chat, by way of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) or AOL Instant Messenger, a group of regulars sign-on at the same time and chat—synchronous communication. This community also meets face-to-face upon occasion. Gatherings happen informally, sometimes at the ITG conferences where members can put a name with a face. Others also visit members of the community when traveling through a city or at other festive events or concerts.
Sharing
The web is a great place to share ideas, techniques, opinions, recordings, practicing, industry news, calendars of events—many of these are on the ITG Web Site. There is also a page on job openings. Another engaging feature is the calendar which is kept up to date and includes performances around the world by a variety of artists
Mentoring
Information and advice is based on its value from its intrinsic worth, not from the person offering it or one’s credentials. This on-line information is certainly an equalizer and the most important aspect is whether the knowledge was of any merit. This type of interaction could include professional to professional, student to student, etc.
Other issues:
Is everything of high quality? Of course not. The quality of information depends on communication skills, filtering abilities, and certain technical computer skills. In the midst of some criticism from those who think the trumpet internet community is a waste of time, he advised all to objectively try an online trumpet resource for a substantial amount of time. A large body of knowledge and a broadening of horizons can be very valuable to both students and teachers. Pedagogy could be enhanced by the wider corpus of knowledge which will aid all levels of players to truly define that part of their trumpet experience.
TPIN, however, is unmoderated. It is self-governed for the most part; the community establishes the rules. There is always the peril of non-verbal communication from what someone wrote who might have inflected something they didn’t really mean. Anderson advised to think before one hits the send button. Upon receiving something questionable, cool off and give others the benefit of the doubt.
There is a great deal of buying and selling, trading, and bartering of equipment on-line these days. Many resources are available that offer both free and commercial concerns. The sites listed on the handout offer primarily items and information that are free. Many trumpet resources are listed on the handout as well. Web sites offer just about anything you can conceive including equipment, repair, music, recordings, video files, humour, tributes to teachers and performers, pedagogical discussion, transcriptions…..it’s all on the web! All you need is a good search engine such as google.com to browse effectively. ITG has a links hub, manned by Ralph Jones, but be careful you’ll need weeks to see it all!
Michael Anderson can be reached by email at: website@trumpetguild.org
