"Getting Back Into It" will include discussions of basic fundamental principals such as breathing, mouthpiece placement, tonguing, etc. Suggestions for materials will be made, and some old, outmoded ideas will be debunked. Suggestions for using James Thompson's buzzing book will be made in the session, and the book will be utilized in the morning warm-up sessions, along with many other materials. There will be a question and answer session included in the Wednesday lecture.

Trumpet players of all ages and abilities were in attendance to listen to James West, trumpet professor at Louisiana State University, discuss his ideas and suggestions for the “come-back” player, the player who has decided to pick up the horn again after being away for several years. West introduced the talk by giving the advantages and disadvantages these types of players have. Advantages include being older and wiser, and not having such a competitive streak, but playing for the love of music. West cautioned the audience that a disadvantage was having 20 or 30 years of bad habits that must be corrected. West had the audience chuckling when he said, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you’ve always got.”

West then moved on to discuss a variety of areas that give trumpeters trouble. He prefaced his remarks, however, by suggesting that audience members decided for themselves what works for them because it will, no doubt, be different from what works for someone else. West spent time talking about mouthpiece placement, breathing, range and endurance, and mouthpiece selection. Throughout his discussion, he discussed the process of removing bad habits with good habits. That point really seemed to make an impact on many members of the audience.

West concluded the session by having those in attendance try out several exercises based on the topics in his discussion. He used several William Adam exercises to work on tone production, and had several other helpful handouts as well. This session was a wonderful resource for many conference attendees, and West received a well-deserved ovation at the conclusion.