April 22, 1998

Philip Smith, Joseph Turrin at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
© Copyright 1998 International Trumpet Guild

On November 13 - 14, Philip Smith, principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, and composer-pianist Joseph Turrin were in residence at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The event culminated a week-long midwest tour that included performances at Truman State University, Southwest Missouri State University, Drake University and SIUE.

The evening's opening featured Mr. Smith and Mr. Turrin in a short recital followed by performances from area high school trumpeters. The program began with Turrin's Caprice, which was written for Phil's father Derek Smith, who was a cornet soloist with the Salvation Army Band. As an homage to his father, Phil chose the cornet on which to perform this solo, and the change in timbre from the traditional Bb or C trumpet selection used by many performers of this piece gave the music a much warmer and richer sound quality.

A beautiful flugelhorn rendition of Morning Has Broken followed. Phil's statement to the audience that he doesn't want to be known as a trumpet player, but as a musician, was keenly felt during this performance. "The difference is what comes out of the heart and soul." The ultimate goal of a performer, said Smith, is to impart a human quality to the notes we play. Regardless of our level of expertise, "we should always work on the musical aspects of playing as well as the technical aspects."

To demonstrate the more technical aspects of the instrument, Herman Bellstedt's Napoli variations followed. Smith's rich cornet sound, coupled with his complete mastery of the technical passages, made this a most exciting performance.

The audience was then treated to six performances from area high school trumpeters of various solos and etudes, including portions from the Haydn and Hummel concertos, Ropartz's Andante et Allegro, and Vassily Brandt's Etude #1 from the Etudes for Trumpet. Providing comments and suggestions for each performer, Mr. Smith stressed the importance of hearing melodic intervals in order to improve intonation and note accuracy. In one instance, Mr. Smith played sustained chord tones against a student-performed solo line in a manner similar to the Saint-Jacome Celebrated Cornet Duets. The positive changes heard in the student performer with regard to pitch was clearly evident when this strategy was employed by Smith.

The importance of taking a full breath to support the tone was also stressed. "Breathe in relationship to the amount of air that you will need; however, we as trumpet players generally need to work on taking fuller breaths." Mr. Smith's "shouting wind" concept also produced positive results. Regardless of the dynamic level written, players should move the wind with energy. "Imagine a pinwheel attached to the bell. Keep the pinwheel spinning all the time!" In Mr. Smith's own personal practice, he likes to be in a room containing a window with a view of trees in the distance. During practice, Mr. Smith imagines that it is his wind that is making the leaves blow.

Mr. Turrin then joined Mr. Smith at the conclusion of the session with a performance of his very beautiful arrangement of Gershwin's Someone to Watch Over Me.

The following morning and afternoon was spent with trumpet students from SIUE. Solo student performances of works by Bloch, Turrin, Hindemith, Kennan, Liszt, Peskin, Haydn, Goedicke, Robbins, and Mailman were critiqued by Mr. Smith, along with a performance by the SIUE Brass Quintet of Eric Ewazen's Frost Fire. The importance of "playing in the middle of the tone" was stressed by Mr. Smith. To determine where the every note has its most beautiful tone, Mr. Smith had students bend pitches both up and down, stopping when the sound reached its peak beauty and resonance.

Mr. Smith also stressed the benefits of singing to develop the inner ear. "I don't care whether you sing movable do, fixed do, or whatever. I sing fixed la" joked Smith. Phil stresses singing with all his students, regardless of their ability level, as an important part of learning to play the trumpet. Many students were also asked to energetically aspirate articulation and rhythm patterns while internalizing pitches as an aid to improve both sound and accuracy.

An evening recital performance at a sold-out Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Saint Louis brought the event to a successful close. The first half of the program featured Mr. Smith and Mr. Turrin performing works for trumpet and piano. Turrin's Caprice opened the recital, followed by the Intrada of Arthur Honegger. Mr. Smith's magnificent fullness of tone and Mr. Turrin's dramatic playing were clearly evident. Richard Peaslee's newest composition for trumpet, Sonata "Catalonia" was the highlight of the performance. Recently premiered by Mr. Smith at the 1997 ITG Conference in Göteborg, Sweden, this new sonata by the composer of Nightsongs is an exciting addition to the trumpet repertoire. Mr. Smith command of this extremely difficult work was enthusiastically received by all in attendance, and left many audience members in awe. Joe's arrangement of Gershwin's Someone to Watch Over Me brought the first half to a beautiful close.

Following intermission, the SIUE Trumpet Choir, under the direction of SIUE Professor of Trumpet John Korak, began the second half with Joe Turrin's exciting work for 8 trumpeters entitled Festival Fanfare. Phil then joined the trumpet choir for two additional selections: Dennis Horton's beautiful arrangement of Edvard Grieg's The Last Spring in which Phil extracted a solo part from the various tutti parts, and Paul Butcher's effective arrangement of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

The SIUE Wind Symphony and its director, Dr. John R. Bell, then performed Ron Nelson's technically-challenging Rocky Point Holiday with much precision and flair. Mr. Smith then joined the band and performed Turrin's Escapade (newly arranged for wind band from the original brass band version) with the composer conducting. Mr. Smith's command of the piccolo trumpet and the high tessitura of this piece made for a very exciting addition to the program. This very successful evening concluded with Mr. Smith returning to the cornet in James Curnow's stirring Concert Piece for Cornet and Band.

The author wishes to publicly thank Dr. Gregory R. Jones of Truman State University for his many efforts in arranging and organizing this tour.