There were about 30 people in the audience, including renowned trumpeter John Ware. Kaderabek, Johnson, and Ware spent a few minutes reminiscing. Ware then asked Johnson about students who played C trumpet or piccolo, but didn't know anything about the Bb. Ware stressed the importance of practicing on Bb, saying that if you could find your focus and center on Bb, it would be easier to find on C. He joked that the smaller horns were made for older players. Kaderabek echoed Ware's feelings about the Bb. Johnson said that coming up in Boston, the C was an alien instrument.

Johnson told a story about visiting Vincent Bach in his factory. Bach was adamant in saying that each horn was quality tested, and each played as well as another - all horns were 100%.  Then Bach asked Johnson to test a group of horns, and pick out the best one to send to a customer!

Three trumpet players performed during the Masterclass. The first, a student from California, played the first of Fisher Tull's Eight Profiles. Johnson advised the player to let his air relax him. Johnson also talked about the preliminary breath, and demonstrated a Doc Severinsen technique to get the air going: he removed the mouthpiece, and blew vigorously through the horn with his lips around the leadpipe, not forming an embouchure. Johnson said Severinsen suggested adding resistance by pressing down first one, then two, then three valves while blowing. Kaderabek commented that it's not how much air you take in, but how you take it in.

The next student played the opening of Mahler's 5th Symphony. Johnson commented that he didn't stress excerpts in his teaching. Rather, he valued the flexibility of being able to play any piece in different ways, and learning excerpts wasn't as worthwhile as playing lots of different music. At one point, he said the player's tongue got in the way, and pulled out a penknife! Once again, Johnson stressed the importance of air.