The English trumpet player Rod Tearle died on 2nd June 2004. From Musician, the magazine of the UK Musicians' Union:

Rod was a trumpet player, much cherished by his music colleagues and friends, who worked in a wide variety of areas in the music industry and was a fine orchestral as well as swing player.

He studied trumpet with Freddy Staff from the age of eight and went on to become a student at the Trinity College of Music in London, firstly as a junior exhibitioner and later as a full time student, where he studied with Norman Burgess from 1964 to 1967. He moved freely as a musician between work with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Opera House, and D'Oyly Carte as well as many West End show orchestras. He was also a sometime member of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra.

Rod joined the London-based Wind and Brass Ensemble of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1976 and worked as first trumpet with them for many years during their times at the Aldwych and Barbican theatres, until the group was disbanded in 2003. He took part in many of their recordings and was the original first trumpet for the production of Les Miserables.

He was an enthusiastic teacher and for many years held posts at Haberdashers in Elstree, as well as the Longdean School in Hemel Hempstead.

Rod's dry wit and asides were much appreciated and when these were combined with 'on stage' appearances at the RSC, he was a dangerous man to be near when it was very much not acceptable to be seen laughing. His rather grand 'Keynesian' approach to acting out these 'spear carrying' appearances was described by his colleagues as the 'Rod Tearle School of Acting'.

He leaves a wife Margaret and two daughters, and is much missed by his family and friends.