This week on Great Arts at Eastern Jeff Gentry talks with Sid Shuler of ENMU's Department of Music about his upcoming faculty recital on February 19th in Portales, New Mexico.
When asked the question about what advice would you give to a young trumpeter today having played the trumpet from a young age. Sid states: "Well, I think it's very easy to get stuck with young trumpet players, especially in the band situation where are you are playing just a few notes at a time. The trumpet tends to be relatively loud. It doesn't matter that they're playing soft or whether they're playing loud. One of the former principal trumpets of the New York Philharmonic, Bill Vacchiano used to say that when a trumpet player makes a mistake everyone here is it even deaf people. So, I mean it's, I would say rather than practicing band music. Go outside the box and work on small early solos or études an effort to have the horn in your face more, or otherwise, you'll play for 10 to 15 seconds. Then you put the horn down in most band settings. It is much like running. You have to build up your endurance and stamina and speed over time, it is very similar. It is a very physical instrument."
The selections that can be expected at the recital on the 19th are: "it is a kind of Eclectic recital. I was looking for works that I had never played before. And there is a retiring trumpet professor. I think in Minnesota somewhere, who was selling off some music and I just perchance grabbed a piece, and it was of the French repertoire. It works really well to begin the recital as it was a three-movement work by Jacques Castérède. His sonnets and it features a C trumpet along with some muted, cup muted I might add middle movement. (I am) Very kind of excited as it ends on a pretty big High note. Then I will collaborate with Tracy Karr on English horn and Mark Del Prado on piano for that one. On Eric Copeland's Iron City, it is pretty much a standard work amongst trumpet players. But I have never done it before. So, I was like, I am going to do this. Tracy likes to play the English horn a lot. And I think it's going to be a lot of fun collaborating with new people. I have collaborated with Kayla, Kayla Paulk, on piano which I will for the remainder of the recital, but it was very nice to loop in Tracy and Mark for this particular thing. And then I am going to play a nice little piccolo. Trumpet work from the early 18th century and then will close out after an intermission with Edward Grayson's concerto, which is a pretty massive work."
Sid talks about the athletics bands that he helps lead and how the mood and opportunities are setup for each musical selection during each game. "All the basketball band is a kind of an outgrowth of the greyhound sound effect. I think a lot of people refer to it as the greyhound sound. It functions in a very similar capacity. But that being said. We play some of the same music you might hear on the field as well as in the stands. But in a kinda of different way because of the pace of basketball. You have to know exactly what's coming as far as time out and those types of things. And so, you schedule the music if you will. You call up certain tunes based on the Florida game, and it can really add a different element of crowd influence to the game."
When asked about how he achieves a life balance between being a well-rounded scholar, with a spouse, two children, and three dogs, Sid states: "well, I'll let you know when we get there. But at the same time, I'm I think my wife Pam, who is a clarinet in the department of music as well. And myself, we have always been very collaborative in our approach to life. I did my masters first while she was working, and then she did her masters while I was working full-time. It is really nice to see a plan like that come together and really have it be functioning."
Sidney Shuler Faculty Recital
Buchanan Hall, ENMU Music Building (MB)
Wednesday, February 19th, 2020, at 7 p.m.
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