So my mom is a brass junkie. What that means for me is that when my trumpet professor invites us to a performance she makes sure we don't miss it. Recently teach casually mentioned he would be soloing at the Roman Festival Brass concert and invited us . I was blown away by my first exposure to British brass, it is delicious. When they introduced my professor for his solo the conductor called him "legendary". I knew he was an accomplished player, but legendary? My mom found him by having my horn bell repaired. It wasn't like she looked up world class trumpet teachers and he was the first google hit. So after the performance he sheepishly mentions to us that he tends not to talk himself up much but also says "I never mentioned I'm in an international hall of fame, did ?". Whaaaat...... He gives mom the key words to find the performance that got him there and Oh. My. Great and Holy Goodness. His performance (watch it here and be patient, it's the end that is riveting) anyways, his performance was soul expanding...like I din't even know a trumpet could do that. After I relearned to breathe we found this...folks, that's MY teacher. And he think's I'm a great student. Surreal, guess I just never thought I would have a personal connection to something or someone world-class. It is likely I'm in a permanent state of shock. Not only am I blessed to have the opportunity to learn from him, I'm really proud that he thinks I'm worth investing his effort into. He could teach anyone if he really wanted to, and he's choosing to teach me. It made me realize that arrogance is quick to poison a person and minimize the impact of their achievement because too often the achiever doesn't share their gift and experience with others thus seeding the next person to walk their path of success. It also made me realize that teens who's parents don't support them by forking over the cash for lessons and driving them all over creation, etc. are unlikely to be able to follow their passions. I'm a fortunate young man and I plan not to forget that, though it seems my mom still has to remind me a good bit...In closing, HOT DANG, my teacher is star but I respect him for his humble attitude as much as I respect him for totally smoking his competition... he is a completely unrepeatable person.
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