Proof that musicianship is intensely personal

Good morning. I just released a new episode of the Trumpet Dynamics podcast yesterday. Actually, it’s a very old interview that was repurposed into a brand new episode. It featured Denver Dill, who is a very fine trumpeter with the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point. In addition to playing, he also teaches a few courses at the academy, so he’s quite an accomplished individual.

But what was relevant to the discussion both then and now is his recovery from a major injury to his lips. As you can imagine, lips are kind of important to trumpet playing, so this was no small issue he was dealing with. But what stuck out to me in registering to the interview, that I somehow missed back in 2016, is how other people who are dealing with injuries affect him while they’re seeking his advice. He’s happy to dole it out in the name of helping others overcome a setback, but he realized these folks are truly distraught about their loss. Almost akin to losing a close family member.

We forget how personal things such as playing an instrument can be. We don’t realize how much we miss something until it’s gone – or more accurately, until we return to it after a long absence.

When we lose the ability to do it, for injury, work or family commitments, etc. we lose a part of our identity.

Denver’s solution was to write a book and speak on podcasts to talk about his experience. Talking to others got to be a bit much for him emotionally!

At any rate, the episode is short, but a really good one. It can easily be consumed in about 10 minutes playing it at 2x speed.

Here’s the link to listen: https://trumpetdynamics.com/denverdill