I know many folks that subscribe to this newsletter are not trumpeters, so allow me to give a bit of background on the name I mentioned in the headline of this email.
Bud Herseth was among the greatest symphonic trumpeters ever. Like, in the world. Like since the beginning of time. And since symphonic trumpet playing is a relatively new craft (began in earnest around 1850, but many would disagree with me), the phrase "beginning of time" is kind of a misnomer, but I digress.
Suffice it to say, the guy wasn't just good, nor great. He was the best there was at what he did, and very few people would disagree.
So when I began the project of recording an audio version of a book written by one of Bud's former students, and later a colleague of his in the Chicago Symphony, I didn't really know what I was getting into, nor what I would learn from the experience.
And now that recording has been complete for well over a month, and I've had time to think about it, the word that keeps coming into my mind is, Mastery.
Today, not just trumpeters but young people of all stripes are taught the need to "diversify" their skills. You shouldn't focus on just classical, you should also learn "jazz". You'll forgive my ignorance, as I come from an era where those are the only two musical genres that exist in musical academia. Of course we know that's not true, and it's funny for me to even type the words.
But the problem with "diversifying" one's skills is you end up doing two or three things at a subpar level, versus one thing extremely well. One has only so much mental bandwidth and energy; we need to be wise with how we use it.
Bud Herseth chose one thing to master, and he became The Master at it. He took very few students so he could have all his energy reserved for his job as principal trumpeter with the CSO. He didn't even record any solo albums, as was often requested of him. He preferred to use his downtime from the orchestra to rejuvenate his energy supplies so he could survive the grind of an orchestra season, made more grueling by his job as the leader of the entire brass section.
So that's Bud Herseth's answer to the question, "Should you diversify your skills?"
No way! Be great at one thing, and let the results speak for themselves.
Now, a highly skilled trumpeter here in 2022 might look at the available options in the job marketplace and say, "Hmm, it seems symphonic music might not be the best option for me. There's a lot of competition!" And they're not wrong. They might choose to master a different genre of music.
The job marketplace in Herseth's beginning of 1948 was essentially a different world from the modern orchestra audition circuit. So one wouldn't try to master symphonic trumpet music today the same way.
So we don't mimic the actions, we learn the principle and apply it to our own lives.
For example, this is why I choose to specialize in audio production only, and only do very little video on special request (even though I'm really good at video editing).
When it comes to playing trumpet, I stick with what I'm good at, which tends to be what would be considered "classical" by my grandfather. Maybe I'll share the difference between "classical and jazz" in another email.
Other people will answer in different ways. Point is for my money, I'd rather find one thing I can excel at and crush it versus done 2-3 things at less than what I'm capable of.
So that's just one thing I took away from the experience of recording Within the Sphere of the Master by Tim Kent, Herseth's student and colleague in the CSO.
If you'd like to purchase the audiobook, you may do so here: https://jnshub.com/sphere
