-There is always room at the top for great players. There is no room for middle of the road players.
Several years ago when I started back into playing I went to the International Women’s Brass Conference in Michigan. Early each morning there are group warm-ups and I would attend. Except for one clinician, they all used the Stamp Method or a variation of the Stamp Method. I will admit, I was completely unfamiliar with the Stamp Method. You can find this method online in a free .pdf easily but when you just open the book and practice you might feel disappointed and feel that the method doesn’t live up to all the hype. That is what happened to me, so I also reached out to players and teachers who I knew in the trumpet community to help me with my search for instruction in the Stamp Method.
James Stamp’s students include some of the best and most successful performers living today. The Stamp Method helps set the ear for sound production and intonation. It helps you use the intuitiveness you have naturally in your playing, creating a natural flow of air and embouchure. If you google James Stamp you will find hundreds of blogs and articles that will explain better than I can the James Stamp Method. I went looking for a teacher who could school me in this method that all the brass players seemed to agree was the best way to start your practice sessions. I found the Malcolm McNab Trumpet Camp in Azusa California at Azusa University. I feel that this workshop was one of the single most important decisions I ever made. I have been fortunate enough to spend two of my summers in Azusa at the McNab Camp and hope to travel back again in the future.
With a heavy heart I loaded up my car with all my horns and drove to Azusa (suburb of Los Angeles). The heavy heart was because the thought of driving to Los Angeles felt a bit overwhelming at the time. At one time I lived in LA and drove many times between my hometown of San Antonio, Texas to Los Angeles, California and I felt tired before I hopped in the car. However, with modern inventions such as Spotify and podcasts I had entertainment that made the trip very enjoyable. I was also so excited to be able to go to a workshop hosted by Malcolm McNab one of the all time best studio trumpet players. McNab is the go-to principal player for movie scores, the skill set that he has command of on the trumpet is astounding. If Malcolm McNab wasn’t enough James Thompson is also a clinician. When James Thompson spoke about pitfalls that some players have that were keeping them in the middle of the road as a trumpet player I thought he was reading my mind. I must say after playing for Thompson the first thing I thought was “he’s the trumpet whisper.” He can tell you what you need to do immediately and give you the direction you need to take to have you fix the problem in a matter of minutes. My first thought was complete jealousy of this younger generation who gets have him as a trumpet professor. How could you be anything but a top shelf player with a teacher like James Thompson.
I kept very good notes from the first workshop I attended at Camp McNab, I don’t intend to post them because that would be wrong to share freely the intellectual property that was covered at the workshop and let’s face it, it would be better if you attended the workshop and experienced it yourself. Over the next several blogs I will be reviewing my notes and reminiscing about lessons learnt.