My trumpet instructor that first year could no longer play. He was a member of the Minneapolis Symphony when he was younger. When I met him, he was in his fifties. He had polio for over 30 years. He was a bit of a miracle, because when he first fell victim of the disease, he had to be in an Iron lung, in order to be able to breathe. I don’t know how long it took him to work his way out of the Iron lung, the story goes he made a bet with his nurses, that if they would cooperate with him, by shutting off the iron lung for seconds at first, then minutes, and eventually hours, he could train himself to breathe without the iron lung.
Now like I said, when I met him he was walking and breathing just like all his students. He also walked in a special way which helped his breathing as he walked. He couldn’t play anymore because his breathing and air flow was not strong enough for playing the trumpet. At night he had a special rocking chair that moved him back and forth for when he fell asleep. While he was awake he voluntarily kept his lungs breathing. However when he would fall asleep, his breathing became involuntary, thus his special chair worked his lungs as needed. His name was Daryl Gibson. He wrote “A Textbook for Trumpet” which we studied from, when it was published later in 1963. Doc Severinsen endorsed the book, which helped him publish it.
Now I’ve laid the necessary background: as a student of trumpet that year, I was one of maybe six students. I had been playing the trumpet for one year. I came to college expecting that the instructor would play for us when giving examples etc. So instead he had us students buzz our lips first, then buzzing on the mouthpiece, and then playing the horn. This was also after he had us on the floor doing sit-ups. After a few weeks of this, I was disgusted, my playing did not improve.
I spent three years at MacPhail College and eventually my interest took a different turn, away from playing trumpet. I started studying piano and composition, and put most of my energy on that. When MacPhail College merged with the University of Minnesota I started taking lessons with Steve Chenette, first chair trumpet of the then Minneapolis Symphony. My trumpet playing improved little by little. Steve was a great teacher who gave me special exercises that were necessary to good trumpet playing. I could hear him play with examples, I began to love the trumpet again. Something Steve told me in one of my lessons, that I’ve never forgot: be a musician who plays trumpet, not just a trumpet player. There are all kinds of trumpet players at the University, but very few musicians. I’ve kept that in mind during my many years of playing.