“I chose the best cats,” said VCU trumpet professor Rex Richardson of his selection of the Trumpet Studio he created two years ago. “I recognized that it was a great way to deal with chamber music and get students exposure to performances.”
For the second year in a row, the studio ensemble has made it to the semi-finals of the National Trumpet Competition. This year the competition is March 15 to 18 at George Mason University.
“If things go well for the students, it’s good for VCU’s image,” Richardson said. “It’s a valuable experience for the students and VCU.”
This year the studio has also been invited to perform at the International Trumpet Guild Conference this summer at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
“This is the first time the studio has gotten international recognition,” studio member Matt Wittig said.
The trumpet studio consists of freshman Eric Blanks, 19, senior Cole Baty, 21, transfer junior Jared Broussard, 26, senior Alex Samawicz, 22, super senior Matt Wittig, 22, and self-proclaimed “super-dee-duper freshman” junior Rob Quallich, 20.
This particular group of musicians has been together since the beginning of the fall ’06 semester. Blanks and Broussard are the only additions to the group’s lineup since its creation. All the other guys have been members of the studio since the beginning.
“I saw a lot of great players all at one school and I thought, ‘Lets form a group of the top six players’,” Richardson said. “They challenge and learn from each other because they are at similar levels. I wanted to see where we could take it.”
The repertoire of the studio ranges from Baroque to more contemporary music. Richardson says he might be composing a piece for the group to perform at the competition.
The studio practices as a group two or three times a week for an hour. Between music classes and being in other ensembles, some days the studio members will spend 14 hours playing.
“Studying music is like having a full-time job,” said Broussard. “Our homework is practicing. Just as a chemistry major studies, we practice.”
Quallich is the only one in the studio who says he’s dabbling in writing music. The rest of the group says they’re more players than writers, and their favorite part is performing.
“Performance and rehearsal are two different animals,” Baty said. “Unless you’re in the right mindset, you don’t learn as much from a rehearsal as you do a performance.”
“I’d actually go as far as to say you don’t truly know a piece until you perform it,” Samawicz agreed.
As for listening to music outside of classes, the ensemble enjoys rock, classical, hip-hop, avant-garde and jazz. They mention Philip Glass, Pink Floyd and Radiohead as some of their favorites.
“It’s very important for musicians to listen to the whole array of music,” Baty said.”We’re inspired by many artists, not just within the classical or jazz realm. You have to keep your ears open.”
Most of the ensemble dreams of one day being able to pay the bills and make a living as musicians in orchestras, chamber ensembles or as solo performers.
Some of the guys wouldn’t mind teaching, and say anything but sitting in an office all day will do. Others have a more specific goal.
“I want to be the principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony,” Samawicz said.
“I want to sell out and play in a rock band – make some money,” Quallich says jokingly. “No, really it doesn’t matter, I want to go wherever music takes me.”
Representing VCU at the National Trumpet Competition March 15 to 18 2007:
College division: Alex Samawicz. Graduate division: Jared Broussard. Jazz division: Marcus Tenney and Matt Wittig
Ensemble division: the whole VCU Trumpet Ensemble. In addition, two recent VCU graduates are semifinalists in the graduate division: Allyson Keyser (2006) and John Mlynczak, (2005).