As you all know, trumpet ensemble music has been at the top of my list since my first trumpet ensemble arrangement went on line on August 6th, 2013. This interest and love for good trumpet material is just as rewarding and important to me today as it was that first day. For that reason, I wanted to showcase some of the active trumpet ensembles performing today and our first feature is the San Luis Obispo County Trumpet Alliance.
The San Luis Obispo County Trumpet Alliance was the brain child of a wonderful, talented and dedicated musician, Mr. Warren Balfour along with Dan Beher and Lyle Stubson.
The ensemble was founded in 2011 and grew from a small eight to nine member ensemble to a 16-member powerhouse group with a long “bench” list of subs willing to jump in and play!
Thanks to the generous donation of a trumpet ensemble library by Danny Beher (Otter Music Publishing) and the Warren Balfour collection, the group’s repertoire now contains over 100 musical works for trumpet ensemble. Additional sources of arrangements includes material from Triplo Press , Eighth Note Publications , trumpetensemblemusic.com / and Hickman Music Editions . The Trumpet Alliance has proven itself as well-known and respected for its musical excellence and entertaining performances. Members of the group are local musicians with a wide range of interests and professions who come from all walks of life; educators to business professionals, high school students to retirees. The group rehearses twice a month at Cuesta College, during Fall and Spring semesters.
Their instrumentation consists of a variety of instruments including two bass trumpets, cornets, fluglehorns as well as four piccolo trumpet players. To add interest and show their musical versatility, they also utilize a full rhythm section.
Most of their performance venues include churches and schools in their area and programs include varied styles of music including Latin music which feature their percussion members.
When asked about the future of this talented ensemble, Mr. Balfour predicted “Onward and upward and more involvement in area concerts and outreach to the community”.
In closing, Mr. Balfour continued “Anyone interested in this genre will enjoy the results. So much excellent literature has been written for this instrumentation and this provides an excellent outlet for trumpet players. Our original inspiration for this venture was the Branson Trumpet Ensemble”.
We would like to thank the San Luis Obispo County Trumpet Alliance for their continued efforts to advance trumpet ensemble music and promote trumpets music today.
