Mr. Benjamin started playing trumpet when he was five years old. Both his brother and father played trumpet, and he wanted to be like them. It was a very musical family where his father played all the brass instruments, his older brother was a talented trumpet player, his sister played clarinet, and his mother taught herself to play the alto saxophone. Keith’s father belonged to a record club and one of the recordings he listened to featured Maurice Andre which was inspiring to his young son.
Keith eventually attended Morningside College and studied trumpet with Gary Slechta, who worked with him on concepts such as breathing and helped him to become a more balanced musician.
After leaving Morningside College, Keith attended the University of Northern Iowa to begin his MM degree. While at UNI he studied with Mr. Keith Johnson who basically tore him down and rebuilt him as a trumpet player. Keith worked with him on relaxation and airflow, a better sound, and probably single-handedly saved his career by trying to get him to play with some taste and with a warmer sound.
After receiving his MM degree from UNI, Mr. Benjamin studied at the Eastman School of Music to complete his DMA degree. At that time, trumpet students studied primarily with one of the two teachers and also had lessons with the other trumpet instructor. Keith primarily took from Charlie Geyer but had extra lessons and classes with Barbara Butler. “Charlie was an absolutely amazing orchestral player and teacher. He really got me on the path to having a better concept of orchestral playing. Professor Butler, on the other hand, had an amazing set of ears about technical things. I’d usually leave a lesson with her reeling about how much work I had to do on the details. She was blunt but still encouraging”.
Keith played with the Rochester Philharmonic as well as smaller local orchestras and was performing quite a bit. During his last year there he admits to literally “sleeping about 3 hours a night”, because he was doing all the playing while still trying to get the DMA studies completed.
In the spring of 1989, while completing his degree he applied for a trumpet position at the UMKC Conservatory of Music. “I was 28 years old and now 34 years later, I retired from my first job. The Conservatory had become a nationally known school, and I had students that won the ITG competition, the NTC competition, and the Ellsworth Smith competition. Mostly what I had was a lot of fun with a bunch of great colleagues and really amazing students”.
“So now I’m retired, which means I have time to practice. I’m playing a fair amount with the Kansas City Symphony/Ballet/Opera and doing some other regional orchestra playing (Sioux City, Orchestra Iowa), and a little bit of commercial playing, but I’m starting to realize that’s a younger man’s game. Four-hour non-stop dance music gigs outside in August? I’m also in a trumpet / organ duo with Melody (Turnquist) Steed, which started many years ago when we attended UNI together. We have performed in Hungary, England and Scotland and will be performing a concert in Dallas on July 2nd at the American Guild of Organists conference. Keith and Melody have recorded three CD’s which include performances of commissioned pieces.
When asked about his thoughts of the future, Mr. Benjamin responded “I’m looking forward to years of decent health, some fun gigs, some laughs with my family and friends, getting back to Scotland, and good coffee”.
