Trumpet Hacks
of the Central Coast of California
“Who are we? The trumpet hacks is comprised of four players. We are current or former members of the San Luis Obispo Trumpet Alliance, a 16 member trumpet group co-directed by Warren Balfour and Lyle Stubson. If you are not familiar with the Central Coast, we are near Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach, CA.
As everyone knows, the COVID-19 virus has diminished all activities of various groups, not to mention businesses and schools. Back in April, 2020, two of my friends, Mitch Latting and David Johns, (members of the Trumpet Alliance) suggested that we form a trio and practice in the park. I suggested that we should form a quartet. As a former music publisher and music distributor, I already had the beginnings of a trumpet quartet library. What trumpet geek doesn’t ☺
That was back in April, 2020. Beginning in May, we started sight reading, not rehearsing, at a local park. When we started our sight reading sessions, people would stop by and listen. Despite all of our clams, they even applauded at the end of each hack, I mean tune.
We did sight reading for three months at two different parks. Then an idea came to us. Why not invite some of our friends to listen to our hacking. If total strangers enjoyed our hacking, then some of our friends might put up with our clams. Beginning in August, we invited some of our friends. We made sure that they were aware that this was not a concert but a sight reading session or a hacking session.
We now do sight reading once a month at a local park. We stress using a face mask and social distancing. It is nice to see people out and about and enjoying live music, despite our clams…LOL
The initial trumpet hacks included: Mitch Latting, David Johns, and Danny Beher. We have had the privilege of inviting Stephanie Douglass, Rich Ward, Steve Vines, and Robert Alberts to cover one of the parts.
I would like to thank Bruce Chidester of Trumpet Ensemble Music for arranging specific tunes for us. No, this is not a commercial! With our previous library and new tunes that Bruce has arranged for us, we now exceed over 180 titles for the trumpet hacks with more to come. Our library consists of jazz standards, Broadway, movie themes, pop, patriotic, and Christmas tunes. Sorry, no classical music…LOL
So, if you want to help in this pandemic environment and enjoy playing music, I would suggest getting your group out there. Get to a park and just hack away! Life is too short not to enjoy it”.
We would like to thank Mr. Danny Beher for sharing this information on his quartet of virus fighting warriors who are promoting live music under adverse conditions.
If you have a similar ensemble performing in a similar situation and would like your group featured on this site, please contact me at brucechidester@hotmail.com and I will fill you in on how this could be accomplished. Any ensemble promoting “free live music” for our fellow Americans will be considered.
