For thirty years, I taught at the University of Northern Iowa in various capacities. When I started my tenure there, we had established a very active Brass Quintet which toured all of Iowa playing concerts and giving clinics nearly every Friday during the school year. One such year, we logged in over fifty-two concerts. Because of this concerted effort to recruit the best brass players in the state we began to feel the growing pains of our ever enlarging trumpet studios. Mr. Keith Johnson and I were teaching nearly eighteen trumpet majors each and eventually we added an additional instructor to handle the over-load. With this very large stable of trumpet players came the realization that we had only about twenty-five positions in our ensembles for our students to fill; and that was when I decided to start UNI’s first trumpet choir.
The personnel for this early ensemble began with the middle to lower level players who were unable to participate in any group other than the marching band. As time passed the better players joined our group and eventually we were performing regularly not only on campus but also around the area and the state. Our concerts included existing arrangements as well as arrangements especially writing for our ensemble by well-known composers. As my responsibilities changed within our department, so did my interest in our trumpet choir change. With a reduction in recruiting interests by some of the members of our quintet came the inevitable. Our numbers and quality of trumpet students began to diminish and there was no longer a need for the trumpet choir.
At the present time, there is much activity in the country with University/College trumpet choirs mainly because of the work of the International Trumpet Guild and their annual competition featuring trumpet choirs from around the country.
I have included a few examples of the high quality of such ensembles to give you an idea as to how far trumpet choirs have come in the past couple decades.
If your College/University has an issue with keeping your trumpet students motivated, a trumpet choir may be the solution to your situation.
