MY TRUMPET DAYS
John Dirlam
In the fall of 1952, at the start of my fourth grade at Stella Magladry School, the Wilson Junior High band director, Mr. Cal Martin, visited our classroom and told us that he would be giving weekly instrument lessons to any interested students. He seemed like a great guy, and I was excited to tell my mom about this offer when I got home from school. She too was eager to hear about the program, and she signed the required form for my trumpet lessons. Some kids played the trombone, some the clarinet, and others the violin. But for me, the trumpet had always seemed to me to be the coolest instrument out there. My parents had 'Bugler's Holiday' in their record collection (they had mainly 78 rpm records, and some 45's), and I think I had the notion that I could maybe play that song too. Thanks to Mom and Dad, I had my first lesson using my very own, brand new F.E. Olds & Sons trumpet. They made monthly payments for two years until my trumpet was paid off. I guess they thought I was really serious about playing!
There was no doubt that I was very proud of my shiny brass trumpet, even though I really couldn't play it. It came in a custom case that was lined with a beautiful green felt. I would polish my trumpet frequently, and lubricate the three values with a special oil. I also made sure that tuning slide was well lubricated. The pitch of my trumpet could be raised or lowered by the use of the tuning slide. Pulling the slide out would lower the pitch, and pushing it in would raise it. This was important when you were playing with others. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through closed lips, producing a 'buzzing' sound into the mouthpiece. This is hard to do, and my progress was very slow. I would get a 'fat lip' or swelling from blowing too hard, or playing for a long period. I soon found that it was important to play often, so my lips would stay in shape.I kept playing in grade school and after several years, about the time I entered Wilson Junior High in the 7th grade, I was decent. My neighbor boy, Leroy Fish, who also played the trumpet at his Seventh Day Adventist School, and I would get together quite often and play. I think that we both practiced a little more than we would have otherwise because we were trying to impress each other with our ability. Leroy's mother, who was a talented artist, would heap praises on us now an then which made us feel proud.
I was also inspired after a very special school day when Mr. Martin invited one of the world's most renowned trumpet players, Rafael Mendez, to our band practice. Mendez was born in Mexico in 1921, and he moved to the U.S. when he was 20 years old. He was living in Southern California, and I don't know how he happened to be in Eugene. Perhaps he was in town to perform at the University of Oregon. He played for our entire band and we were in awe. He warned us to never have our instrument at our mouth when we were close to a door that might be opened unexpectedly. Mendez told us that this happened to him when while he was warming up at the Capitol Theatre and he suffered a horrific accident: smashed lip and broken teeth. We got the message, loud and clear! Fortunately, you can watch Mendez perform some amazing trumpet songs on YouTube that were filmed back in the 50's.
Mr. Martin was very fond of the marches written by John Philip Sousa, so we did our best to play 'Stars and Stripes Forever' and 'Washington Post March'. I thought it was very cool that my name was John Philip too, just like Sousa with one 'L' instead of two. More about my name later. We also played 'Our Director' and 'Mighty Oregon', which was the fight song of the U of O.With some talent, and fair amount of practice, I was selected first trumpet as a ninth grader when I transferred to the brand new Jefferson Junior High, which was located just a couple of miles down the hill from our house. Fortunately for my band mates and me, Mr. Martin agreed to be the band director at Jefferson too. Once a week I played trumpet with the junior high orchestra, and I was in a bit of shock when the orchestra leader chose a musical piece for an upcoming evening concert at school for our parents that featured a trumpet solo as the introduction. That would be me! The fear of failure prompted me to practice my piece daily leading up to the big night. I had to stand up in the rear of the orchestra, dressed in a white shirt and bow tie, and start the concert with my trumpet. Thankfully, I pulled it off and hit every high note. Patricia, who was playing first violin that evening, told me years later that she was so impressed the way I played so confidently. Little did she know how nervous I was that evening!
Later that year, I had one other 'high pressure' moment when I was asked to play in a trumpet trio on Easter Sunday at Central Lutheran Church. I played with Bob Moblo, the band director at South Eugene High, and a fabulous student trumpet player, Lael Weston, also from Central. We were perched in the choir loft in the back of the church, and the folks in the congregation told us after the service that we were fantastic. Dodged another 'embarrassment bullet'!