On Sunday evening, Tom Poulson, a really fine young trumpet soloist, performed the Haydn concerto with Edinburgh Chamber Orchestra, in which Pam Brown and I played the orchestral trumpet parts. I interviewed Tom and Pam, who has also performed this concerto recently, about their research and approach to their performances. Please click below to listen to the 15 minute interview.

One of my friends recently asked me for my views on taking lessons using the medium of Skype. Well, more and more eminent pro musicians are offering lessons using Skype, as it offers them another income stream. 
From my perspective as a student,  this medium allows direct access to fine teachers and performers worldwide without having to leave the comfort my own home. My experience of taking lessons has been most useful but one does have to bear in mind the variable quality of video and sound, therefore I have only arranged the lessons after carefully studying that teacher's methods and ideas first. The point here is that I prepare for the lesson with clear objectives in mind, for example confirmation of a particular technique or method.

Feast of Trumpet Playing
Hakan Hardenberger will be performing tomorrow evening in Glasgow with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and my teacher, Mark O'Keefe will be interviewing him before the show. I have my ticket booked and am excited about this opportunity to hear one of the great trumpet performers. Post-concert Mark and his colleague, Hedley Benson, will be performing as well, so it really is an evening not to be missed.

Diary
I am currently playing the Haydn concerto in rehearsals with Edinburgh Chamber Orchestra, in preparation for the performance by Tom Poulson, who is a very fine young pro player based in Glasgow. Concert repertoire that I've played over the last few days has included Cesar Franck's Symphony, Rimsky-Korsakoff Overture and some Italian choral trumpet playing.  

My Norwegian trumpeter pal, Olaf Brattegard, has just been gallivanting off to Holland with a pro trumpet player friend to advise him on the purchase of a brand new flugelhorn. They've been playing Adams flugels and I wanted them to try Van Laar horns as well but apparently they didn't have time. Actually the Van Laar site is beautiful to view - their flugels have actually been designed by an architect.

It's a fact that most UK brass instrument retailers cannot afford to stock the amazing range of horns from bespoke craft manufacturers, I guess due to stockholding costs. Basically you can only find Yamaha, Bach and  B&S in many stores - ofcourse these are all very fine instruments.

We could do with a Guitar Guitar trumpet version superstore - Edinburgh would be fine for me.  Or we need a new business model that could facilitate offering a much wider choice. My friend, Bristol trumpeter Trevor Jones, has one of the widest selections of instruments here in the UK.