The Timber Creek Wind Symphony Trumpet section has been named a semi-finalist at the National Trumpet Competition. They will compete in the next round on March 8 at the University of North Texas.
The ensemble spent roughly three to six hours a week rehearsing their audition music since Nov. working with Danny Brock, a trumpet private lesson teacher for Keller ISD, to prepare their piece. Brock, among many other lesson teachers, spends a lot of time teaching students all over the district to be the best musicians they can be.
“It was a very long and tedious process which has included before and after school rehearsals every day with countless hours of repetition and hard work,” said junior Austin Bell.
The Timber Creek Ensemble along with the Byron Nelson Small Ensemble are both the first high school groups to advance to the semi finals at the National Trumpet Competition. The Timber Creek group will be competing against 25 other ensembles, all of which are either college or collegiate level groups.
“I am very proud to be part of a group with such amazing musicians and excited to open the door of opportunity not only for our high school ensemble, but also for many more high school ensembles to compete at the collegiate level,” said Bell.
In order to enter the competition, they had to record a video of a live performance.
“[The recording] felt like another rehearsal in a way because there wasn’t an audience,” said senior Tanner Price. “It was definitely a wake up call though because it wasn’t sounding near as advanced and mature as we wanted it to. The performance at Oklahoma City University was amazing, though. We had an amazing performance, sounded better than many of the universities there, and received countless complements from some of trumpet’s biggest names.”
The piece they have prepared is entitled Seven Tapas for Seven Trumpets by Edward Gillingham. This was composed in and is comprised of seven short movements of varying character exploiting the range and timbre of a trumpet ensemble – Fanfare, Song, Fuguing Tune, Recitative, Trumpet Tune, Aria and Scherzo a la Rush.
“I’m extremely proud of all the work we’ve put into the piece and how much the sense of family in the ensemble has grown because of it, but none of it would have been possible without Mr. Brock,” said Price. “He’s an incredible performer, teacher, mentor, and has pushed and challenged all the trumpets to get us to where we are.”
The group has worked tirelessly for months, and this is an incredible accomplishment for them and for the band, as well.
“We bicker and argue over really trivial stuff all the time, but what family doesn’t? I’m so glad I’ve had the opportunity to experience all of these amazing things with them,” said Price. “We’re very much a team, and without even one player, the team falls apart. These guys have been a major source of joy my senior year, and we’ve made memories that will last a lifetime.”
Members of this ensemble include: Austin Bell (11), Brendan Chucci (12), Brendan Lorenz (10), Tanner Price (12), Gage Reynolds (11), Nathan Smith (12) and Jacob Thomas (10).
