Greetings all!
I am a comeback player after a 17 year layoff. I was a soprano bugler with the "Commandant's Own" U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps from 1986-1989, and served as a trumpet player with the 267th Washington D.C. Army National Guard Band from 1993-1995.
In 2012, I got the trumpet bug again and started gigging with a R&B/Jazz combo and since I had never taken private lessons before, I decided it would be a good idea to do so! So I contacted a very impressive trumpeter who gave lessons online. Unfortunately, he was so inflexible that we never did a single session- he got upset with me and blocked me from sending him emails because I didn't send him a clip of myself quick enough...I was shocked!!!
Several months later I met Jeff Purtle at ITG while testing the Marcinkiewicz CG and started taking online lessons with him a couple months later- no PRESSURE at all!!! So I have been with Jeff almost a year and a half now and the entire time he has been accommodating to my very busy job serving as a Department of the Army staff officer! I find the lessons very challenging but very rewarding!
My range has increased a little over an octave since we started! I learned about toungue position years ago from reading Claude Gordon's Systematic Approach but I did not truly reap benefits until I studied it within the structured Claude Gordon method of instruction that Jeff provides. It's structured in a manner that encourages a student to explore the full range of the trumpet- not just the upper register!
This was key for me because it made me far more conscious of what my toungue and airstream is doing regardless of whether I'm playing double pedal C, high C or triple C!!! I'm retiring from the Army this year and I pledge to start practicing at least 2 hours a day and I can wait to play in a big-band again!!!!!!! Much appreciation to you Jeff and happy practice to all!!!!!
Robert Perry
Washington, DC
Program Anaylyst
US Army Staff G3/5/7 Pentagon
