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| There will be trumpets Army Band scheduled to play at winter Olympics By Michael Norris Pentagram assistant editor The U.S. Army Band's own Herald Trumpets will play during opening ceremonies at the Olympics Winter Games next week in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 17-piece unit has been practicing this week in preparation for the festivities and will departure Tuesday. After the plane touches down, the group will literally hit the ground running. They'll proceed directly to the Mormon Tabernacle Hall to check out the acoustics for a concert the Herald Trumpets will perform the day after opening ceremonies. This will feature the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, an orchestra conducted by John Williams and guest vocalist Frederica von Stada. While musicians in the Herald Trumpets are accustomed to performing before dignitaries at U.S. State Department dinners or VIPs in the White House, many said participating in the Olympics is a special event. Staff Sgt. Julian Ayers, who plays 1st tenor herald trumpet, has been in the Army three years and with the Trumpets a year. "I'm excited. I've never done anything like this before," he said, relating how he did get to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Special Olympics in Alaska last year. A couple other Herald Trumpets have played the International Olympics before, including group leader Sgt. Maj. Bram Smith, who has played with the Trumpets for 22 years and whose father was one of the co-founders of the ensemble. Smith, who plays e-flat soprano, played during the '84 Olympics in Los Angeles with the Herald Trumpets, and in '76 in Montreal, Canada, as a civilian. Master Sgt. Todd Baldwin, who plays first tenor herald trumpet and is also the group's producer, has been with the Herald Trumpets 17 years. He played at the '96 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga. "It's great to be a part of history," he said. The Herald Trumpets are scheduled to perform live during Olympic opening ceremonies Feb. 8, but a recording will also be made to be played for delayed broadcast. The Herald Trumpets typically prerecord some of the material they are scheduled to perform in case conditions, such as cold weather, aren't conducive for a performance. "If it's below freezing — which it very well might be — valves on the trumpets can stick," said Smith, explaining how the moisture in respiration produces condensation in a wind instrument. Describing his instrument, Smith said it's "like a regular trumpet that has been straightened out." Herald trumpets became popular as ceremonial music during Elizabethan times. They were used to provide court music in announcing the arrival of royalty. Smith said the herald trumpet is "quite a bit different from the regular trumpet," which he also plays. "The bell [of the horn] is a lot further away so you hear it differently." Because of their sound register, tenor and bass herald trumpets are played by trombonists, Smith said, only instead of using a slide they press valves. U.S. Army Band Historian Sgt. 1st Class Mike Yoder, who plays 1st b-flat soprano trumpet, has played with the Herald Trumpets for 11 years. He said the group has been rehearsing a set list of music that includes: "Olympic Fanfare, ""Bugler's Dream," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and Richard Rogers "Climb Every Mountain." "Ruffles and Flourishes" and "Hail to the Chief" are also being prepared in expectation of an appearance by President George W. Bush. At this point, the musicians don't know whether they'll be able to catch any of the Olympic events. A rehearsal Tuesday morning in Fort Myer's Brucker Hall had a relaxed jovial tone as conductor Lt. Col. Tony Cason led the 13 trumpets and two percussionists through selected musical passages. "You've got three beats to get up and three beats to get down," he tells the ensemble as they run through "Ruffles and Flourishes". After a tweak here and there, he says, "Okay, let's put that one away. We don't want to wear it out." After the Herald Trumpets run through another piece, Cason tells the musicians of some fine-tuning being added to an arrangement the next day. "I just wanted to let you know there're going to be some high sweet parts coming in tomorrow." |
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