Brass And Mutes

Some years ago Jimmy Ford (trumpet teacher) was on staff at the University of Western Ontario.  (Music Faculty) I'm not sure of his responsibilities during those years but teaching trumpet assuredly was one of them.  He also conducted the U. W. O. Concert band from time to time. 

The general depth of musicianship at that University during that era was pretty impressive. It was a hub of activity and the teachers had a lot to do with this enthusiasm.

If you were working towards a degree in music certainly majoring in Composition would be a challenging undertaking.  Acquiring the technical skills of writing has never been a guarantee that one would develop into a competent composer. Someone once remarked about the creative aspects of composing, after being subjected to a dose of atonal writing, "It should be music and not arithmetic."   

A musician friend of mine (John McIroy) and I decided to attend a school concert at the University one night. It was rather a unique program since the students wrote the music and the faculty would play the pieces.  That night Jimmy Ford was playing principal in a brass ensemble (more likely about seven instruments). He was the one that invited us to that performance. He said that we might find it entertaining and informative.

Well, John and I hurried to the auditorium but arrived late and had to sit almost at the back.  I can't remember who conducted this one particular composition however it was written for the brass ensemble that we came to hear.  As they started into this piece it became apparent this wasn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. Let's just say the music was "unusual."

Actually, both John and I found it somewhat humorous and we just smiled then we started to snicker. It didn't have any melodic structure to it what so ever. It was just a bunch of "stab" notes "thrown" here and there. This composition, no doubt inspired by this young student, was like a Jackson Pollock painting.  There is a saying, "Throw enough paint on the wall, some of it will stick." Actually the original saying wasn't referring to paint.

For the conductor to get enthused about the emotional aspects of the piece was a challenge.  The more the ensemble continued with this abstraction the more John and I found it less than rewarding.   We had concluded that nothing could save this confusing bit of prescribed cacophony other than the last note.

Just as we thought everything was lost, we saw (from where we sat) what looked like a black Conga drum being hoisted up and disappearing somewhere. Then it dawned on us. It was a mute. A tuba mute no less.  What? We then realized there must be such a thing and we were seeing one for the first time.  Then we wondered, how could a tuba mute "save" this "music"?

Well, we both lost it and bolted out of the auditorium into the hall trying to contain ourselves. It was embarrassing.  I later re-searched if there was such a thing as a bona fide tuba mute and when it might be needed. There was and apparently there was only one piece of literature at that time that asked for a tuba mute. It was Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. However this was London and this wasn't Berlioz.

I guess the young would-be composer wanted to be the second one to use this sophisticated "sound."  No doubt he felt it was his "statement."  So much for modern music. You wonder, "Is this the way John Williams got started?"

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