PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE   Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Every trumpet player is familiar with the horse call that is at the ending of SLEIGH RIDE a popular composition by Leroy Anderson. It's not something a trumpet player practises.   After all you don't get to play this popular song except at Christmas time, that is if you are lucky or unlucky to have this bit on your part. In any case, wind ensembles the world over play this number and the audiences love it.

Getting this sound effect (horse call) to be realistic is sometimes a challenge. However, sometimes just close to what a horse whinny sounds like is usually good enough and audiences all think, "Isn't that clever."  The trumpet player wallows in this sudden exposure and appreciation by the audience.   (It's his equivalent of "fifteen minutes of fame.")

This musical gimmick may rankle the die-hard classical trumpet purist who has trained to be a successful professional on that instrument and has practised scales, long tones, interval studies and an array of Etudes for many years. Finally a trumpet "horse call" comes along and turns out to be the highlight of his or her career.

I never really got the chance to play this "horse call" in Sleighride  when I was coming through the ranks but did have the occasion to do just such a call at London's Western Fair for Frank Gorshin. (By the way Frank was best know for doing the "Riddler" in the Batman television series. He was also a fine actor / comedian and impersonator.)

Frank was one of my favourite impersonators and in his case he could actually look like the person he was impersonating. We backed other great impersonators as well at the Fair - John Byner and Rich Little. A Kirk Douglas impersonation by Gorshin was complete with stiff jaw. Burt Lancaster also had that look that people recognized. It was uncanny how Frank could twist his face to look like the person he was doing. 

Frank Gorshin's presentation at the Grand Stand at the Fair was very enjoyable. We had little short bits of music that accompanied specific actors he was introducing.  Sidney Greenstreet was heavy tom tom stomping as Greenstreet was a three hundred pounder and this bit of background lent to the entertainment value of the skit. 

During  Frank's show we had to play some kind of Country Western music that brought on John Wayne.  It was appropriate as I remember it, perhaps "I'm An Old Cow Hand." At the end of this musical interlude I had to play a "horse call" similar to Leroy Anderson's bit in "Sleighride".

Well, let me tell you, this wasn't a trumpet trying to imitate a horse but it was a horse. It was the real thing. I have to admit that I nailed it like never before. It was so realistic that it brought Frank's rendition to a stop.   He started to laugh as did the band and the rest of the audience.   He had never heard it played this realistically before on all his travels.

After regaining his composure Frank started into his John Wayne imitation and cleverly referred to the "horse call" effect as it had just happened. He said in his John Wayne drawl, (incorporating the incident into the dialogue) "It's in my saddle bag...next to my trumpet case."

Well that brought another chuckle from everyone and especially me.  So much for all the years of trumpet practise when finally one got the recognition and exposure he appreciated by just doing a "horse call.

I guess this may not come as a surprise to some that know me as I had spent considerable time on a farm in my youth.   That "farm" sound was embedded in my memory. Come to think of it, the smell of horses is also embedded in my memory.

By the way don't look for a section called "horse calls" in the Arban's World Method.

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