Frank Hosticka and Jeff Nussbaum recently visited Metropolitan Museum of Art musical instrument curator Bradley Strauchen to examine a fascinating coiled 19^th century instrument by Jahn of Paris.

Bradley has called this instrument a coiled cornet and presented a cogent taxonomic argument for her choice in an essay available to read here: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/824266

A compact wooden case is filled with the instrument along with a multitude of crooks and bits.

The Queen has approved the award of Her Majesty’s Medal for Music for the year 2021 to John Wallace CBE.

An internationally renowned Scottish trumpet soloist, composer and educator, John Wallace is the seventeenth recipient of the award, following the celebrated organist Thomas Trotter, who received The Queen's Medal for Music 2020.

John Wallace started playing the trumpet when he was seven years old, and at sixteen, toured Europe with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. His professional career spans over five decades, playing with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra.

John has dedicated much of his career to the promotion of arts education. He served as Head of the Brass Faculty at the Royal Academy of Music in London, before becoming Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, the Leeds Conservatoire, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

As well as his career as soloist, John Wallace is the founder of the Wallace Collection, a brass ensemble currently based in St Andrews. The Wallace Collection has toured all over the world, and is now based in Scotland as a partner of the St Andrews Music Participation (StAMP) Project, which has given 150 youngsters across Fife the opportunity to start learning a brass instrument since the start of the pandemic. John also convenes the Music Education Partnership Group, which worked to secure free instrumental tuition in Scottish state schools.

The Queen’s Medal for Music was established in 2005 at the suggestion of former Master of The Queen's Music, the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. The Medal is awarded annually to an outstanding individual or group of musicians who have had a major influence on the musical life of the nation.

The nominating process for the award is overseen by a committee chaired by the Master of The Queen's Music, Judith Weir. The committee meet annually to discuss their nominees before submitting their recommendation to The Queen for approval.

Commenting on the award, Judith Weir said:

“Following his stellar career as a trumpet player, John Wallace transformed arts education during his stewardship of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His creativity and energy remain an inspiration and example to everyone in the musical world.”

On hearing of the award, John Wallace said:

“I am honoured and humbled to accept this award. I work with many teams of inspiring musicians across every genre of music and aspect of music education in Scotland. I just light the touch-paper and stand back. This award is recognition of the indomitable spirit of those musicians.”

It's here!

The inaugural edition of Historic Brass Today, an all-new publication of the Historic Brass Society to be published two times a year, bringing you news items from the historic brass community around the globe, articles on a wide variety of topics, interviews, instrument reports, reviews, and even a cartoon!

This month we have an article on the Akron Band Conspiracy of 1899, by Bryan Proksch, a visit to The Bate Collection by David Jarratt-Knock, an interview with Klezmer trombonist Dan Blacksberg by Liza Malamut, the Sackbut Renaissance in Japan by Motoaki Kashino, an interview with Bob Barclay by David Wharton, and a conference report on the HBS Cross Currents conference last Spring by Joanna Ross Hersey.  We have columnists Chris Belluscio on an orchestral trumpet by J.G. Kersten and a column on activities by early music amateurs by Susan Wilcox. Jean-Francois Madeuf discusses trumpet projects in Paris and Versailles plus reports on concerts and courses and several reviews.

In addition, Historic Brass Today (HBT) is also our first multi-lingual publication with an article in Spanish on the history of Banda music in Mexico by Jimena Palacios Uribe!

Though future issues of Historic Brass Today will be a benefit of membership, requiring users to log in to view it and get their copy, we are so proud and excited about HBT that we are making the first issue available to all!

Available on the Publications menu or click here.

The Historic Brass Society is happy to share goings-on in the historic brass world to our followers on our social media accounts, including Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to submit information about past or future projects you think would be relevant to our audience, including but not limited to:
• Concerts / Events
• Videos of performances
• CD releases
• Educational workshops
• Publications / Podcasts
• News / Announcements

For more information, Submissions to Our Social Media Accounts.

The online edition of the NY Times has been running a series of articles exploring the beauty of many different types of music and instruments with short blurbs by leading composers, writers and musicians. The latest in this series is on the trumpet and accompanied by short audio clips. Among the excerpts chosen were the "Itrada" by Honegger played by Hakan Hardenberger, Terrence Blanchard chose his own performance of his "Funeral Dirge". Louis Armstrong would, of course be on the list and he was chosen twice. A NY Times writer chose a 1947 recording of "Dear Old Southland" rather than the famous virtuosic recordings from the late 1920s and early 1930s. The second selection was Armstrong's 1929 recording of "Black and Blue." Joan Tower chose her own composition "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, No. 5" performed by the American Brass Quintet. Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith chose Miles Davis's "Calyspso Frelimo". The Post Horn solo from Mahler's 3rd played by John Ware with Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic was another great choice. Perhaps a surprising vote was "I had the Craziest Dream" played by Kenny Dorham. No list of great trumpet music could be without "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from the Messiah and the recording selected was by Dunedin Consort with Chris Dicken doing the honors. The conductor Leonard Slatkin chose "Bugler's Dream" by Leo Arnaud, a piece that was commissioned by Felix Slatkin. This piece has gained universal acclaim as "The Olympic Fanfare." Two more surprising choices were Witness" as performed by Ron Miles and Johnny Coles playing Sunken Treasure"  by Gil Evan. A transcription of an oboe concert by Marcello as interpreted by Tine Thing Helseth on piccolo trumpet was on the list.  Susan Slaughter's recording of "A Trumpeter's Lullaby" was next and the last selection was Markus Stockhausen's performance of his father's "Michaels Reise um die Erde".

Now, if you don't end up loving the trumpet after hearing those wonderful recording, well, ... I just don't know.

Jeff Nussbaum