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In 1973 I started sixth grade. That year I also started playing trumpet and this very book was the very first book I used: the First Division Band Method by Fred Weber. We just called it “the red book.”
My brother was sorting some music that was in storage in Kansas and sent this to me along with my original blue, gold, and purple books which are the volumes that follow the red book. I remember this book very well (note my terrible handwriting on the cover), and remember playing duets out of it and the books that followed with my dad that first year. I had no music lessons of any type before sixth grade other than singing at school and church.
I switched to horn in the 9th grade. My band director, David Hodges, was a horn player and gave me a good start on the horn when I switched instruments. I think of him very often to this day.
A side-topic I would throw out there is a topic I have observed in my teaching. Among my students over the years about half started on horn and about half started on something else. Of those, about half started on trumpet like I did and the other half started on a woodwind.
It would be interesting to see a Doctoral student do a project where they looked at what instrument professional horn players started on and when. My guess is the stats would be similar to what I just outlined, but it would be interesting to know firm data on the topic. Because how you started and on what instrument certainly has an impact on your embouchure and the potential need for an embouchure change. In my case I certainly had some major work to do, which I will elaborate on further tomorrow.
