Cleveland fills a trumpet gap
OrchestrasThe ailing Cleveland Institute of Music has announced replacements for Michael Sachs, head of brass, who quit in disgust two months ago.
The long-established Michael Miller will lead trumpet teaching from now on. He will be augmented by Billy Hunter of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, together with Matthew Ernst of the Milwaukee Symphony and Master Sergeant Amy McCabe of the US Marine Band.
So much for the announcement. All together, they will spend a total of five weeks at CIM during the Spring semester. No real substitute for Sachs.
The Marine is from the President’s Own part of Marine Corps music. You don’t get to the group unless you have exceptional talent.
There are a number of rehearsals of the Marine Band on YouTube. They are an exceptional group.
The USA is the only country in the world where a major conservatory would hire a trumpeter from a military band as a professor, but it makes sense. The budget for military bands in the USA is three times larger than the entire NEA and probably about 10 times what the NEA spends on classical music. For context, it’s also interesting to consider that the USA has killed over 4 million people since World War II in illegal unjustified wars. We see where our money goes and how it results even in our daily lives in classical music. Even mentioning these absurdities can make one a kind of Public Enemy.
The RCM and RBC both have Alan Thomas (RAF Central Band, ex BBC, CBSO) on their roster as a trumpet professor.
Amy McCabe is also exceptional, and the audition process for the USMC band is rigorous. Look her up.
Interesting. I’m not surprised that the UK is the exception–the only European country besides Russia that didn’t evolve a strong anti-militarist stance after WWII. (Also, the UK conservatories specifically have brass band study programs which is part of the reason there is an exception.)
I’m familiar with McCabe and she is an example that further serves my point, that musicians of that caliber have to go into the military where they are soldiers first and musicians second, instead of being able to find jobs in civilian orchestras. It’s grotesque. And note how this absurdity goes right past brainwashed Americans.
How do you know the UK is the only exception? Have you actually investigated the military bands and their personnel of other European countries? I doubt it. Why not start with Germany and the military bands of the Bundeswehr (look up the Robert Schumann Hochschule).
It’s simply a matter of logic. Germany, for example, has about 130 full time orchestras and 83 opera houses all owned and operated by the state. Under circumstances like these, musicians do not go into the military where they are soldiers first and musicians second, and where the severe disadvantages of military life are well-known. The situation is similar for the rest of Europe. If any exceptions can be found where military band personnel also works as professors, they would be rare to the extreme. So let’s not live in some sort of Shangri-La fantasies.
It’s not just ‘a military band’, winning a job in the President’s Own is a BFD, those they’re highly competitive auditions and the winners are first rate musicians. In fact it’s one of the few gigs in the US that allows the musicians to pay the bills. The snobbery is a bit much to take.
That’s exactly my point. What sort of country sends such a large ratio of its best musicians into military bands? Also astounding is how this concern passes right by Americans. How clueless can people be?
Such a large ratio of musicians…? You have NO IDEA of what you are talking about. You are the problem. You offer nothing of help or insight into any situation. You are wasting space.
Do you ever take a day off, Osborne?
There are a number of prominent orchestral trumpet players in the US who came up through the military music program. Several that come to mind quickly are Tom Hooten, John Hagstrom, and Robert Sullivan. I’m sure there are many more. The bands based in DC typically have some elite players. As for the rest of your comment concerning the military industrial complex, you are an idiot of the highest order.
Yes, further proof of how the US military siphons off elite musicians to a degree found in no other country. It’s also notable that these musicians flee to civilian orchestras if they can, though the chances in the USA are extremely limited.
It’s interesting to look at the thumb reactions in this thread. One sees a manifestation of the close relationships between Western classical music and militarism–the regimentation, authoritarianism, and the steep hierarchies that define both worlds. There is no other culture whose music is so closely related to the practices of militarism. This foundations of this musical culture stem back to antiquity. I think this fondness of militarism, nationalism, patriarchy, and ethnocentricity is generally seen in the mentality of people drawn toward Western classical music to this day, as the comments on SD illustrate on a daily basis.
I feel sorry for you, Osborne – truly. Such deep unhappiness. Your endless, empty, impotent virtue-signaling has led you on a road to nowhere- and I think deep down, you know that.
Hoping for the best for the Maestro, a wonderful conductor, and a very kind, good person.
Congrats Mike! Will deserved.
Congratulations Amy!
Your sound makes you special.
The appointment of a Marine Band member is extremely interesting.
Does anyone know if any other players of the top military bands have also held teaching posts at major music schools, while still in the military?
Not to worry, they will work it out. jw
Ernst is excellent.
Principal trumpet of the LA Phil started with the US Marine Band…what’s the problem?
Insane US militarism that has killed four million people since WWII in illegal, unjustified warss combine with a massive neglect of the arts. Not that those four million killed brown people or the arts mean anything to Americans.
Dead brown, yellow, black or white people don’t mean anything to Mr. Osborne’s leftist pals either except as a stick to beat the US with. Nor do the arts mean anything except as an agitprop vehicle.
True about the right and left, though by international standards, the left side of the aisle in the USA is actually a mainstream conservative party called the Democrats.
just class snobbery amongst some.
Going from one performance post to another is not unusual.
Going from a performance post to a teaching post is what many elite performers don’t do well.
I hope all three of the elite performers mentioned above are being chosen for proven teaching chops.
Michael Miller is an exceptional musician, trumpeter, teacher and person. I’m certain that Mike and his colleagues will do a fine job teaching their students. There were fine trumpet teachers before Michael Sachs and there are and will be fine trumpet teachers after Michael Sachs. Things change.
I’m sure they are all fine players (I went to school with MM so I have my own opinions there) but the question is will they draw students to the institution?
Getting a spot in The President’s Own is THE gig on the band side of the fence. Every single member of that ensemble could win a job anywhere at any time. Back in the dark ages, (when I was in music school), going into the service bands was frowned upon. The benefit package alone is better than what new hires can get in the US’s top orchestras. As far as replacing Sachs goes. There is no replacing Mike Sachs. The epitome of class on and off of the stage. CIM screwed the pooch on that one.
No, the large majority of the DC band members cannot get a job anywhere, anytime. That’s why they went into military bands. Another dose of reality for the militaristic flag-wavers here.
Mike is fabulous. I could be wrong but I believe he studied with Sachs many years ago.
How is this even newsworthy?? Music schools have guest teachers all the time with no media announcements to “cue the fanfares.” These 3 (fantastic) players are each just coming to teach for a week or so when Miller is away on tour with the Cleveland Orchestra. Amy is teaching for one day.
The way CIM is announcing makes it sounds like they’re being appointed to faculty. CIM’s using them as publicity pawns in an attempt to shift the narrative.
https://www.cim.edu/aboutcim/news/cims-trumpet-department-welcomes-influx-top-talent-spring-2024
You don´t seem to know much about the american brass scene….President´s Own has always been a talent factory of great brass players…Tom Hooten and John Hagstrom coming to mind.
Many of the finest brass players in the US have spent time playing professionally in a military wind ensemble, and many of those players have also spent significant time teaching at the collegiate level or playing in premier chamber ensembles or symphony orchestras.
Winning a seat in any of the DC bands is easily on par with a symphony orchestra in terms of prestige, and Amy McCabe is the principal trumpet of the President’s Own, which means she can flat-out play, period. And if you don’t believe that, perhaps ask the brass players of the Philadelphia Orchestra (perhaps you’ve heard of them), where she subbed in recently.
The pros know: either you got chops or you don’t. Don’t let some random, arbitrary hierarchy of music determine your perception of someone’s actual talent level.
The DC bands are high status jobs, but no, they do not have the same status as musicians in our top 40 symphony orchestras. And in fact, if those military band members can win a job in a top 40 orchestra, they almost invariably leave the military. That’s the plain fact.