It was Isaac Hodapp’s second trip to Nashville, Tenn., as a trumpet player.
He was one of 140 students selected by the National Association for Music Education to be a part of this year’s All National Honor Band. Hodapp was one of 17 trumpet players chosen from across the U.S. and one of two from Washington. The association also selects students for All National orchestra, mixed choir and jazz band. The students gathered from Oct. 26 to 29 to work with music educators honored for their own work. Mark Camphouse, professor of music at George Mason University, was the honor band conductor.
“It was an amazing experience, playing with people with the same and higher level as me,” Hodapp said.
A junior at Camas High School, Hodapp performs with both the concert and marching bands. He said he enjoys both sides that are brought out in the trumpet.
“At the pep rally, football or basketball games, the trumpet needs to be one of the brightest and loudest sounds (on the field). In (a concert) band, it’s about blending in to the sound of the other instruments,” the 16-year-old said.
He attributes his musical aspirations to his parents, Jeannette and Philip Hodapp.
“I was exposed to music by my parents, growing up listening to a lot of cool trumpet lines.”
He picked up the trumpet in the fifth grade. His favorite style is jazz, he said, especially the big-band sound, with its rhythms and high notes.
At the end of their Nashville stay, the honorees performed at the historic Grand Ole Opry. The program featured “The Shining City,” a tribute piece for President Ronald Reagan, Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Jesters” and “Altitude” by high school student Vaibhav Mohanty of South Carolina. Mohanty’s composition was the winner in the association’s student composers competition.
“Learning an unpublished work, it was hard, not having any reference material or background, but it was a really fun piece to play,” Hodapp said.
The ensemble had to hammer out different snags as they brought the piece to life for the first time and work on different sections’ syncopation to sync perfectly throughout the piece. Luckily, the composer was there during practice.
“You don’t really think of composers as actually there when you’re looking at a piece of music,” Hodapp said. “Hummel, Tchaikovsky, they’re either very, very old or not around anymore. (Mohanty) was an amazing help.”
The historic venue itself was amazing, he said, with acoustics that seemed to absorb sound on a much larger scale compared to a traditional concert hall. It wasn’t all practice, though, as the students hung out and played games with each other, learning from each other.
“One of the biggest things I picked up from this experience was from a trumpet friend who sat next to me. He taught me a whole different embouchure to play. I’ve been noodling with it,” he said.
Embouchure is the use of facial muscles and lips on a trumpet’s mouthpiece to produce different sounds. This new way of playing, said Hodapp, makes the trumpet sound “a lot more dark, a lot more mellow, which is going to be amazing for concert season.”
Hodapp said he is already looking forward to performing with the All Northwest Band in February in Spokane.
Bits ‘n’ Pieces appears Fridays and Saturdays. If you have a story you’d like to share, email bits@columbian.com
