The King's Brass consists of three trumpeters, three trombonists, a tuba, percussionist, and keyboardist. Led by Tim Zimmerman who has led the group for 35 years, they performed for two hours, playing hymn arrangements, contemporary Christian music, pop, classical, and big band music with flair and technical expertise that had the audience on its feet for three encores. I am amazed whenever I listen to an individual or a group that performs at such a level, enthralled at how people can move their fingers so fast, with such precision, and in perfect rhythm and harmony with each other. They started out with a fanfare worthy of royalty, and ended with Glenn Miller's "In the Mood," and LeRoy Anderson's "Trumpeter's Holiday," both of which require a level of skill achieved by only a few.
When I was in fifth grade, I began taking saxophone lessons. I can still remember that first afternoon when I dragged that tenor sax home, assembled it in the spare bedroom and let loose with a "blaaat" that would have stopped an amorous bull moose in his tracks. I practiced diligently, developing pretty good tone, but never able to wiggle my fingers fast enough to attain first chair, even though there was only one other tenor sax player in the band. I ended up on baritone sax in the jazz band, and bassoon in the concert band, orchestra, and woodwind quintet. The quirky nature of the bassoon appealed to me, and although my folks bought me a 1964 Selmer Mark VI tenor, the Rolls Royce of saxophones, I was never able to do it justice.
What I did learn was an appreciation for good music. Even with my hearing loss, I can pick out the different instruments of the band, and appreciate musical nuances that unmusical people miss. Listening to music of the quality I heard tonight puts me in a quandary, suspended between a renewed determination to practice more and get better and just putting the instruments up for sale, knowing I'll never come close to attaining the kind of musical perfection demonstrated by this group tonight. No, I'll not quit; the New Horizons Band of which I am a member pushes me to do my best, even if it's not very good. I am grateful to live near Fredonia State College, with its excellent music program, including this band organized for those who never before played and for those who just want to get back into the instrument they played years ago. Music is as they say, the universal language. It is also one of God's best gifts, combining the mathematical precision of rhythm and of the scales themselves with a breadth of emotional expression that combines both hemispheres of the brain as few disciplines can do. Tonight we experienced the best of this universal language and praised God for it.
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