One practice that greatly contributed to my musical development as a teenager was driving to nearby music stores and looking through the available sheet music. Back then Mississippi was still granting drivers licenses to fifteen-year-olds, so I started doing this just before my sophomore year in high school and continued through college and beyond, at least until most sheet music shopping moved online. Wright Music Company in Jackson had by far the best collection of advanced materials for low brass among the local stores in those days, and I still have the copies of the Hindemith Sonata and Creston Fantasy that I purchased after thumbing through the file drawer of trombone solos and finding them there. Both pieces were far beyond me then but in subsequent years I performed both using those same copies I bought from Mr. Wright. Mississippi Music had a respectable selection of sheet music back then in the old store on Robinson Road, and Ball Music in Pearl always kept a few things in stock, particularly method books.
One visit to Ball Music remains a very powerful memory over thirty years later. Although I can’t remember exactly when it occurred, I remember what I bought, what Mr. Ball said to me, and what I was thinking at the time. I also remember how foolish I was, and how right Mr. Ball was. My teacher had sent me there with instructions to purchase my first copy of Arban’s Famous Method for Trombone, that hefty volume originally for cornet that will be familiar to readers of SBO+. The Arban book is a treasure trove of exercises that provides endless resources for developing technical skills in serious brass players and has been held in high regard since its first publication in 1864.
“Teenager Micah” didn’t know any of that, though. I had been instructed to get this book (and warned that it was large and somewhat expensive), so I set about getting a copy. When I walked in and asked Mr. Ball about the book, he walked over to the display where it was, handed me a copy, and said to me “Young man, you will use this book for the rest of your life.” My first thought was full of teenage bravado: “Yeah, right, old man. I’m gonna pass this one off just like I did all the other method books I’ve had.” Happily, I was a polite teenager who had been taught to show respect to adults, so I didn’t voice that thought aloud. I thanked Mr. Ball, paid for the book, and went home to practice using my ill-fated folding music stand, which did not long survive having such a massive tome placed on it.
In my defense, my experience with method books to that point was limited to the old First Division Band Method, the Rubank Elementary Method, the two volumes of Gerald Bordner’s Practical Studies for Trombone, and exercises we played during band rehearsals. With all of these I would simply pass off exercises and move ahead. Repeating exercises was rare and seemed unnecessary. I simply didn’t have a category for practice materials that would yield benefits from repeated study over many years. I soon would, though, as Mr. Ball’s words to me have proven to be profoundly correct since that evening in his little store. Not only has repeated practice of the Arban book been beneficial for my trombone playing, but its studies were a big part of helping me to develop my doubling chops on euphonium, then bass trombone, and finally tuba. When I was preparing to record my first bass trombone album I spent hours playing Arban exercises down one and two octaves, both to strengthen my low register and to build stamina in my left arm for holding up that heavy instrument during long recording sessions. While I vary the amount of playing along with students that I do during their weekly lessons, I rarely leave my instrument on its stand when Arban is on the agenda. I almost always play along, not only to provide an example for the student but also for the benefit I will gain from another trip through those exercises.
These days few brick-and-mortar music stores keep substantial amounts of sheet music in stock. To be sure, the online stores have both better selection and better pricing than local businesses could ever match, and the efficiency and convenience of a quick online catalog search to find and purchase (and even download!) a desired item is wonderful. Still, there’s something about thumbing through filing cabinets in the back corner of a store and discovering great music that my students today will never know in the way that I did, and that is a loss worth mourning.
And so is the loss of wise words spoken by an experienced music store owner to an ignorant kid who has no idea what a great treasure he has just acquired.
