Last Stop, Carnegie Hall: New York Philharmonic Trumpeter William Vacchiano

Chapter 5: Pedagogical Methods

67 Chapter FIVE Pedagogical Methods F Vacchiano’s teaching career spanned seven decades as an instructor at The Juilliard school (1935–2002), Manhattan school of Music (1937–1999), Mannes College of Music (1937–1983), Queens College (1970–1973, 1991–1994), north Carolina school of the arts (1973– 1976), and Columbia teachers College.1 in addition to his tenure at these renowned music schools, he instructed many students at his home in Flushing, new York, from 1935 to 2005. Vacchiano estimated he privately taught over 2,000 students during his entire career.2 Vacchiano’s professional teaching and playing careers began simultaneously when he joined the new York philharmonic as third trumpet (and assistant principal) at the age of twenty-three. Due to the declining health of his former teacher, Max schlossberg, Vacchiano was appointed to the faculty of The Juilliard school. Teaching Style The teaching style Vacchiano employed during his career was strikingly similar to the style learned during his studies with Max schlossberg , focusing primarily on orchestral style, transposition, and the rudiments of playing the trumpet.Weekly lessons were comprised of studies from three main method books: arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet, saint-Jacome’s Grand Method for Trumpet or Cornet, and 68 Last stop, Carnegie HaLL sachse’s 100 Studies for Trumpet. in addition to these materials, Vacchiano frequently composed exercises specifically addressing the student ’s weaknesses. He eventually compiled these exercises into various étude books.3 The general approach in Vacchiano’s teaching was very simple: build the strongest and most complete foundation possible to prepare the student for any and every situation. This foundation was developed by drilling the student on the basics of arpeggios, scales, transposition, articulation, and style. Malcolm Mcnab, a foremost Los angeles studio musician, commented,“if you mastered everything he assigned you, you would be an incredible technician!”4 a typical first lesson with Vacchiano was very much the same for everyone. it did not matter if you were a professional or an amateur; he put every student through his paces to expose specific strengths and weaknesses. initially, he checked the student’s tone quality by having him or her play the simple exercises on page 40 (fig. 5.1) in the arban method. Fig. 5.1 after assessing the tone, he turned to page 73 to check the low register (g major scales) (fig. 5.2). Fig. 5.2 Vacchiano then proceeded to check lip flexibility on page 44 (fig. 5.3). 69 PEDAGOGICAL METHODS Fig. 5.3 Beginning on page 155 (fig. 5.4), the student’s triple and double tonguing were tested. Fig. 5.4 The chord studies on pages 142–151 (fig. 5.5) determined the understanding of chord structure and harmony. Fig. 5.5 Scales and various articulation patterns were examined both in the Arban and Saint-Jacome methods. The interval studies beginning on page 125 of the Arban (fig. 5.6) were used for ear training and flexibility .5 Fig. 5.6 70 Last stop, Carnegie HaLL in addition to playing these exercises at the suggested tempi, Vacchiano advised that in order to develop the proper orchestral weight and heaviness of tone, these pages be practiced at an extremely slow speed with each note maintaining a consistent timbre in all registers. Finally, the lesson was rounded-out with sight-reading and transposition work from various étude books. each student had a unique introduction into Vacchiano’s pedagogy and personality, oftentimes mixed with both humor and seriousness. al Ligotti, professor emeritus of trumpet at the University of georgia, recalls how poignant Vacchiano could be while making a specific point: For my first lesson i had prepared two études the best i could, one from arban and one from saint-Jacome. after playing about the first three-quarters of the arban étude, he stopped me. i will never forget what happened next: he reached into his pocket and took out a nickel (in those days, it only cost a nickel to ride the subway). He flipped it into the air and it landed on the music stand. He said, “You see that nickel? With that nickel and the way you play, you could ride the subway! You’re playing all these little notes and they don’t mean anything. play a C major scale in quarter-notes in one octave from low C to middle C at mm=72.” i played them and he...