Malvern Reflection

As a young trumpeter in middle and high school I was oblivious to the proper techniques to effectively play the trumpet, however I was foruntate enough to begin taking lesson for my final two years in high school. As a result I began studying with Dr. Gary Malvern who serves as professor of trumpet and music history at Furman Unversity as well as co-principal trumpet of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Malvern was critical figure in my development as trumpet player as well as a musican. Consequently, he taught me how to practice and what a daily practice should look like. We spent a great deal on playing fundamentals and learning which method books should be used and how to properly used them a my daily practice. Dr. Malvern designed
Malvern prescribed was cricital to my development me as student who knew very little about proper practice techniques. Consequetly, this strucute elimanated many questions and distraction that come from a young student practice time that mostly includes wondering what to practice and self-doubt. Each lesson Dr. Malvern had a formula that we follow most lessons. After playing a duet he would have me play through my fundamentals in the same order in which he prescribed me to practice. This help reinforced the importance of daily fundamentals. At times he would model the exersies so that I could the sound concept he wanted in my head and begin working on matching sound and pitch. Although I was a young student with very little experience, Dr. Malvern did not used that as an excuse to be easy on me in terms of being cricitcal in lessons. At times he was demanding in terms of making sure I knew my fundmental and assigned etudes. Even though he was hard on at times, he was also nuturing in a sense. For every improvement and accomplishment I made as his student he showed great pride. He seemed heavily invested in my success both in terms of playing etudes well within lessons as well as competitions I