As a trumpet player, I feel it is important to be able to perform in any style or idiom.  As the demand for live performers continues to dwindle, in order to stay competitive musicians need to be well-versed in all forms of classical, jazz, popular, and even early music to a have a chance to survive as a freelance musician.  I am thankful that my teachers have all had diverse careers in music, and have taught me to be as versatile as I can be.  Visit my listening room to hear me play.

  

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Classical

 

My playing expertise is in the area of classical music.  From the time I picked up the instrument, I learned to play "classical" music.  Nowadays this entails a wide variety of styles and genres, from Renaissance and Baroque early music through familiar Classical and Romantic styles all the way to the experimental 20th century styles and beyond.  This wide range of repertoire demands a thorough knowledge of several different modern trumpets, including the standard Bb and C trumpets as well as the Eb and D trumpet, and Bb/A piccolo trumpets.  I have had experience playing in many orchestras such as the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra and Cedar Rapids Symphony in Iowa, and the Rochester Philharmonic, Mankato Symphony and Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in Minnesota.  I have played in a variety of chamber music settings, ad hoc brass ensembles as well as with the Aurora Brass Quintet as a regular member.

 

 

Back in high school I thought of myself exclusively as a "jazzer."  I played lead trumpet in the top jazz band (out of three) for two years and earned one of the five spots in the competitve Iowa All-State Jazz band as a junior.  I attended the University of Northern Iowa earning a minor in jazz studies where I performed and recorded with the prestigous UNI Jazz Band I.  During my time in Iowa I performed combo style jazz around Cedar Falls, Iowa as well as in the pit orchestra of Theatre Cedar Rapids.  Since then I have performed with the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre in Minnesota as well as with the Aurora Brass Quintet at the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis.

 

 

My secondary instrument is the cornetto, an instrument from the Renaissance and early Baroque periods.  A cornetto is similar to a recorder in that both have finger holes and are long and cylindrical.  However, a cornetto has a cup-style mouthpiece like a trumpet.  A cornetto is kind of a hyrbrid woodwind/brass instrument in that the sound comes from buzzing your lips into a cup like a trumpet, but the pitch is changed by covering and uncovering finger holes like a woodwind instrument.  The cornetto was one of the most popular instruments during the years 1500-1650.  I have played the cornetto in many university settings such as the Yale Cornetto and Sackbut Ensemble and the University of Minnesota Early Music Ensemble.  I have also performed locally at the Schubert Club in St. Paul Minnesota, with the Gregorian Singers and Consortium Carrisimi.  I have been in demand as a cornetto teacher across the midwest, having given masterclasses on the history, literature and technique of the cornetto at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, University of Northern Iowa and the University of Minnesota.  Scott recently gave a solo recital of cornetto and dulcian music at the University of Northern Iowa and the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music.