December 24, 2008
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM ALL OF US HERE AT MONETTE!
Our friends with the Salvation Army brass ensemble made their annual holiday trip to our shop today, helping us celebrate both the holiday season and their mission to help those in need. We are a proud supporter of the Salvation Army and the heroic work they do, bringing food and shelter to the homeless, helping victims of domestic violence, people with addiction issues and more. For more information on our friends and their work, visit: www.tsacascade.org.
November 24, 2008
JOE BOGA PLAYS FOR PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA
(Written by Joe Boga)
The whole thing was kind of nuts. One of my friends heard a rumor on Sunday that Barack might stop at the Glider Diner for breakfast the next day with our U.S. Senator Bob Casey, who regularly eats there. My mom agreed to take us, even though she said we would have to leave at 5:30 in the morning! She also kept saying that we should just be aware that we were probably going to just have breakfast and go to school, because she doubted Barack made many unannounced stops like that, so we shouldn’t be disappointed if it didn’t happen - but oh man was she wrong!
Read the whole story...
October 24, 2008
WYNTON MARSALIS' NEW BOOK,
NEW CD AND RECENT APPEARANCE ON THE "COLBERT REPORT"
In his latest book, Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life, Wynton shares lessons in Jazz, the Blues and Swing - not just musical lessons but life lessons as well. He writes about having respect for your own voice and opinions, respecting the same in others, working together toward one goal, and listening and reacting while being aware in the moment. Wynton explains how Jazz gives us all, players and listeners alike, a means to explore the deeper emotions and perceptions of human experience that words cannot convey. This book is about self expression, group communication, soul articulation and Swing, Swing, Swing!
Wynton's latest CD, "Two Men with the Blues" was recorded with music legend Willie Nelson, and has already become one of his most popular recordings to date. The CD is a live recording of Wynton's small group with Willie as special guest. The CD is available for purchase through his website.
A few nights ago, Wynton made an appearance on COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE COLBERT REPORT. As always, his appearance included insightful social commentary along with an impromptu duet with the show's host. You can watch the video of Wynton's appearance here: Wynton Marsalis on The Colbert Report.
Finally, Wynton received a new PRANA 3 trumpet from us a month or so ago, and the horn was delivered with some exceptionally bright inlaid finger buttons.
July 3, 2008
OUR 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!
We just spent the week celebrating the 25th anniversary of the completion of the first Monette trumpet! Great players came in from four continents for three days of concerts, great food and a seriously fun hang! More on this will follow soon, including lots of video from the shop concerts and video interviews with Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Schlueter, Ron Miles, Charles Gorham, Adam Rapa, Marlon Jordon, Urban and Joakim Agnas, Scotty Barnhart, Katsu Kameshima, Alfred Willener, Antoine Drye and more.
June 11, 2008
ANY LEFT HANDED PLAYERS OUT THERE?
We have had many inquiries over the years from players who are left handed and who would love to play left handed - without the bell being in the way of the left hand and without the second valve slide being in the way of the right hand. Well, one answer is a true, mirror image, left handed trumpet. Here's a quick look at the first one to come out of our shop!
Final assembly supervisor and Monette webmaster Toshihiro Kosaka played the first few notes for us today, and given how unusual the horn looks we couldn't resist a slightly humorous approach with the first few pictures we snapped. We decided to take a picture with Toshi holding both horns at once to make absolutley clear that this horn is not a product of Photoshop!
On a more serious note, we do hope that a modern, state-of-the-art, left handed trumpet might fill a need for some players. With this first prototype, we hope more will be explored and written about this subject as we work with a few friends to evaluate the value of this concept. Perhaps our old teacher and friend, the late Eloise Ristad, is smiling down on this project?
We sure hope so!
As always, your comments or questions are welcome: stc@monette.net
March, 18, 2008
DAVE MONETTE VISITS HIS HOMETOWN OF KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN
FOR CLINICS AT TWO LOCAL SCHOOLS
Dave Monette recently traveled to his hometown of Kalamazoo Michigan, where he held an evening clinic for Dr. Steve Jones and his students at Western Michigan University. WMU's other trumpet professor, Scott Thornburg, and long-time Monette trumpet client Dan McCarthy also attended. All those in attendance, including Dave, had a memorable evening.
Dave also visited the high school he attended (class of E4), Portage Northern, located in the nearby suburb of Portage, Michigan. Band director David Papenhagen's trumpet section and many of the low brass players use Monette mouthpieces. Dave worked one on one with the brass players to help fine-tune their performance, and then worked with the entire wind ensemble during their morning rehearsal. The students were enthusiastic and very responsive to the body use and breath techniques Dave shared with them.
As this is being written, the wind ensemble from PNHS is traveling to New York City to be featured in a Carnegie Hall concert as part of the National Band Festival. We hope the band has a great time in New York!
Thanks to Dr. Steve Jones, Professor Scott Thornburg, PNHS band director David Papenhagen and all the students at both schools for hosting and entertaining Dave on his visit.
