Like any career field, the world of musicians contains many different types of people. It’s easy to focus on and revel in the glory of the superstars of composition or performance. That being said, equally important is the work of the average working musician – the ones who are doing the grunt work, toiling in the fields (so to speak) and bringing music directly into people’s lives. I’m talking about the music educators, the local church/synagogue musicians, the music therapists, the local choirs, bands & orchestras, whether professional or volunteer.

I’m one of these people – a church musician. We are just as much artists as the superstars, but we don’t get all the glory; a generous portion of the work we do is not fun. But while we may not often get a chance to be center stage, we do get to see regular people transformed by the work we do in a way that the superstars don’t. A superstar might release a stellar CD, but that CD can’t uplift a person the same way joining a choir can. A superstar might astound a crowd of thousands with a great performance, but I think we “lesser” musicians are far more likely to prevent a suicide. A superstar might compose a masterpiece, but often a choir takes ownership of a simpler piece which speaks to them.

Continuing with the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, here is a sacred gem by Max Janowski, who was not a superstar. Like me, he was “just” a music director at his congregation. Like me (I hope), and the millions of other “lesser” musicians throughout the world, Janowski’s work has enriched, and will continue to enrich humanity.

Today marks the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, and the beginning of the High Holy Days. This festival comes from a biblical command God gave to Moses:

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts.

Trumpet blasts? Sounds good to me. How about Leonard Bernstein‘s Chichester Psalms? Bernstein only wrote a handful of religious works; you could argue that his Kadish Symphony and Mass are better described as anti-religious. The Chichester Psalms is unique in his repertoire as having a positive spin on religion, even if it isn’t backed by any belief on his part. The piece bears an English name because it was commissioned by Chichester Cathedral. It is often performed in a slightly strange reduced instrumentation – organ, percussion, and harp. Though they are often found in synagogues, the organ here perhaps acts as a symbol for Christianity, while the harp and percussion call to mind the ancient Hebrew psalms. In the first movement (today’s piece) they sing from Psalm 108:

Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.

With the synthesis of Jewish and Christian instruments, the Hebrew text, and an Anglican Cathedral’s name on the piece, makes me want to see this work as a symbol of healing between the two religions.

Nothing says TGIF like a fun, light piece by Leroy Anderson – makes me want to make a martini and do a white-man dance.

“Bugler’s Holiday” is a piece loved by trumpet players, for obvious reasons. The abundance of trumpet-players in high school and community bands means that this piece gets a lot of plays, and the better players get a chance to show off a bit. The piece’s title is a bit of a misnomer; the three solo parts need to be performed on a modern trumpet, not a bugle. A bugle is a very simple brass instrument – essentially just a coil of metal tubing with a mouthpiece on one end and a bell on the other. This means the only way to change pitch is by increasing the air pressure – to oversimplify, “blowing harder”. Other brass instruments control pitch both by air pressure and with aids that actually increase the length of the brass tubing. A trombone is the easy example – push the slide out, and the air is travelling an extra four feet of length, lowering the pitch. Valved instruments like a tuba or horn follow the same idea; instead of adding tubing by moving a slide, the player presses a valve which forces the airflow through little coils of extra tubing, cut to a specific length for precise pitch finding. Valved brass instruments are only about 150 years old (that’s quite young in the instrument world).

So how did valved instruments play in different keys before they had valves? A French horn without valves can realistically play about 10 usable notes covering 6 different pitches. Players fixed this shortcoming by carrying around boxes of “crooks” – lengths of tubing that they would attach to their instrument, one at a time, to change the key in which it would play. Then, using air pressure, they could nab whatever pitches were necessary. When the key changed, so did the crook. This was slow and clunky, but it worked; it must have been a great relief, however, when valves came onto the scene.

Too confusing? Head spinning? Time for a holiday.