Wolf, you are so right! I have always been proud of my son for his accomplishments on French Horn, but now I am even prouder of the man & band director he has become & the impact he is having on his kids.
I played trombone in Jr. High & also had an awesome band director who asked me to play my bass on a few songs in concerts. I was so scared & so thrilled to get to stand in front of the band on stage & play a non traditional band instrument that definitely stood out! We played some Carpenters & Simon & Garfunkle (I loved the bass run at the end of Bridge Over Troubled Waters!), & House Of The Rising Sun. My band director was so cool, he let us play many current pop songs along with the traditional marches & band music. He was partial to Carl King marches & we even got the sheet music to Carl's last march from his widow & played it. Of course, being a trombone player, Carl's Trombone King was my favorite march we played!
That had to be a huge jump from the small mouthpiece of a trumpet to the large baritone mouthpiece! Did it take a while to get your lips conditioned?
I still have my trombone & can remember the notes, but haven't played in years so it would take a couple of weeks to get my lip back. Luckily for me, trombone music is exactly the same notes & range as bass music so that taught me to read.
Jr. High band was the most fun I ever had in school. Unlike today's bands, we marched at football games, & would always go out to Shakey's Pizza after the games, many of us still in our band uniforms so it felt cool being identified in the large group that was there.
