SDSO principal trumpet Chris Smith explains how he has come to be a YouTube star posting nearly 500 etude videos.
In 2013, while on tour with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, I was giving a masterclass in Bogotá, Colombia. It became clear with one student that he didn’t really understand how the etude he was working on was supposed to sound. I asked him if he’d ever heard anyone else play this etude or if he’d gone online and searched on YouTube to see if someone had recorded it and he could use that as a reference. His answer surprised me – he had searched and hadn’t found a recording anywhere. No one had taken the time to record this fairly well-known etude. I promised him that when I got home, I would record the etude.
After I got home – I did, in fact, record that etude – and after some searching around on YouTube I realized that no professionals had taken the time to record many of the well-known etudes that college students might come across in the course of their trumpet studies.
I decided to go out on a limb and – on my weeks off from the orchestra – record an etude or two and publicly release them as a reference for anyone who might be working on that particular etude. By early 2020 I had recorded about 15 videos. When the Coronavirus Pandemic hit in 2020 and shut down the San Diego Symphony, we had no way of knowing how long we would be away from live performances. At that time, I thought we MIGHT be back to work in a few weeks and I needed to stay in shape – but had nothing to practice. In addition – I had noWHERE to practice. Copley Symphony Hall – my normal early morning practice space – was shut down and, having just moved to San Diego, I had no contacts who had access to a large space in which to blow the walls down. After some thought, I decided I would go to the bottom floor of our parking garage late in the evening and do some practicing there – where I wouldn’t bother anyone in our downtown high rise building.
Though I solved the problem of WHERE to practice and keep myself in shape – I hadn’t solved the problem of WHAT to practice to keep myself in shape.
As days turned into weeks and weeks into months – it became clear that I was going to have to play more than just scales a a few etudes over and over again.
Within a few weeks of the pandemic hitting, I decided I would continue my little personal project of recording etudes as an example of how one professional might approach a particular etude as if they were performing it – one full take with no edits. The goal was not only to provide a free reference to anyone working on these etudes, but also to keep my performing skills as sharp as possible so I’d be ready both physically and mentally when we returned to work.
After several months of recording on an inexpensive video/audio recording device in an un-air conditioned garage – it really sunk in that this was going to go on for quite some time. I needed to get out of the hot, mosquito and fume-filled garage. So – my wife, Nicole, and I decided to invest in a soundproof recording studio along with professional microphones so we could both record (Nicole hosts podcasts, corporate town halls, and does voiceover work) and work in the comfort of our home.
As of this writing, I have recorded over 550 videos and by the end of 2022 I will have recorded over 650 etude reference videos – all of which are available for anyone to watch on my YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/c/ChristopherSmithTrumpet ). These videos include recordings of five complete books of trumpet and vocal studies, along with selected etudes by composers ranging from Johannes Brahms to living composers Philip Collins and Jim Stevenson.
For many of us, the pandemic felt depressingly isolating. However, due to social media, I found out that at least two other professionals had similar ideas about how they would spend their time and energy away from performing to live audiences. Both Jim Wilt, Associate Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Jack Burt, Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maine had embarked on recording projects of their own. To date – between the three of us – we have recorded over 1200 etudes, orchestral excerpts and studies which are freely available to anyone in the world with an internet connection. A true giving back to the trumpet community!
In addition to the etudes I recorded, Tim Saeger (a regular extra in our trumpet section) and I recorded a series of fun trumpet duets – the Six Fantasias for Viol (transcribed for trumpet) by Orlando Gibbons were by far the most challenging. Tim and I recorded an arrangement of Somewhere Out There and partnered with local photographer, Oliver Asis as a video Mother’s Day gift. The San Diego Symphony brass section recorded Kyle Myers’ arrangement of “America” and partnered with two photographers showing photos from all over the country.
We were even able to put several large projects together involving trumpet players from around the world. These projects included presenting the world premiere of Kyle Myers’ “Discovery” for 7 Trumpets and recording a series of duets written by G.P. Telemann where we paired trumpet players from top orchestras across North America to perform remotely – together!
Our favorite series has to be our holiday videos. For the last two years we’ve had arrangements made for us that showcase the more pops and jazzy side of our playing. Tim does an amazing job with the video graphics and they are a huge hit on social media! All of that to say – while the pandemic was certainly a time of uncertainty and depression for many performers – many of us found each other and banded together to keep the music playing…one way or another.