Last November, I was asked to make an out-of-doors recording of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” for a seasonal greeting message from CSU. My colleague, Dr. Joel Bacon, organ professor at CSU, had already recorded the theme, and the idea was to have other musicians–CSU students and some of my teaching colleagues–dovetail in and out of that melody.

Of course, I said I’d like to do this project. I thought about the conditions in which we were going to record–a sunny, late-fall Colorado morning with temperatures at 23º F (-5º C). So, I knew if were to play in tune with the recording at this temperature, I would have to choose the trumpet in my collection that could play the sharpest. It turned out to be my Schilke D trumpet, which was great, because this version of Ode to Joy was also in D.

The camera crew was fantastic and professional when I arrived. One woman held a reflective panel to add light, and the other operated the camera with a condenser mic attached. After a few adjustments (and tuning slide in ALL THE WAY), this was the raw footage for me (unfortunately, some of the audio peaked too high).

Now, here is a Facebook link for the final video released by CSU (FB videos won’t embed, so you’ll have to navigate to that link). I think it worked out well, and I love how they were able to feature so many musicians.