Since the global COVID-19 pandemic hit us in 2020, trumpet teachers have shifted almost exclusively to virtual lessons and clinics. This has had the negative effect of not being able to listen directly to students’ tones (and, of course, students’ audio equipment and the fickle sound quality of Zoom has not helped).

But a great positive effect has emerged–virtual clinics. These have enabled trumpet clinicians to give clinics anywhere in the world–from anywhere in the world, at the push of a button. In the spring of 2020, I hosted 10 guest clinicians, at Colorado State University. For the fall of 2020, we were fortunate to have 13 guest artists. Some of my personal favorites were Joe Burgstaller, Ashley Hall, Jens Lindemann, Ben Wright, Michael Suttle, Raquel Samayoa, Bill Pfund, Jari Villanueva, Kenny Rittenhouse and Nairam Simoes (but there were many other awesome clinicians–too many to list here!).

This upcoming spring semester, I will be hosting 18 clinicians by Zoom!  Here is the lineup and the general topic of each clinic:

Jan 27 Corry Peterson (music educator/trumpet and jazz)
Feb 3 Ashley Killam (advocating for underrepresented composers)
Feb 10 Wiff Rudd (building community)
Feb 17 Elisa Koehler (research as a trumpeter)
Feb 24 Friedemann Immer (Baroque trumpet; keyed trumpet)
Mar 3 Jason Dovel (academic career; baroque trumpet)
Mar 10 Sarah Stoneback (maintaining a good presence on social media)
Mar 17 Justin Emerich (chamber/orchestral differences)
Mar 24 Brian Shaw (jazz/lead/soloing)
Mar 31 Natalie DeJong (Suzuki trumpet and being trumpeter in Canada)
Apr 7 Nancy Taylor (healthy musicianship)
Apr 21 Tom Palance (jazz and classical crossover)
Apr 28 Chris Sala (efficiency; military music)
May 5 Stian Aarkeskjold (keyed trumpet, chamber music etc in Norway)
May 12 Billy Gerlach (orchestra trumpet)

Also, we will have a virtual trumpet day on March 27 (9am to 12:30pm, mountain time zone) with fantastic featured artists:

José Chafer (renowned Spanish soloist and teacher)
Ed Carroll (prof. at CalArts; expert in extreme trumpet literature)
Chris Still (2nd trumpet, LA Phil; founder of “Honesty Pill”)

If you are interested in listening to these, most will be live streamed and archived on the CSU Trumpet Studio Facebook Page. If you want to actually participate on the Zoom meeting, comment below, and I will help you with the credentials.

My prediction: after this pandemic has gone away, I think the virtual clinic will stay with the entire trumpet community.