Trumpet was not Chuck Copenace’s first choice.
The Winnipeg-based musician, who plays the Ottawa Jazz Festival’s weekend concert series on Oct. 30, still remembers the day his Grade 7 class was unleashed in the music room to decide what instrument they wanted to play. He picked the flute because it was easy to carry and his sisters were good flute players.
Alas, the extra assistance didn’t help; he couldn’t get a sound out of it. Back to the music room he went to see what was left.
“There were no more cool instruments,” Copenace recalled in an interview. “All the saxes were gone, the drums were gone. All that was left was the tuba, clarinet and trumpet.”
He picked the trumpet because it came in a case that wasn’t too big and had only three buttons, “which made it seem way easier.”
For the full article by Lynn Saxberg, go to the Ottawa Citizen Web site.