I was asked to attend all orchestral rehearsals and performances, and in return I would have lessons with George Eskdale, the  principal trumpet player of the London Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Eskdale was a hard task master and not very accepting of errors of any kind; he was a man with little patience if lessons were not very well prepared. My particular inadequacies were discovered in a short space and I was set on a program of studies which would bring me up to scratch. At the same time I was making some kind of a living in London, notably certain on- and off-­stage playing at the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) and also band work with the Band of the Irish Guards, a busy musical unit, which at that time in history was exceptionally active with public duties and performances (Royal and otherwise) in London and elsewhere. My preparation for lessons suffered a little, and Mr. Eskdale was not very happy!

Using this D trumpet, I had opportunities to become acquainted with some of the music of the 17^th and 18^th century, notably Handel, Purcell, Bach, etc. In 1953 I was asked to take part in a performance of the Messiah. The request told me to get on the train to Windsor, and I would be met there along with a few other musicians and taken by car to a rehearsal at the Royal Chapel of All Saints (Windsor Great Park). There we met the soloists and the small choir of St. George’s Chapel (Windsor Castle). The four soloists were well-known singers who had been invited to this special performance given to the members of the Royal Family, along with those few people who squeezed into the small chapel. Singer’s names: Isobel Baillie, soprano; Kathleen Ferrier, contralto; William Herbert, tenor; and Owen Brannigan, bass. No musicians or soloists were paid except for a small sum covering travel expenses. Of the Royal Family attending: HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. No male members were there. The Royal Ladies met with the soloists in the small office at the chapel, and made comments about the music and performance.

Other interesting facts about this trumpet:

In 1960 the Bach Society of Toronto decided to fund a scholarship for a trumpet player to devote study to the trumpet music of the baroque period and in particular the music of Bach. The scholarship was advertised in the local press and held auditions thereafter. It was a disappointment to the Society that very few applicants were interested in taking on this opportunity. Toronto was a busy city for musicians at that time, and no one wished to spend the time and effort to specialize in this field. Only four players turned up for the audition held at the Canadian Music Centre. A small group from the Toronto Bach Society listened to the trials, and after listening to Bach Cantata 51, were left to make a decision, which was announced a few days later. I was fortunate in gaining the scholarship, and a short time later had a final audition with Glen Gould at the Royal Conservatory of Music. It all went well, and I was presented with a cheque of $1000.00 a few weeks later. Monies were obtained from the Canada Council. I had decided that if I won the scholarship I would take studies with Armando Ghitalla of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, so I made arrangements to start lessons with him in Boston. Also we, my wife and I, had decided to leave from the RCAF Band without delay. Unfortunately the Toronto Bach Society became financially embarrassed and ceased their program of concerts of music of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. It took some time to establish myself as a competent baroque player in Toronto, but I did play in many performances in Toronto, gradually establishing a reputation of being a “safe” Bach trumpet player, mostly playing in many church concerts and at the Stratford Festival, beginning with a wonderful all-Bach concert with Glen Gould and Lois Marshal (Cantata 51, Bach).

I had shown this to Amando Ghitalla when I was visiting in Boston. With the busy and exacting life of a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), he showed little interest in the early instrument. In 1961, I had a phone call from a member of the Telemann Society of New York asking if I would be interested in taking part in a recording of the Handel Fireworks Music in New York. I discovered later that the group of musicians to record this music were members of the BSO and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, and the recording was to be played on Baroque instruments. The BSO were in New York for one of their concerts, and the time would be ideal to get the players together and record the Handel piece. It was a gathering of musicians who were keen about early music but played on 17^th century instruments on which they had little experience or skills. The idea was that we would play each section at least twice – no rehearsal at all – and the tape would be running at all times! The instrumentation was odd and consisted of the following: three natural trumpets, three hunting horns, several oboes playing on reeds that would give the effect of early instruments, an ophicleide, military drums and at least one or two bassoons. Little attempt was made to have a semblance of intonation/tuning. Well after a long session at the recording studio we went back to the hotel thoroughly weary, but with the thought that this was one recording that would not be released, and congratulated each other that it was so bad that we could rest assured that it was a futile exercise. A few months later I was told that this recording had been released with the proviso that one should play side B first because there was an explanation that this performance would display the poor tuning and intonation that was the norm in those days!