Five years ago I was lucky enough to be a part of a very special musical ensemble, the Southeast Trumpet Connection. This group was made up of some of my closest friends whose goal was to put on spectacular performances of amazing arrangements. We played some of the classical pieces by Eric Ewazen, as well as many of the arrangements by James Olcott at Triplo Press. However, we settled into our groove when we started getting custom arrangements by one of our members, Mason Brown. Mason's arrangements were perfect for us because he wrote them to our strengths.

What started out as some friends goofing around in the Instrument Rehearsal Room turned into something much, much more. We performed as much as possible, from Lee University events such as Lee Day and Phi Mu Alpha's American Composer Concert to Region's Free Day of Music at the Schermerhorn in Nashville. However the most memorable day as a group was the day we auditioned for America's Got Talent. From leaving Cleveland at 3:00am to get into the line when it opened to the promotional footage we were apart of thanks to our loud and flashy drummer, Kenyn Brown, catching the eye of the producers in the holding room, this was a day we will never forget. That day I learned exactly how much we could accomplish when we put our minds to it, in this case we accomplished our goal of getting on TV if only for 10 seconds.

Today's video is the final run through of our audition song, an arrangement of "Any Way You Want It" arranged by Mason Brown. Please excuse the prolonged silence at the beginning and the extremely fast tempo, we wanted to make sure we could setup and play the entire piece in the 90 seconds we were allowed for our audition.

Enjoy
Gabe Lajas

This week's post is about a very good friend, mentor, and teacher of mine who passed away last summer. I first met Brian in August of 2001 when he became the band director at Ocoee Middle School. I was very involved in band that year, playing in concert band, jazz band, and pep band, which gave me a lot of opportunities to learn from Mr. Gallaher. My favorite memory from this time is of Brian playing an improve solo on every instrument (drums, piano, saxophone, and even trombone) to encourage us to give soloing a shot.

When I left OMS to head to Walker Valley I was lucky that I was still able to interact with Brian. He was very involved in the marching band at WV, working every day at band camp and attending almost every after school rehearsal during the year. Brian taught us so much during our time at WV. He even taught us how to dance (every year he was the one who took the dance from Mrs. Hunt and demonstrated it for the band). I will always remember the time that Brian was showing the trumpets the proper way to execute a "Horn's Up". He grabbed a student's horn and proceeded to execute the move. As he did so the student's mouthpiece came flying towards him and nailed him in the chest. This was also the time when he taught us that you should give your mouthpiece a quarter turn in the receiver to prevent it from flying out, after we all stopped laughing.

During my time at Lee I had several different interactions with Brian. From working along side him at band camp to playing in Jazz Ensemble together, there were many opportunities to learn from Brian. The most important lesson Brian ever taught me came from this time of our relationship. While we were in Jazz Ensemble together we were asked to have weekly sectionals to work on our parts as a section. The problem with this was going to be finding a time that four college students and a teacher had free at the same time. Initially I told Brian that I didn't need him at the sectionals, let's face it I wasn't worried about him being able to play his part. However he wanted to be there so we ended up settling on a time during the school day. The four college students would go over to OMS during Brian's lunch hour and we would go through our music in his band room. I later found out that Brian gave up his lunch hour everyday so he could practice his trumpet. This allowed him to spend his evenings with his family instead of practicing all night for his degree. The importance he placed on family is something I have tried to emulate since becoming a dad.

I, along with so many others, will always remember the things Brian taught me, about music and about life. He was a great example of a Godly man who is truly missed. I encourage anyone reading this to attend the Gala for Gallaher tomorrow evening, January 22, 2016 at Lee University as we celebrate his legacy.

Today's video is of the Southeast Trumpet Connection playing at Lee University's Music Camp a few years ago. This was one of the many opportunities I had to play along side Brian.

Here is a clip of the opening number of First Baptist Cleveland's Christmas Program "The Sounds of Christmas". This video is important to me for two reasons. First, this is the first time that I have played a Double High A in a performance setting. Second, this video was taken only six months after "The Incident". I thank God everyday that I have recovered so quickly and can continue to do the things I love.

This was from a concert three years ago, when the Lee University Symphony Orchestra performed along side "Classical Mystery Tour". This is definitely a highlight of my musical career thus far.