{"id":3479,"date":"2012-03-27T23:44:50","date_gmt":"2012-03-28T06:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=3479"},"modified":"2012-03-27T23:49:19","modified_gmt":"2012-03-28T06:49:19","slug":"taking-the-plunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/03\/taking-the-plunge\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking The Plunge"},"content":{"rendered":"

After playing (or struggling with) the trumpet since I was 14, I finally decided to learn how to use a plumber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friend for something other than its intended purpose. For five dollars, my neighborhood hardware store sold me what I needed. I unscrewed the wooden handle and, voila!—a plunger \"\"<\/a>mute. The one you see here is fancy and probably came from a music store. Mine is red, the small kind used in sinks. <\/p>\n

Take my word for it after two days of experimentation, plunger technique on a brass instrument is as demanding as it looks. My trumpet teacher left town, so I did the logical internet thing and found involuntary teachers on the web, beginning with two champions of the plunger style who learned from early masters like Bubber Miley, Cootie Williams and the great trombonist Tricky Sam Nanton. Here is Ryan Kisor, lead trumpet of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, summoning up Williams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 spirt in Duke Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Concerto For Cootie.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n