Some notes to start

Tim playing TrumpetMy name is Timothy Hering. Most people call me Tim. Family still calls me Timmy, though I wouldn’t suggest that if you aren’t. I’ve also been referred to as a variety of other things as well, but you probably haven’t been doing it right if you haven’t been from time to time. I turn 49 years old in May of 2017. That’s not that important, or so I’ve been told, but it is part of the story.

Music and creativity have always been a staple in my life. As a young boy, I would listen to my parents collection of records (yes, the vinyl ones before they were retro.) Among these recordings were the Canadian Brass, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, and The Philadelphia Brass. I somehow always imagined myself up there playing Amazing Grace ala Ronn Romm or A Taste of Honey with the Tijuana Brass. My favorites were the timeless classic sound of the Philadelphia Brass playing Christmas Carols. A recording that can still be heard every holiday season in shopping centers around the country. When the time came, it was only natural for me to choose the trumpet as my instrument in the school band.

Throughout the course of the rest of my middle and high school years, I played in everything I could and played for as many people as I could. I also sang in the various school choirs and acted in the drama club so when it was time to graduate and go off to college. the road was all mapped out. But, and you knew it was coming, when you are eighteen preparing to graduate high school and begin college you seem to have everything planned out. You know exactly where you are, where you want to be and how you are going to get there. You passed all of your entrance exams, you know where you will be next year, in three, five and even ten years from now. But, sometimes, what you believe is the path you must take isn’t the one you were really meant to be on. At least, not yet. At first it may seem like there’s just a few bumps in the road. Nothing you can’t handle, until suddenly you swerve to avoid one of those bumps. Your car slides off the road and you careen completely off course. “Recalculating,” the voice says repeatedly from your once trustworthy GPS.

It’s now about three decades since the first of many of those scenarios in my life. A scholarship each for trumpet and theater at a good school and the perfect route plotted out. Turns out there were more than a few bumps and quite a bit of construction on that route. “You end up exactly where you are meant to be.” Life is a seemingly endless string of cliches but I do firmly believe that one. While I cannot say I enjoyed every minute of the scenery of the multiple detours, I would not be the person I am today without them. The people I have met, the relationships I have made and the experiences I have had would likely never have happened. I thought at that time that being unable to play my trumpet due to dental issues was the end of everything. Financial and family issues also seemed to redirect me. I pushed music out of my life for quite some time while I learned to deal with that. Over time, even as the scenery changed and I adapted to it, I learned that music had never really left. It just took different forms. My creativity still drives me forward as I take on new challenges. From restaurant management to becoming a personal chef to designing the branding on a line of body care products, my road is nothing like it had been planned.

It has been quite an adventure, however, and I have learned to simply add new destinations to the existing route. What I had thought was a direct route many years ago is no longer in the rear view mirror but is the new destination as I have reconnected to that road from long ago.  The voice saying “Recalculating,” no longer speaks over top of everything else.  What I believed had been insurmountable dental issues have been resolved and while there may be a few more gray hairs on my head,  I am grateful for the experiences I have had and as hopeful and excited as one just out of high school looking forward to new experiences and chances to learn and share on this new road forward.

This blog is my attempt to document my road in finding music and the trumpet again. There are and will always be trumpeters better than me and that is great since it gives me something to shoot for. I’m not here to wallow in self pity or lament what may have been. I just want to keep a record of my own little journey. No judgements, no ego. I just want to create a safe space to grow and maybe it will inspire someone else to reconnect with a road they thought was no longer on their map of life. Over the years I have picked up other instruments so while the intent of this blog centers around my journey with my trumpet, there are guitars, keyboards and a variety of small percussion instruments in my life as well.

My intent is to write about things as they happen, or shortly there after, but I do have a bit of catching up to do so from time to time, there will be posts about something that has passed but is still a part of this little journey.

Constructive comments are encouraged. Mean spirited comments are not.

Thanks!