1. March 2016 Mouthpiece Volume 18, Issue 1
13
Lessons with the Masters: Carmine Caruso
by Dan Williams
My time with the master, Carmine Caruso, could
start as any trumpeter who has any shared time
with this legend. I was living in Boston, pursuing
my Master of Music at Boston University and
having lessons with Roger Voisin, later to study
with Charles Lewis Jr and Rolf Smedvig. I re-
ceived a phone call asking if I was able to march
in the Feast of Corpus Christi, sponsored by the
then NY Sons of Italy that took place mostly in
the TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal Street) in
Lower Man-
hattan. A
beautiful
feast, with
some of the
oldest music
from Sicily
was written
out for the
band. Falling
on Holy Thurs-
day and Good
Friday, I final-
ly escaped all
the communi-
ty, wine, can-
nolis and oth-
er distractions
by Friday midday and head uptown to publishers
such as Charles Colin and to buy a new piccolo
trumpet from some shops in Times Square. As I
came out of the subway somewhere around W
47 or 46 street, I was hearing an amazing trum-
pet player playing some sort of warm up. The
trumpeter kept going to the stratosphere, with
great stamina and endurance. The person’s
sound caught street workers attention and mak-
ing eye contact with me, an obvious trumpeter
for the look of “WOW”, the foreman said to me in
the best NY accent I’ve ever heard, “Yeh...Dat is
Caruso! We are tearin’ up da street, here….go
down the lane, den go to the 5th floor. ...should
say Jimmy Caruso on da door.”
Getting to the fifth floor and finding the “Jimmy
Caruso” on the door, I heard talking that sound-
ed like a meeting at the UN with, at least, five
languages on the other side of the door. Marvin
Stamm opened the door, motioned me to have a
seat among the other 11 trumpeters while this
man with air traffic control headphones on his
head, gave me a wave. This wave was not a
quick greeting but one of those gestures that
seemed to convey, “Hey Dan, It’s been a long
time.” So was the greeting and welcome from
Carmine Caruso, the sort of impression that
stays with you, a very long time! That afternoon,
I had the pleasure to hear Marvin Stamm
demonstrate some of Carmine’s calisthenics and
how this trumpet artist had adapted these stud-
ies to fit the situation he was in. Carmine reiter-
ated to all in the room or the individual, these
are
“calisthenics”
and “this
method is NOT
a music meth-
od”. I also wit-
nessed the
RAI commer-
cial/jazz trum-
pet section
play the 6
notes, inter-
vals in 2nd
and in Loud,
Soft and
Loud...in ab-
solute perfec-
tion. Listening
to these players, how they phrased, articulated
and when to move the dynamics. These players
were always intently listening, knowing instinc-
tively when to follow, when to lead.
One session had Herb Alpert on the phone from
LA, did I mind that my lesson was interrupted by
this million dollar produced and trumpet player?
The phone call was very revealing of the man
and his method. After the 45 minute phone call
and subsequently my 2 hour lesson, Carmine
told me that some great names would fall and be
too scared to get up again. Carmine was such a
personable man he had the ability to help play-
ers to realise the root of all their problems,
whatever they were frightened about. The con-
versation went into the night when Carmine of-
fered me to stay in the flat and, “have a wander
in NYC and have some great pizza!” Carmine
parted with, “Don’t worry, the city never sleeps.”
The Great Caruso, stayed by his method through
in through, lesson after lesson. Of course, Car-
mine used and suggested Schlossberg, Clarke,

2. March 2016 Mouthpiece Volume 18, Issue 1
14
Arban...as long we all knew that the Calisthenic
Method was to be used in the following way:
The Four Rules:
1) Tap your foot - a no-no with many teachers I
know. These was to establish timing inside the
erratic trumpeters and get used to do things
slow (mm. 60). See what Carmine writes about
breath attacks.
2) Keep the mouthpiece in contact to the lips
throughout each study - to those who already
utilise this technique - Bravo! First timers -
good luck! This will make you sore quickly, but
staying with the technique does hold merit. Be
careful.
3) Keep the blow steady - the ski analogy is
great - particularly for young ones..
4) Breath only through the nose - like rule 2 re-
inforces the long setting idea
When you first start to use the method, Camine
always stressed not to worry about the sound or
pitch. At the end of exercise 6, Carmine writes
that your sound may become “raucous and
brassy”. This is due to overblowing and the em-
bouchure not able to deal with the extra power
being produced.
Few methods have the years of perfecting before
putting it into print. Like all master teachers,
their art is always growing, always changing with
the student and technical challenges. The Car-
mine Caruso’s “Musical Calisthenics for Brass”
was and is complete. Any teacher or student
changing for their needs was not something that
would worry Carmine - as long as you follow the
rules. In his own words, Carmine said “ Teaching
should be done with love. It’s a giving!”
Dan Williams
7 March 2016
(Continued from page 13)