The Silence

[springbok53]

About six miles from Maastricht in the Netherlands lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles to liberate Holland in the fall and winter of 1944-45. Every one of the men buried in the cemetery as well as those in the Canadian and British military cemeteries has been adopted by a Dutch family who mind the grave, decorate, and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted. It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their" American soldier in a place of honor in their home. Annually on "Liberation Day" Memorial Services are held for "the men who died to liberate Holland."  The day concludes with a concert. The final piece is always  "Il Silenzio", a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch and first played in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of Holland's liberation. It has been the concluding piece of the memorial concert ever since.
This year the soloist was a 13 year old Dutch girl, Melissa Venema, backed by Andrieu and his orchestra (the Royal Orchestra of the Netherlands). This beautiful concert piece is based upon the original version of taps and was composed by Italian composer Nino Rossi.
Watch at this site, and go full screen. Beautiful and moving.


http://www.flixxy.com/trumpet-solo-melissa-venema.htm

[Windrider]

Beautiful! Thanks! God bless the families of all freedom fighters.

[Romeo]

That was awe inspiring. When  I think of those men, from that generation, just regular red blooded Americans, what they were able to accomplish when the world needed them the most,  I just don't have the words. Thank you to the people of Holland for remembering, and thank you to all who served and are serving.

[old2soon]

Isn't it just WONDERFUL that all these years later and the Fine People of Holland STILL honor their liberators.  Holland is showing more Respect for Fallen Warriors than a certain place right here in the good old U S of A. And NOT ashamed to admit it-the durned old gnats showed up every time I played that video. Course I hear TAPS at a Military funeral same thing happens. May GOD bless the good people of Holland.  And THANK YOU for posting that.  RIDE SAFE.

[signart]

Thanks, man that was great... and great of you to post it.

[specialdose]

            A word I don't use much, Bravo Melissa. If your eyes are not a little moist after that, your woods wet.

                          Thanks Springbok 53

[Jess from VA]

Nice horn playing.   

I played one too, and the bugle.  Long, long time ago.

[bigguy]

Thank you so much for posting that. I've reposted it to two other forums (soon to be three) with you listed as my source and a link back to this thread.

[Oss]

thank you for posting that for us

amen

[Robert]

Isn't it just WONDERFUL that all these years later and the Fine People of Holland STILL honor their liberators.  Holland is showing more Respect for Fallen Warriors than a certain place right here in the good old U S of A. And NOT ashamed to admit it-the durned old gnats showed up every time I played that video. Course I hear TAPS at a Military funeral same thing happens. May GOD bless the good people of Holland.  And THANK YOU for posting that.  RIDE SAFE.

I couldnt have said it any better thanks

[Tailgate Tommy]

She's very very good. I played taps a few times in the band in school, but not as good as she did. If that doesn't make you well up after reading about the fine people of Holland, I don't know what would.

[G-Man]

THAT was great.  Thank you!

[grandpaweaver]

I had seen that video before but never the story behind it, Thanks

[Beer van Huet]

Fabulous,

Great posting, Springbok53

[Willow]

I really enjoyed that performance but it did flood me with questions.  I'm not a musician at all, much less a trumpet player, so a lot of my questions could probably easily be answered by one who understands making music with a trumpet.

There is obviously a special relationship between Melissa and the conductor.  At first I thought he may be her father, but then I saw they have different last names.

She hardly used the stops through much of the piece.  I assume that means she was getting the music from the trumpet much the same as she would a bugle?  I guess that's really kind of silly question as playing a trumpet is always a lot like blowing a bugle.  So, the apparent lack of stops, is that the piece, her skill, or simply my lack of perception?

She holds the trumpet off center on her lips, slightly right.  Is that fairly normal or is that her style?

Great piece.  Very talented young lady.   

[Hook#3287]

Goose bumps, man.

Simply amazing girl, piece, reason. 

I played trumpet for about six months 50 years ago.  Just didn't have what it takes.

To play correctly, the musician needs to build up a callus in their lips to fit the mouth piece.  I assume it's the same with any mouth piece in the "Brass" family.

Maybe it's just more comfortable for her to the side.

A Trumpeter can change the pitch by lip and wind pressure as well as with the valves.

She's good, really good.

[old2soon]

NOT sure of THE answer Carl as I played woodwind bout 58 years ago. I DO know that at a P G R escort of a WWII Vet there was a young Army Sargent that PLAYED the bugle rather than have the electric version of the bugle. I was in a position to observe the Sargent and his cheeks and throat were WORKING. I also noticed that young lady favored it off to one side as opposed to center. And the long answer would be-yes-tones can be changed without the valves. RIDE SAFE.

[Jess from VA]

A bugle has no stops (valves) so all bugle music (not really music, but cavalry/infantry messages) is at set octave intervals and in a set key; except achieving the very highest notes possible, a bugle only has 5 regular notes, and thus all regular bugle calls only use 5 notes; called the bugle scale).  To change notes with no valves, you change the shape of your lips/mouth (tighter is up, looser is down).

You can play all bugle calls on a trumpet or coronet (shorter, mellower trumpet).  And even never touching any valves, any trumpet or coronet has a much sweeter sound/tone than any bugle; and they also cost about 5 to 10 times as much as a bugle).  But when playing a std bugle call on a trumpet you can, on occasion as she did, use the valves to get half and quarter notes (and change the key), so you can make a bugle call, but also add a few notes to make it sound more like real music than a pure bugle.  

A trumpet like any other instrument can be held any way you want to achieve personal comfort.  Unlike a rifle, they do not have to be held straight up and down for maximum effectiveness.  Hendrix played his guitars upside down, better than almost anyone.  The orchestra violin is usually played (with a handkerchief to absorb sweat) under the chin, but many (like country fiddle), play one from the elbow.  When children begin playing any instrument seriously at a young age, they often hold it differently than normal simply because they have small/short arms, but once so learned, they keep using what they have taught themselves even after they grow up (muscle memory).  (Same as me only using boards and a heel-toe, and others using pegs and toe shift only)

You do not really get any callus on your lips, but you absolutely develop strong mouth/lip muscles which is called embouchure (sounds like ombishure) (3 muscle groups, and 9 muscles in the mouth). I can still grab a trumpet and go thru some scales (or play any bugle call), but my mouth hurts right away with no practice and no developed embouchure (unlike when talking  LOL).  And any good horn player with a well developed embouchure will always have a much sweeter sound than any rookie.

Ordinarily, when one instrument/player is featured as a soloist with a symphony orchestra, the soloist takes the lead, and the orchestra leader conforms the band to the soloist's lead.  And they usually practice together many times before a show.  

[bigguy]

I've shared this post on a couple of other boards. One of the guys on the MOOT board had a related story that I'll share here:

Quote from lragan on MOOT

I was in Holland (Nederland to natives) in the spring of 1970, with some precision location gear I had designed to locate pipe laying boats and barges operated in the North Sea by Brown and Root.  I had a Sunday to relax in Amsterdam.  It was a beautiful day, with lots of happy, festive people on the streets, and I was enjoying the sights.  Most school children spoke fluent English, so I could find stuff by asking them.  There was a sidewalk trailer/cart vending ice cream, and I stood to wait my turn.  I noticed several folks edging in front of me, and finally asked one of the children "Is there a line here somewhere?"  The whole crowd looked around at me in embarrassed horror, stepped aside and waved me to the front of the line.  One of them explained "We are so sorry!  We thought you were German."  I don't know who paid for my ice cream, but they would not take my money.  I learned that the festivities I had been witnessing were the 25th anniversary of Nederland's liberation.  All Americans were heroes that day!  I shall never forget it, and I doubt they did either.

[gordonv]

My father came from Holland when he was old enough to leave, early 1950's. He had lived through the occupation and liberation when he was about 10 years old.

Thank you for this post. I had never heard from the family back in Holland that it was a big Do. I forwarded this link off to my sidling's.

[da prez]

    We have been to Amsterdan twice recently and the Netherlands just last week. I do not remember (if it slipped memory) this honor. I wish I would have known as we would have made special arrangements to take it in. I will contact our grand daughter who is stationed in Germany and let her know about this.

                      da prez and wife