VOA常速英语:音乐是我的血液

“To me, music is a release, an emotional release that brings satisfaction and comfort to the one who produces it. “

“Well, I started out playing the piano when I was six. I was at a church dance, and there was a band from New Orleans that came to play for that dance.And they had two young trumpet players in the band, they were really cool.So, what happened——all the girls went after these two trumpet players, including my girlfriend.So, I said, “Well, I’ve got to do something about this,’ so, I went home and I asked Dad if I could play the trumpet.And he told me, he said, ‘Why do you want to play the trumpet?’ I said, ‘Well, I think I like the trumpet.’And he said, ‘Well, I’ll tell you what, I’ll get a trumpet for you, but you cannot stop the piano, you have to continue the piano.’And I started lesssons on the trumpet; I continued lessons on the piano and trumpet.And it went on like that for a while, and I got my girl back.”

“The trumpet is one coil of tubes, starting here and going there, through the valve system.Depend upon what valve you’re using, when you press a valve, you send the air through a certain combination of tubes.This, plus the tension of the lips——now, for higher notes you have a tighter tension in here; lower notes are more relaxed.”

“Eventually Jeff Brown, the manager of Ray Charles, approached me and he said,Ray Charles is forming a new band, and he would be interested in you playing trumpet within the band.’And of course, you know, Ray Charles, I said ‘Yes!’”

“First of all, to be selected by Ray Charles was an honor to me, I was honored by that and a little nervous——a little nervous.I didn’t know then of the genius of Ray Charles that I found out later.And now in my life, I’m playing music mainly with the ‘Marco Island Strummers.’It’s called “Strummers’ because the featured instrumentation of that group was to be banjos.”

“To be a musician, it’s like fulfilling a part of your life that’s irreplaceable.It’s something that I enjoy and I get a satisfaction from it.”