Check Out Mark Davis’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Davis

Hi Mark, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started playing the trumpet in fifth grade band. However, I had already been making music my whole life since I grew up in a family that was constantly singing, whistling, and playing piano and ukulele. I had always loved music, and I knew that I wanted to practice and get as good as I could at playing the trumpet. The town where I grew up (Haines, Alaska) had no trumpet teacher, so I had no private lessons until my sophomore year of high school. At that point, I started trumpet lessons via Skype with Mark Maliniak of the Atlanta Symphony. Those three years of studying with Maliniak are really what made it possible for me to pursue music after high school. Maliniak guided me towards what schools to audition for, what music to play, and everything that I needed to know during that process. Besides helping me audition for collegiate music programs, Maliniak taught me so many things that I hadn’t known much about–trumpet method books, trumpet pedagogy, fundamentals, technique, etudes, excerpts, solos, trumpet soloists, orchestras, and more. Without his teaching and guidance, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today.
I’m currently going into my senior year at Michigan State University, and studying with Justin Emerich these last three years has also been extremely helpful. Last year, I decided to start taking professional auditions. I took five that year and was very surprised when I won three of them! It was an awesome experience to become part of and get to play in the Lansing Symphony, Detroit Opera, and Jackson Symphony. This year, I will continue to play in these orchestras while finishing my last year at MSU.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My parents and family and teachers have been so supportive of me throughout my whole life, so I know that my path has been smoother than others’. However, there have been a lot of struggles and things to overcome along the way.
Musically, I had some advantages because I grew up singing with my family a LOT. We would sing together in three or four-part harmony before every dinner, at church, and at random times throughout the day. That helped me develop a good sense of pitch and rhythm. However, my family didn’t know much about classical music (or jazz). So, the last few years of high school–as well as at MSU–I had to do a ton of listening to try to learn more about the standard classical repertoire. I still feel like there’s a lot of music I don’t know very well, so I still listen to music a lot.
As far as trumpet technique, I know that different techniques come easier for some people than others. For me, the only trumpet technique that came naturally was a warm, pleasant sound. Everything else (lip slurs, articulation, multiple tongue, upper register, lower register, wide intervals, lip trills, fast fingers, etc) I had to work on a lot to learn. And actually, my warm sound didn’t come without a lot of work–I know that I practiced long tones a ton in high school and middle school, and having a warm sound was something that I worked on a lot.
Despite the fact that a lot of aspects of trumpet playing took a long time for me to develop, I really enjoyed the feeling of making progress at these various things, so I kept practicing and trying to improve.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m currently the second trumpet in the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Opera Orchestra, and Jackson Symphony Orchestra. I really enjoy playing in orchestras because there are so many different sounds and characters and emotions the orchestra can convey, and that’s an exciting thing to be a part of. Playing second trumpet in these orchestras is also fun because I enjoy the challenge of seeing how well I can match the principal trumpet’s style, intonation, timing, dynamics, and phrasing. Often, I get to play with principal trumpet players who are older and more experienced and more knowledgeable about orchestral playing than I am. That’s especially fun for me because I learn a lot by copying their playing and matching them in the section.
I would say the ability to listen well and be really aware of style, pitch, timing, and sound tambre are some of the things that set me apart. These are really important for playing second trumpet because it’s all about matching the principal trumpet so that the section is cohesive and works together.
This summer, I got the opportunity to sub in the Detroit Symphony on several concerts including the Alpine Symphony. That was especially fun for me because my professor, Justin Emerich, was also subbing on those concerts.

What makes you happy?
There are a lot of things that make me happy. Here are a few of them:
1. I love learning new things and improving skills (especially skills like backflips, frisbee, ping pong, basketball, trumpet, singing) because improving at things has always been fun for me.
2. Playing with my three younger siblings – bouncing on the trampoline, playing catch, frisbee, ping pong, cards, singing, board games, hiking, biking.
3. It makes me happy to know that something that I do makes a real, positive difference in someone else’s life. This is sometimes something I experience at concerts, when I can feel the excitement or enjoyment of the audience. I have also experienced this at funerals or memorial services when I have played Taps and seen how it touched people’s hearts.
4. Working hard at something and seeing there be really positive results. Some examples: doing well on a test that I studied hard for; playing well in a jury or audition that I practiced a lot for; running a fast time in a track/cross country race; finally landing a backflip on the ground; or finally being able to do a Rubik’s Cube.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072408949398
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6uIGN4Gw49v6FiWFYCQ-iQ