Students will honor mentor, Vince DiMartino

By Annabel Girard
Staff Writer

Vince DiMartino plays with the likes of Doc Severinsen, is sought out for advice at international conferences and performs at such places as Carnegie Hall.

But the halls he devotes the most time to are on college campuses, where he has taught for 25 years.

``I'm a teacher first and a performer second,'' DiMartino said. ``I feel successful as a teacher. I think what a good life, what a good job.''

His 25 years of teaching will be cause for celebration at this year's Great American Brass Band Festival. Former students have been invited to the festival to perform in honor of and with DiMartino. Trumpet ensembles will be playing at noon Saturday at The Centre Shoppes on West Main Street, and at 6 p.m. Saturday, DiMartino and former students will perform with The Advocate Brass Band at the Great American Picnic.

DiMartino's interest in students is evident in his office, which occupies three rooms in the basement of the Norton Center for the Arts.``I want students to have a special resource area,'' he said.

A practice room is filled with trumpets, cornets, enough mouthpieces to supply several brass bands, records, tapes, CDs, books, sheet music. There they can find unusual sheet music, listen to groups no longer together and try out mouthpieces to see what makes each unique.

When DiMartino first started teaching, he thought he could identify talent. Then some student he considered average ``would turn out to be something pretty special. ... I realized it was something I did not have control over.''

DiMartino taught one year in high school after earning a master's degree from Eastman School of Music. He joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky and in 1993 came to Centre College.

One thing DiMartino does believe is that work counts for a lot more than talent. ``I wouldn't be teaching if I thought only certain people could be good. Great players get that way not through talent but through hard work and dedication.''

Curiosity and self-discipline are the two other keys to developing talent, he said.

When DiMartino looks back over his career so far, he recalls one disappointment. ``I did not work to the nth degree.''

He learned that one day while playing with Doc Severinsen, his idea of the perfect trumpet player. ``Doc asked me how I could make playing seem so effortless,'' which made DiMartino realize he wasn't playing as hard as he could. ``After spending time with him, I found out he worked harder than I did.''

Even if a student doesn't go into music as a profession, music lessons will always be valuable, DiMartino said. He thinks music should be a part of the regular school curriculum, not an extracurricular activity, because it teaches a work ethic and requires the participant to set personal goals.

DiMartino's professional life as a musician - giving about 85 concerts a year - also helps him as a teacher. ``You can't insulate yourself and expect to be contemporary,'' he said.

Young people also need someone to look up to. High school band director Edward DeIulio helped influence DiMartino's life. ``It's a big issue in all fields. Young people need a role model.''

DiMartino planned to be a dentist, but music gradually became his top priority without his realizing it.

It all happened on a summer exchange program to Bogota, Colombia. What he missed about being away from home was playing the trumpet. He found a place in the band at Freddie's American Jazz Bar where he could play each night. After that experience, he decided to pull notes from a horn instead of becoming a dentist.

Mentoring is still important to him. ``I hope students remember things I say and use them to do positive things, that they will find a better way to do things and pass that along.''

Many of his students have stayed in the music world. He mentioned a few: Steve Moore is director of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra in Lexington, Gordon Henderson is director of the marching band at University of California, Los Angeles, several play with service bands, one plays in the Chicago Symphony and another is with the Michigan State band.

Henderson said DiMartino's fame was important to the UK students. ``We admired how well he performed. He is in demand all around the world. Because of that it inspires students to try and aspire to the same level. He put so much time and effort into making that happen.''

At UK, DiMartino had the same resource room as at Centre. ``Before class we could go in, warm up our lips, do exercises,'' Henderson said.

Henderson even has a tie to Danville. While a student and a teacher at UK, Henderson worked with the Danville High School band from 1973-82. One of his favorite things about the trip was stopping at Burke's Bakery for doughnuts before going to the band room.

DiMartino is serious about sharing his talent. ``When you have a special talent, you have a responsibility to make the place you live a better place.''

Playing with the Advocate Brass Band (an activity shared with his wife, Lydia, a flutist), is a way for him to enjoy himself and to share his talent locally.

The blend of performance and audience is one of the delights of the Brass Band Festival, he said. Listening to the performance is as much a part of the creative process in music as the writing and playing.

But DiMartino's work with the festival isn't limited just to the performing side. As a volunteer for the festival, he'll be out at 6 a.m. Saturday, helping Baker Williams unload the truck filled with T-shirts, CDs, tapes, everything sold in the Market Tent.