Thursday, March 29, Wiff Rudd, professor of trumpet at Baylor University, gave a guest trumpet recital in the Ralph R. Pottle Auditorium, and he was accompanied by colleague and assistant professor of piano, Dr. Kae Hosoda-Ayer.

Rudd, a native of San Antonio, has been teaching at Baylor since 2002 and is part of Rhythm & Brass. Rudd founded the group in 1993, and since then the group has recorded multiple critically acclaimed records.

“This is not my first time at Southeastern. I play with a group called Rhythm & Brass, and we’ve played at Fanfare a couple of times. When I got here, I just drove up to school and I knew right where to go, I love it,” Rudd said.

The jazz group Rhythm & Brass takes their influences from the likes of Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Johann Sebastian Bach and Duke Ellington. They have performed at Carnegie Recital Hall, and have traveled internationally to Saudi Arabia, Canada and Japan.

Rudd was also the associate professor of music at the University of Arkansas from 1998-2002 and was the principal trumpet in the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

According to Logan Pace, instructor of trumpet at Southeastern, Rudd’s style can best be described as classical soloist style. Rudd opened with “Sonate pour Trompetter chromatique et Piano” which was composed by Frenchman Jean Hubeau in 1943. After a brief intermission, the two professors joined on stage for a trumpet duet of Abstract No. 2, composed by Robert Russell in 1968.

Throughout the recital, Rudd used mutes, which are pieces inserted into the mouth of the trumpet to enhance the sound.

“They call them mutes. It just gives you a chance to play with different colors. It kind of creates a lot of interest for the listener, instead of it being all the same sound all the time. Sometimes is makes it almost brighter sounding, and other times its like it just has a veil on the sound. It’s nice to have color changes while playing the trumpet, and she can change colors on the piano so smoothly,” said Rudd of his partner Hosoda-Ayer, who is also the director of collaborative piano at Baylor.

Rudd’s love and dedication to the trumpet has complemented his career for the past forty-six years.

“I started playing the trumpet when I was 12 years old. I just love it so much, and I have teaching in my blood. I love the balance of teaching and performing, and it helps my students see me doing what they are trying to do,” Rudd said.

Rhythm & Brass is also focused on music education, and all of its members are instructors at various universities.

“I think anybody who studies music is going to teach one way or another. So half of my students are preparing for music education careers, and the other half are preparing for music performance careers, but they’ll all do both.”  

For more information on Wifff Rud and his group visit their website at www.rhythmandbrass.com.