Resa's Pieces Concert Band

Ashifa Jiwa

My first foray into the musical world was at the ripe old age of 8, when I started taking group organ lessons.  I felt quite sophisticated at the time (as sophisticated as an 8 year old playing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" can feel, that is). All my friends were studying piano, and I seemed to be the only one studying the organ.  My friends would marvel at how my feet on the pedals could match time to my hands.  And I enjoyed showing off the exciting features of the 1980s electric organ - built-in disco beats and all!

As I got older I abandoned the electric organ in favour of the pipe organ, renting out space at churches in the early mornings to practice for my Royal Conservatory exams, and then heading to school afterward. 

I suppose all the complex use of my fingers and feet wore thin, because once I started taking band in high school, I chose an instrument with the simplest fingering around - the trumpet!   With only three valves to press, the mysteries of creating two and a half octaves of notes using mainly my lips and diaphragm fascinated me. 

I played in several concert and jazz bands throughout high school - often having rehearsals for different bands three times a day!  A few friends and I started up a little Dixieland band, and I think to this day that remains my fondest band memory.  After leaving high school, I started my physics degree at McMaster and joined the McMaster concert band for one year.  My studies, followed by medical school, kept me quite busy, and, I found myself too busy to maintain my hobby regularly after that first year. 

Now, 13 years later I am feeling the "jones" to pick up my horn again and exercise my chops more regularly.  I have just joined Resa's Pieces (2009-10), and have found the group to be incredibly warm and welcoming.  They are more forgiving of my rustiness than I could have hoped for, and I am sure with all of this encouragement, I will be able to improve my skill quickly.  I am grateful to be able to play with such a talented and diverse group of people, and I look forward to an amazing year!

Alex Sirota

My earliest memory of getting involved with music was 5th grade. I immigrated to Detroit, Michigan from Odessa, Ukraine in 1979. I was able to speak English fairly well by 5th grade, when musical instruments were introduced to our class by Mr. Osborne. He played guitar and sang "Puff the Magic Dragon" to unsuspecting youngsters who didn't read too much into the lyrics of the tune. Mr. Osborne thought that trumpet would be good for me, and I've been playing the horn, exclusively, since then.

I played in all kinds of youth bands and one of my fondest memories was soloing in jazz band on Coconut Champagne (Maynard Ferguson's arrangement, and a decent one from Japanese MF clones!) and A Night in Tunisia, a jazz standard. Mrs. Golden was our teacher in high school, and she taught the 9th and 10th graders to be the best band we could be, whether it was symphony or marching band. We came in 2nd place in a state marching band competition in 10th grade -- that was just about the best feeling!

We played in competitions, solo & ensembles and I won many medals at those events. Like Harold Wolfe (another Resa's Pieces trumpeter), I also played Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in B-flat.

Probably the most people I ever played for would be 100,000+ fans at the University of Michigan stadium in Ann Arbor. I was part of the 225 member Michigan Marching Band, and we blew our brains out every Saturday before, during and after each home Wolverine football game. Playing "Victors" down the field will forever be embedded in my mind, and I try to attend the homecoming weekend every year to recapture that feeling at my alma mater.

After dropping the trumpet for about 10 years, I found out about Resa's Pieces through a girlfriend. I joined, formed some amazing friendships. And there's lots of opportunity to volunteer (I maintain this website for example). The variety of people in age and background who make beautiful music together is just what I was looking for! I am glad I found the band before they hit the "big time"!

This video also explains why I love music - check it out at 15:00 and 24:00 especially.

Harold Wolfe

After playing piano, as a boy, I started playing trumpet in Grade 10. In addition to playing with my high school Marching and Concert Bands, I played in the University of Toronto Varsity  Blues Marching Band and later, in another Concert Band. Currently, in addition to playing with Resa’s Pieces, I play Klesmer music with Kleskonnection, which I started a few years ago, after attending a Klesmer camp, together with a number of Resa’s Pieces members.   

I first met Resa Kochberg after attending a Resa's Pieces Concert in May, 2001. My thought then was that although I had not touched my horn for a number of years, I could handle their music. After speaking to her about my previous trumpet experience, she asked me to join her Band. I have not been disappointed! As a side benefit of joining the band, I have become involved with the “performing music scene”. I very much look forward to our weekly practices, and enjoy the camaraderie which is always on display whenever we meet.

My personal goal, which I believe the Band also strives to achieve, is to continually “raise the bar”, by showing ongoing improvement, both in the quality of playing and in the complexity of the music we perform. I believe that my taking lessons, on an ongoing basis (which I believe all players should do) contributes to accomplishing this goal.