At the 2024 National Trumpet Competition (NTC), the Missouri State University Trumpet Quintet won third place in The Bill PFund Trumpets College Small Ensemble Division.
The competition took place March 8-11 at Texas A&M University, Kingsville.
The small ensemble division began with 40 groups from universities around the country. Eight ensembles advanced to the semifinals and Missouri State finished third, winning $750 in prize money. Taking first and second place were University of Houston and Baylor University, respectively.
Five students from the music department made up the quintet: Ben Fetzer (senior), Samantha Record (junior), Emmitt Rieffer (senior), Emily Schmidt (freshman) and Marcellus Weinzierl (senior).
“They took full responsibility for preparing the music and scheduling many performances in preparation for this competition,” said Dr. Grant Peters, brass area coordinator and professor of music at MSU.
“Despite being in the company of ensembles from many of the most prestigious music schools in the country — often competing with masters and doctoral students — they remained motivated. It was a joy watching them work and, even better, seeing their reactions when they advanced to the finals.”
Hard work and dedication pay off
Preparation for the competition began early in the year with students selecting music. The musical selection could not be longer than eight minutes because of the competition scheduling.
“After technical preparations, the students worked to refine the musical aspects through memorization and numerous performances on campus, in the community and at area high schools,” Peters said. “This served as a recruiting opportunity for the university as well.”
For the students, it was rewarding not only to participate in the competition, but also to emerge as one of the winners.
“It was so unexpected to be able to go as far as we did, but I’m very excited and grateful that we got the chance to play,” Record said.
Weinzierl added, “I loved how supportive and music-focused the atmosphere was; the competitive aspect didn’t get in the way of that. We left NTC as a very motivated and newly inspired group of trumpet players.”
About NTC
NTC was founded by Dr. Dennis Edlebrock and inaugurated in 1992. It aims at providing learning opportunities for young trumpet players in the United States.
The competition features categories for trumpet soloists, and small and large trumpet ensembles.