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diversions
Stirring up the
kitchen with trumpet tune
By Sarah Langford
On-line Forty-Niner
If you had asked
Steve Geiger three years ago if he knew where he would be
today, he almost positively would have answered no.
As a fourth-year
music student at Cal State Long Beach, Geiger plays the lead
trumpet in three ensembles on campus and plays second position
in two more. He is taking 23 units this fall and hopes to
graduate in spring 2003.
But as a high school
senior in Santa Rosa, Geiger wanted to go to culinary school
and become a chef. What happened between then and now to bring
him to where he is today?
Geiger's love affair
with the trumpet began in the fifth grade when he joined the
school band.
"I wanted
to play the drums but my mom wouldn't let me," he said.
"So I went back and played the loudest thing I could
? the trumpet!"
From that day on
it was practice, practice, practice. Geiger took private trumpet
lessons from the time he was in junior high until the day
he left for college. He eventually picked up a couple of other
instruments: guitar, drums and voice.
"My high school
didn't really have a music program, so a couple of buddies
and I would get together and jam every once in a while until
eventually, we were good enough to get gigs at school,"
Geiger said. "Then one thing led to another, and we began
playing professionally at different community and school functions.
Everything we earned went right back into the music department
at school and was used to buy equipment and start other bands."
Though his love
for playing grew as he got better, by his senior year, Geiger
found himself being torn in another direction and by a different
love ? cooking.
"For as long
as I can remember, I have been getting cookbooks every year
for Christmas," he said. "Growing up, I would cook
these elaborate meals for my friends and family once a month,
just because I enjoyed it. My plan at the end of my senior
year was to take music classes at the local junior college
and pursue cooking through extension courses."
Then came the call
from CSULB, urging Geiger to audition in the music department.
The audition and interviews went so well, he earned a scholarship
that paid for private trumpet lessons. That is when Grieger's
excitement for CSULB took off and he enrolled full time as
a music major in the fall of 1998.
"You talk
about severe shock," Geiger said. "I was so used
to being the 'top dog' in my hometown, with zero competition,
that being exposed to all the talent here really jolted me
awake. Within the first week of school I realized the work
I had ahead of me. I knew I was about to get my butt kicked."
He did not know
just how hard it would be at that point. During the next few
months Geiger practiced diligently without seeming to improve
much. Frustrated, exhausted and depressed, he decided one
day that music just was not for him. He was actually on his
way from the music department to Brotman Hall with the papers
in hand to change his major, when he remembered something
his high school guitar teacher said before Geiger left for
college.
"He told me
that if you're going to do something, you have to do it all
the way," Geiger said. "If you don't pour yourself
150 percent into what you're after, you'll never really know
if you could have done it or not. And chances are, you'll
succeed because you're giving it your all."
The change-of-major
documents never made it to Brotman Hall that day. Three years
and thousands of hours of work later, Geiger is currently
the lead trumpet in the music department and two years away
from his degree. He is living and breathing music, and loving
it.
When asked what
he wants to do with his education, his answer varies.
"My emphasis
in school is performance, so what I'd really like to do is
play. That might mean doing gigs in clubs at first, but hopefully
later, in studios recording film, TV and radio scores,"
he said. "Realistically though, I'll probably teach part-time
at some point. It's not my passion, but it's something I think
I would like doing and be pretty good at.
"Everybody
needs a creative outlet; Mine is music," he said. "No
matter what I end up doing in the future, I need the release
and rush that playing the trumpet and other instruments gives
me. I encourage everybody I know to find out what they love
to do and pursue it passionately. Put 150 percent of yourself
into it, and you won't regret the results."
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