Herb Smith works one-on-one with Jeziah Haamid, 13. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE
Hall says he had often lightheartedly floated the idea of creating a “trumpet mecca” in Rochester to Smith, whom he envisioned as the man to lead it. But it wasn’t until ROCmusic received a grant through My Brother’s Keeper, a foundation launched by President Barack Obama to address opportunity gaps facing boys of color, that the idea of a trumpet education program for young Black men with a mentorship component started to take shape. “He and I both said, ‘I’ve never been anywhere in the world that my instrument didn’t take me,’” Hall says of Smith. “And that’s what I want for other students.” Hall, who describes Smith as “engaging in every sense of the word,” says that nurturing the students is a vital aspect of Herb’s City Trumpets. The students need to know their teacher and mentor has their best interests in mind. “That then opens the door for 22 CITY AUGUST 2021
deeper learning, deeper connections and more of — what is the word?” Hall says. “It’s not direct mentorship, it’s not mentorship for the sake of mentorship. But it’s, ‘I’m leading by example, and I’m expecting you to meet this example, and we move along together.’” Hall refers to this approach as “the apprenticeship model,” pointing to its success through the growth of American music programs based on El Sistema — the publicly financed music education program that originated in Venezuela in 1975 and famously gave Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel his start as a young music student. ROCmusic is one of 121 El Sistema-inspired programs in the United States. While teaching the students trumpet and mentoring them were always meant to go hand-in-hand, Smith was surprised by how strong the mentoring component became.
Smith started playing the trumpet at 9 years old. He began teaching lessons in his early 20s, around the time he graduated from Eastman School of Music and joined the RPO, and has done work in city schools. But, he says, he has never taught so many Black students as he does now with Herb’s City Trumpets. He says it is the first time that he feels like he’s “helping Black people, lifting them up, giving them music.” Smith is the only Black musician employed full-time by the RPO. “Sure, by being there I’m kind of opening up boundaries, whatever,” he says. “But that’s not really, really helping.” For Smith, his mentorship at Herb’s City Trumpets takes on a father-son dynamic — one that he experienced firsthand as a kid growing up in a strong church community in Cincinnati. “There was always men around me that when you went passed them, you straightened up, there was a respect,”
Smith says. “And in my church, it’s like all of the men were your father.” Smith, who has a daughter, says he thinks of his students as his sons. For one student, 16-year-old Colin Burroughs, the program is an experience he shares with his father Richard Burroughs, 57, who sits in on his lessons and learns the trumpet alongside him. For Richard, the goal was to be able to play a duet with his son, but Herb’s City Trumpets has also brought them closer. “What this has allowed us to do is be more open and communicate, just by sharing this experience together,” Richard Burroughs says. “It’s opening up doors, it’s allowing us to converse better, and effectively.” “I feel like we’ve gotten closer,” Colin says. Hall, the director of ROCmusic, says he was initially reluctant to allow a parent to join the program because he wanted to ensure that lessons focused
