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A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

HITCH HIKING TO TRUMPET LESSONS

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Although, at the lime 1 entered Stetson University, I had served as l chair trumpet player in the 5
Army Division band, occasionally I had been told by another musician that my trumpet playing was
extremely good when it came to reading music, or playing fast and intricate passages, and other
mechanical aspects of trumpet playing. However, although I was not completely aware of it myself at
the time, the quality of the tone which I produced on the trumpet was apparently not what a person
would consider to be a “pretty" tone. 1 was told on several occasions that I played very well but that my
sound was not pretty, and I needed to work on it.

In the late fall of 1948, or perhaps early in 1949, after 1 had been at Stetson University for approximately
3 months, a gentleman came by the music school one day who was the band director at Sebring High
School, and had produced a superior band at Sebring for many many years. His name was Pete Gustat.
In the brief conversation 1 had with Mr. Gustat I told him that I probably needed to improve the quality
of the type of tone I was obtaining from my trumpet, and he told me something that proved to be
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invaluable to me. His brother, Josef Gustat had been 1 trumpet player in the St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra for 28 years and had recently retired and moved to Orlando. His brother was known nation­
wide as being a trouble shooter for trumpet players who had some sort of problem that needed solving,
and he had been instrumental in helping several famous trumpet players to play better, or in a more
pleasing way. Three of his former students that Mr. Gustat and 1 talked about, after I started taking
lessons from him, were Harry James, one of the most outstanding trumpet players of this century; Herb
Alpert, who anybody past middle aged will remember; and Ray Anthony, one of the big band leaders
ranking right up there with Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and that group of musicians. He
also gave lessons to Bernard Fitzgerald, who later became Head Band Director at the University of
Texas, in Austin, during the late 1940’s and the 1950’s.

I got in touch with Mr. Josef Gustat in Orlando and he agreed to give me a lesson every Saturday
afternoon, if I could find a way to get to his home in suburban Orlando to take a lesson. The way that I
got to Orlando was to get out on Woodland Boulevard in Deland with my trumpet case, and stick out my
thumb. It was only 40 miles to Orlando, and in those days just after World War II people were very
willing to pick up hitch hikers, since for several years so many of the military had managed to get
around from one place to another by getting out side of the highway and sticking out their thumb. It
would be difficult to obtain a ride to some destination today by hitch hiking, but back in those days it
was easy. One Saturday afternoon, after arranging with Mr. Josef Gustat to expect me, I hitch hiked to
Orlando and took my first lesson. Fie charged $5.00 for a 30 minute lesson, but invariably at every
lesson he and 1 would both get so interested in what we were doing, and in what we were accomplishing,
that most of those 30 minute lessons turned into 90 minute lessons, but he never charged me for any
extra time.

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