Craig McKennon (CHS ’75)

I grew up about 30 miles north of Dallas, Texas on a farm where we had 15 cows and a horse. Mom used to call in the cows to eat by blowing on an old bull’s horn. My older brother and I would take turns blowing the horn to see if we could do it as well as Mom. My brother then took up the trumpet in school, and I would try to play his horn when he wasn’t looking. I started taking trumpet lessons when I was 11. My dog would howl when I would practice. My family then moved to Illinois where my band director introduced me to Adolph (Bud) Herseth, Principal Trumpet in the Chicago Symphony. A couple of years later, my family moved back to Texas and my brother and I started taking lessons from Mack Guderian, 2nd Trumpet in the Dallas Symphony. In high school, I studied with Merlin Jenkins, 1st trumpet in the Fort Worth Opera. He taught me how to transpose into different musical keys which is required in orchestral trumpet playing. I became a member of the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra in 1973 which was a lot of fun. We toured Europe for a month one summer. This trip was a real eye opener for me coming from a small town in rural Texas.

I went to the University of Texas at Austin where I got my BBA Finance in 1979 and was a member of the Longhorn Band. It was a real thrill marching in the UT stadium playing in front of 100,000 screaming fans! I‘ve been in the Salt Lake Symphony since 1994 and thoroughly enjoy it. I can’t imagine my life not being in the orchestra. My family and friends poke fun at me for being a “trumpet geek”. I may not know anything about popular music, but I can talk trumpet trivia for hours!