Spitballs and Trumpets by Amy Nathan “It’s like shooting a spit ball. Smack! You want to hit the back wall with it,” said trumpet virtuoso Philip Smith, as he was conducting an hour-long master class for young trumpet players recently at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York. Mr. Smith, the principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, was trying to get a teenaged trumpeter to play a passage more forcefully. Mr. Smith pretended to wad up a spitball and placed the imaginary ball into his mouth. With an explosive burst of air from his pursed lips—PHUH!—he shot the pretend spitball straight out toward the back of the auditorium. Then he had the teen, Eli Maurer, spit an imaginary spitball out toward the back wall. The two of them stood on stage practicing spitball shooting. “Get it all the way back there,” urged Mr. Smith. Then he asked Eli to keep that spitball image in mind as he played the passage again. All that spitting paid off: Eli played the passage more energetically, with a more focused and forceful sound. More-->	Inside the Philharmonic Philharmonic Journal Spitballs and Trumpets by Amy Nathan