ON TOUR WITH THE AMERICAN WIND SYMPHONY

Jeff Nall envisions his future as a professional musician reaching as far as Bozeman, Mont., and perhaps as high as his toughest note on the trumpet.

The touchstone that decides whether dreams become reality? Practice, practice and more practice.

"The only way I'm going to get where I want to go is by studying with the best and practicing as much as possible every day," Nall said. "If I can beat out the competition at some auditions along the way, I'll get what I want eventually."

The Cape Girardeau High graduate, who went on to earn a master's degree at the University of Oklahoma earlier in the year, won an audition to play with the prestigious American Wind Symphony Orchestra this spring.

"I was a little surprised when they called me and told me to be in Red Wing, Minn., by May 20 if I wanted to play with them," Nall said. "The people in this orchestra are all planning on either teaching music or working as a professional musician the rest of their lives. This is where I should be at this stage of my career because they can only make me become a better musician."

This is the first time a local musician has been hired to play with the American Wind Symphony.

The Pittsburgh, Pa.-based symphony returns to Cape Girardeau for its seventh and final tour in a series of concerts today through Sunday (See schedule). The concerts are sponsored by the Southeast Missourian, B. W. Harrison, the Cape Girardeau Downtown Merchants, Southeast Missouri Hospital, St. Francis Medical Center, the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, Capital Bank, Lonestar Cement, Union Electric, the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club, Hecht's, Sears and Schnucks.

Unlike past performances in Cape, the American Wind Symphony will be performing on land instead of on the Mississippi. The river was deemed too high for the Point Counter Point II vessel to travel from Wisconsin to Cape Girardeau. But the music will be the same.

Nall will return home for the first time in six months to play before crowds that may not know how far he has traveled as a musician. "I've been to Aspen, Colo., St. Paul, Minn., and other towns because of my music," he said. "Every time I meet people in the business I learn a little more. I also realize how cutthroat the auditions really are."

When he was performing in Branson, Mo., last year, Nall played for shows that featured John Davidson and other stars. "There are musicians from Las Vegas who will go all the way to Branson just to audition for some of these shows," Nall said. "Maybe out of the 140 people auditioning, the people who are hiring will look at 10 and then call back two to decide on just one musician."

He also played a one-nighter with some topflight jazz musicians who composed a song inspired by a Langston Hughes poem and performed it after only five rehearsals.

"These were some of the best musicians I've seen; some of them studied at Julliard in New York," he said.

Now on the final stages of an American Wind Symphony tour that ends in July, Nall said he is not concerned about his next audition or where his next gig will take him. He just plans to enjoy himself while playing the trumpet before friends, family and music lovers.

The main concert that will feature the entire orchestra will take place at Capaha Park at 8 p.m. Saturday at the municipal band shell.

"Playing with this orchestra has been a good experience because the conductor, Robert Boudreau, accepts nothing less than perfection," Nall, 25, said. "That's not easy to achieve on a daily basis."

The son of Cape Central High band director Ron Nall, Jeff said he didn't understand how high a standard he would need to aspire to until he got out in "the real music world."

He was something of a late bloomer. "It wasn't until I was a sophomore at Oklahoma that I decided to become a music major," he said. "It wasn't until I was a junior in college that I realized how hard I would have to work to improve."

He has studied with Tom Booth, who has played in the Dallas Symphony for 18 years. "Tom practices two to three hours a day and he's one of the best," Nall said. "If I don't practice at least two hours a day I lose something."

He plans to continue to improve until he reaches Bozeman, Mont., which he considers the ideal location to work as a music professor who likes wide open spaces. "I like to fish and hunt, so that is where I would like to end up," he said. "but you never know what will happen along the way."