On September 9, I wrote an article on The Last Trombone about my newest book, An Illustrated Dictionary for the Modern Trombone, Tuba, and Euphonium Player. While the book has an official release date of November 1, I began letting people know that the book was available as a pre-order.
Today, copies of the book that I had ordered from my publisher, Rowman & Littlefield, arrived on my doorstep, a full month before the official release. The warehouse is shipping. For once in my life, something arrived early!
Anyone who has written a book knows this unspeakable feeling—to open a box and see the product of many years of work.
And then I picked up a book and held it in my hand. After working for so many years with Word docs and PDF proofs, it was a shock—a happy shock— to see the crispness and vitality of Lennie Peterson‘s illustrations in print.
For those who have ordered a copy directly from the publisher, you should have your book soon. While the book is still announced on amazon.com as a November 1 release (and, hey, it’s the “#1 New Release in Trombones”!), ordering directly from the publisher not only gets the book to you faster, but you can get it at a 30% discount. See the discount code in the graphic below.
Tomorrow I will put a copy of the book in the hands of my Dean at Wheaton College, Michael Wilder, with thanks for his ongoing support of my many artistic exploits, and another in the hand of the acquisitions librarian at Buswell Library on the Wheaton College campus. It is my hope and prayer that this book will prove helpful to many trombone, tuba, and euphonium players, and others who enjoy hearing them and want to learn more about them.
Finally, while you will read this on page xvi, this is a good time to thank the people who really made the book possible: My students. The book is dedicated to them—all of my students from over 50 years of teaching. Here’s how I thanked them in the acknowledgements section:
I think I’ll go practice now, too.
The Last Trombone 