MM '18
Charles Dieterle comes from a very musical family from Marquette, West Virginia, where he was encouraged to learn music by his parents and older sister, all of whom are professional musicians. At age seven, he began studying the harp, and he made his solo debut with the Rosedale Philharmonic at age ten. One year later, he started playing jazz saxophone and began to gig regularly in the greater Marquette metropolitan area during his late middle school years. When he was 16, he began to suffer from a rare tendon abnormality in his right wrist and forearm, and was ultimately forced to give up the harp and saxophone. Determined to continue life as a musician, he decided to learn trombone.
For the next many years, Charles committed himself completely to trombone. He spent, on average, six and a half hours each day on technique. His discipline was such that he only allowed himself to use second position after an entire year of mastering first position. He then only allowed himself to use third position after another year of mastering first/second positions, and the delicate interplay between the two. He then only allowed himself to use fourth position after another year of mastering first/second/third positions, and the delicate interplay between the three. And so on.
After seven years of this, Charles deemed himself ready to learn the intricate variations in slide positions that occur as the result of the imperfections in the trombone’s harmonic series. He spent another seven years dedicated to this. When Charles bought a trombone with a valve, he spent another five years mastering most of the valve slide positions. He is still currently learning how to put the slide in the correct place for a low C.
After all this time, he decided he was ready to audition for colleges. At the first audition, he was made aware that there is more to playing trombone than putting the slide in the correct position. On that day, for the first time, he put the mouthpiece into the receiver, took a breath, and buzzed his lips.
Charles completed his undergraduate studies at DePaul University in Chicago, where he studied with Mark Fisher and Charles Vernon. He is an alumnus of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and is currently the 2nd trombonist with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra. He studied with Per Brevig and Michael Powell at the Aspen Music Festival for four summers, and there developed a love for hiking and the outdoors. Charles has summited 12 of Colorado’s 14,000+ foot mountains, and plans to finish the remaining 46 as soon as possible.