Professional trumpeter and Peabody graduate Elisa Koehler sees trumpets where most of us don’t. Like the symbol on your car’s horn button.

“There’s a picture of a bugle there,” notes Koehler (BM ’87, Music Education; BM ’87, Trumpet; DMA ’96, Conducting), who is the Music Department chair at Goucher College and music director for the Frederick Symphony Orchestra.

It’s that same keen eye and passion that led Koehler to write Fanfares and Finesse: A Performer’s Guide to Trumpet History and Literature. Koehler wanted an accessible and comprehensive reference guide to trumpets, one that would include instruments usually omitted from other books, like the cornet and flugelhorn.

“The title Fanfares and Finesse summarizes the history of the trumpet because it starts out as a signal instrument in the military literally like a fire alarm then it becomes a very esteemed solo instrument in jazz as well as classical circles,” says Koehler.

Her next book will be available later this year and provides a more detailed reference on a variety of instruments, musicians, and composers.

— Sarah Richards