November 17, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode of Joyously Free!, host Joanie Lindenmeyer talks with Crescent City musician David Sedgwick about his lifelong journey with music. David shares how growing up in a musical family led him to master piano and trumpet from an early age, later expanding to teaching and performing professionally. He describes the emotional and spiritual […]
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Hi, and welcome KCIW listeners at one hundred
point seven at kciw.org,
Brookings, Oregon,
and to the syndicated listeners at KZZH
ninety six point seven Access Humboldt, Eureka, California.
We are glad you're here with us today.
I'm Joni Lindenmaier, author of None Better and
author of Joyously Free, which is the name
(00:32):
of the show. We're glad that you're here
today.
Let's begin with our morning salutation.
I say it's a brand new day, and
you get to say,
never been lived before.
Here we go. It's a brand new day.
Never been lived before. Woo hoo. And that's
a DJ voice right there coming up too.
Radio voice. Yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Congrats.
(00:54):
Oh my gosh. You have a little peek
of who we have today. See if you
can guess from name that voice.
Oh, we'll let you know his name in
just a minute. This radio radio show, as
Will and Viv named it, is a show
that talks about LGBTQ
plus stories and tips along with religion, church,
faith, spirituality,
and joy. That's the most important part. Joy
(01:15):
and freedom. Hence, the title of my second
book, Joyously Free. I coauthored it with Elizabeth
Ann Atkins of 2sisterswriting.com.
So this radio show today, as in life,
no hate speech, no hate behaviors, and no
bullying. It will be blasted with the three
c's,
courage, confidence, and collaboration, and we're gonna add
the word fun today.
(01:37):
Live music coming on. Together, let's seek understanding,
think out of the box or no boxes
at all, and let's be open as an
open parachute.
In order to get ready for today, let's
start with our morning prayer.
Let's open our hearts,
asking our creator to shine light on our
community and our world.
(01:57):
I excitedly believe in hope, in the power
of the divine, and that Jesus, God, whatever
name you put on a higher being is
always with me and with you. So be
not afraid or troubled,
saddened or depressed.
Joy and peace are an internal expression of
love and harmony that is already within within
us, and we only have to reach deep
(02:19):
within and let it out.
Well, let's center ourselves a little bit.
Take a big deep breath
in with the good
and out with doubt.
Again,
calming,
breathe in through your nose
with hope
(02:41):
and out from your mouth with fears.
Last one, relaxing that body.
Take a big deep breath in
with joy
and out with worry or despair.
In the name of mother Earth, God our
creator, Jesus our redeemer, and the blowing winds
of the Holy Spirit,
(03:02):
we say, hi.
Hi, holy one. Thank you for being with
us on this beautiful day.
The reading I picked from today
is a quote,
and I think it ties in with our
speaker.
It's called or it says,
love makes me want to sing the melody
my heart is playing.
(03:24):
Anonymous.
Love makes me want to sing the melody,
my heart is plain.
When I reflected on that in prayer today,
I was thinking about all the people that
that I love and that I am loved
by. We are all blessed and beloved people.
And so being able to express that and
(03:45):
feel that is a melody that constantly goes
in my heart in the form of music
or poetry
or writing or play.
So today, we are
gonna be blessed with a speaker, a person
that's gonna be playing some music for us
and enlightening
us on what that really means.
(04:05):
So holy god, thank you for touching my
heart once again in a quote that I
read.
Would you please lift up our friends and
our family?
May you please guide and heal us, and
thank you again for being with us, holy
one.
Love makes a difference and so does music.
So let's have a happy day today today
today today right now. KCIW
(04:26):
and KZZH
listeners.
So with that, I am thrilled as can
be. I've been looking forward to this. We've
tried for numerous times to make this happen,
and today is the day. Everybody, let me
introduce to you friend
and I'm just gonna say friend.
David Sedgwick.
He is a musician from Crescent City. Our
(04:48):
topic is make joyful music. And today, David
is going to bless us and joyfully
share his trumpet skill as well as words
of wisdom and his big, big heart. David,
thank you for being here. Hi, Joni. It's
wonderful to be here. Oh my gosh. You
know, I've known you I've known your brother
longer than you. Mhmm. But I am so
(05:08):
glad that we have crossed paths again at
the United Methodist Church in the community at
this place, at this place. We are all
around.
And so are you. Mhmm. And so are
you. You know, David, thinking back, how did
we first meet?
You insist the last time I or one
of the first times I saw you that
we had met my first year at some
event in Crescent City. But the most recent
(05:29):
time I remember
was when you were facilitating the drop off
of a huge supply of dried goods,
at the Methodist church so that we could,
you know, distribute them amongst the community, do
some soup dinners, and all that kind of
stuff. And I remember you just ran across
the parking lot and said, oh my god.
I'm so happy to see you. And you
gave me this great big hug and kissed
me on the cheek. And I was like,
oh, who is this person? And and it's
(05:50):
so so aggressively joyful and loving. Oh. Oh,
yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And
what a great church you belong to. And
I know you provide the music for them.
And, you know, a little bit about your
I know your mom. Yeah. I know your
brother. And tell me a little bit about
your background growing up in the music world.
Oh, man. What did not we do? So
we all grew up in Southern California.
(06:13):
The the running joke in our family was,
when you reach a certain age, which was
about three or four, it wasn't, do you
want to play a musical instrument? It is,
what musical instrument do you want to learn
to play?
And so, I remember sitting down at the
piano or
four and just being fascinated
with it. You know, it made sense to
me. You you poke it and it makes
(06:34):
noise, and and it's it's like communicating through
touch, which is a a huge thing for
me. I'm a very kinesthetic kind of creature.
Right on. So why? Yeah. So so all
all of us in the family, we were
just constantly surrounded by music, always involved and
participated in music.
My mother, at one point, was the district
band director.
So she she was at, you know, three
(06:54):
different elementary schools, one of the junior highs.
My brother eventually took over that role. I
ended up teaching,
for for those kinds of classes while I
was still in junior high and high school.
I was in Uh-huh. With the local community
orchestra, local youth orchestra, all that kind of
stuff. And so you started with piano. Yes.
I I think about Charlie Brown and Schulz.
You know? Schrodinger.
Schrodinger. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And so and
(07:16):
then from there, you went to other instruments.
You had a calling. How did that happen?
Then tell us what instruments. Yeah. So I
started on piano, like I said. And,
my my parents very quickly realized that piano
being a much more solitary kind of instrument,
they wanted me to have something to grease
the social wheels, so to speak. So when
I got into public school, they were like,
(07:37):
well, we need to pick another instrument that
you can play in band so you can
be around other kids, learn how to make
music together, all that kind of stuff. And
I remember hearing
a recording of Gershwin's American in Paris. Oh.
And there's a very famous trumpet solo in
that piece. And I remember just my eyes
opened wide, and they got me a trumpet
for Christmas that year when I was five.
Oh. And so I started taking lessons,
(07:57):
almost that same year. I I was already
taking lessons, on piano at that time. Yeah.
I was very fortunate to be given all
of these tools at a very young age.
And, being involved in the education system, I
learned how to play all the different brass
instruments so that I could teach trombone and
French horn, and I dabble in woodwinds and
guitar and other things like that. You dabble.
I think that's so funny. Funny. Oh my
(08:18):
god. You were just a musician at the
highest. Would you con consider yourself a professional
musician? Yes. I worked professionally for,
much of my young adult life.
I was already doing gigs when I was
in undergraduate,
down in Los Angeles. I I guess I
was gigging in high school as well, but
it was different because I didn't have my
own car. So, you know, it was, it
(08:38):
was more dependent on, the kinds of situations
that came up that fit into my busy
schedule. But I was playing piano for, you
know, cocktail lounges,
without the drinks. I was doing private parties.
I played with one of the local theater
troupes, out of one of the ranches, which
was a wild experience. Oh, wow. And then,
yeah, when I moved out to Texas to
do graduate school, I was,
(09:00):
teaching and gigging. And I played with the
Grand Opera in Houston for a while, as
well as the ballet and, like, a freelancer.
And that's down. We're down down. You are
definitely a professional. Yes, I am. Oh my
gosh. I definitely need your autograph at the
end of this day today. I'm done. I'm
done. Okay. You know, and you talk about
all these great talents and instruments and and
your family. Can you remember and maybe you
(09:22):
can play for us. What was the very
first song you learned on the trumpet? Oh,
gosh. Was that a twinkle twinkle, a little
star? Was that I I imagine I probably
got shoved through hot cross buns at one
point. Okay. Give us give us some tune
there. Yeah. Alright. You wanted to play it
like I play now or like I played
then? How about then and now? Alright. Here
we go. Here we go.
(09:49):
Now a little bit.
I love it. I love it. You bet.
You bet. Oh my gosh. It takes it
takes a lot of experience, actually, as a
musician to be able to play poorly.
Very talented in that respect. Very cool. Very
cool. And and the joy that the trumpet
(10:09):
your music brings to you, can you talk
about that joy? Yeah. Definitely.
The the piano is is such a an
interesting and fascinating instrument,
because of its complexity and its repertoire. But
the trumpet is so
physical, and it reminds me so much of
the act of singing, and I also sing.
And there there's there's something about the sustain
(10:29):
and the the the tone color range and
the emotion that you can put into just
a single note
on the trumpet. And it it's it's
it's inherently difficult.
And that also brings a certain joy when
you conquer the physical, you know, limitations of
some, you know, plumbing, basically. Mhmm. You know?
And it's a very silly instrument because
(10:50):
our entire premise is based on,
you know, just buzzing our lips, and it's
very silly kind of thing. Mhmm. But then
the artistry comes later, and the connection of
those two,
things is very, special. Right. Right. So do
you walk around your house blowing your trumpet?
Occasionally. Yeah. I I I usually leave one
of my trumpets out on the couch or
(11:11):
on a chair somewhere so I can pick
it up and play whenever I want. But
Mhmm. Usually, I try to dedicate some time
to it in a proper space. Right. Right.
Right. I don't know if you know this
about me, but, my mother grew up, in
the Depression era. Mhmm. And she was a
a first trumpet at her high school, her
sophomore, junior, and senior year. Very cool. And
so then when I,
got involved in music at age, I don't
(11:32):
know, grade five Mhmm. Grade five, I picked
the trumpet. Oh, good. You wanna play some
for us today? Not not even. So I
I I played for three weeks, and then
I had an appendicitis and just about died.
Yeah. That'll do it. So that that sort
of ended my trumpet career, and then I
took on guitar. But that's another but music
has always been something that just fills my
heart. And and I and when I look
at you, David, and your eyes are just
(11:53):
sparkling when the music is going, do you
think in music all the time?
At least half the time. Yeah. No. And
and it's interesting because when I am in
a heavy practice phase or I haven't been
around people and I've just been making music,
it takes me a while to kind of
readjust to my thoughts coming in language.
But, yeah, a lot of my thoughts are
in sound.
And,
(12:13):
part of my composition career is just trying
to,
identify and track down, that kind
of ethereal,
mind sound and get it, to to match
externally.
Mhmm. You know? Well, play us play a
song. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm just gonna What
what what your heart is telling you? Yeah.
I'll dig around a little bit. Okay.
(14:08):
Yeah. Oh, thank you. So beautiful. So beautiful.
When I hear your music, my eyes wanna
close, and then it's like it gets sort
of teary. It's just so beautiful. I noticed
you close your eyes when you play as
well. Yeah. When I improvise, I I usually
find that, on trumpet specifically, my eyes close,
because there's,
there's kind of a a physical feedback,
(14:29):
you know, response that I get in my
brain when I'm playing trumpet that kind of
I I can I can see what I'm
about to do better, you know, so to
speak? Although, when I'm improvising at the piano,
usually, I find myself with my eyes open
looking up, and I I find it up
here somewhere.
I'm I'm a synesthete.
What does that mean? So do you know,
(14:51):
what synesthesia is? No. No. It's a it's
a blending of senses.
Oh. So so, basically, some people have,
crossed wires in the brain where they can
look at a number and the number has
a color. Yes. Or
they they taste sound or something like that.
I see sound.
Okay. So all sound.
So there is kind of like a second
(15:12):
field of vision that goes over my eyes,
and I I can see what I hear.
And with with voice and other ambient sounds,
it's it's just kind of speckles. But with
music, it has
structure and color.
And, of course, in music school, you find
more people like that with synesthesia
and specifically that blending. And one of the
fascinating things I've found is that most
(15:34):
synesthetes
see the same colors.
Oh. So if you play, like, an e
flat chord, it's gonna be, like, lime green
with beige and and white speckled in. And,
like, an a flat minor is always gonna
be deep purple with some browns and oranges.
Oh. It was a very cool little experience.
That is so spiritual to me. Yeah. Me
too. And and the energy related to that.
(15:55):
Yeah. Yeah. And and the the the tingles
that you get when you when you grab
on to one of those threads and you
just start pulling, that that flow is
otherworldly
for real.
Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. You know? And and and
related to all this, you play piano at
the United Methodist Church Mhmm. Every Sunday and
for events. Would you talk about that, please?
(16:17):
Yeah. Absolutely. I've been the music director at
the Methodist Church in Crescent City for a
few years now.
And,
so like you said, I play the the
hymns, accompany,
any special soloist,
every Sunday.
Our services are eleven.
And I also run a small little chancel
choir, which is getting bigger and bigger, which
is very fun, and also a handbell choir,
(16:40):
which is super interesting.
Handbell choir is like taking a piano
and separating each person into one or two
fingers.
So it's a it's a it's an interesting
organism to try and coordinate.
But if you are interested in seeing us
perform something, we have a big holiday concert
that we put on every year. This year,
it's gonna be on Friday, December 19 at
(17:02):
6PM.
And the address of the Methodist Church is
664 H Street in Crescent City, if you
guys are interested. Absolutely. And I have been
several years, and I just love going. And
then let's get some shout outs to some
of the people in the the, bell choir
as well as in the vocal choir. How
about popping out some names here? Sure. Actually,
there there are a couple of Brookings based
(17:23):
people. Meredith Rosendahl is one of my favorite.
She's actually an ex hand bell, director herself,
Very serious player. Another Brookings person is Lori
Neal. Lori, if you're out there and you're
one of my favorites, don't tell anybody else
though.
Let's see. My mother, Meredith, is in there
as well.
Sedgwick. Meredith Sedgwick. Yeah. The the, eldest of
(17:44):
the clan, we call her.
Yeah. Kathy Alpert. Kathy Alpert. Who else is
in there? Dave McPhail,
Roxanne Evans.
Oh, gosh. Candace Tinkler. Mhmm. Kind of got
a lot of people in there. Yes. Becca,
Becca Dyke is one of the the recent
additions. Teresa Jenkins.
If you guys are listening, I love you
all. Yeah. There you go. And in your
(18:06):
choir, that just is fantastic when they sing,
and and they're up on the altar. Mhmm.
And it it's just so beautiful. The the
choice of music,
the the vibrancy, the joy,
and and the connection to our creator is
just phenomenal. Pastor Dana does a wonderful job
with all that too. Yeah. She does. Yeah.
She's she's one of my
I've I've worked with a lot of churches
(18:27):
over my lifetime, being a musician,
probably over a 100.
Wow. And this is the first church that
I ever
went to and just wanted to settle in.
Fantastic. Yeah. So, again, just to repeat, 11:00
are services on Sunday. That's right. And then
the the big, handbell choir,
bells Mhmm. Is 12/19/2007?
(18:47):
06:00. 06:00. Yeah. And we we also have
freebie event? Or donation suggest a donation of
$10. But, of course, if you can't afford
it, still come and celebrate with us. Absolutely.
I interrupted you. What were you saying? I
was just gonna say we also have a
brass quintet that plays,
at that event.
Oh, yes. Yeah. A brass quintet.
Let's see. The North Coast Chorale is lending
(19:08):
us some of its singers as well. One
of my piano students who's eight years old,
little Matilda, is gonna be playing a couple
of songs as well. It's the one of
the most adorable thing that you'll ever see.
Wonderful. Wonderful. Okay. The brass quartet. Mhmm.
Frank Allard. Uh-huh. Frank Allard with his with
his group. I'm not sure exactly who all
is in that. Okay. But, either, my brother's
(19:28):
gonna be playing a clarinet solo. Daniel? Daniel
Sedgwick. Yeah. He's gonna be playing an excerpt
from the movie The Snowman Oh. Which is
a wonderful,
animated film from the eighties. I can't remember
exactly what year.
I'll be doing some incredible arrangements from Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker Suite by a Russian contemporary named Pleitnev.
And it it is it's a wild ride.
(19:48):
You should definitely come check that out. Okay.
Okay. And I think that's pretty much it.
A a number of solos from other people
in the choir as well. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Do
you have a a tune that you can
whip out for us from any of those
events, like, right now?
Yeah. Let's see. I I could probably do
one, the solos that somebody wants to do.
Have you ever heard, a wonder as I
wonder? Yes. I love that. Yeah. Sure. I
(20:09):
could do a little bit of that if
you want. Super. Thank you, David. Mhmm.
(20:57):
With a few artistic alterations. But Yes. I
wonder. I love that song. Mhmm. I love
that song. It's a very good one. Very
good one. So do you, like,
select the songs
for all of the liturgies?
So I I operate out of, what's known
as the,
the Book of Discipline lectionary calendar.
So there are recommended hymns that match up
(21:18):
with the liturgical
texts.
I do select the ones that I like
and what fit the musical themes that I'm
going for of those weeks and and months,
though. Yes. Right on. And it sounds like
you totally enjoy doing that as well. Yeah.
It's been a really interesting experience,
because get getting to know, every different,
you know, selection of music that churches use
(21:39):
is, you know, every denomination uses slightly different
but much overlapping material. And getting to branch
out and kind of experiment with
things that I prefer versus what I know
some of the congregation prefers and,
creating the atmosphere that I'm going for. Yeah.
It's it's been a learning process that I
enjoy very much. Right on. And the music
ministry is probably my favorite part.
(22:01):
The the church
has a, actually, a pretty good emphasis on
music in the services, And we do a
music ministry every week. And while we are
in season, the chancel choir and the handbell
choir alternate performances. But on the,
inter,
weeks between those performances, I either do a
solo or I bring in like, just recently,
(22:21):
I brought in a fabulous flautist named Oren
who,
specializes in Bach. And so we've been preparing
Bach, performances as well. Oh my god. Yeah.
So what whatever whatever strikes me. Right. Right.
Right. And besides all these instruments, I think
one of my favorite instruments from you, David,
is your voice. Oh, thank you. Oh my
gosh. And I I've heard you sing multiple
(22:44):
times. Most recently, there was a beautiful prayer
service I remember. By, Dana and pastor Dana
and pastor Sy Mhmm. At the beachfront park,
and and you, sang a song. I don't
remember the name of the song. Neither do
I. I I remember that it was responsorial
and Right. Right. And prayerful. Mhmm. You know?
And I think that's what I I have
a tattoo. And,
(23:05):
the the third book I wrote called Healing
Religious Hurts, my tattoo is musical notes. Oh,
nuts. And because I believe that prayer is
healing,
and prayer can bring out some of the
things inside of you just to deal with
Yeah. And to celebrate with. Yeah. And and
music is definitely my prayer. Absolutely. When when
when I'm alone playing music or or even
(23:25):
when I'm with others playing music. Some sometimes
it's routine like anything else, but,
I've I've never felt closer to god than
when I'm playing music. Oh, that's beautiful. That's
beautiful. Oh, wow. Wow. Do you have a
a favorite song you'd like to whip forward
right now for us as a prayerful
song? So, usually, when I'm,
(23:45):
in that mode, I am improvising.
Okay.
But if I had to pick I'm trying
to trying to think if anything strikes me.
I find
that the most soulful things that I experience
on trumpet are playing jazz.
Just like, you know, the the couple of
times that I've played, you've heard a little
new jazz alternations and things like that.
(24:06):
Well, please share us with some improvise us.
Please share. I think I'll share one more.
There's there's a piece from,
a Gershwin opera called I Loves You, Porgy.
Oh. And it's one of the most heartbreaking
songs. And I'll I'll just play a little
bit of it, so we don't run out
of time. But here's here's the theme. Okay.
(25:05):
Yeah.
Wonderful.
Live music just touches my soul. And I
you just don't toot your own horn, which
I love about you, David. Yeah. You know,
you toot everybody else. And so anybody, young
prodigies out there, you know, if you wanna
get a hold of David, get a hold
of him at
sedgwickdwarren@gmail.com.
There you go. And you can also call
(25:26):
KCIW
and let us know if we can get
you in touch with David at (541)
661-4098.
I can't believe how fast time has gone
by. Seriously. And and, sir, I thank you
from the top of my heart, the bottom
of my heart. High five, high tens, big
hugs, and a kiss on your cheek. There
we go. Definitely. Definitely. We also wanna thank
all you listeners for tuning in today, from
(25:47):
the Northern California Coast and for Southern Oregon.
This was a joyously free show today. I
hope you've been inspired,
challenged, and enjoyed the stories, the tips, the
hopes, the music by David Sedgwick. You know,
it it wouldn't be happening if we didn't
have Mike Gorse on sound, Tom Bozak,
Candice, and Rose for making all this happening
(26:07):
at k c I w and k z
z h Humboldt. You know? You can order
any of my books or you can see
David. There's so much artistry in our town,
both Crescent City and Brookings. We wanna make
sure that you know how to smile big
and wear bright colors because today is the
day that we celebrate
music, music, music. How about end with a
(26:27):
little bit of something?
Woo hoo. Alright. Thanks, everybody. Have a beautiful
day. And, again, David, thank you so much.
Thanks, Joni. It's been a pleasure.
Hi, and welcome KCIW listeners at one hundred
point seven at kciw.org,
Brookings, Oregon,
and to the syndicated listeners at KZZH
ninety six point seven Access Humboldt, Eureka, California.
We are glad you're here with us today.
I'm Joni Lindenmaier, author of None Better and
author of Joyously Free, which is the name
(00:32):
of the show. We're glad that you're here
today.
Let's begin with our morning salutation.
I say it's a brand new day, and
you get to say,
never been lived before.
Here we go. It's a brand new day.
Never been lived before. Woo hoo. And that's
a DJ voice right there coming up too.
Radio voice. Yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Congrats.
(00:54):
Oh my gosh. You have a little peek
of who we have today. See if you
can guess from name that voice.
Oh, we'll let you know his name in
just a minute. This radio radio show, as
Will and Viv named it, is a show
that talks about LGBTQ
plus stories and tips along with religion, church,
faith, spirituality,
and joy. That's the most important part. Joy
(01:15):
and freedom. Hence, the title of my second
book, Joyously Free. I coauthored it with Elizabeth
Ann Atkins of 2sisterswriting.com.
So this radio show today, as in life,
no hate speech, no hate behaviors, and no
bullying. It will be blasted with the three
c's,
courage, confidence, and collaboration, and we're gonna add
the word fun today.
(01:37):
Live music coming on. Together, let's seek understanding,
think out of the box or no boxes
at all, and let's be open as an
open parachute.
In order to get ready for today, let's
start with our morning prayer.
Let's open our hearts,
asking our creator to shine light on our
community and our world.
(01:57):
I excitedly believe in hope, in the power
of the divine, and that Jesus, God, whatever
name you put on a higher being is
always with me and with you. So be
not afraid or troubled,
saddened or depressed.
Joy and peace are an internal expression of
love and harmony that is already within within
us, and we only have to reach deep
(02:19):
within and let it out.
Well, let's center ourselves a little bit.
Take a big deep breath
in with the good
and out with doubt.
Again,
calming,
breathe in through your nose
with hope
(02:41):
and out from your mouth with fears.
Last one, relaxing that body.
Take a big deep breath in
with joy
and out with worry or despair.
In the name of mother Earth, God our
creator, Jesus our redeemer, and the blowing winds
of the Holy Spirit,
(03:02):
we say, hi.
Hi, holy one. Thank you for being with
us on this beautiful day.
The reading I picked from today
is a quote,
and I think it ties in with our
speaker.
It's called or it says,
love makes me want to sing the melody
my heart is playing.
(03:24):
Anonymous.
Love makes me want to sing the melody,
my heart is plain.
When I reflected on that in prayer today,
I was thinking about all the people that
that I love and that I am loved
by. We are all blessed and beloved people.
And so being able to express that and
(03:45):
feel that is a melody that constantly goes
in my heart in the form of music
or poetry
or writing or play.
So today, we are
gonna be blessed with a speaker, a person
that's gonna be playing some music for us
and enlightening
us on what that really means.
(04:05):
So holy god, thank you for touching my
heart once again in a quote that I
read.
Would you please lift up our friends and
our family?
May you please guide and heal us, and
thank you again for being with us, holy
one.
Love makes a difference and so does music.
So let's have a happy day today today
today today right now. KCIW
(04:26):
and KZZH
listeners.
So with that, I am thrilled as can
be. I've been looking forward to this. We've
tried for numerous times to make this happen,
and today is the day. Everybody, let me
introduce to you friend
and I'm just gonna say friend.
David Sedgwick.
He is a musician from Crescent City. Our
(04:48):
topic is make joyful music. And today, David
is going to bless us and joyfully
share his trumpet skill as well as words
of wisdom and his big, big heart. David,
thank you for being here. Hi, Joni. It's
wonderful to be here. Oh my gosh. You
know, I've known you I've known your brother
longer than you. Mhmm. But I am so
(05:08):
glad that we have crossed paths again at
the United Methodist Church in the community at
this place, at this place. We are all
around.
And so are you. Mhmm. And so are
you. You know, David, thinking back, how did
we first meet?
You insist the last time I or one
of the first times I saw you that
we had met my first year at some
event in Crescent City. But the most recent
(05:29):
time I remember
was when you were facilitating the drop off
of a huge supply of dried goods,
at the Methodist church so that we could,
you know, distribute them amongst the community, do
some soup dinners, and all that kind of
stuff. And I remember you just ran across
the parking lot and said, oh my god.
I'm so happy to see you. And you
gave me this great big hug and kissed
me on the cheek. And I was like,
oh, who is this person? And and it's
(05:50):
so so aggressively joyful and loving. Oh. Oh,
yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And
what a great church you belong to. And
I know you provide the music for them.
And, you know, a little bit about your
I know your mom. Yeah. I know your
brother. And tell me a little bit about
your background growing up in the music world.
Oh, man. What did not we do? So
we all grew up in Southern California.
(06:13):
The the running joke in our family was,
when you reach a certain age, which was
about three or four, it wasn't, do you
want to play a musical instrument? It is,
what musical instrument do you want to learn
to play?
And so, I remember sitting down at the
piano or
four and just being fascinated
with it. You know, it made sense to
me. You you poke it and it makes
(06:34):
noise, and and it's it's like communicating through
touch, which is a a huge thing for
me. I'm a very kinesthetic kind of creature.
Right on. So why? Yeah. So so all
all of us in the family, we were
just constantly surrounded by music, always involved and
participated in music.
My mother, at one point, was the district
band director.
So she she was at, you know, three
(06:54):
different elementary schools, one of the junior highs.
My brother eventually took over that role. I
ended up teaching,
for for those kinds of classes while I
was still in junior high and high school.
I was in Uh-huh. With the local community
orchestra, local youth orchestra, all that kind of
stuff. And so you started with piano. Yes.
I I think about Charlie Brown and Schulz.
You know? Schrodinger.
Schrodinger. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And so and
(07:16):
then from there, you went to other instruments.
You had a calling. How did that happen?
Then tell us what instruments. Yeah. So I
started on piano, like I said. And,
my my parents very quickly realized that piano
being a much more solitary kind of instrument,
they wanted me to have something to grease
the social wheels, so to speak. So when
I got into public school, they were like,
(07:37):
well, we need to pick another instrument that
you can play in band so you can
be around other kids, learn how to make
music together, all that kind of stuff. And
I remember hearing
a recording of Gershwin's American in Paris. Oh.
And there's a very famous trumpet solo in
that piece. And I remember just my eyes
opened wide, and they got me a trumpet
for Christmas that year when I was five.
Oh. And so I started taking lessons,
(07:57):
almost that same year. I I was already
taking lessons, on piano at that time. Yeah.
I was very fortunate to be given all
of these tools at a very young age.
And, being involved in the education system, I
learned how to play all the different brass
instruments so that I could teach trombone and
French horn, and I dabble in woodwinds and
guitar and other things like that. You dabble.
I think that's so funny. Funny. Oh my
(08:18):
god. You were just a musician at the
highest. Would you con consider yourself a professional
musician? Yes. I worked professionally for,
much of my young adult life.
I was already doing gigs when I was
in undergraduate,
down in Los Angeles. I I guess I
was gigging in high school as well, but
it was different because I didn't have my
own car. So, you know, it was, it
(08:38):
was more dependent on, the kinds of situations
that came up that fit into my busy
schedule. But I was playing piano for, you
know, cocktail lounges,
without the drinks. I was doing private parties.
I played with one of the local theater
troupes, out of one of the ranches, which
was a wild experience. Oh, wow. And then,
yeah, when I moved out to Texas to
do graduate school, I was,
(09:00):
teaching and gigging. And I played with the
Grand Opera in Houston for a while, as
well as the ballet and, like, a freelancer.
And that's down. We're down down. You are
definitely a professional. Yes, I am. Oh my
gosh. I definitely need your autograph at the
end of this day today. I'm done. I'm
done. Okay. You know, and you talk about
all these great talents and instruments and and
your family. Can you remember and maybe you
(09:22):
can play for us. What was the very
first song you learned on the trumpet? Oh,
gosh. Was that a twinkle twinkle, a little
star? Was that I I imagine I probably
got shoved through hot cross buns at one
point. Okay. Give us give us some tune
there. Yeah. Alright. You wanted to play it
like I play now or like I played
then? How about then and now? Alright. Here
we go. Here we go.
(09:49):
Now a little bit.
I love it. I love it. You bet.
You bet. Oh my gosh. It takes it
takes a lot of experience, actually, as a
musician to be able to play poorly.
Very talented in that respect. Very cool. Very
cool. And and the joy that the trumpet
(10:09):
your music brings to you, can you talk
about that joy? Yeah. Definitely.
The the piano is is such a an
interesting and fascinating instrument,
because of its complexity and its repertoire. But
the trumpet is so
physical, and it reminds me so much of
the act of singing, and I also sing.
And there there's there's something about the sustain
(10:29):
and the the the tone color range and
the emotion that you can put into just
a single note
on the trumpet. And it it's it's
it's inherently difficult.
And that also brings a certain joy when
you conquer the physical, you know, limitations of
some, you know, plumbing, basically. Mhmm. You know?
And it's a very silly instrument because
(10:50):
our entire premise is based on,
you know, just buzzing our lips, and it's
very silly kind of thing. Mhmm. But then
the artistry comes later, and the connection of
those two,
things is very, special. Right. Right. So do
you walk around your house blowing your trumpet?
Occasionally. Yeah. I I I usually leave one
of my trumpets out on the couch or
(11:11):
on a chair somewhere so I can pick
it up and play whenever I want. But
Mhmm. Usually, I try to dedicate some time
to it in a proper space. Right. Right.
Right. I don't know if you know this
about me, but, my mother grew up, in
the Depression era. Mhmm. And she was a
a first trumpet at her high school, her
sophomore, junior, and senior year. Very cool. And
so then when I,
got involved in music at age, I don't
(11:32):
know, grade five Mhmm. Grade five, I picked
the trumpet. Oh, good. You wanna play some
for us today? Not not even. So I
I I played for three weeks, and then
I had an appendicitis and just about died.
Yeah. That'll do it. So that that sort
of ended my trumpet career, and then I
took on guitar. But that's another but music
has always been something that just fills my
heart. And and I and when I look
at you, David, and your eyes are just
(11:53):
sparkling when the music is going, do you
think in music all the time?
At least half the time. Yeah. No. And
and it's interesting because when I am in
a heavy practice phase or I haven't been
around people and I've just been making music,
it takes me a while to kind of
readjust to my thoughts coming in language.
But, yeah, a lot of my thoughts are
in sound.
And,
(12:13):
part of my composition career is just trying
to,
identify and track down, that kind
of ethereal,
mind sound and get it, to to match
externally.
Mhmm. You know? Well, play us play a
song. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm just gonna What
what what your heart is telling you? Yeah.
I'll dig around a little bit. Okay.
(14:08):
Yeah. Oh, thank you. So beautiful. So beautiful.
When I hear your music, my eyes wanna
close, and then it's like it gets sort
of teary. It's just so beautiful. I noticed
you close your eyes when you play as
well. Yeah. When I improvise, I I usually
find that, on trumpet specifically, my eyes close,
because there's,
there's kind of a a physical feedback,
(14:29):
you know, response that I get in my
brain when I'm playing trumpet that kind of
I I can I can see what I'm
about to do better, you know, so to
speak? Although, when I'm improvising at the piano,
usually, I find myself with my eyes open
looking up, and I I find it up
here somewhere.
I'm I'm a synesthete.
What does that mean? So do you know,
(14:51):
what synesthesia is? No. No. It's a it's
a blending of senses.
Oh. So so, basically, some people have,
crossed wires in the brain where they can
look at a number and the number has
a color. Yes. Or
they they taste sound or something like that.
I see sound.
Okay. So all sound.
So there is kind of like a second
(15:12):
field of vision that goes over my eyes,
and I I can see what I hear.
And with with voice and other ambient sounds,
it's it's just kind of speckles. But with
music, it has
structure and color.
And, of course, in music school, you find
more people like that with synesthesia
and specifically that blending. And one of the
fascinating things I've found is that most
(15:34):
synesthetes
see the same colors.
Oh. So if you play, like, an e
flat chord, it's gonna be, like, lime green
with beige and and white speckled in. And,
like, an a flat minor is always gonna
be deep purple with some browns and oranges.
Oh. It was a very cool little experience.
That is so spiritual to me. Yeah. Me
too. And and the energy related to that.
(15:55):
Yeah. Yeah. And and the the the tingles
that you get when you when you grab
on to one of those threads and you
just start pulling, that that flow is
otherworldly
for real.
Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. You know? And and and
related to all this, you play piano at
the United Methodist Church Mhmm. Every Sunday and
for events. Would you talk about that, please?
(16:17):
Yeah. Absolutely. I've been the music director at
the Methodist Church in Crescent City for a
few years now.
And,
so like you said, I play the the
hymns, accompany,
any special soloist,
every Sunday.
Our services are eleven.
And I also run a small little chancel
choir, which is getting bigger and bigger, which
is very fun, and also a handbell choir,
(16:40):
which is super interesting.
Handbell choir is like taking a piano
and separating each person into one or two
fingers.
So it's a it's a it's an interesting
organism to try and coordinate.
But if you are interested in seeing us
perform something, we have a big holiday concert
that we put on every year. This year,
it's gonna be on Friday, December 19 at
(17:02):
6PM.
And the address of the Methodist Church is
664 H Street in Crescent City, if you
guys are interested. Absolutely. And I have been
several years, and I just love going. And
then let's get some shout outs to some
of the people in the the, bell choir
as well as in the vocal choir. How
about popping out some names here? Sure. Actually,
there there are a couple of Brookings based
(17:23):
people. Meredith Rosendahl is one of my favorite.
She's actually an ex hand bell, director herself,
Very serious player. Another Brookings person is Lori
Neal. Lori, if you're out there and you're
one of my favorites, don't tell anybody else
though.
Let's see. My mother, Meredith, is in there
as well.
Sedgwick. Meredith Sedgwick. Yeah. The the, eldest of
(17:44):
the clan, we call her.
Yeah. Kathy Alpert. Kathy Alpert. Who else is
in there? Dave McPhail,
Roxanne Evans.
Oh, gosh. Candace Tinkler. Mhmm. Kind of got
a lot of people in there. Yes. Becca,
Becca Dyke is one of the the recent
additions. Teresa Jenkins.
If you guys are listening, I love you
all. Yeah. There you go. And in your
(18:06):
choir, that just is fantastic when they sing,
and and they're up on the altar. Mhmm.
And it it's just so beautiful. The the
choice of music,
the the vibrancy, the joy,
and and the connection to our creator is
just phenomenal. Pastor Dana does a wonderful job
with all that too. Yeah. She does. Yeah.
She's she's one of my
I've I've worked with a lot of churches
(18:27):
over my lifetime, being a musician,
probably over a 100.
Wow. And this is the first church that
I ever
went to and just wanted to settle in.
Fantastic. Yeah. So, again, just to repeat, 11:00
are services on Sunday. That's right. And then
the the big, handbell choir,
bells Mhmm. Is 12/19/2007?
(18:47):
06:00. 06:00. Yeah. And we we also have
freebie event? Or donation suggest a donation of
$10. But, of course, if you can't afford
it, still come and celebrate with us. Absolutely.
I interrupted you. What were you saying? I
was just gonna say we also have a
brass quintet that plays,
at that event.
Oh, yes. Yeah. A brass quintet.
Let's see. The North Coast Chorale is lending
(19:08):
us some of its singers as well. One
of my piano students who's eight years old,
little Matilda, is gonna be playing a couple
of songs as well. It's the one of
the most adorable thing that you'll ever see.
Wonderful. Wonderful. Okay. The brass quartet. Mhmm.
Frank Allard. Uh-huh. Frank Allard with his with
his group. I'm not sure exactly who all
is in that. Okay. But, either, my brother's
(19:28):
gonna be playing a clarinet solo. Daniel? Daniel
Sedgwick. Yeah. He's gonna be playing an excerpt
from the movie The Snowman Oh. Which is
a wonderful,
animated film from the eighties. I can't remember
exactly what year.
I'll be doing some incredible arrangements from Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker Suite by a Russian contemporary named Pleitnev.
And it it is it's a wild ride.
(19:48):
You should definitely come check that out. Okay.
Okay. And I think that's pretty much it.
A a number of solos from other people
in the choir as well. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Do
you have a a tune that you can
whip out for us from any of those
events, like, right now?
Yeah. Let's see. I I could probably do
one, the solos that somebody wants to do.
Have you ever heard, a wonder as I
wonder? Yes. I love that. Yeah. Sure. I
(20:09):
could do a little bit of that if
you want. Super. Thank you, David. Mhmm.
(20:57):
With a few artistic alterations. But Yes. I
wonder. I love that song. Mhmm. I love
that song. It's a very good one. Very
good one. So do you, like,
select the songs
for all of the liturgies?
So I I operate out of, what's known
as the,
the Book of Discipline lectionary calendar.
So there are recommended hymns that match up
(21:18):
with the liturgical
texts.
I do select the ones that I like
and what fit the musical themes that I'm
going for of those weeks and and months,
though. Yes. Right on. And it sounds like
you totally enjoy doing that as well. Yeah.
It's been a really interesting experience,
because get getting to know, every different,
you know, selection of music that churches use
(21:39):
is, you know, every denomination uses slightly different
but much overlapping material. And getting to branch
out and kind of experiment with
things that I prefer versus what I know
some of the congregation prefers and,
creating the atmosphere that I'm going for. Yeah.
It's it's been a learning process that I
enjoy very much. Right on. And the music
ministry is probably my favorite part.
(22:01):
The the church
has a, actually, a pretty good emphasis on
music in the services, And we do a
music ministry every week. And while we are
in season, the chancel choir and the handbell
choir alternate performances. But on the,
inter,
weeks between those performances, I either do a
solo or I bring in like, just recently,
(22:21):
I brought in a fabulous flautist named Oren
who,
specializes in Bach. And so we've been preparing
Bach, performances as well. Oh my god. Yeah.
So what whatever whatever strikes me. Right. Right.
Right. And besides all these instruments, I think
one of my favorite instruments from you, David,
is your voice. Oh, thank you. Oh my
gosh. And I I've heard you sing multiple
(22:44):
times. Most recently, there was a beautiful prayer
service I remember. By, Dana and pastor Dana
and pastor Sy Mhmm. At the beachfront park,
and and you, sang a song. I don't
remember the name of the song. Neither do
I. I I remember that it was responsorial
and Right. Right. And prayerful. Mhmm. You know?
And I think that's what I I have
a tattoo. And,
(23:05):
the the third book I wrote called Healing
Religious Hurts, my tattoo is musical notes. Oh,
nuts. And because I believe that prayer is
healing,
and prayer can bring out some of the
things inside of you just to deal with
Yeah. And to celebrate with. Yeah. And and
music is definitely my prayer. Absolutely. When when
when I'm alone playing music or or even
(23:25):
when I'm with others playing music. Some sometimes
it's routine like anything else, but,
I've I've never felt closer to god than
when I'm playing music. Oh, that's beautiful. That's
beautiful. Oh, wow. Wow. Do you have a
a favorite song you'd like to whip forward
right now for us as a prayerful
song? So, usually, when I'm,
(23:45):
in that mode, I am improvising.
Okay.
But if I had to pick I'm trying
to trying to think if anything strikes me.
I find
that the most soulful things that I experience
on trumpet are playing jazz.
Just like, you know, the the couple of
times that I've played, you've heard a little
new jazz alternations and things like that.
(24:06):
Well, please share us with some improvise us.
Please share. I think I'll share one more.
There's there's a piece from,
a Gershwin opera called I Loves You, Porgy.
Oh. And it's one of the most heartbreaking
songs. And I'll I'll just play a little
bit of it, so we don't run out
of time. But here's here's the theme. Okay.
(25:05):
Yeah.
Wonderful.
Live music just touches my soul. And I
you just don't toot your own horn, which
I love about you, David. Yeah. You know,
you toot everybody else. And so anybody, young
prodigies out there, you know, if you wanna
get a hold of David, get a hold
of him at
sedgwickdwarren@gmail.com.
There you go. And you can also call
(25:26):
KCIW
and let us know if we can get
you in touch with David at (541)
661-4098.
I can't believe how fast time has gone
by. Seriously. And and, sir, I thank you
from the top of my heart, the bottom
of my heart. High five, high tens, big
hugs, and a kiss on your cheek. There
we go. Definitely. Definitely. We also wanna thank
all you listeners for tuning in today, from
(25:47):
the Northern California Coast and for Southern Oregon.
This was a joyously free show today. I
hope you've been inspired,
challenged, and enjoyed the stories, the tips, the
hopes, the music by David Sedgwick. You know,
it it wouldn't be happening if we didn't
have Mike Gorse on sound, Tom Bozak,
Candice, and Rose for making all this happening
(26:07):
at k c I w and k z
z h Humboldt. You know? You can order
any of my books or you can see
David. There's so much artistry in our town,
both Crescent City and Brookings. We wanna make
sure that you know how to smile big
and wear bright colors because today is the
day that we celebrate
music, music, music. How about end with a
(26:27):
little bit of something?
Woo hoo. Alright. Thanks, everybody. Have a beautiful
day. And, again, David, thank you so much.
Thanks, Joni. It's been a pleasure.
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