Teen organizes trumpet to break world record
CARROLL – Bloom-carroll High School freshman Chase Hamilton wanted to do something to help publicize Honor Flight Columbus. So why not try and break the world record for most trumpeters in a line at Ohio Stadium?
Hamilton, 14, and 194 other trumpeters played with the Ohio State marching band at halftime of the Buckeyes game against Oregon on Saturday in front of more than 100,000 people. He said the 195 mark broke the previous trumpet line recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records of 172 trumpeters set in Osaka, Japan in 2018.
“It went very well,” Hamilton said. “It was certainly an exciting experience that was two years in the making. A lot of other trumpeters were excited for it and I was glad we could break the record on 9/11. That was very good.”
Lancaster resident Charles Hildreth qualified as a witness for Guinness because of his background in music, including serving as the musical director for The Nostalgics. His friend, Ed Franks, served as the other judge. Hildreth met Hamilton through local resident Joe Machado, who works with Honor Flight. Honor Flight flies veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit various war memorials there.
Hamilton, who is in the Bloom-carroll marching band, was also doing the performance for his Boy Scout Eagle Scout project. He said he broke the record but that it won’t become official for about three months.
“I wanted to get the word out there about Honor Flight,” Hamilton said. “That way people can learn about Honor Flight and their important mission and what they do in the community. So that’s why I chose them as the beneficiary and that’s why I chose this project.”
He also wanted to break the record on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and got permission from Ohio State for the event.
“Then I just started contacting people I knew and sent out the message via social media and my band director sent it out via social media as well and we got enough people to sign up and break the record,” Hamilton said.
The age group of the trumpeters was about 14 to people in their 70s and they marched with the OSU band at halftime. They and the OSU band played a composition by James Swearingen, a Columbus composer.
“It was a mixture of taps, Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” and “America the Beautiful,” Hamilton said. “It lasted approximately a minute and 20 seconds.”
He got to Ohio Stadium around 6 a.m. on Saturday. The trumpeters rehearsed that morning and also rehearsed the previous Thursday. That means 195 people only played together twice before taking the field.
“It was certainly a difficult task to complete,” Hamilton said. “Especially because of COVID.”
But he said the musicians did well. “A lot of people were impressed of how well it really pulled together,” Hamilton said. “It was a really nice musical piece. The trumpeters did an excellent job of playing the piece very well.”
Hildreth said judging the event was an experience of a lifetime. He was at the first Thursday rehearsal a couple of days before the actual performance and called it “spine-tingling.”
“Trumpet players of all ages, that’s what got me,” Hildreth said. “Teenagers, and maybe even a little younger, all the way up to senior citizens in a long line of those nearly 200 trumpet players. It sounded so professional.”
He then watched the Saturday rehearsal before the game.
“It was quite an experience and it was so well done,” Hildreth said. “Speaking as a musician, it was a beautiful fanfare. They were all together. Just incredible.”
After such a big accomplishment, what might Hamilton have planned for the future?
“I have a few more ideas that might be floating around,” he said.
“Maybe not as large as this. This was certainly a great thing to do for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. I’m happy Honor Flight and OSU we were able to pull two great organizations together to pull off a big thing for the anniversary of 9/11.”