Everything Feels Right When I Get to Toot My Own Horn

By: Dexter Hendricks

Music. The most impactful memory includes attending a concert with my Mom at the Reichhold Center in St. Thomas, USVI to enjoy the musical sounds of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. I had to be about six or seven years old and I remember sitting, listening to this well-dressed performer as he swooned the females in the audience. I was awestruck! That outing single-handedly  ignited a spark for performing that I didn’t realize was deep within me.  Now that I think about it, I was definitely not my Mom’s first choice for a date but at the last minute my Dad couldn’t go; I am assuming because he was somewhere playing music, and so, my Mom asked me to accompany her to the concert. Needless to say my love of performance and being on stage was born! 

Shortly after that outing, I discovered an old trumpet of my father’s under the bed and was determined to play it and make a sound. Although finding that trumpet intrigued me, I must confess that the trumpet was not my first instrument because my parents were convinced that I should learn piano first. Guess what? I really liked playing the piano until piano lessons started conflicting with Little League baseball games on Saturday mornings.  Then, I had a choice to make; piano or baseball - you guessed it, baseball won much to the chagrin of my parents who had also hoped that I would have done both. Shortly after, my younger brother also fell in love with baseball, so much that he would actually replace his school books in his book bag with a lefty glove and a ball when going to school. It soon became evident that he would become a much better baseball player than I, and so I retreated back to music with an even greater purpose and interest.  At this time, I could actually play a note on the trumpet and from that very first solo in junior high school I absolutely fell in love with the trumpet, the sound, and the attention it was getting me. I was one step closer to performing on that stage like I had seen Mr. Harold Melvin perform some years earlier at the Reichhold Center.

All during junior high and high school, music and more importantly trumpet was my life.  I would get to school much earlier than most just so I would get the chance to start my day with music.  I even had girlfriends that admitted that they were not able to “compete with Dexter and his trumpet”. I played in calypso bands, school bands, Sebastian Majorette band, UVI band and even played in a Cole Porter musical at Coral World.  One of my absolute favorite memories was being chosen to participate in the McDonald’s All American High School band. I had to audition and was eventually selected from a pool of two other candidates from the Virgin Islands. The days and nights leading up to the selection were stressful for me and filled with sleepless nights, but being selected gave me the confidence to know that I am an EXTRAordinary trumpet player.  Although being selected was a personal highlight musically, it caused me to miss important events in my senior year of high school; the flag football Turkey bowl and Introductory night. However, it afforded me the opportunity to participate in New York City at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as well as in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California. The EXTRAordinary opportunities from this distinguished selection didn’t stop there. I found myself apart of a traveling band performing in Honolulu, Hawaii & in Las Vegas, Nevada with the Jerry Lewis Telethon and again in Milwaukee and Chicago for various holiday performances. My travel as a result of music, did not stop there, as the opportunities came more consistently: my resume blossomed to include playing in bands throughout the Caribbean and Bolivia.   

While in college, I played in several brass bands and quintets, however, the rigor of my engineering classes did not allow me or leave much time available for me to continue to play trumpet as much as I would have loved to.  I had a choice to make, engineering or music; so I temporarily put my trumpet to the side to pursue my engineering degree as planned. During an interruption in college right after Hurricane Marilyn, I made the decision to follow again in my father’s footsteps first by playing trumpet and next by joining the Army Band.  It just so happened that when I returned to college I was able to transfer to the NJ National Guard band to continue playing music part time while in college and serving the country. My latest venture now, some 40+ years after I first picked up the trumpet, is playing in a local calypso band that has also been to Canada to perform. 

There is no telling where I would be in life had it not been for the discipline learned while trying to master my musical craft.  And so, I keep tooting my horn and allowing for music to “play” a major part in my life.

What inspired you to pursue your passion(s)? 

Dexter Hendricks is a native of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. He uses his musical talents to serve as a soldier in the New Jersey 63rd Army Band. Dexter also plays trumpet recreationally in the calypso band Breakaway Brass. Professionally, he is Vice President Community and Citizenship at Turner Construction company and currently resides in New Jersey with his wife, Donna, and has two adult children, D’Shai and Dhymond.

(Link to a recent professional feature here)