HUDSON, N.H. – Some good teachers can go a long way, and Kyle Lambert, a 2009 alumnus of Alvirne High School, is living proof.
An interest in music that originally sparked at Nottingham West Elementary School, then peaked at Alvirne High School, Lambert took his passion and turned it into a career in instrument building that has led him to the Midwest. After developing knowledge of the musical instrument world, he now owns his own business, Kyle’s Custom Trumpet Company, which has been assembling custom horns since 2003.
Q: What’s your background in music like?
A: I’ve been playing the trumpet since I was in sixth grade, so it’s been at least 20 years. I went to Nottingham West Elementary, and there was a brass trio at the time going around to all the different schools and playing a show. I was, and still am, a big nerd, and I was super into Star Wars, and they played the Star Wars theme song, and of course, the trumpet gets the melody. I heard that and I was like “that’s it, I want to learn how to play the trumpet, so I can play the Star Wars theme song.” Then I went through high school with Mr. Bastien, who is an amazing teacher, and I owe a lot to him. I didn’t really start practicing seriously on the trumpet until I was a freshman in high school. I played all through high school and was second chair in the whole state for jazz all-state my senior year. Then, I got a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Q: How did you get into your line of work with building instruments?
One of my friends owned a trumpet shop in Malden (Massachusetts), and I found out he was hiring, so I applied. I started working there, and that’s where I learned all these different trumpet brands, makes, and manufacturers. I got really curious about it and started buying and selling stuff myself. Eventually, the owner had to move the shop to Kansas City, and I just left with him. It was great there because I had plenty of gigs with a local band, and we were the house band for the NFL Draft. While I was there, I started an apprenticeship with a brass repair shop where they do very high-end vintage restoration work on brass instruments. The owner was teaching me how to take stuff apart and put it back together, and I got curious and into that, because I thought, “if I learn how these instruments get made and assembled, then I don’t have to keep buying the instruments and I can just make my own.” I was buying parts from the owner’s friend, and after a while, I decided that I wanted to work for him. I was having a lot of fun learning how to make instruments.
Q: What are some of your favorite projects that you’ve been able to work on over time?
A: Building instruments for people in general is just really fun. It’s a lot of physical labor, including hammering, using machinery, sanding, buffing, and getting dirty, but it’s really cool at the end when you give it to someone, and you can hear what comes out of it. It’s pretty rewarding.
Q: Are there any skills that you learned during your time at Alvirne that still transfer to your work today?
A: In high school, it wasn’t as much to do with building instruments, but definitely the playing of them. Mr. Bastien was just the best teacher and was very straightforward. He would just tell us like it is.
Q: What are some other fond memories that you have of growing up in Hudson and going through the schools here?
A: I was in the drama club, and I really liked that too. I remember that I wasn’t very good at math, but now I use it all the time when I work with instruments, which is ironic.