We were lucky to catch up with David “Cookie” Koch recently and have shared our conversation below.
David “Cookie”, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
This answer works for both this question and the one about imposter syndrome, there’s a ton of overlap.
As a musician you need the utmost confidence when you go to perform regardless of the audience, from playing for your grandmother to an audience of 200,000. (and I’ve done both as a classical trumpet player!)
Going through university to earn my Bachelor of Arts degree, I had this confidence about me – I thought I was amazing. While that certainly helped me play better, I had similar deficiencies to any other early 20’s trumpet player who had only been playing for 10-15 years. Then, in the end of the BA and at the beginning of my Master of Music degree, a series of events knocked me off my high horse and back down to Earth – I still had and further honed the skills I’d relied on, but that sense of worth was gone.
I was still successful, I had the opportunity to play with the Montreal Symphony, worked a full time job in the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, and upon returning to Michigan was a finalist in many auditions and at least advanced at 10 auditions in a row. I was approaching a sense of confidence in what I did, but it was all surface level.
Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic I had invested in a good microphone and recording equipment, so when everything shut down I had a little bit of a leg up as musicians around the world started producing their own videos. Over the course of the next two years and nearly 200 videos I discovered my own voice as a musician – I truly owned what was coming out of my bell.
Since then, I can walk into almost any situation and deep down I know the value of my playing. It has had a profound effect on my life outside of music as well.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have many facets to what I do. I’m a trumpet player, mouthpiece designer, content creator, and tinkerer. My varied skills and interests come from both my family who tend to create solutions over buying solutions, and whatever wires are crossed in my brain.
Trumpet playing has been one of, if not the only long-term constant things I’ve done. I have a BA in Music, and a MM in Orchestral Performance. I even went to boarding school (Interlochen Arts Academy) for my senior year of high school for trumpet. Nearly every day I work to hone my craft, and the days that I don’t play are planned. It’s more of an obsession really, I can trace nearly every other aspect of my life to the decision to play trumpet.
Everything after 8th grade played out differently because of the trumpet. It’s not limited to just playing, either – I’m quite the gear-head. I learned how to modify my own equipment and considered a path in building trumpets, but I felt like playing was my calling. Gear-headed-ness led me to a new (at the time) company called Vennture Mouthpieces. The special thing about Vennture is that the founder, Doug McVey wrote his own software suite that allows ANYONE to view, compare, and even design brass instrument mouthpieces. It was an instant hit, and I quickly found another obsession. Now I work with Doug 3D printing prototype mouthpieces for clients and in turn I have the keys to the castle, so to speak and I can create whatever comes to mind. Most of my ideas and designs are good, but certainly not all. It’s been great to discover new things, and learn that there’s a reason why nobody else does “X thing”. Working with clients is refreshing because everyone brings a new puzzle to solve.
In 2019, I invested in my first microphone to help me practice more effectively. I viewed it as an upgraded tool to let me hear EXACTLY what was coming out of my bell. Previously, I had been using a cheap USB microphone record and playback in my practice sessions. I put together a little demo of me playing a 5 part ensemble to compare the results from the new microphone and posted it on social media. I quickly realized that I thoroughly enjoyed the process and wanted to do more of it. The pandemic struck and I dedicated all of my time creating online performance rather than live performances. Now I have my own home studio and work to creating art at a very high level in as many aspects as possible through trumpet performance videos. (Trumpet playing/making music, capturing the performance as accurately as possible, creating and editing the videos)
I Created my own brand, Cookie’s Music to be one thing that everything operates under. Above I listed tinkerer… I’ve always tweaked things to suit my own needs and preferences. Through Vennture I got into 3D printing, which I had previously avoided for a long time, because I knew that I’d be printing so many useless things and using valuable time that could be spent elsewhere. Well, I finally decided to go all in and buy my own personal printer, and I’m finishing up the groundwork to introduce a new product, the CookieMute. The CookieMute is a 3D printed trumpet practice mute that allows you to play trumpet in instances where you otherwise would be loud and disturbing (think hotels, airports, etc.)
There are certainly other practice mutes on the market, and I’ve tried or owned most of them at one point or another over the last 15 years. There’s always trade-offs to be made: you can pick compactness, quietness, ease of playing, and intonation. I’ve tried to create a goldilocks of sort, while prioritizing the ease of playing and intonation. It’s certainly not the quietest mute out there, but it’s less loud than a TV in a hotel room, the tuning is acceptable, and while it’s not the smallest (some fit entirely inside your bell), it’s compact enough! However, the blow on these things is fantastic, it hardly feels like you’re playing a muted trumpet and that’s what everyone comments on first. I actually just last night finished the process of optimizing print time and making sure that it still plays well!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I’d say that the three things that have helped me are:
1) The ability to adapt to situations easily-I have a friend that once told me if I was trapped in the bottom of a well, I’d figure out how to sell water to people! I do recognize that I’m incredibly privileged with a really great support network, but mindset is key. I’ve never been super type-A go getter business man, I’d rather chip away at something on my own time and as things make sense to me. But, I just try to make the best of whatever life throws at me, ESPECIALLY when the going gets tough.
2) The ability to make friends easily. I’m a pretty jovial guy, and while I feel like I’m awkward at speaking and communicating at times, I can usually make some sort of connection with people, even if I’m terrible at names. I just like to have fun and I think it’s fun bringing other people joy.
3) Never stop learning. If I only learned in school and stopped being curious, I’d be a pretty boring person. Especially because when I was in school I was so focused on trumpet that I neglected pretty much everything else. If I’m driving somewhere, I’m probably listening to something about how things work, or history, or something I find interesting. This also goes back to point #2 for me, people love to share what they know, and to learn from them creates a lasting impression.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
A little more than a year ago, my mom passed away. She was one of my biggest supporters, and while I love my whole family and spend a lot of time with them and talking to them what I’m working on or going through, I simply miss her enthusiasm for seeing projects in process or me explaining the details of some project I’m working on, even if she just sat there and nodded and played along.
I’m learning to navigate life and do things in her honor, but this last year has been the hardest of my entire life. Even though I’d been through some pretty rough stuff before, she’s not there to help me through things when I could use help more than ever.
Contact Info:
- Website: CookiesMusic.com
- Instagram: @trumpetking93
- Facebook: Facebook.com/DavidKochMusic
- Youtube: Youtube.com/trumpetking93
- Other: FiveLakesSilverBand.com
Image Credits
David Koch David Koch David Koch Jeff White
