Jens Lindemann and The United States Army Band, Pershing's Own: Monday YouTube Fix

I'll never forget meeting Jens Lindemann.  Boston Brass had a few hour layover at LAX the summer of 2001 and Jens and his wife, Jennifer Snow, came to meet us at the LAX Marriott for a quick meal.  All seven of us basically laughed uncontrollably for two hours before we got back on the plane.  Instant friendships were born. Jens had recently retired from the Canadian Brass and taken as the trumpet professor at UCLA, a position he still holds today.  We traded road war stories and vowed to work together as soon as possible.  As chance would have it, both of our trumpet players' wives gave birth to kids within the next two years and Jens filled in each time.

I have also been fortunate to work with him on some other occasions as well, the most notable being in Mexico.  He called me and asked if I wanted to play in a brass sextet with him, Jim Thompson, Fred Mills, Marty Hackleman and Julio Briseno in Texcoco, just east of Mexico City.  I thought he was playing a joke on me! It was one of the highlights of my career.

As you can tell by this clip, Jens is one of the best players in the world.  I have also learned an invaluable amount from him about being a showman.  He is a master as you can see from the beginning of this clip.  Jens is a true inspiration as an entrepreneur and artist.  He is a beast on the trumpet and sounds amazing along with The US Army Band, Pershing's Own from the National Trumpet Competition in 2012.

Enjoy!

The 5 Most Influential Concerts I Ever Attended

I will list them in chronological order.  These five concerts were each life changing experiences for me.  I wouldn't be the person or musician I am today without attending each and every one of them. Empire Brass – Tanglewood July 1988

This was part of the Walks and Talks series that Tanglewood used to host.  The artists would lead a short walk around the grounds of Tanglewood while discussing their music.  It would then culminate in a performance for a small audience in a very intimate atmosphere.

This was the first time I ever heard Sam Pilafian play the tuba in person and it did nothing short of change my life.  I was simply awestruck by witnessing first hand what a tuba was capable of playing.  He has been my musical mentor since that day 25 years ago last month.

That is me in the blue sweatshirt looking on in awe! I have wanted to play in a brass quintet ever since that afternoon in the Berkshires.

Copeland 3 – Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra; Leonard Bernstein conducting – Tanglewood August, 1990

I have spent every summer of my life about a half an hour away from Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony.  As a result, I saw my first ever BSO concert when I was only two weeks old! But just before my 15th birthday I saw this TMC concert and it was the first time I really, truly got it.

This was the second to last concert of Leonard Bernstein’s career and it was an incredible experience for anyone in the audience that night.  I had enjoyed many orchestra concerts before but had never been inspired by one like I was that night.

I waited for over an hour after the concert to meet Bernstein and get his autograph.  I missed my curfew at BUTI and got in trouble.  I’ve never had someone yell at me and be so happy about it!

Mahler 2 – Boston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa conducting – Tanglewood July, 1991

This was the first ever Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert at Tanglewood.  It was just nine months after Bernstein had passed away.  There might not be a single human being that has left more of a mark on Tanglewood than Leonard Bernstein.  He had a very special bond with the place and with the Boston Symphony and that was evident from the very first notes of this performance.

I have been privileged enough to see over 200 BSO concerts in my life and I have never heard them sound better than they sounded that night in 1991.  It also didn’t hurt that Mahler 2 is my favorite symphony of all time (along with Beethoven 7).

This is the only concert of any kind that I’ve ever witnessed where a large percentage of the crowd was literally tearing up afterwards.  It was such a moving experience that it was an awful lot for someone not yet 16 to process.  I do know that it left a truly indelible mark on me and my musicianship.

Wynton Marsalis and his Septet – Skullers – Cambridge, MA May 1992

Wynton Marsalis and his Septet rehearsed the night before this gig at Boston University.  I happened to be there at the same time for a tuba lesson.  I was mesmerized as a I walked past the rehearsal room from which these magical sounds were emanating.  I also had no idea who was playing since the door was barely cracked open.

Excited I ran to ask my teacher who at BU sounded that good.  He smiled and said that it was Wynton Marsalis and asked if I wanted to meet him.  He had been friends with him for a very long time and actually interrupted their rehearsal to introduce me to the band.  Wynton then asked if I was free the next night.  When I eagerly said yes he said he would put me on the guest list since it was an 18 and over show.

Not only did he get me in but he spoke with me for 45 minutes in between their two gigs.  He took the time to introduce me personally to every member of the band as if we had known each other our entire lives.

I will never forget the mind blowing music I heard or the kindness and warmth that Wynton and his entire band showed me that night.

Phish – Worcester Centrum – Worcester, MA December 31, 1993

By the time I saw this show at the Worcester Centrum I had already seen over 50 rock and roll concerts.  But this one was different right from the start.  I did not know much of Phish’s music.  I had heard a couple of tunes and had enjoyed them but that was the extent of it.  My best friend Russell was getting tickets to this show so I asked him to get me one.  Little did I know that $26 ticket would change my life.

These four very normal looking guys walked out on stage without any explosions, fireworks, or hydraulic lifts.  I had always enjoyed the theater of big time rock and roll shows but there was something refreshing about four average Joe’s strolling on stage and letting the music do the talking.

They had me completely hooked on their very unique blend of everything from hard rock to bluegrass to barbershop quartet.  I have never heard any chamber ensemble that can play fluently in as many different styles of music as Phish.

I had no idea that I would go on to see the band over 170 times after that night during my freshman year of college.  They continue to be my favorite chamber ensemble of any genre performing music today.

As a result of Phish allowing the taping and distribution of all of their shows, you can stream that night’s music here.

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I don’t think it is a coincidence that every concert I have listed occurred when I was between the ages of 14 and 18.  Those were very formative years for my musical tastes.

Feel free to leave a comment about the most influential concerts you have attended.  I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments.

Note: This is an updated repost from the very short lived Boston Brass Blog which I ran for about a month.

Don't Just Look Busy

We've all fallen into the trap of when in doubt, look busy.  I know I certainly have. But when you take a moment and observe the most successful band directors, professors, performers and entrepreneurs in music, they don't have looking busy as their top priority.  In fact, it's not anywhere on their list.  The best in our business have the ability to constantly prioritize what needs to be done right now.

If I have an unpleasant phone call to make, I may procrastinate by cleaning up my inbox.  The trap is that cleaning up my inbox might be something that needs to be done, maybe even badly.  But if that phone call I'm putting off is the most important thing to take care of, it doesn't matter what I'm using to procrastinate.  It needs to get done.

One job that makes it incredibly easy to "look busy" is being a band director.  That's because they are, in fact, always busy.  Have you ever known a band director who seems to be constantly working but always seems to not quite take care of everything when it needs to be taken care of? That is not a symptom of work ethic.  It is a problem with prioritization.

(Note: I believe that being a great band, chorus, or orchestra director is possibly the hardest job to do really well in the entire music business and have said so over and over again.  To be clear, I wouldn't last a week  two days as a band director.)

I have worked with both colleagues and students who seem to feel entitled to success because they are working hard.  (Coincidentally, people who feel this way rarely seem to be working as hard as they think they are but that's for another blog post!) The people who stick around in this business and succeed are the ones who master the art of addressing and changing priorities to get the most out of their time and effort.

For anyone just starting out in any aspect of the music business, the earlier you can master the art of prioritization, the better.

Monday YouTube Fix: James Brown Live in Bologna, Italy

In the fall of 1993, during my freshman year at Northwestern University, my friend Matt Kerste asked me if I wanted to head downtown to see James Brown at the UIC Pavilion.  I couldn't believe there were any tickets available but he said it wasn't quite sold out so we hopped in the car.

Before leaving Evanston we swung by Rose Records (many of you probably don't even know what a record store is!) and asked the man at the Ticketmaster machine for a pair of tickets.  This was about three hours before showtime.  To our amazement, a pair of seats in row J on the floor popped out of the machine.  Not bad for a crowd of over 6,000!

Matt and I stuck out on that floor like sore thumbs (Matt is also over 6 feet tall and has bright red hair) but man did we get down! That was a baptism by fire to groove like I could never have imagined.  His band was beyond tight.  The music I heard that night immediately affected all aspects of my tuba playing.  It was a magical night!

This clip is almost a full hour long! It is from a concert in Bologna, Italy in 1971.  This band is beyond words.  You can zone out on any single player and be amazed.  Only a musician like James Brown could assemble a lineup like this:

James Brown: vocals, organ
Bobby Byrd: MC, vocals, organ
Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison: trumpet
Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells: trumpet
Fred Wesley: trombone
St. Clair Pinckney: tenor saxophone
Phelps "Catfish" Collins: lead guitar
Hearlon "Cheese" Martin: rhythm guitar
William "Bootsy" Collins: bass guitar
John "Jabo" Starks: drums
Don Juan "Tiger" Martin: drums

The bass player, Bootsy Collins, is one of the best musicians to ever make their living in the bass clef.  He is a treat to listen to.  Everything about his playing, articulation, groove, note length, seems just perfect to my ears.  This clip is why YouTube was invented.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIvrfWGGSwU

The Power of Doing

"You don't learn something when you hear about it.  You learn something when you do it or teach it." - David Cutler (Author of "The Savvy Musician")

These wise words came from my good friend and colleague, Dr. David Cutler, at the beginning of The Savvy Musician In ACTION Retreat back in June.  As another school year begins, these are great words for all teachers to remember, from elementary school to college.  I know I can occasionally fall into the trap of telling my students all about something at great length rather than giving them simply a general idea and then making them try it themselves.

Students learn a little bit about a new concept by listening to an expert speak about it.  But they learn a lot more about it by actually doing it.  That includes succeeding and failing.  The power of our students doing the very skill we as teachers are trying to impart is simply priceless.

And the second half of the above  quote is why all students, no matter what level they are, should be teaching someone something about what they are trying to master.  It's amazing how well you have to know a subject in order to explain it to someone else in a succinct, understandable manner.  I started teaching private lessons when I was a senior in high school.  The experience I had teaching those three students (4th, 8th and 10th graders) was invaluable to my development as a musician.

The power of doing (and teaching) is simply priceless.

Ryan Anthony with The US Army Band "Pershing's Own": Monday YouTube Fix

What can you say about Ryan Anthony when he has a trumpet in his hands? When I close my eyes and imagine the perfect trumpet sound, I am basically hearing Ryan's playing.  His tone is the same on long notes as it on fast flourishes.  It is the same in the low register as it is in the high register.  It is the same when he plays ff as when he plays pp.  He is a tone machine. Every single aspiring trumpet player needs to listen to as much Ryan Anthony as they can get their hands on.  Whether it's his solo playing (like this clip) or his orchestral playing, his command of the instrument is unmatched.  Oh yeah, he's also one of the greatest brass quintet players to ever live which is probably worth mentioning.

On top of that, Ryan is one of the most genuine, humble and courageous people you will ever meet.  This live performance of the Kent Kennan "Sonata for Trumpet" is just a stunning performance by both him and The US Army Band.  Great stuff!

Enjoy!

Recording Your Mistakes

"A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience." - Elbert Hubbard

When I was younger, I was very hesitant to record myself unless I sounded really good on a piece of music.  I would then use the recording to refine my performance - the finishing touches if you will.  This is a great use of a recording device but to limit it to only this scenario is borderline criminal and it was all only because of my ego.

Anyone that tells you they enjoy listening to a recording of themselves screwing up is a pathological liar.  No one does, period.  But great musicians are always efficient musicians.  And great music educators are always efficient music educators.  Identifying mistakes early in the process, whether in your band or in a passage you're learning, is by far the most efficient way to correct them.

"Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving."

- Dennis Waitley

The great band directors listen to recordings of their band's rehearsals when they sound great, when they sound horrible and everything in between.  A great performer listens to countless attempts at a difficult passage and constantly checks in via recording themselves throughout the process.

We all need to be reminded to bury our egos, listen to recordings of our mistakes frequently and get to a better finished product sooner as a result.

The Little Details

"It's the little details that are vital.  Little things make big things happen." - John Wooden

The above quote is from a famous basketball coach but it might as well have been from a famous musician.  Oftentimes, as performers or music educators, we tend to focus only on the big things - "hitting" notes, rhythms, intonation.  But like in a magnificent church, it is the little details that make all the difference in the world.

How consistent are your note endings in all registers at all dynamic levels?

Even if your band is starting and ending a crescendo at the same volumes, are they all crescendoing at the same rate throughout?

Are your dynamic levels consistent relative to each other throughout an entire work?

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There are countless ways that you can make a performance more refined.  Truly inspiring performances are always the sum of those very small refinements.  Think globally. Act locally.

Monday YouTube Fix: The Lawrence Welk Show Trombone Section

After a brief hiatus for the summer the Monday YouTube Fix is open again for business! I thought we would start light with a little Lassus Trombone from the Lawrence Welk Show. Some of my earliest memories are from watching the Lawrence Welk Show in syndication which ran until 1982.  I loved watching the band play.  This tune features the outstanding trombone section: Norman Bailey, Barney Liddell and Pete Lofthouse in 1956.

You gotta love the slide vibrato! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqhWjhZE2ew

A Musical Enlightenment

"If I could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is the quiet acceptance of what is." - Wayne Dyer

I once heard Joe Alessi, in response to a question about taking auditions, tell a student that they had to get brutally honest with themselves about what they could and couldn't do on the horn.  This is the musical enlightenment that all successful musicians experience.  Once you realize what you can and can't do on your horn and quietly accept it as so, you can make a plan for conquering that which falls into the latter category.

This of course applies to what you can do on a podium, in a classroom, as an entrepreneur, as an interviewee, to any pursuit.  Face and accept your strengths and your weaknesses with brutal honesty and you too will experience the enlightenment.