Are You Ready for the Call?

Today I was a member of a panel discussion with fellow faculty members from George Mason as part of a workshop in Prince William County, Virginia.  It was great for me to get to know the stories of some of my colleagues a little better.  There was one anecdote in particular that left a lasting impression. Dr. Lorrie Berkshire Brown is our Woodwind Area Coordinator and Oboe Professor at Mason.  I have played with her in the American Festival Pops Orchestra and instantly noticed her fantastic playing.  Until today I didn't realize she subbed with the New York Philharmonic for seven years before fully committing to the DC area as a member of The United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own.”  The story of how she got to play with the Philharmonic the first time is not atypical but still a great reminder for us all.

One afternoon in 1988, Lorrie got a phone call at 4:00 pm asking if she was available to play with the New York Philharmonic that night.  They needed a second oboe for the Dvorak Cello Concerto, which she described as "the mother of all second oboe parts." She not only said yes, but it obviously went very well since she played with them for another seven years.

While it took a little bit of being in the right place at the right time (she was home and took the call), the important thing is that she was ready for the call.  She not only took the call but was ready with basically no warning whatsoever to go and nail one of the difficult parts in the orchestral oboe repertoire.  She got an opportunity and made the most of it.

Are you ready for the call?

Boston Symphony Orchestra Plays a Chilling Tribute to JFK the Afternoon of his Assassination

Music is more powerful than any of us could ever put into words.  When trying to either convey my own emotions or understand someone else's, I always turn to music. I will never forget seeing the Boston Symphony Orchestra play Mahler's 2nd Symphony in tribute to Leonard Bernstein on the opening night at Tanglewood the summer after he passed away.  There were people crying in the audience and players holding back tears on stage.  That performance expressed what could not be expressed in words, exactly how much Bernstein had meant to the Boston Symphony, to Tanglewood and to American music.

This clip is one of the most chilling I've ever heard.  It is from an afternoon concert of the Boston Symphony on November 22, 1963, one of the most infamous days in American history.  Long before every concertgoer had the internet in their pockets, news was not dispersed to people out and about.  You were either next to a TV, a radio or a wired phone.  As a result, the audience at Symphony Hall that afternoon did not know that President Kennedy had died from gunshot wounds suffered in Dallas.

Music director Erich Leinsdorf addresses the crowd at the beginning of the concert and breaks the news to them.  The audible gasps of panic, confusion and sadness are haunting.  They then play possibly the most passionate performance of the funeral march from Beethoven 3 that's ever been played.

But words do this clip justice.  You need to hear it for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVNKNz-lc6k

Also, be sure to check out this story from Time Magazine which includes comments from the librarian that day.  He has not been able to bring himself to listen to the above performance even once in the last 50 years.  Incredible stuff.

Finding Time vs. Making Time

I taught a young guy from New York City who plays the bass, Ray Cetta, a lesson on tuba today. He's started to get a lot of calls to play Sousaphone on gigs and wanted to take his first ever lesson on the instrument. I was immediately impressed when he told me he had no car (typical New Yorker) but was willing to take the train all the way to DC with his Sousaphone! It was a really great experience for me. He is exactly the kind of student that we all enjoy teaching. He grasped concepts immediately and was eager to learn. One remark he made in response to something I said really jumped out at me.

He asked me about playing really softly with control. I showed him a number of exercises to work on that, then told him the obvious: to work on the extremes of playing the most important aspect is doing it every single day. Much more important than the total amount of time spent on practicing a skill like pianissimo playing is the regularity of the practicing. I told him I knew that was a pain, especially on a secondary instrument. His response was right on the money:

"I will find time ..... no, I will make time for it. I needed to do it on a gig once and that's enough times for me to need to make time to do it."

This is from a 23 year old kid who is about to release an album, is a band leader, has a very active freelance career, and has more irons in the fire than most of us. The difference between finding time and making time for essential work is what separates those who make it and those who don't. I learned something during his lesson today as well.

Yuja Wang: Monday YouTube Fix

This past weekend, my wife Tiffany and I traveled to Philadelphia to see the Philadelphia Orchestra perform both Ein Heldenleben and the Wind Serenade of Richard Strauss.  I did not know what the first half of the program until we arrived.  I was delighted to discover that it was Yuja Wang performing Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto.  I had heard wonderful things about her playing and of course always get excited about the prospects of seeing someone perform the piano works of Rachmaninoff. The entire performance was truly stunning.  It was a magical program and the orchestra, from Ricardo Morales in the woodwinds to Carol Jantsch in the brass, sounded absolutely superb.  I have seen hundreds of orchestral performances in my life and this was absolutely near the top of the list.  One of the reasons for this was the breathtaking performance of Yuja Wang to open the program.

Her level of artistry was impressive, both her interpretation and execution.  Here is a clip of her performing another monster of the romantic piano repertoire, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto.  This performance features Hannu Lintu leading the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a live performance from Helsinki in 2012.

Enjoy!

Philip Jones Brass Ensemble: Monday YouTube Fix

When I think of the best examples of tone when it comes to brass playing, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble immediately comes to mind.  To my ears, there has never been another brass ensemble with such a unified concept of sound.  Their blend borders on surreal. This is a complete live concert of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the playing is nothing short of inspiring.  The lineup of players is one for the ages:

Trumpets: Simon Ferguson, Graham Ashton, Paul Archibald, Philip Jones.

Horn: Frank Lloyd

Trombones: Roger Harvey, Christopher Mowat, David Purser (doubling euphonium), Ray Premru

Tuba: John Fletcher

If you are a young tuba player and John Fletcher is not one of your heroes, chances are overwhelmingly good that John Fletcher is one of your hero's heroes.  He was a musician's musician who was taken from us well before his time.

Enjoy this stellar playing!

Giving Students Complexes

From time to time we like to pass along great blog posts from colleagues around the internet.  Here is a very short post by John Ericson of Horn Matters relaying a story from the late, great Abe Torchinsky.  There is a great lesson for all of us in this quick story. Passing of Abe Torchinsky and Giving Students Complexes

By the way, for anyone who isn't familiar with Horn Matters, you should be.  It is one of the best online brass resources around and John and his colleague, Bruce Hembd, are great guys who are incredibly knowledgeable.

We Are All Marketers

"Marketing and sales isn't about trying to convince, coerce, or manipulate people into buying your services.  It's about putting yourself out in front of, and offering your services to, those whom you are meant to serve-people who already need and are looking for your services." - Michael Port from "Book Yourself Solid"

I love this quote.  It takes a lot of the used car salesman feeling that some of us have when selling ourselves as performers or teachers of music out of the equation.  Marketing yourself is simply about getting yourself noticed by the people who want or need your services.  It's that simple.

The good news is most musicians, including teachers, are not good marketers and that presents an opportunity for us all.  The bad news is people are figuring this out and everyone is getting better.  We all have to up our games when it comes to marketing.

And make no mistake, we are all marketers whether we realize it or not.

David Oistrakh - Sibelius Violin Concerto: Monday YouTube Fix

The Sibelius Violin Concerto is one of the most intense concertos ever written for the violin.  I personally love how it wastes absolutely no time whatsoever getting down to business.  The soloist is thrust into incredibly technical passages in the first two minutes of the piece! I'm not sure I've ever heard it performed better than by David Oistrakh. Some consider Oistrakh to be the greatest violinist of all time and I don't see how you could have that conversation and not at the very least include him in it.  His playing speaks for itself.

This is a studio recording from 1959 with Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra and it is magical.

Enjoy!

Arthur Grumiaux: Monday YouTube Fix

Simply put, Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux (1921-1986) is one of the great artists of the 20th century.  My favorite aspects of Grumiaux's playing are his interpretations and the evenness of his tone.  Like all of the greats on every instrument, he gets the exact same tone on the shortest notes as he does on the longest ones. He's known in particular for his interpretations of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart amongst other composers.  There is a calm intensity behind every note that he plays which is inspiring.  This is a magnificent performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D.  It was performed at the Salle Pleyel in Paris in 1965.  He is accompanied by the Orchestre National de l'ORTF.

Enjoy!

Intonation is a Social Skill

"Intonation is a social skill."

I posted this quote on my Facebook Page a couple of days ago and it got over 100 likes.  I believe I first heard this said by Rex Martin but I'm not sure.  Playing in tune with others has just as much to do with social skills as it does with the length of your instrument.

We have all played with "that guy" who thinks he has a pretty incredible ear and yet always seems to have trouble playing in tune with others.  Sometimes "that guy" blames others with their words and other times they simply convey their disappointment with those around them through their body language, eye rolls or any of a plethora of non-verbal communications.  No matter how great that player is, no one ever wants to play with "that guy."

You have to be flexible with your intonation always in all situations.  100% of the time.  No exceptions.  You can have a PHD in intonation and if you are "in tune" and the other four members of a quintet are all equally "sharp" you've got a problem.  No audience member would ever hear you as in tune and the others as all sharp.  You are flat.  End of story.

The best set of ears I've ever played with belong to a trumpet player and my former colleague in Boston Brass, Rich Kelley.  I describe him as having "beyond perfect pitch."  He is blessed (cursed?) with the ability to exactly identify whether any note is sharp, flat or in tune and by exactly how much.  Every single time.  I know he is not unique in this regard but he is as good as I've ever seen.

Coincidentally, playing in tune with Rich is easier than with anyone I've ever played with.  And that's not because he tries to steer the intonation ship from the top of an ensemble.  He agrees with Pythagoras on this one and listens down.  It's because he has one goal and one goal only: for the music to sound in tune.  He is incredibly helpful with rehearsing and being able to identify immediately whether a player is sharp or flat in any given chord.  But in the moment, he will do whatever it takes to make a chord sound in tune, which is the only goal any of us should ever have.

A very important part of playing in tune is also playing well with others.