New York Philharmonic in North Korea: Monday YouTube Fix

I just stumbled onto this video of the New York Philharmonic's historic trip to North Korea.  This is a video of George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" from their concert at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre on February 26, 2008 conducted by Lorin Maazel. Not only is this one of the most famous orchestral concerts from the last half century, but the orchestra sounds phenomenal.  Especially the brass! Joe Alessi, Alan Baer, Phil Smith and Philip Myers as well as the entire rest of the brass sections just sound fantastic.  Alan's tuba solo from this version of "An American In Paris" is spot on.

Enjoy!

Words of Wisdom from Rex Martin

On my Facebook page recently, I posted the following quote:

"Playing soft with the same intensity as loud is difficult to master."

-Dan Neville

I think it's a great quote that puts a spotlight on the importance of playing softly.  But as usual, one of my mentors, Rex Martin, came in and put it in even better words.  The comment he left on that status was priceless:

"Not particularly difficult at all, but pretty time consuming."

-Rex Martin

Reminds me of the JJ Johnson quote from one of last month's Monday YouTube Fix's about taking shortcuts when learning an instrument.  Spoiler Alert: JJ couldn't find any.

Game of Thrones Theme (Epic Low Brass Version): Monday YouTube Fix

Okay this is awesome! My friend Andy Bove, who I interviewed for my book, "A Band Director's Guide to Everything Tuba: A Collection of Interviews with the Experts", put together one of the most impressive low brass ensembles every formed for this video. So what did he decide to record with this collection of low brass players? The theme to Game of Thrones, of course! Seriously, you have to hear this.  It got well over 100,000 views almost overnight and is already at over 200,000 and rising.  It will rattle your windows.

This is the ridiculous lineup of players he assembled for this recording:

George Curran • bass and contrabass trombone George Flynn • bass and contrabass trombone Matt Ingman • bass and contrabass trombone Jeff Nelson • bass and contrabass trombone James Rogers • bass and contrabass trombone Jack Schatz • bass and contrabass trombone Patrick Herb • bass trombone Mark Johansen • bass trombone Christopher Olness • bass trombone Max Seigel • bass trombone Dale Turk • bass trombone Tim Albright • tenor trombone Demian Austin • tenor trombone Mike Boschen • tenor trombone Thomas Hutchinson • tenor trombone William Lang • tenor trombone Jörgen van Rijen • tenor trombone Andrew Bove • tuba and cimbasso Stephen Johns • tuba and cimbasso Morris Kainuma • tuba and cimbasso Joe Exely • tuba Chuck Kerrigan • tuba Marcus Rojas • tuba

Help support Bove Audio do more things like this by buying this track for $.99 if you dig it.

Enjoy!

Drawing What You See

"I can only draw what I see.” -Claude Monet

And we can only play what we can hear.

Casals on Perfect Technique

"The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all." -Pablo Casals

This should be the ultimate goal of any performer and one that takes years of discipline to achieve.

Perfect Advice on Starting Any Arts Initiative in One Sentence

"You need to know what you know and you don't know and how to partner with people with different strengths." -David Cutler (The Savvy Musician)

You will never read a sentence that sums up how to proceed on any new business venture better than that one above.  When starting any kind of an arts initiative, don't simply go for the most talented players, dancers, singers, or actors. Read the above sentence until you have it memorized and then go from there.

Trust me.  You'll thank Dr. Cutler later if you do.

(This quote was from the fabulous 2013 Savvy Musician In Action Retreat at the University of South Carolina.)

Cheryl Studer Sings Elsa's Dream from Lohengrin: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is a clip of American soprano Cheryl Studer singing Elsa's Dream from Wagner's Lohengrin from Bayreuth in 1991.  This is the kind of beautiful and effortless phrasing that all of us instrumentalists are always trying to mimic. Enjoy!

JJ Johnson: Monday YouTube Fix

This interview clip is only 90 seconds long, but the very end of this interview with JJ Johnson gets right to the heart of the matter: "I wish that somebody, someday, would find a shortcut and I wish they'd tell me about it." One of the best instrumentalists of all-time talking about the secret to his success.

Enjoy!

Self-Assessment and the Necessity of Action

"Self-assessment leads to action, and lacks meaning without it." -Peter Drucker

Mr. Drucker, the father of modern management, nails the essence of improving as a musician with this quote.  And he was not in any way discussing music.

Without self-assessment there can be no real improvement on any task.  But equally important, once you gain the knowledge that self-assessment offers, if you don't take action, you might as well have skipped the assessment in the first place.

Are there any weaknesses in your playing that you've acknowledged yet failed to take action to resolve? If so, what are you waiting for?

No BS! Brass: Monday YouTube Fix

This past week I was soloing with the Bird High School Wind Symphony outside of Richmond and had the privilege of meeting the tuba player for Richmond's No BS! Brass, Stefan Demetriadis.  I've been a big fan of his and the entire band for a while now.  They are a fantastic brass band in the New Orleans tradition but they've absolutely got their own sound. Any band that describes themselves as "fearlessly combining elements of James Brown, John Coltrane, Michael Jackson, and Led Zeppelin" has got my attention.  Stefan holds down the low end like a champ.  This video is totally kick ass.

Enjoy!