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A blog about performing music, teaching music and the business of music.
The internet never ceases to amaze me. Getting to witness a master class of one of the greatest violinists of all time some 50 years after the fact is pretty remarkable.
Here is a master class in four parts that the great Jascha Heifetz gave at USC in 1962. The intensity he portrays in this class reminds me of how he played the violin.
My favorite comment from the class: "You're playing it too safe."
Enjoy!
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” ― Frank Zappa
Are you in a practicing rut? If so, what can you change to promote progess? More frequent, shorter practice sessions? Starting earler in the day? More basics? More tools like decibel meters and video cameras for additional external feedback?
We all have a tendency to find “what works” and then stick to it. But we must not be scared to change what’s working in exchange for the possibility of a breakthrough.
We can always go back to what we were doing in the first place if our deviation doesn’t bear fruit.
The music world lost one of the greats this past October when Lou Reed passed away at the age of 71. The things I look for most in music are style and conviction. Lou Reed wreaked of both.
This is a live clip of one of his most famous songs, Sweet Jane, performed in Paris in 1974. The funky intro is almost as good as the outfits these guys are wearing. All I know is every time I listen to Lou Reed, my tuba playing has just a little more oomph afterwards.
Enjoy!
"The secret of success is to be ready when your opportunity comes." - Benjamin Disraeli
For conductors, this means always doing score study. For performers, it means always being in shape. For all of us, it means getting out of our comfort zones frequently so we are prepared to seize the moment when it is presented to us.
One of the reasons I love twitter is because of the wonderful clips like this that pass through my feed that I might ordinarily miss. It was hard to escape Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" this summer. It's a great pop tune that's quite catchy.
This clip is a cover of New York City vocalist and bass player Kate Davis doing a jazz cover of the tune with her jazz trio. I instantly fell in love with her voice and playing and watched this video three times in a row the first time I heard it. It is a brilliant re-setting of the tune and Kate's voice just oozes style. Her website says she has an album forthcoming and I very much look forward to hearing it.
Enjoy!
The following is a quote from Eric Whitacre's Facebook Page that offers great advice for music students entering a new school year:
"Music students: as the semester grinds on you may feel intensely burnt-out. You may even consider dropping out of music altogether. If that happens, go back and listen to your favorite recordings, make music with your friends, do anything you can to remind yourself why you loved music before you started studying it. An education in music can be a very good thing, but it can also squeeze the life out of any love you ever had for it. Don't let it."
Now that is some great advice.
Steve Dumaine is the tuba player in the National Symphony here in Washington, DC but has many talents beyond his immense orchestral abilities. I first met Steve when we were both in high school in New England. He played the Vaughn-Williams Tuba Concerto with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra back then and pretty much scared me with how good it was.
This clip is not him playing the Vaughn-Williams or anything close to it! This performance is from the 2008 Army Tuba Conference and features Steve playing a solo by the original bass player for Metallica, Cliff Burton. I saw Metallica perform at the Worcester Centrum back in 1991 and it remains to this day one of the best rock concerts I've ever attended. 1991 was after Cliff Burton had passed away, but Steve does a great job of getting to the essence of Cliff's playing in this clip.
And my favorite part of this clip, for humor reasons, may very well be at the 2:00 mark. Steve Dumaine is a beast on the tuba!
Enjoy!
“When you get there, there isn’t any there there.”
-Zen Proverb
In an intensive field like music, perspective is everything. Whether you are a middle school band director or a violinist in a major symphony, if you want to keep your sanity you must focus on the journey and not the arrival.
This industry is littered with former professionals who focused on the latter and ended up out of the business, either by choice or not.
The view above Crested Butte, Colorado.
Here is a clip from the 2014 Eastern Trombone Workshop featuring an all-star low brass section playing through a number of orchestral excerpts. The lineup:
Toby Oft - Principal Trombone, Boston Symphony
Nathan Zgonc - 2nd Trombone, Atlanta Symphony
Jeremy Wilson - Former 2nd Trombone, Vienna Philarmonic & Vienna State Opera
Stephen Dunkel - Bass Trombone, Washington National Opera
Seth Cook - Principal Tuba, Charlottesville Symphony
They play orchestral standards from Bartok, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Hindemith and many more. This is an example of great players who are not a regular section molding each of their strong personalities into one cohesive idea. There are some great insights into playing in orchestras as well as things like auditioning from each of them.
Enjoy!
"Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy."
-Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
If your playing, teaching or conducting is ever lacking inspiration (which happens to us all from time to time), the best thing to do it is work your way out of it. As Tchaikovsky alluded to many years ago, the most inspired people I've worked with in my career were also the hardest workers.
Izabella giving me that look like "You really need to practice again?"
