Jason Newstedt of Metallica: Monday YouTube Fix

I saw Metallica perform at the Worcester Centrum on December 22, 1991 as a junior in high school.  I was blown away by their intensity and musicianship.  While all four of them were phenomenal, it was the bass and drums that were really driving the bus that night.

The number one challenge I face as a tuba player, whether it be as a soloist, in a brass quintet, or in a large ensemble, is articulation and clarity.  This is the case for all bass clef instruments.

This clip is the isolated bass track from Metallica's Jason Newstedt on the song "Blackened" from their album ...And Justice For All.  It is a great example of how super clean articulation can aid a bass clef instrument in groove and drive.  If you play any instrument in any genre with this kind of intensity, you tend to get compensated for your interests.

Enjoy!

Jason Newsted's bass track for blackened on its own, enjoy. \m/

Scales are Binary

Scales are binary. You either know them or you don't. They are also incredibly easy to play as long as you have put the work in. When it comes to performing a jury or auditioning for college, if you have to think about the scale before you play it, you did not put in enough time beforehand.

You either know them or you don't.

The Brass Junkies: Ryan Anthony - Episode 1

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For the first ever episode of The Brass Junkies, Andrew Hitz and Lance LaDuke welcome one of the greatest brass players in the world, Ryan Anthony.  Ryan is the former star of Canadian Brass and is currently the Principal Trumpet of the Dallas Symphony.  On top of that he is a cancer survivor, the head of The Ryan Anthony Foundation, and one of the nicest human beings you could ever hope to meet.

Ryan discusses with us his entire career from soloing with major symphonies at the age of 16 to the Cancer Blows event he is throwing later this month with the likes of Doc Severinsen, Arturo Sandoval and Phil Smith to raise money for cancer research.  He also opens up about the phone call almost two years ago that changed his life forever.

When you hear the positive attitude Ryan brings to the trumpet and to life, you'll know why we couldn't think of a better person to kick off this podcast!

Note: We are aware there are some feedback issues in spots.  We are new to this whole thing and in the spirit of the Minimum Viable Product that we are always preaching to our business students, we are launching and learning on the fly. Thanks for your patience!

Links:

Cancer Blows

Want to help the show? Take a minute to leave us a rating and a review on iTunes.

You can help offset the costs of producing the show by making a small donation at https://www.patreon.com/thebrassjunkies. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Produced by Austin Boyer and Buddy Deshler of FredBrass

Great Article on Slow Practice

Here is a great article on slow practice from The Bulletproof Musician:

"(Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim) revealed that one of the keys to his success (and building confidence as well) is super slow practice. A process of practicing in slow motion – while being fully mindful, highly engaged, and thinking deeply in real-time about what he is doing."

Am I being mindful?
Am I highly engaged?
Am I thinking deeply in real-time?

Those are perfect questions to post on your music stand as a constant reminder.

It's easy to be engaged with a stunning sunset but recreating that in the practice room takes years of practice.

Ryan Anthony: Monday YouTube Fix

I can't process how someone can play this well on such an emotionally charged night at a massive event that they were organizing. Ryan Anthony is a special talent. Simply stunning.

Practicing Wisdom from Picasso

“I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

-Pablo Picasso

There were a few people at Northwestern who always sounded good when I walked past their practice rooms back in the day.  They were doing it wrong and are no longer in the music business.

Regularly attack what you can not do and you will be amazed at the rate of progress.

It's a People Problem

"Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you're in business." 

-Dale Carnegie

There are far more great players today than there are paying jobs.  The ability to successfully navigate the business side of music has never been more important.  And by far the most difficult aspect of that is dealing with people.

Your reputation, both your musical one and your professional one, always precedes you.  Those who are kind, even to those who sometimes make that difficult, tend to get called a lot.  Sure, some people who are rarely kind get work, but they do so in spite of that fact.

With the current level of competition for even just quality freelance gigs, you don't want to be giving anyone a reason to not hire you, especially after putting in thousands of hours of work on the horn.

Itzhak Perlman: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is a clip of violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman performing live in Russia in 1991.  The pianist is Janet Goodman Googenheim.  The program is quite varied and shows off his incredible musicianship well:

1:25 / TARTINI "Devil's Trill Sonata" in G minor (12:25 Cadenza: KREISLER)
16:50 / KREISLER "Liebesleid"
20:20 / PROKOFIEV "March", from "The Love for Three Oranges" Op.33
22:18 / BLOCH "Nigun", No.2 from "Baal-Shem"
29:15 / WIENIAWSKI "Etude Caprice" Op.18, No.4 (arr. KREISLER)
31:40 / TCHAIKOVSKY "Andante cantabile", 2nd mov. String Quartet No.1 Op.11
36:50 / BAZZINI "La Ronde des Lutins" Scherzo fantastico Op.25

Every time I listen to him play the violin my phrasing is better the next time I pick up my horn, even if I'm warming up.  He is a force in the musical world that we are lucky to have.

Enjoy!

Links That Make Me Think

Here are a few articles I recently crossed paths with that I found interesting:

• More and more companies are using computer software to weed out resumes before a human being ever even lays eyes on it. This article examines how to get your resume past the resume bots.
   
• This article from the Harvard Business Review about time management might as well have been written specifically about practicing, like how the term time management is a misnomer, that it's really all about productivity. Just like the practice room!
   
• Any freelance musician should read this piece on the 7 essential skills every entrepreneur must master. You may not consider yourself an entrepreneur, but the most successful freelancers sure do think like one.

A cloudy pier awaiting a cruise ship in Juneau, Alaska, taken on a Boston Brass trip there to perform with the Enso Quartet in 2013.

That Anxiety Ain't Helping

"No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen."

-Alan Watts

Anxiety about a concert, a job interview, or anything else is never going to help make it go any better.  I always find that when my mind wanders and starts to act against my best interests that it helps for me to focus on things that I can control.

Two things that I can't control: the past and the future.  Even if I know deep down that I should have prepared more for something, worrying about that now will not help anything.  Even if I am being reasonable in expecting bad news in the near future, worrying about that will always distract me from taking the next positive step.

For some it is meditation, for some it is prayer, for others it is listening to their favorite music.  Find whatever it is that gets you focused on the here and now and you will be amazed at how it puts you in the best possible position to succeed.

My tuba backstage next to some taiko drums before a Boston Brass performance in the mountain town of Yuzawa in the Niigata Prefecture of Japan.