Great List of Playing Tips

I recently stumbled onto a great list of playing tips over at the website for the International Horn Society by Eldon Matlick, professor of horn at the University of Oklahoma.

It is titled "Hot Tips for Horn Players" but is really a list for all musicians. It features 18 tips for musicians of all kinds. Really, really good stuff!

You really need to read the whole list but here are a few of my favorites:

1. PERFORMANCE IS 90% MENTAL! Learn how to think! If you can hear it, you can play it. Expose yourself to great music and music making. Listen to great horn players. Experience live professional music making. Listen to recordings of world- class ensembles. Experience various mediums and styles of music. Become a musical sponge and take everything in. Every musical experience goes into your memory bank and this is the source from which you draw.

6. LEARN TO HEAR DETAILS IN YOUR PLAYING! Don’t succumb to the trap of falling in love with your playing. Develop a critical ear. When you think something is polished, record yourself. You will be amazed at what you hear. Keep stock of what you can do well and what you need to accomplish. Don’t waste time doing things that are not a problem. Great players work out and solve their playing deficiencies. Eliminate weaknesses in your playing. While this may prove to be mentally painful, this is a sure-fire method of gaining success in your performance.

12. PRACTICE ‘OUTSIDE THE BOX’ Musicianship is not the same as horn playing. Create a musical experience when you play. To this end, we must free ourselves from the instrument. Learn to sing! Singing is the ideal medium for establishing musical flow and the identification of logical breathing spots. Identify the natural flow of the solo line. Is the phrase asking a question or making a statement? As you sing, are you aware of the various emotional content of the various passages/sections? Practice singing and phrasing different ways. Identify those phrasings that have promise and then experiment on your instrument. When learning a solo, don’t neglect learning, and being able to sing, all interludes between solo entrances.

Seriously, go read them all!

The Brass Junkies: Jamie Lipton

Listen via

iTunes
Soundcloud
Stitcher

Lance and I had the opportunity to sit down with Jamie Lipton, Euphonium Artist and Professor of Low Brass at Henderson State University for the latest episode of The Brass Junkies.

Jamie discussed her musical upbringing and how that led her to attending Northwestern and North Texas to study with Rex Martin and Brian Bowman. She talked about the reasons for her career decisions and where she would love to see the euphonium head moving forward.

On top of that she is an absolute riot. The episode starts with her telling the story of her very first day of student teaching. With the band director not in the room a student raised his hand and asked a question that will blow your mind. She decided she wasn't quite cut out to be a band director on the spot!

Her advice for Jens is pretty spot on as well!

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!

Sums It Up Nicely

This sign above the podium in my wife's band room at Rachel Carson Middle School in Herndon, VA pretty much sums up everything.

The Meters: Monday YouTube Fix

The Meters are a funk band from New Orleans. Their music is stripped down, not flashy, and just oozing with groove and character.

If you or a student of yours are looking for a way to work on groove, you can use this album as a tool.

Three Ways to Work on Groove:

1. You can have them sing along with any of these tracks. Have them start with just one note and encourage them to make it "fit into the song." Be sure to point out that fewer notes are better than a lot of notes when starting out.
    
2. Next have them play along with any of the tracks on just one note. It is pretty incredible how quickly even a young player will start to feel the concept of groove when they play along with an album like this.
    
3. Finally, have them play some very basic hand percussion along with it. A shaker, claves, anything laying around the band room. You can also have them march around the band room in time with the music to feel the groove.

I've seen this kind of thing work wonders with students of all ages and ability levels.

Happy grooving!

Provided to YouTube by Warner Music Group Cissy Strut · The Meters Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology ℗ 1969 Josie Records. Controlled By Rhino Entertainment Co. ℗ 1969 WEA International Inc.

Accepting Your Limitations is the First Step Towards Improvement

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."

-Carl Rogers

This quote applies to all aspects of life and all aspects of being a musician.

My favorite definition of acceptance comes from Tara Brach. She says that acceptance requires two things: clear vision and compassion.

So first, you have to clearly recognize what you can and can not do as a musician. Second, you must not pass judgement on yourself for any shortcomings.

Identify your shortcomings and then make a plan towards improving them. Judging yourself for those shortcomings is simply ego and will not help you to reach any of your goals.

If you are a band director and struggle with speaking too much from the podium, simply recognize that fact without judging yourself and then see if you see any improvement after trying a few things.

If you are a string quartet who is having trouble getting gigs, simply recognize that it is an issue and then try some different things and see what works.

If you have a website that is not getting very much traffic, noticing that problem is the first step. Then simply try a few things and see what gets you the traffic you seek.

As Mr. Rogers said in the quote above, the curious paradox comes from having to accept (and notice!) things exactly how they are in order to know what to change.

Have A Lot Of Ideas

"The only way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas."

-Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink is not a musician. He was talking about ideas like starting a business or writing a book.

But he might as well have been talking about a musician's approach in the practice room.

The odds of you having a great idea come out of your bell if you only had one concept of how that phrase might go in the first place is very, very low.

1. Have lots of ideas of how a phrase could go.
2. Record a convincing version of each of those ideas.
3. Listen to each and decide which is best.
4. Repeat this process with every single phrase of the piece.

If you only bring one concept of how a phrase might go into your practicing, how can you possibly compete with the artistry of someone doing the above sequence over and over again?

Spoiler Alert: You can't.

And furthermore, there have never been better instrument operators graduating every single year en masse than there are today. So you have to stand out some other way.

The real question is can you afford not to do the above sequence over and over again when you practice?

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: Monday YouTube Fix

I recently stumbled upon this wonderful performance of the Pittsburgh Symphony performing at the opening night of Musikfest Berlin 2013. They are lead by their music director, Manfred Honeck. It's a great program:

Janaček: Suite for String Orchestra
Lutosławski: Chain 2, Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Opus 40

Enjoy!

Opening concert of Musikfest Berlin 2013 Berlin, Philharmonie, Germany Manfred Honeck, Conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin Program: Janaček: Suite for String Orchestra Lutosławski: Chain 2, Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Opus 40 The streaming is produced by the Digital Concert Hall.

Why a Double Major in Music Ed as a "Fall Back" Option is a Bad Idea

Below is a post I made to my Facebook page a few days ago that resonated with enough people (300 likes and almost 40 shares) that I thought I would post it here as well.

For anyone planning on adding a double major in music education as a "fall back" option: My wife was at school this morning at 9:00 am setting up her band room before the start of school this week.

That would be 9:00 am on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend.

If you don't have a burning desire to be a music educator, you are insane to do this for a living. Best case scenario you end up a mediocre band director. Worst case scenario you end up complaining all day every day to anyone and everyone about being over worked and under paid and make the entire profession look bad.

For those of you who do have that burning desire, our hats are off to each one of you. Society could never say thank you enough times.

#endrant

(The comments on the original post are quite good.)

The Key is Consistency

Much more important than total time spent is the consistency with which you practice.

If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.

- Jascha Heifetz

Consistency in terms of both how often you practice and how focused you are in the practice room.

The first step to consistency is practicing every single day. The best way to get playing in the extreme high register is to play in the extreme high register. Pretty simple stuff.

The second step is how consistently you bring a laser-like focus to your practicing.

I had the privilege of watching David Fedderley work with the top three finishers in the Young Artist competition at a conference back in March. The top two players were really good. Very impressive for 19 and 20 year olds.

The person who finished third in the competition played last of the three and was by far the best musical storyteller of the bunch but her tuba playing was well behind them. David asked her, knowing the answer, "So with that musical storytelling, you won the competition, right?" She simply smiled.

He then explained that the other two were much better tuba operators than she was at this point but that she had musical ideas that were just dying to get out of her horn.

He then pointed at me, then Charles Villarubia, Justin Benavidez, and Demondrae Thurman. He asked her what all of us have in common. She smiled and said "They are professionals."

He said "Yes. They get paid to play their horns for people. Do you know what else they have in common? I know each of them and know that they each bring a laser-like focus with them every single time they practice."

You could see the lightbulb go off in the student on the spot.

So while the amount you practice is certainly important, the consistency in how often your butt is in that chair coupled with the focus you bring to those sessions is much more important.

Maria Callas: Monday YouTube Fix

As I have written on this blog over and over again, all instrumentalists are simply trying to sound like singers.

Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano who lived from 1923-1977. She is one of the all-time greats. If you are not familiar with her work you are in for treat.

Here is a great collection of 12 arias featuring the music of Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti and more. Here is the full list of arias performed:

UNA VOCE POCO FA • Gioacchino Rossini "Il Barbiere Di Siviglia" 
ADDIO DEL PASSATO • Giuseppe Verdi "La Traviata" ( 06:48 )
CASTA DIVA • Vincenzo Bellini "Norma" ( 10:15 )
UN BEL DÌ VEDREMO • Giacomo Puccini "Madama Butterfly" ( 17:29 )
PACE, PACE MIO DIO • Giuseppe Verdi "La Forza Del Destino" ( 21:59 )
EBBEN NE ANDRÒ LONTANA • Alfredo Catalani "La Wally" ( 28:24 )
O MIO BABBINO CARO • Giacomo Puccini "Gianni Schicchi" ( 33:12 )
O MADRE MIA • Amilcare Ponchielli "La Gioconda" ( 35:44 )
QUANDO, RAPITO IN ESTASI • Gaetano Donizetti "Lucia Di Lammermoor" ( 37:37 )
TACEA LA NOTTE PLACIDA • Giuseppe Verdi "Il Trovatore" ( 42:37 )
SPARGI D'AMARO PIANTO • Gaetano Donizetti "Lucia di Lammermoor" ( 48:46 )
GIASON! DEI TUOI FIGLI LA MADRE • Luigi Cherubini "Medea" ( 52:56 )

Enjoy!

visit our page on facebook ▶ http://on.fb.me/1bzVvBp BUY ▶ Halidon: http://bit.ly/1dvMNsf UNA VOCE POCO FA * Gioacchino Rossini "Il Barbiere Di Siviglia" ADDIO DEL PASSATO * Giuseppe Verdi "La Traviata" ( 06:48 ) CASTA DIVA * Vincenzo Bellini "Norma" ( 10:15 ) UN BEL DÌ VEDREMO * Giacomo Puccini "Madama