Horn Practicing Tips

Are you a horn player looking for some ideas for the practice room? Or maybe you have a horn student in your band who is looking for some help with how to get better?

There is a great website by two fabulous horn players and teachers, John Ericson and Bruce Hembd, called  Horn Matters. It is a horn resource filled with tips on just about everything horn related you can imagine.

Follow the link below to 10 pages worth of links to stories about practicing. They cover everything from warming up and transposing to focus in the practice room and tonguing.

This is a great resource for horn players and teachers of all ability levels!
 

Horn Matters Practicing Tips

Mnozil Brass: Monday YouTube Fix

I have run out of superlatives to describe Mnozil Brass. The playing. The writing. The staging. The storytelling. Absolutely world class.

Want to make money in the music business? Come up with a concept as original as these guys did.

They did not just do what had already been done but a little better. They are unlike anything that came before them or anything that has come since.

it's hard to get an idea of what Mnozil Brass is like in concert from one clip but this does the trick. They throw one heck of a curveball at you towards the end.

Just stunningly awesome.

Enjoy!

this is a little exerpt out of the new dvd magic moments from mnozil brass. find more info's here: http://www.mnozilbrass.at/shop.html

Words of Wisdom from Bud Herseth

"It is not a matter of being better than anyone else. How can you love trying to be better than anyone else? Play for your own satisfaction, and for other's enjoyment."

—Bud Herseth (Former Principal Trumpet - Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Mr. Herseth was an incredible player and teacher and his above words are incredibly wise.

There is a byproduct of playing for your own satisfaction: You tend to enjoy the process of getting better a whole lot more and therefor do the work. Bottom line: You get better.

Practice something until you love it and then share it with the world. At that point you'll be dying to share it with us and that will shine through in your performance.

The Brass Junkies: Mary Bowden - Episode 17

Episode 17 of The Brass Junkies features Mary Bowden, an international trumpet soloist and founding member of the Seraph Brass. She discusses her travels around the world, a transformational experience she had with our good friend Jens Lindemann that inspired her to take her career to the next level, and her new brass quintet, Seraph Brass.

She also talks about how she has gone about creating her personal brand through highly produced videos, professional photo shoots, and a great website.

Links:

Mary Bowden
Seraph Brass
Mary's YouTube Channel
Mary's Facebook Fan Page
To Sell Is Human by Daniel H. Pink

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

Quitting Can Be Good (But It's All About The Timing)

"Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can't deal with the stress of the moment."

—Seth Godin from "The Dip"

Spot on as always from Seth Godin! You should never make a decision to quit something in the heat of battle.

Don't decide to cut something from your recital program while you are in the middle of a frustrating practice session.

Don't decide that your band needs to play an easier march for assessment while you are in the middle of a bad rehearsal.

Don't decide to change career paths while you are in the middle of a terrible gig.

Any of the above conclusions may very well be the best thing moving forward. But there is never a drawback to being sure you are not succumbing to the stress of the moment.

The only way to accurately assess the long-term potential of something is to do so without any emotions involved. So avoid doing so in the stress of the moment.

UT Wind Ensemble Performing John Mackey: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is the University of Texas Wind Ensemble under the direction of Jerry Junkin performing John Mackey's "Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Band".

This is a live performance from 2/12/14 at Bates Recital Hall in Austin, TX.

John Mackey is one of my favorite composers writing music today. This piece is awesome.

Enjoy!

Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Band by John Mackey The University of Texas Wind Ensemble Jerry F. Junkin, conductor Live in Bates Recital Hall - Austin, Texas February 12, 2014 Published with the permission of the composer. This video may not be republished, excerpted, or otherwise publicly redistributed without permission.

Do You Want To Eat?

"A woodpecker can tap 20 times on a thousand trees and get nothing, but stay busy. Or he can tap 20,000 times on one tree and get dinner."

—Seth Godin from "The Dip"

Don't let this happen to you when you are practicing your instrument, working on your conducting, or pursuing whatever it is that you do.

Don't start working on something and then stop when it gets difficult to move on to something else.

There is a potential trap there. If you move along to work on something else you can trick yourself by "staying busy" or "working hard" or whatever euphemism you'd like to use instead of calling it what it is: that you bailed once the work got difficult.

The successful people in the music business regularly try the 20,000 times thing and then eat dinner.

What are you avoiding by moving on to the next tree well before you reach 20,000 taps?

Royal Danish Oboes: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is a live performance by the Royal Danish Oboes (the oboes of the Royal Danish Orchestra) of the Beethoven Trio for Two Oboes and English Horn.

The lineup:

1st Oboe: Joakim Dam Thomsen
2nd Oboe: Rixon Thomas
English Horn: Sven Buller

Enjoy!

This is a live unedited recording from the small stage of Operaen in Copenhagen. Recorded on the 9th May 2010. This was one of 3 pieces on the program of The Royal Danish Orchestra's (Det Kongelige Kapel) regular chamber music concerts.

Three Tuba Legends Talk About the Influence, Playing & Teaching of Arnold Jacobs

This is awesome!

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has assembled a number of clips of three tuba legends, Rex Martin, Gene Pokorny, and Floyd Cooley, speaking about their mentor, Arnold Jacobs.

The three of them speak about a wide range of topics including:

• Teaching
• Vibrato
• Sound
• Legacy
• The CSO Brass Sound

There are a total of 19 short clips about Arnold Jacobs. These are absolutely priceless. A huge thank you to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for publishing these!

You can here them all here.

Adam Rapa & Belgian Brass: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is an interesting arrangement of the Weber Clarinet Concerto No. 2 performed live by Adam Rapa and the Belgian Brass.

Adam is one of the best trumpet players in the world. His virtuosity allows him to tackle incredibly difficult literature and make it sound effortless. What a phenomenal player.

The lineup of the Belgian Brass:

Trumpets: Manu Mellaerts, Steven Devolder, Leo Wouters, Frankie De Kuyffer
French Horns: Rik Vercruysse, Lars Wachelder
Trombones: Jan Smets, Peter Delannoye, Geert De Vos
Tuba: Fabien Wallerand
Percussion: Luk Artois, Gaetan La Mela

Enjoy!

C.M. Von Weber Trumpet Soloist: Adam Rapa CELEBRATION CONCERT - 10 YEARS BELGIAN BRASS - LIVE !!! Trumpets: Manu Mellaerts, Steven Devolder, Leo Wouters, Frankie De Kuyffer French Horns: Rik Vercruysse, Lars Wachelder Trombones: Jan Smets, Peter Delannoye, Geert De Vos Tuba: Fabien Wallerand Percussion: Luk Artois, Gaetan La Mela