Joan Sutherland: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is a clip of one of the all-time great sopranos, Joan Sutherland, performing the "Vissi d'arte" aria from the Act 2 of Puccini's opera "Tosca".

The tone and control she maintains when singing in the extreme high register, all while turning a beautiful phrase, is what all instrumentalists strive for. Truly incredible stuff.

And I love the subtlety of her vibrato. (At least subtle compared to a lot of other sopranos singing in that register!)

Enjoy!

Joan Sutherland sings TOSCA Vissi d'arte

Warren Deck Master Class Quotes (Part 2 of 2)

Here is part two of my quotes from a master class by former Principal Tuba of the New York Philharmonic, Warren Deck. These quotes are from his class at the 2015 Northeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference at Ithaca College.

It was a phenomenal class. The quotes below about the window especially blew my mind. Really opened my eyes to exactly what I am trying to play and teach.

You can find part one here.

• I like to play a game with myself when I listen to music. It's called 'how much can I hear? How much can I notice? That's why I like to listen in community. I like to listen with 3 or 4 people. 
• The higher the quality of your musical mind, the higher the quality of what's going to come out of your instrument. 
• Keep the instrument full of air. 
• I'm going to urge you to listen to records and try to dig one level deeper. What can you hear? Every day try to hear something you haven't heard before. 
• Listen to the great players. Listen to how they make the magic. 
• The air only knows one thing: the shape of my phrase. 
• I want to hear the music as if I never have to breath ever. 
• I'm going to throw in an extra breath to see whether I can do it without changing the shape of the phrase. 
• The way air misses notes is dynamically. Air can miss notes. But oftentimes we missed it with our embouchure. 
• The bow doesn't need to know about changing the pitch. 
• Teach your embouchure to sing that tune accurately. 
• Separate the art from the craft. Our art is how well we can conceive of it. Our craft is how well we can play it. 
• The art is a scene and the craft is the window. If we show someone our scene, how much dirt is on the window? 
• The reason we clean the window is because we have an exact idea of how we want to sound. 
• Ronnie Romm said that flying a plane was the most musical thing he ever did. 
• I'm driving a car and my listener is my passenger. What kind of ride am I giving them?

The Brass Junkies: Fernando Deddos

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Lance and I recently had the honor of chatting with our dear friend Fernando Deddos for The Brass Junkies podcast. We met Fernando in May of 2010 when we attended the Tatui Brass Festival in Tatui, Brazil.

Fernando performed a recital that left both of our jaws on the floor. And then it turns out that he is one of the kindest, most giving human beings I've ever met in my four decades. He is a world class euphonium player, composer, and teacher.

He is breaking ground for the euphonium in his native country of Brazil and is leaving a mark on the musical world like few people his age have done. I count myself lucky to be able to call him a friend.

You'll love this episode! We talk about traditional Brazilian music, barbecue, and a whole bunch of brass.

Links:

Website
SoundCloud
Potenza Music
Eufonium Brasileiro

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

Produced by Austin Boyer and Buddy Deshler of FredBrass.

Harry Connick Jr: Monday YouTube Fix

Harry Connick Jr. is a genius. This is a famous clip for a reason. He is performing for a live studio audience in France. The crowd is really enjoying it and clapping along.

The problem is they are enthusiastically clapping on 1 and 3 with no end in sight.

But Harry has a plan. He slips a 5/4 bar in at the 0:39 mark so smoothly that no one even notices.

Brilliant.

Harry's playing with rhythm

Warren Deck Master Class Quotes (Part 1 of 2)

Back in April of 2015 I was honored to do a music business presentation at the Northeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference at Ithaca College hosted by Aaron Tindall. The lineup was better than some of the national conferences I've attended and it was an honor to be a part of it.

One of the real treats of that week was getting to attend a master class by former New York Philharmonic tuba player Warren Deck. I had a lesson with him in his New Jersey basement back in 1992 but hadn't been exposed to his teaching since then.

Warren is one of the all-time great tuba players and teachers. He is that rare combination of superb player and phenomenal teacher. I love these quotes and glad that I remembered that I was sitting on them!

You can find part two here.

• A great writer has a really huge vocabulary and by using that they can evoke a wide range of emotions by their choice of words.
• Musicians manipulate audiences emotions. They willingly pay to be taken on a journey.
• I advocate that people commune with the page. Ask 'what is this composer trying to tell me through this archaic notation system?'
• How many different ways can you say the word hi?
• How can we change little things to find just the right inflection when we play?
• Think of different interpretations as saying the same things with different accents.
• The same person might play things completely differently depending on the acoustical settings.
• An actor acting to the back of a hall would look ridiculous doing the same thing for a camera right in their face.
• I was always chasing the tuba in my head.
• Can I articulate a note any way I want at any dynamic?
• I found that the louder I played the harder I tended to tongue. I needed dynamics and articulations to function separately.
• The difference between ta and da is compression.
• I took (the relationship between dynamics and articulation) and was able to practice an Arban's exercise much more mindfully.
• I want to be able to change octaves where my air thinks it's one note.
• The older I get the more I admire Gil Johnson for his ability to phrase and soar.
• I just heard a person who has had a good deal of success with auditions say that they learned how to play their instrument before they learned excerpts.

Stefan Dohr: Monday YouTube Fix

Stefan Dohr is the Principal Horn for the Berlin Philharmonic and is considered one of the great players in the world for good reason.

Here is a short clip of him playing the famous horn solo from Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Claudio Abbado.

Stunningly beautiful.

Enjoy!

Piotr Czajkowski: 5 symfonia, cz.II - Stefan Dohr. Berliner Philharmoniker, dyr. Claudio Abbado

The Brass Junkies: Dan Gosling

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Lance and I recently sat down with trumpet player and entrepreneur Dan Gosling for a really fascinating interview for The Brass Junkies. Dan invented a lip balm called ChopSaver in his kitchen when he decided he could make a better product than what was on the market.

It is now sold in over 7,000 CVS stores. Say what?

Dan explains the whole journey from trumpet player who couldn't quite land the right gig to being a mad scientist in his kitchen to having his product distributed throughout the entire country. Pretty fascinating stuff!

Website:

ChopSaver

Links:

Facebook
Paige's Music
@chopsaver
@chopsaverguy
YouTube

#savemychops

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

Produced by Austin Boyer and Buddy Deshler of FredBrass.

Anne Sophie-Mutter: Monday YouTube Fix

I heard Anne Sophie-Mutter perform a number of times at Tanglewood when I was a student there. Her musicianship and command over the violin are both great.

This is a wonderful performance and interpretation of the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 featuring Anne Sophie-Mutter accompanied by Camerata Salzburg.

Enjoy!

Watch Anne Sophie-Mutter perform Mozart's Violin Concerto # 3 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4cYb3fw1Y Mozart's last violin concerto in A major, K.219 exquisitely performed by the renowned Anne Sophie-Mutter. She is once again backed up by the Camerata Salzburg Orchestra. 1.Allegro Aperto - Adagio - Allegro Aperto 2.Adagio 3.Rondeau - Tempo di Minuetto

The Best Practicing Advice I've Ever Heard

Five words:

Put your damn phone away.

Marty Hackleman: Monday YouTube Fix

When I was a kid I had this poster of Marty Hackleman with the Empire Brass up in my room:

One of the great brass quintet albums of all time.

So needless to say, the first time I got to perform with Marty (in a brass quintet that also featured Jens Lindemann, Kevin Gebo and Joe Alessi!) I was over the moon excited.

This recording of Marty performing Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 2 live in 1992 makes me actually laugh out loud in a few places. He is just a stunning musician.

If you haven't heard it already you can find our interview with Marty for The Brass Junkies podcast below the YouTube clip.

You can also find some incredible quotes from two different master classes that Marty did at George Mason here:

• 2010 George Mason University
• 2011 George Mason University

Enjoy this phenomenal performance of the Strauss Horn Concerto No. 2!

This video is about Martin Hackleman live Strauss 2 1992