Oboe
Bassoon
Trumpet
Bass Trombone
Violin
Cello
If you are interested please contact the school.
Pierre Monteux School
Michael Jinbo, Music Director
Ron Schwizer, Executive Director
Ron Schwizer, Executive Director
207-422-3280 (office)
Monday, April 11, 2011
Pierre Monteux Needs Musicians
If you read my previous blog posts you will undoubtedly see my posting about the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestral Musicians. This festival is advertised largely by word of mouth and maintains a high standard among its musicians. This year they have some openings.
Oboe
Bassoon
Trumpet
Bass Trombone
Violin
Cello
If you are interested please contact the school.
Oboe
Bassoon
Trumpet
Bass Trombone
Violin
Cello
If you are interested please contact the school.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Targets in Time
I had this idea about a month ago and I have not had the time to write the blog post about it. This is ironic because I will be talking about timing.
In teaching a lesson out of Dr. Brad Edwards' "Lip Slurs" I was reminded of targets. Pete Norton used lip slurs to define an exact location of partials. He talked about the distance between notes and not over or under shooting these targets. Think of these on a vertical axis. Now think about exact slide positions on a horizontal axis. This might look like a fingering chart extending along your trombone, perpendicular to your body.
Of course you cannot actually see this chart on your trombone. In order to play "target practice" you have to use your ears to identify the targets and your embouchure, air, tongue, and arm to hit the targets.
But wait there is one more variable. Time. All of the systems used to produce pitch have to cooridinated in time with the music in order to hit the right target. In my lesson with Brandt Attema he made me subdivide my lips slurs to make the target smaller. This allowed less time for movement of any of these factors forcing a more coordinated approach to playing.
So now we have a 3D "target practice" Arm-horizontal, embauchure/air-vertical, time-time. All three of these have to be perfect to successfully hit a note. A physical representation of this "target practice" concept might look a little like a carnival game.
Except, of course, instead of using your eyes to see and lead the targets, you have to use you ears and mind. And instead of using your finger and a gun to fire bullets, you are using your air, embouchure, and instrument to fire notes.
In teaching a lesson out of Dr. Brad Edwards' "Lip Slurs" I was reminded of targets. Pete Norton used lip slurs to define an exact location of partials. He talked about the distance between notes and not over or under shooting these targets. Think of these on a vertical axis. Now think about exact slide positions on a horizontal axis. This might look like a fingering chart extending along your trombone, perpendicular to your body.
But wait there is one more variable. Time. All of the systems used to produce pitch have to cooridinated in time with the music in order to hit the right target. In my lesson with Brandt Attema he made me subdivide my lips slurs to make the target smaller. This allowed less time for movement of any of these factors forcing a more coordinated approach to playing.
So now we have a 3D "target practice" Arm-horizontal, embauchure/air-vertical, time-time. All three of these have to be perfect to successfully hit a note. A physical representation of this "target practice" concept might look a little like a carnival game.
Except, of course, instead of using your eyes to see and lead the targets, you have to use you ears and mind. And instead of using your finger and a gun to fire bullets, you are using your air, embouchure, and instrument to fire notes.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Another Audition, Another Rejuvenation
As a classical musician, I have encountered quite a bit of resistance and negativity toward the field, daily practice, and job prospects. Recently, with job offers teaching, the Detroit Symphony in the news, and the complete lack of bass trombone auditions, the field seems more bleak than ever. However, there is something incredible rewarding about a job well done. Being around the members and staff of NWS is a very positive experience.
Last week I attended the Colorado Symphony to hear my friend George Curran Perform with the orchestra. This was the first live concert I attended in nearly five months. After the concert I felt rejuvenated and very positive. I cannot stress the importance of a positive attitude and outlook on life.
Last week I attended the Colorado Symphony to hear my friend George Curran Perform with the orchestra. This was the first live concert I attended in nearly five months. After the concert I felt rejuvenated and very positive. I cannot stress the importance of a positive attitude and outlook on life.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Update
I have just finished my second month as the band director at Powell Middle School in Littleton, CO, and I am pleased to announce I will be there until the end of the school year. Teaching, band and privately, has been taking up most of my time and energy these two months. I must apologize for the drastic drop off in posts. Currently, I am in Miami, Florida visiting Will Timmons and the New World Symphony Orchestra. I should have time throughout this week to post blogs about NWS, Miami, and teaching.
I know I already mentioned NWS's new hall, but last night I received a private tour from Will and Stefan, the lighting engineer for the hall. The building is magnificent. Frank Gehry maintained his style making the place is remarkable similar to Disney Hall in LA; however the structure here in Miami, is a little more minimalistic and covered in drywall instead of the aluminum of Disney Hall. Inside the hall is a labyrinth of negative space and crazy shapes. Platforms made of offices, lounges, practices rooms, the box office, and the lobby bar make the lobby hall look like an Escher painting. The hall itself is completely decked out with an incredible array of lights, lasers, and video projectors. The place is designed to offer a wide verity of performance capabilities. This is truly the next step in performance spaces.
I had breakfast in the park while I watched families wear their kids about before the children's concert that is starting right now.
I know I already mentioned NWS's new hall, but last night I received a private tour from Will and Stefan, the lighting engineer for the hall. The building is magnificent. Frank Gehry maintained his style making the place is remarkable similar to Disney Hall in LA; however the structure here in Miami, is a little more minimalistic and covered in drywall instead of the aluminum of Disney Hall. Inside the hall is a labyrinth of negative space and crazy shapes. Platforms made of offices, lounges, practices rooms, the box office, and the lobby bar make the lobby hall look like an Escher painting. The hall itself is completely decked out with an incredible array of lights, lasers, and video projectors. The place is designed to offer a wide verity of performance capabilities. This is truly the next step in performance spaces.
I had breakfast in the park while I watched families wear their kids about before the children's concert that is starting right now.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sweet Spot and Skiing
During my time at USC, Brad Edwards would talk about the sweet spot of each note. He would even relate this to playing tennis and the awesome sound the ball makes when it is hit with the sweet spot of the racquet. However, I think skiing is a better analogy. At the end of the day today when I was at 13,000ft at Arapahoe Basin I started connecting turns effortlessly. While I was on the lift, there was so much wind I wanted to leave. But every time I connected a turn I just wanted to keep skiing.
I had hit the sweet spot of skiing. At first I was thinking of an air stream and how to connect notes. Using turning I could see the seamlessness of legato playing. However, what if these image was used to reflect the airstream and phrasing. You can see the perfect rising and falling and the exact spot to breath between phrases. You can also anticipate where the skier is going. Everything should be that easy.
On a side note, the cafeteria was selling "Carolina Barbecue." Of course I had to try what a Colorado man called Carolina sauce. The sauce used vinegar as a base and used several more spices than normal. The consistency was more soup like with everything floating in the vinegar. The meat was shredded instead of pulled and had entire gloves of boiled garlic throughout the meat. Interestingly the garlic was more the consistency of pulled pork than the dried out shredded pork.
On a side note, the cafeteria was selling "Carolina Barbecue." Of course I had to try what a Colorado man called Carolina sauce. The sauce used vinegar as a base and used several more spices than normal. The consistency was more soup like with everything floating in the vinegar. The meat was shredded instead of pulled and had entire gloves of boiled garlic throughout the meat. Interestingly the garlic was more the consistency of pulled pork than the dried out shredded pork.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Busy Life
I knew when I took a band directing job I would be giving up most of my free time. Life at the school has been fast, exhausting, and exhilarating. Officially, I will be there until the end of May. I am excited to be able to run a quality program for a few months. I will have the chance to work with five ensembles of varying levels and will lead them through several concerts each. Luckily the curriculum and performance dates are already intact. I only have a few organizational things to do.
Already I have performed with the Jazz Band at the Littleton Jazz Festival. The group performed one swing piece and featured a tenor sax and bass clarinet solo. The band sounded remarkable for four rehearsals and dealing with snowdays.
The Tromboniac Trombone Quartet was kind enough to perform for my seventh grade last week. The seventh grade is performing a chamber music concert in a week and I wanted to show the students how a chamber group works. After seeing how we worked the students were much more diligent with their own music.
In my own life, I won an audition for the Colorado Symphony and was awarded a position on their substitute musician list. And I am looking forward to my spring break trip to Miami to audition for the New World Symphony.
Already I have performed with the Jazz Band at the Littleton Jazz Festival. The group performed one swing piece and featured a tenor sax and bass clarinet solo. The band sounded remarkable for four rehearsals and dealing with snowdays.
The Tromboniac Trombone Quartet was kind enough to perform for my seventh grade last week. The seventh grade is performing a chamber music concert in a week and I wanted to show the students how a chamber group works. After seeing how we worked the students were much more diligent with their own music.
In my own life, I won an audition for the Colorado Symphony and was awarded a position on their substitute musician list. And I am looking forward to my spring break trip to Miami to audition for the New World Symphony.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Quarter Life Crisis
Today marks 160 Projects 60th blog post and this month I will turn 25. I have been thinking about my life recently and how I was to write about the "crisis" in choosing a career path. However, my life is busy both with teaching and with playing, the present is bright and the future even brighter. Instead of a crisis I will share three short stories inspiring my life right now.
Joel Baroody just made finals for the Air Force band in D.C. Joel is a friend from undergrad, a roommate from grad school, a respectful colleague and one hell of a musician. This spring he is taking at least three more auditions and hopefully he will be gainfully employed by the end of the school year.
It is no secret I have been listening a great deal to Pavarotti; his performances of the famous Nessun Dorma are unequalled by anyone. This past weekend the CCM philharmonia gave a performance of Puccini's Turandot. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend but the end has been posted on youtube. Congratulations to everyone involved and congratulations to Katie Thigpen and Tyler Castrucci for the ballsy last statement of the theme. The entire brass section sounds incredible.
I watched "Troy" this morning trying to stay warm on my really really really cold day off from school. The entire theme of the movie is remembrance throughout the ages. This opening scene gives us insight to the humility, bravery, and confidence of Brad Pitt's character Achilles. Achilles must fight a giant, the boy is skeptical. Achilles replies "that's why no one will remember your name." I could not find a youtube to show the clip, however the opening 5 minutes are definitely worth the watch.
As I look forward to the rest of my life, I am not sure I want the fame equal to any of the greats of history. However, I want to do the best job I can teaching and performing. I know this is a tall order, but I am only 24, I have some time to live up to it.
Joel Baroody just made finals for the Air Force band in D.C. Joel is a friend from undergrad, a roommate from grad school, a respectful colleague and one hell of a musician. This spring he is taking at least three more auditions and hopefully he will be gainfully employed by the end of the school year.
It is no secret I have been listening a great deal to Pavarotti; his performances of the famous Nessun Dorma are unequalled by anyone. This past weekend the CCM philharmonia gave a performance of Puccini's Turandot. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend but the end has been posted on youtube. Congratulations to everyone involved and congratulations to Katie Thigpen and Tyler Castrucci for the ballsy last statement of the theme. The entire brass section sounds incredible.
I watched "Troy" this morning trying to stay warm on my really really really cold day off from school. The entire theme of the movie is remembrance throughout the ages. This opening scene gives us insight to the humility, bravery, and confidence of Brad Pitt's character Achilles. Achilles must fight a giant, the boy is skeptical. Achilles replies "that's why no one will remember your name." I could not find a youtube to show the clip, however the opening 5 minutes are definitely worth the watch.
As I look forward to the rest of my life, I am not sure I want the fame equal to any of the greats of history. However, I want to do the best job I can teaching and performing. I know this is a tall order, but I am only 24, I have some time to live up to it.
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