Creating Awe: TED and the Netherlands

A few weeks ago TED's Podcast posted a lecture by Rob Legato. Rob helps create screen shots in movies; the TED Talk is more or less him bragging about his work on Apollo 13, Titanic, and Hugo.  It's truly remarkable how he and his team created three of the most beautiful screen shots in cinematographic history.  Interestingly, none of them are based in reality.

The obvious musical reference would be splicing performance to create an uncharacteristically clean recording. A second could be using electronic software to loop or modify your sound.  Another could be small breaths in irregular places creating unusually long phrases.  How many sneaky ways to "deceive" an audience can you think of?

Today, I visited another branch of the ArtEZ Conservatory.  The city of Zwolle is a stereo typical Dutch town straight out of the middle ages.  The modern city actually dates from around 800.  The structure of the school has some pretty good awe power.  ArtEZ: Zwolle sits in a renovated cloister on the edge of the city center.  (On the left in the picture above.)  I will be posting some more pics of Zwolle soon.

Back in Enschede, I heard the finally exam (recital) of Babis Vlachos an incredible saxophone player.  Besides the beastly alto playing, Babis performed one piece on the bass saxophone.  This was a rare treat.  Babis just finished his MM under Johan van der Linden.

Europe: The day before

As many of you know, tomorrow I am leaving on trip to the Netherlands.  The catch - I have a one way ticket.  For the next two years, I will be studying with Peter van Klink of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede, NL.

For the past week, I have been at my parents house in south-western Virginia.  I have sold my car, finished the Discovering a Classical Music Project, published my arrangement of Avant de Quitter ces Lieux, and started the long process of packing.  I will be traveling with two duffel bags and a trombone.

I have no idea what will happen, where I'll go, what I will do, or what I will play on this, my next great adventure.

My Favorite Teacher

Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to talk with all of my former teachers and a few former students.  I have realized a very important aspect of my relationship with these people.  All of them made me feel like their favorite student and I tried my best to make all of students feel the same way.  The interesting thing, I truly believe all of my students were my favorite.

John Rojak speaks about this particular aspect of his teaching consistently.  John Coffee, Rojak's teacher, had this quality in his teaching and thankfully his students are passing down the trend.

In modern educational theory, building relationships with your students is very important.  These relationships allow for communication and understanding in the classroom and a lasting impression in life.  These relationships not only help the student listen and understand the teacher, but allow the teacher to truly listen to the student.  A strong relationship with your students can drastically change the way you communicate with them and help them along on their quest to become peers.

Many many thanks to John Rojak, Pete Norton, Brad Edwards, Dave Ball, and Dave Day.

Current listening: Tower Music performed by the 2010 CCM trombone choir

Creativity: Jonah Lehrer

As a fat kid at heart, I love finding justification for my laziness.  This morning, while reading the news paper, I found out about Jonah Lehrer.  Jonah is a writer about neuroscience and his new book is called Imagine: How Creativity Works. You should really check out his past works and appearances with various media outlets.

In our quest for perfect craft many classically trained musicians forget about the creative part of what we do.  By this I mean, our practice is deliberate and highly repetitive.  This is great for isolation of craft, but stifling for our creativity.  Think about all the ways we need to be creative.

Musically, we have to be creative to capivate our audience or intrigue our colleagues.

Physically, we have to be creative to overcome the difficulties of our instrument.

Entrepreneurially, we have to be creative in marketing ourselves.

Educationally, we have to be creative in how we teach ourselves and our students.

Communally, we have to be creative to inspire those around us.

Creativity is essential to being an artist or really a well rounded individual.  Jonah advocates allowing your mind to wander in order for individuals to salve problems.  His interviews include anecdotes of world renowned thinkers who do there best when relaxing.  He also includes some crazy statics about problem solving.  Check out his latest interview on the Colbert Report.  And also his interview about daydreaming.

A great summer activity: Be Creative.

Current listening: Of Monsters and Men Little Talks.  Relevant lyric, "We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love."

Bemidji: Artist in Residence in Review

Last week I had the great  honor of spending a week with my friends Sarah Paradis and Bill Kloppenburg while working with students at Bemidji State University in Minnesota.  Some of you might be wondering where that is, well take a right in the middle of nowhere (St. Cloud, MN) and drive three more hours.  Bemidji is actually the home of Paul Bunyan and the entire town is fascinated with his folklore. Everything from flanel to amazing pancakes to chopped lumber, and frozen lakes can be found in the incredibly beautiful town.

While in residence at BSU I gave a recital, masterclass, lessons, a lecture, and soloed with the community trombone choir.  Everyone was excited and we completed some great work.  I was surprised at the level of students, Sarah is doing great work with some gifted youngsters.

Talking about phrasing and style with Steve Radley

The Bemidji Trombone Choir is actually a community trombone ensemble made up of musicians from over 80 miles away.  The concert went well and featured a variety of music including my first arrangement. The choir was kind enough to play Avant de Quitter ces Lieux from Gounod's Faust.  I scored the ensemble for 5 trombones and was surprised when I played infront of 12 musicians.  Needles to say, I am little closer to the goal (160dbs).

Sarah Paradis (Conductor) Russ Zokaites (Soloist)

Bemidji Trombones (Choir)

Sarah and I before an amazing night

Bemidji State University

This week I am serving as a guest artist at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota.  The week is filled with rehearsing, teaching, and performing.  I am excited to work with the students and a community trombone choir.

The schedule:
Wednesday March 28th, 11:00am Masterclass
Wednesday March 28th, 7:30pm Recital
Thursday March 29th, 7:00pm Trombone Choir Concert.

(I will be teaching on all three days but they will be closed sessions)

The recital will include:
Lebedev's Concerto in One Movement
Bozza's New Orleans
Ewazen's Concerto for Bass Trombone
Gounod's Avant de Quitter ces Lieux
Inez McComas' A Quick Trip with Lots of Baggage


Sarah Paradis will be conducting the trombone choir in a variety of repertoire including an arrangement of mine.  I am truly excited to get to work this week!

The drive from Kansas City was anything but quick, 11 hours in one sitting.  Although it was nice to see the hills in Iowa, and the lakes in Minnesota.  Most people drive south for spring break, I however drove to the still frozen in North.

Question: How do you Maintain Motivation?

I have started a new segment for the 160th post on the 160 Project.  Last night, I emailed high level performs and asked them a question.  In this case:

Dear Gentlemen,

How do you continue to motivate yourself?  After many years of a high level of practice and performance how do you continue to push yourself?  How do you pull yourself out of a practice slump? 

Will Timmons: 

I was discussing this at dinner with another trombonist in the AF band.  The answer that I came up with is that you have to continue to increase what you strive for.  You must be a good planner with short-term and, most of all, long-term goals.  These big goals will be something like:  Perform at the ITA Workshop or release a CD of the highest caliber.   I feel like many people become settled in to a feeling of contentment and the day-in-day-out mentality of what their job requires.  Some musicians get a job that doesn't require the perfection that the audition circuit demands or that the trombone community has come to expect.  People become content not to be the best in the world.  I find that to be fine... not everyone needs to desire that.  But I never want to stop pushing myself to a higher standard, even when I reach the top. 


Many times, people just need a fresh perspective or an inspiring idea to push them forward.  Inspiration isn't automatic or consistent.  A few times in my life, I've been propelled by those around me.  As a member of the New World Symphony Orchestra, I was constantly around incredible young artists that were winning jobs in top tier orchestras.  Knowing that they and I were on equal ground every day, and seeing them win these auditions made me feel as if I could win one too.  That helped me dive in and do the work that needed to be done to get to my lofty long-term goal.


Sometimes seeing a great performance inspires you to go practice.  Many times, I practiced for hours following a big performance in orchestra or band back in college.  There's something fresh and exciting about performing in front of a crowd.  I used that to my advantage by allowing that energy and excitement continue into my practice session afterwards. 


Keep performing, keep striving for larger accomplishments, surround yourself with high acheivers, and eat, sleep, and breathe artistic excellence.  Always try to think on the highest artistic plane possible.  This will help one to stay creative. 


Will Timmons (Will is a member of the Air Force Ceremonial Band in Washington DC.)


RZ: But what happens after an audition, or performance, when you just want a day or week off but you have another audition in just a few weeks?


You have a choice to make.  In order to have long term sustainability you have to have times when you relax and let your body and mind rest.  So you have to decide when to take a break.  I think this goes back to the short-term planning and how it fits with the long-term planning.  If you stack your schedule so much that there's no down time before having to start on your next project (audition, recital, performance) then you might be limiting your chances of success.  It all comes down to planning.  Don't schedule yourself to teach 6 hours the day of your recital.  Don't schedule 11 recitals in 11 days. 


To clarify, I think it's okay to take multiple auditions fairly close together.  You probably don't want to have them constantly 2 weeks apart.  It's hard to sustain that.  It's best if you have auditions within the same week or spaced out by a month or more.  The 2 week time in between is just enough time that you are able to get out of the focused mindset that you were in for the first audition, but not enough time to get re-focused.  I think that's a mistake some people make.  But for some people, 2 weeks works okay.  It all depends on who you are and how you respond to certain situations.  

If you are smart about it though, you can plan your way to success.  Set yourself up for playing your best at the right time.  Timing is everything.  You need times of intensity but you need times to relax and rebuild (just like any great workout would suggest). 

Will Timmons