There have been years of my career when a significant portion of my income was made by sight-reading concerts. I have been called moments before the downbeat of a concert with the question in the title, and gotten there just in time to rush on stage after intermission and read down the rest of the show.
I don't write that to brag; it's just the reality of working in a busy musical town, and often sight-reading a concert is a great way of making a great impression on people who might want to hire you again.
When I was in college one of our year-end juries was sight-reading. It was hugely valuable, and I'm grateful for that, as well as for fellow students who always loved to sight-read duets, trios, quartets, etc.
Sight-reading is a skill that has to be developed, like any other, and there are fundamental musical skills that contribute: first of all it's really important for students to work diligently at the ear training classes they are
required to take. Sight reading and sight singing are really the same
skill, just with an instrument added.
Second, play rhythmically
most if not all of the time, and develop the habit of subdividing for
everything you play, including long tones and lip slurs. Use a
metronome, but realize that the metronome's main function is to provide
objective truth, NOT to provide your pulse. The pulse still has to come
from inside you, so be creative with your metronome - don't just play
with the beat you hear. I like using a Dr. Beat and gradually
subtracting what is audible, to the point where you are only hearing one
beat per bar or even less. I also like a smartphone app called time guru, which allows you to set it to randomly remove a percentage of the audible beats. Very cool.
Now, to the sight-reading itself. There are steps you can take the first
time you see something, in the moments before you play it, in order to
improve your batting average and make a great impression on your colleagues.
1. Look at the starting time signature, key signature and tempo marking. This sounds obvious, but it's amazing how often I start playing a duet with a student who misses the very first note that gets an accidental from the key signature.
2.
Take note of the style; make your best guess if you have to, or even
better: ask somebody who's played it before. "Is this a swing tune?" "Is
this a fanfare?" There's no shame in asking for help.
3. In
fact, definitely ask for help: "What's the tempo of this piece? Is there anything
in particular I need to know about it?" Everybody would much rather give a few words of help than hear somebody
screw up.
4. Scan the page for changes in time signature, key signature and tempo.
5.
Scan the page for accidentals. If there's an area with a lot of them,
take note and try to identify the temporary key area. "I keep seeing F#,
C# and G# here; it must have modulated to A Major or its relative
minor."
6. Scan the page for active, syncopated, or otherwise
atypical rhythms. If it's a swing chart, look for places where something
other than swing is indicated. If there's a tricky rhythm, sing it to
yourself.
When you get good at it, sight-reading is exhilarating. Learn to enjoy it!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Saturday, December 22, 2012
all thumbs (and fingers)
I've been practicing some music lately that has me using my valves faster and in more varied combinations than usual, and I've finally come to a confession that has been threatening to surface for a long time.
"My name is Gabe, and I have sloppy valve technique."
And I know I'm not alone. I hate to say this this way, but we trombone players tend to be a pretty undisciplined bunch. I often hear otherwise excellent players play two notes that don't exist in the western tuning system, one somewhere between A and A-flat, and another somewhere between E and E-flat. It happens in fairly rapid scale passages, and it's because of sloppy slide technique.
I can also tell you from years answering phones and emails for a trombone manufacturer that many, many trombone players expect the valves on their instruments to work flawlessly for years without a drop of oil. And then they complain about noisy, clunky sticky valves.
Here's what I've discovered (listen for the sound of my flutist wife saying "duh"): my valve motions are better co-ordinated if I simply keep my thumb and finger in contact with them. All the time, from before I activate them to after. As a big added bonus, the linkages make no noise if I do this. None. At. All.
There. That's all. Please don't tell me if I'm the last bass trombone player in the world to figure this out.
"My name is Gabe, and I have sloppy valve technique."
And I know I'm not alone. I hate to say this this way, but we trombone players tend to be a pretty undisciplined bunch. I often hear otherwise excellent players play two notes that don't exist in the western tuning system, one somewhere between A and A-flat, and another somewhere between E and E-flat. It happens in fairly rapid scale passages, and it's because of sloppy slide technique.
I can also tell you from years answering phones and emails for a trombone manufacturer that many, many trombone players expect the valves on their instruments to work flawlessly for years without a drop of oil. And then they complain about noisy, clunky sticky valves.
Here's what I've discovered (listen for the sound of my flutist wife saying "duh"): my valve motions are better co-ordinated if I simply keep my thumb and finger in contact with them. All the time, from before I activate them to after. As a big added bonus, the linkages make no noise if I do this. None. At. All.
There. That's all. Please don't tell me if I'm the last bass trombone player in the world to figure this out.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Newspapers and Orchestras
Tonight I was watching a documentary about the New York Times and the epic changes in the newspaper industry over the last decade or so, called "Page One."
I'm struck by the parallels with the challenges in the orchestra business, and particularly by the section discussing the demise of the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times and other papers under Sam Zell, who bought them under leveraged buyouts, saddled them with unmanageable debt, and ran them into bankruptcy (sound like any presidential candidate you can think of?).
Sam Zell had no experience in the newspaper or news reporting business, and he seemingly held nothing but contempt for journalism as a profession.
In the film they showed footage of what I think was a meeting between him and reporters at the Tribune, transcribed as follows:
Zell: My attitude on journalism is very simple. I want to make enough money so I can afford you. It's really that simple, okay? You need to, in effect, help me, by being a journalist that focuses on what our readers want.
Reporter: But what readers want are puppy dogs. We also need to inform the community.
Zell: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't, you know...you're giving me the classic what I would call journalistic arrogance.
[At this point the film cuts away to commentary and then comes back. I'm not sure if there was any footage in between that was edited out.]
Zell: Hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq, okay? Fuck you.
I can't help but draw a parallel to the lame, warhorse, give-them-what-they-want programming, marketing that panders to the lowest common denominator, and near wholesale adoption of a shallow, celebrity-driven conductor and soloist culture that, in my opinion, has made orchestral music essentially irrelevant in contemporary culture.
Yet another example of an executive shortsightedly trying to solve a financial crisis by putting out an inferior product. And making a lot of money in the process of destroying something that has immense social and cultural value.
I'm struck by the parallels with the challenges in the orchestra business, and particularly by the section discussing the demise of the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times and other papers under Sam Zell, who bought them under leveraged buyouts, saddled them with unmanageable debt, and ran them into bankruptcy (sound like any presidential candidate you can think of?).
Sam Zell had no experience in the newspaper or news reporting business, and he seemingly held nothing but contempt for journalism as a profession.
In the film they showed footage of what I think was a meeting between him and reporters at the Tribune, transcribed as follows:
Zell: My attitude on journalism is very simple. I want to make enough money so I can afford you. It's really that simple, okay? You need to, in effect, help me, by being a journalist that focuses on what our readers want.
Reporter: But what readers want are puppy dogs. We also need to inform the community.
Zell: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't, you know...you're giving me the classic what I would call journalistic arrogance.
[At this point the film cuts away to commentary and then comes back. I'm not sure if there was any footage in between that was edited out.]
Zell: Hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq, okay? Fuck you.
I can't help but draw a parallel to the lame, warhorse, give-them-what-they-want programming, marketing that panders to the lowest common denominator, and near wholesale adoption of a shallow, celebrity-driven conductor and soloist culture that, in my opinion, has made orchestral music essentially irrelevant in contemporary culture.
Yet another example of an executive shortsightedly trying to solve a financial crisis by putting out an inferior product. And making a lot of money in the process of destroying something that has immense social and cultural value.
Friday, August 31, 2012
How to choose a custom brass instrument
Are you ready folks? Here it is, everything you need to know about the different alloys used to make brass instruments, based on thousands of hours of helping players choose instruments:
Red brass sounds more brilliant than yellow brass, which sounds brighter than red brass. Gold brass and rose brass are the same thing, except when they're not, and neither is red brass, except when it is. And both sound darker than either yellow or red brass, except that they sound brighter when I play them. Or darker, depending on who's listening. I play a yellow brass bell because it's more clear, and because I can blend easier with most tuba players and most tenor trombone players. It's also darker than the red brass bell I used to play, except when I want it to be brighter.
(Actually, now I play a gold brass bell, except when I play a yellow brass bell, unless I'm playing a bell that is an alloy somewhere in between that stopped being available after WWII.)
Oh, and nickel sounds darker than any brass alloy. Also, it sounds much, much brighter than any brass alloy.
Heavier bells sound bigger and hold together better at loud dynamics than lighter bells, which sound broader and stay warmer at loud dynamics than heavier bells.
And Sterling silver bells don't really exist. If you say you've ever seen or owned one, you're wrong. (That's a joke.)
Lacquer and plating make no difference at all unless you think they do. In which case they makes all the difference in the world, and you should immediately get your instrument lacquered, de-lacquered, plated, or re-plated.
How's that? Have I cleared everything up? Any other questions?
The simple facts are these: all else being as equal as you can get it, different humans sound different playing the same equipment, and the same humans sound different playing different equipment, except when they are the kinds of humans who sound the same no matter what equipment they play. These humans include most beginners and some of the best musicians in the world.
Red brass sounds more brilliant than yellow brass, which sounds brighter than red brass. Gold brass and rose brass are the same thing, except when they're not, and neither is red brass, except when it is. And both sound darker than either yellow or red brass, except that they sound brighter when I play them. Or darker, depending on who's listening. I play a yellow brass bell because it's more clear, and because I can blend easier with most tuba players and most tenor trombone players. It's also darker than the red brass bell I used to play, except when I want it to be brighter.
(Actually, now I play a gold brass bell, except when I play a yellow brass bell, unless I'm playing a bell that is an alloy somewhere in between that stopped being available after WWII.)
Oh, and nickel sounds darker than any brass alloy. Also, it sounds much, much brighter than any brass alloy.
Heavier bells sound bigger and hold together better at loud dynamics than lighter bells, which sound broader and stay warmer at loud dynamics than heavier bells.
And Sterling silver bells don't really exist. If you say you've ever seen or owned one, you're wrong. (That's a joke.)
Lacquer and plating make no difference at all unless you think they do. In which case they makes all the difference in the world, and you should immediately get your instrument lacquered, de-lacquered, plated, or re-plated.
How's that? Have I cleared everything up? Any other questions?
The simple facts are these: all else being as equal as you can get it, different humans sound different playing the same equipment, and the same humans sound different playing different equipment, except when they are the kinds of humans who sound the same no matter what equipment they play. These humans include most beginners and some of the best musicians in the world.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Bass Trombone advice for teachers, part 2: mutes
Bass trombone mutes are tricky. You can get away with a tenor trombone mute that doesn't have a low D or a pedal G, but we need those notes too often on bass trombone for our mutes not to work. I have a little bit of a mute fetish, so I've tried or owned almost everything. Here's my list of mutes that work and don't work:
Straight Mutes
The Denis Wick metal straight is my go-to straight mute. It responds evenly for me throughout the entire range, without having to drill a hole in it. I think if a Wick straight doesn't respond for you in the double valve register, you need to practice to make your tone production better in the double valve register.
Jo-Ral straight mutes are OK, but I find it's useful to drill a 1/4" hole in the center of the bottom of the mute, and then have a small piece of gaffer's tape over the hole for when I don't need the extreme low register. If you can find an old one, they are better than the new ones.
I don't know what happened to Tom Crown mutes, but they just don't seem to work anymore. I have an old one with a hole drilled in the bottom that's really banged up and has corks that are disintegrating, and it works OK, but none of the new ones I try seem to play below about low Eb.
I have other straight mutes I like for certain things (TrumCor Lyric, Marcus Bonna, H&B Symphonic, Beversdorf), but if you're only going to have one my recommendation is Denis Wick.
Cup Mutes
Denis Wick, yes.
H&B Large Bass Trombone, yes. If yours seems stuffy, try removing the rubber ring from around the cup.
I suggest having both of these so that you have the classic H&B sound and the somewhat better response of the Wick.
Jo-Ral, no. For me it's just too heavy and the response is just not that good. And I hate the sound.
My favorite cup mute is a Peter Gane made in England, but it doesn't sound anything like the cup mutes anybody else around me plays.
Wah-wah (Harmon) Mutes
Wick, no. I've had a couple, and they always seems to fall out of the bell. The top gets dented from the fall, and then you can't get it to stick for even a few seconds.
Jo-Ral, yes. It usually stays in the bell and sounds good. And when it does fall out, the metal and cork are thick enough that it usually doesn't dent around that top.
Practice Mutes
For "therapy" practice, the Denis Wick practice mute is great, although you might need to drill one or two more holes in it. I made one myself with an old Wick straight, some sheet cork, and a hand drill.
The only one I can practice with for any other reason is the Bremner Shhh mute. Every other practice mute I've tried for bass trombone makes the upper register go flat.
Actually, that's not true. I also have a mute made by a guy named Mike McLean in England. He calls is a pianissimo mute, and it can either be used as a loud-ish practice mute or a soft straight mute. The response is terrific all over the instrument, and if you don't have the control to play very soft with a mute, you can use this one, play about mf, and have it sound pp. Every once in a while I see these for sale on eBay for about $40, which is a bargain. You can't tell from the website, but the bass trombone pianissimo mute really does exist. I'll bet his straight mute is also really good, but it won't sound like a metal mute.
Bucket Mutes
The old H&B Bucket sounds great but it's a huge pain. Don't bother.
The Jo-Ral Bucket is ridiculously heavy and doesn't sound that great to me.
Spend a little bit of extra money and get a Peter Gane Bucket. Sounds great, easy to use.
Solotone Mutes
There are a couple of shows that call for solotone mute on bass trombone. This is a dumb idea, but what are you going to do? Well...you can use an H&B tenor solotone (cleartone) and build the corks way up with sheet cork - or even duct tape - or...you can special order a beautiful handmade wooden bass trombone solotone mute from Paul Lawrence in England. How do you do that? I don't know. I got mine in England at a trombone festival.
Straight Mutes
The Denis Wick metal straight is my go-to straight mute. It responds evenly for me throughout the entire range, without having to drill a hole in it. I think if a Wick straight doesn't respond for you in the double valve register, you need to practice to make your tone production better in the double valve register.
Jo-Ral straight mutes are OK, but I find it's useful to drill a 1/4" hole in the center of the bottom of the mute, and then have a small piece of gaffer's tape over the hole for when I don't need the extreme low register. If you can find an old one, they are better than the new ones.
I don't know what happened to Tom Crown mutes, but they just don't seem to work anymore. I have an old one with a hole drilled in the bottom that's really banged up and has corks that are disintegrating, and it works OK, but none of the new ones I try seem to play below about low Eb.
I have other straight mutes I like for certain things (TrumCor Lyric, Marcus Bonna, H&B Symphonic, Beversdorf), but if you're only going to have one my recommendation is Denis Wick.
Cup Mutes
Denis Wick, yes.
H&B Large Bass Trombone, yes. If yours seems stuffy, try removing the rubber ring from around the cup.
I suggest having both of these so that you have the classic H&B sound and the somewhat better response of the Wick.
Jo-Ral, no. For me it's just too heavy and the response is just not that good. And I hate the sound.
My favorite cup mute is a Peter Gane made in England, but it doesn't sound anything like the cup mutes anybody else around me plays.
Wah-wah (Harmon) Mutes
Wick, no. I've had a couple, and they always seems to fall out of the bell. The top gets dented from the fall, and then you can't get it to stick for even a few seconds.
Jo-Ral, yes. It usually stays in the bell and sounds good. And when it does fall out, the metal and cork are thick enough that it usually doesn't dent around that top.
Practice Mutes
For "therapy" practice, the Denis Wick practice mute is great, although you might need to drill one or two more holes in it. I made one myself with an old Wick straight, some sheet cork, and a hand drill.
The only one I can practice with for any other reason is the Bremner Shhh mute. Every other practice mute I've tried for bass trombone makes the upper register go flat.
Actually, that's not true. I also have a mute made by a guy named Mike McLean in England. He calls is a pianissimo mute, and it can either be used as a loud-ish practice mute or a soft straight mute. The response is terrific all over the instrument, and if you don't have the control to play very soft with a mute, you can use this one, play about mf, and have it sound pp. Every once in a while I see these for sale on eBay for about $40, which is a bargain. You can't tell from the website, but the bass trombone pianissimo mute really does exist. I'll bet his straight mute is also really good, but it won't sound like a metal mute.
Bucket Mutes
The old H&B Bucket sounds great but it's a huge pain. Don't bother.
The Jo-Ral Bucket is ridiculously heavy and doesn't sound that great to me.
Spend a little bit of extra money and get a Peter Gane Bucket. Sounds great, easy to use.
Solotone Mutes
There are a couple of shows that call for solotone mute on bass trombone. This is a dumb idea, but what are you going to do? Well...you can use an H&B tenor solotone (cleartone) and build the corks way up with sheet cork - or even duct tape - or...you can special order a beautiful handmade wooden bass trombone solotone mute from Paul Lawrence in England. How do you do that? I don't know. I got mine in England at a trombone festival.
Bass Trombone advice for teachers, part 1
I've decided to do a series of posts for my tenor trombonist friends who find themselves teaching young bass trombone players. I'll offer up my thoughts in no particular order. These are often my opinions, and there are plenty of people who might disagree with me, but here goes anyway.
1. Mouthpiece: start with a 1 1/2 G of some kind.
2. Etude material is a big topic that I will come back to, but to start, I like the Paul Faulise books for basic daily skill practice.
3. Don't neglect the middle tenor trombone register, or the high register for that matter. Bass trombone players need to be able to do nearly everything tenor players do and also sound great in the low register.
4. Long tones seem to be even more important for bass trombone than tenor.
There, that's a start.
1. Mouthpiece: start with a 1 1/2 G of some kind.
2. Etude material is a big topic that I will come back to, but to start, I like the Paul Faulise books for basic daily skill practice.
3. Don't neglect the middle tenor trombone register, or the high register for that matter. Bass trombone players need to be able to do nearly everything tenor players do and also sound great in the low register.
4. Long tones seem to be even more important for bass trombone than tenor.
There, that's a start.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Sometimes it's the simple phrase
A good and trusted friend got in touch to let me know that I had missed my intended tone on the original version of this post, so I've decided to edit it. I really didn't mean to get up on a high horse, but to provoke some thought and maybe some fresh ideas.
Basically, my point is this: we trombone players, particularly when we play orchestral excerpts for auditions, often choose to play something other than the natural, simple phrase structure of a passage, in order to accomplish or demonstrate some other aspect of what we are doing. Often, for some reason, it seems to me that we are trying to play simple phrases as if we were staggering breaths with a group of other players, in order to string together several phrases in a row and make a much longer statement.
I would like to suggest that in many cases the breathing strategy that would convey the music best and make it most logical and meaningful to the audition committee - and any other listener - would be to follow the phrase structure and breathe where it falls naturally.
Berlioz' Hungarian March is a great example. Once you get through the scale intros of the standard excerpt, you are faced with three 3-bar phrases. Many people breathe in the middle of the 2nd bar in each phrase, and then blew through into the next phrase without acknowledging the transition. I think it actually would make a tremendous amount of sense to play a complete 3-bar phrase, followed by a breath on the barline, followed by another complete 3-bar phrase, and then breathe in the middle of the third bar of the last 3-bar phrase in order to make the transition into the next set of phrases. We are consistently taught not to do that, and I can understand why - it's very easy to lose time that way, and we want to make sure the low note is long enough to speak clearly.
So, if breathing on the barlines is awkward for you, you can catch a quick breath somewhere else (I suggest the middle of the third bar of each phrase rather than the middle of the second), keep time, and still play the phrase convincingly.
I suggest deciding on a phrase structure and then practicing each phrase by itself for it's own shape. Find that shape, understand, it, convey it. Practice an entire passage with each phrase isolated. Take as much time as you need to breathe between phrases, and then start putting them together so that your sequence of phrases tells a complete story, each phrase like a perfectly structured and punctuated sentence. When you put it all back together you might need to breathe in different places, but for me it's a lot more useful to plan phrases and then figure out the breaths I need to do to to best serve those phrases.
That reminds me of the one lesson I had with J.J. Johnson...I'll write about that sometime later.
Basically, my point is this: we trombone players, particularly when we play orchestral excerpts for auditions, often choose to play something other than the natural, simple phrase structure of a passage, in order to accomplish or demonstrate some other aspect of what we are doing. Often, for some reason, it seems to me that we are trying to play simple phrases as if we were staggering breaths with a group of other players, in order to string together several phrases in a row and make a much longer statement.
I would like to suggest that in many cases the breathing strategy that would convey the music best and make it most logical and meaningful to the audition committee - and any other listener - would be to follow the phrase structure and breathe where it falls naturally.
Berlioz' Hungarian March is a great example. Once you get through the scale intros of the standard excerpt, you are faced with three 3-bar phrases. Many people breathe in the middle of the 2nd bar in each phrase, and then blew through into the next phrase without acknowledging the transition. I think it actually would make a tremendous amount of sense to play a complete 3-bar phrase, followed by a breath on the barline, followed by another complete 3-bar phrase, and then breathe in the middle of the third bar of the last 3-bar phrase in order to make the transition into the next set of phrases. We are consistently taught not to do that, and I can understand why - it's very easy to lose time that way, and we want to make sure the low note is long enough to speak clearly.
So, if breathing on the barlines is awkward for you, you can catch a quick breath somewhere else (I suggest the middle of the third bar of each phrase rather than the middle of the second), keep time, and still play the phrase convincingly.
I suggest deciding on a phrase structure and then practicing each phrase by itself for it's own shape. Find that shape, understand, it, convey it. Practice an entire passage with each phrase isolated. Take as much time as you need to breathe between phrases, and then start putting them together so that your sequence of phrases tells a complete story, each phrase like a perfectly structured and punctuated sentence. When you put it all back together you might need to breathe in different places, but for me it's a lot more useful to plan phrases and then figure out the breaths I need to do to to best serve those phrases.
That reminds me of the one lesson I had with J.J. Johnson...I'll write about that sometime later.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
john cage: some rules for students and teachers
RULE ONE: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for awhile.
RULE TWO: General duties of a student - pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.
RULE THREE: General duties of a teacher - pull everything out of your students.
RULE FOUR: Consider everything an experiment.
RULE FIVE: be self-disciplined - this means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.
RULE SIX: Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail, there's only make.
RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.
RULE EIGHT: Don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes.
RULE NINE: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.
RULE TEN: "We're breaking all the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities." (John Cage)
HINTS: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything - it might come in handy later.
RULE TWO: General duties of a student - pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.
RULE THREE: General duties of a teacher - pull everything out of your students.
RULE FOUR: Consider everything an experiment.
RULE FIVE: be self-disciplined - this means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.
RULE SIX: Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail, there's only make.
RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.
RULE EIGHT: Don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes.
RULE NINE: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.
RULE TEN: "We're breaking all the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities." (John Cage)
HINTS: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything - it might come in handy later.
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