TMEA All-State tenor trombone etude: Dieppo

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/172661607" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /] What a beautiful little piece! This is one of those etudes that I'm always so happy to see among the selections, as it just lends itself so well to the trombone. I feel like a tempo close to the bottom of the suggested range works best, as I don't want this piece to sound hurried when I perform it. It should sound relaxed, beautiful, and make your listener say, "ahhhhhhh...".  A tempo of 120 to the eighth note will work well to accomplish this.

Strive for a comfortable, beautiful sound. I often find it necessary to somewhat ignore the piano marking at the beginning, it shouldn't be loud, but it should sound comfortable, confident, and really sing! Play it like you are the world's greatest soloist!  Also, imagine you are playing in a large auditorium and filling up the space with beautiful sound (or better yet, find a large room to practice in!)

I prefer to play the turns, or grupettos in a very unhurried way. Using the rhythm of an eighth and four sixteenth notes will accomplish this. Listen to the recording to hear what I mean...

Likewise, the cadenza sounds best to me when played in a relaxed way. This isn't a piece to show off blazing technique. It IS a place to show off smoothness and elegance! Again, listen to the recording!

Have fun with this beautiful little piece. It is truly a joy to work on, and a nice break from marching band parts you may be working on this time of year.

...an out of work brewer (that happens to play trombone)...

"Daddy, why don't you work at the brewery anymore?" That was my 6-year-old son's question a few weeks ago when we drove by the brewery that opened near my normal place of employment a little over a year ago. Kyle sounded a little sad and disappointed, even though we were on our way to hear some music performed by my fantastic colleagues on my son's day off from school.

Well, the answer was easy. I explained that I had simply run out of time, and that I needed to devote my energy and time to my regular job, and to him, his mother, and his newly adopted 2-year-old brother. While volunteering at the brewery, I got to show up once a week, do a lot of cool stuff brewers get to do, then go home. No pay, no set hours, no stress. It was fantastic.

My work at the brewery lasted from September of last year until about May of 2014. I connected with Bluejacket through mutual friends of the original head brewer, Megan Parisi. I learned a lot about brewing beer on a commercial scale. Recipe formulation, sanitizing procedures, recipe creation, and many other aspects were all taught to me by the 2 Brewers I worked most closely with. I could write 10 posts on what I learned from a brewing perspective. What knocked me out is what I learned about work, managing, leading, and passion from two very talented and hard working guys that get to make their living putting a smile on people's faces.

You might think on the surface that being a musician and a brewer have really nothing in common. Frankly, nothing could be further from the truth. The parallels lie both in the creative part of the job (making recipes, improvising with ingredients) as well as in the more blue collar aspects of the two crafts. In a brewery, sanitation procedures are key. Creating recipes, dry hopping beers, and pouring tastes from the latest cool rum-barrel-aged Belgain sour are the glamorous parts that only happen after the fundamentals are taken care of. Sounds a lot like music! As a trombonist, daily routines, practice, and study of the art are key. I got to watch some of the best in the business, and certainly the most motivated, in working under Bobby Bump and Josh Chapman. The guys about worked me into the ground my first couple of work days!

Most impressive to me, Bobby and Josh (and now Owen, too!) aren't afraid to make something and put it out there. Many times as musicians, we are taught and coached to practice and refine until we unintentionally drive all the life and spontaneity out of our creation! Because beer is a living thing, brewers don't get too much say on when and if a particular beer is ready to drink. Natural processes of fermentation, hopping, clarity, and conditioning all happen in their own time. I watched these guys making new beers, for the first time, on a system that was brand new to them, and putting that beer out for the public to drink, putting their reputation and that of the brewery on the line every day. That isn't to say they don't have standards. I witnessed a couple of occasions where beer was deemed not worthy and unceremoniously dumped. But, that was only a couple of batches out of over 100 brewed in the first 9 months of being open. What was interesting was that they didn't let the insignificant details hang them up and prevent them from moving towards the ideal of a particular recipe. In other words, if the concept was right and the beer was a pleasure to drink, they didn't let themselves get hung up on technical imperfections. They still served their beer.

And that's where we get to the hard part. Putting it out there. Do the work. Be the man (or woman) in the arena. We are all going to make some (lots of) mistakes. Keep coming back. Keep creating. Keep serving your customers.

Cheers,

Virtual Trombonist

Who am I, and why am I here?

It occurred to me tonight that I have been, as usual, putting the cart before the horse. I just perused the Wordpress Blogging 101 series and noted that one of the first things a new blogger should do, according to Wordpress, is to define why you are starting a blog and what you hope to accomplish. My title does pay homage to the 1992 vice presidential debate in which Admiral James Stockdale opened with the now famous quote above, but not for the reasons you might imagine. That great man and his writings will be the focus of another post in the near future. As a person who had "early success" as a musician, mainly in high school and college, I have often found myself wondering, "What now?" and "What else?" I auditioned for the Marine Band in 1999 and began my career that summer. After joining the band, I promptly careened down the path of, "I have a job, I can relax and do other stuff!" Not that there's anything wrong with that! But, for me, I feel like I have put a lot of my musical development on hold over the years. I have a lot left in the musical world that I want to explore, and I enjoy communicating about those issues through my writing.

So, what will you see here? Well, the All-State etudes are fun to do and give me something to practice, but I have in mind a number of other topics and focusses that you will see here. Namely, I want this blog to become a resource and place of connection for trombonists and musicians everywhere. Interviews, personal accounts and experiences, sheet music reviews, recording reviews, my own recordings, book reviews, and many other topics that I enjoy, but all trombone or music related. Also, I want to add my own experiences with different mentors I have been lucky enough to have throughout my career, and share some of the special things that they taught me.

If you want to see other stuff that I get myself interested and tangled up in, I am starting to use Tumblr now for short everyday posts about things I find interesting. You can find me there as virtualtrombonist as well... On Twitter, I am @beebesdad...

Happy creating!

Chris

Texas ATSSB Trombone Etudes: Gatti

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/54004997" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /] So, in this second post, we're gonna tackle this little vigoroso treat that Mr. Gatti has in store for us.

First of all, let's discuss the proverbial elephant in the room... What the heck do I do about breathing in this piece???!!!  Well, I hate to tell you, but this is one of those pieces where you're "damned if you do, damned if you don't!"  What I mean is, you have to get your priorities straight. Ask yourself what is most important, playing every single note super fast or playing as clean and musically as you can, while picking and choosing smart places to breathe?

Now, I'm not here to say one way is right.  However, I do think there is a best solution.  In any audition, I prefer to hear someone come in and play a musically sound performance, while showing off their technical ability and skills without sacrificing their musical goals.  I think you can make this piece sound plenty vigorous while playing at the low end of the tempo scale, single tonguing, and breathing in strategically placed spots while leaving notes out to do so.

"WHAAAATTTT???? Did you just say to LEAVE NOTES OUT???!!!" Yep, I sure did. It is done all the time in ensemble/section settings in the interest of keeping the time consistent above all else and in facilitating staggered breathing within a trombone section. "But this is a solo piece!", you say. Yes it is. I think it is more important that you make this "strategic breathing" thing a part of your tool bag now, and this is a great place to learn it.

It IS possible to triple tongue this whole etude.  In my opinion, the time it would take me to be able to do that would be much better spent developing a faster, clearer single tongue, practicing long tones, cleaning my slide, and doing lots of other things in my life!  In my professional experience, with the exception of some Pryor solos, or playing cornet solos, there is much more use for fast single tonguing and even double tonguing before spending so much time developing this kind of triple tonguing.  I'm not saying it's not needed, but not before the other articulation skills are mastered.

My plan when I recorded this was to play all the phrases on one breath until I got to the passage beginning in measure 22.  I marked my music to breathe first in m. 26, on the last 16th of beat 1.  You can hear in the recording where I took my breaths.  I did my best to try to make my breaths short and quick, and get right back in on the next beat.  By breathing mid-phrase, I'm better able to play the dynamics printed which give this somewhat repetitive etude much more musical contrast. I tried playing faster and softer, but I could not make the phrase in the last four lines no matter what I tried!  And that was playing faster and very soft without really doing any of the printed dynamics.  Circular breathing is possible, but again, I just don't feel it adds much to the musical goal of the piece.  Finally, anticipate the fact that most mortal humans will be nervous in an audition, and planning for phrases that stretch your air capacity to the max in a comfortable practice session are probably not a good idea in an audition setting.

So, how to practice?  SLOW.  Slow it down.  Take one phrase (or measure, or beat) at a time.  Strive to make all the 16ths equal, unless they are marked with an accent.  Record yourself and listen for equal sound and even time.

Speaking of time, I'm thinking 8th note subdivisions, except for the measures where we have accents/hemiola, such as measure four. Keep the eighth note pulse rolling in your head constantly, and combine that with metronome practice at all speeds. You will have to live with the practice of the time concept for some time to really ingrain it! Don't give up! Keep at it and if things start to fall apart, revert to a slower speed. Practice SLOW FIRST! Have I been clear enough ?! :)

Good luck. Get to work, and keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming series on How to Prepare For and Take An Audition.