Back to school, back on tour

Ahhhhh, August... The end of summer, kids headed back to school.... And, some years, Marine Band tour rehearsals beginning soon (tomorrow!).... Summer has been great, and we've had a very mild one here in the Washington, DC area.  That has meant less suffering than normal out in the heat and my regular job.  Kyle and I began his new vlog, "Beaches with Kyle" this summer, inspired by a tour of NPR back in May, and I've gained a lot of practice learning some new software for both video and music production.

Another tried and true tradition this time of year is the marine band fall tour. Sousa began the tour during his tenure as the bands director from 1880-1892.  We will head out mid-September for 30 days and will play about 28 concerts while we're on the road.

I've been working hard to get in shape to start rehearsals tomorrow.... We will have 9 rehearsals on 3 complete programs before leaving town September 15.  This year, I've been spending a lot of time doing easy long tones, working on keeping the pitch center down, and on fundamental articulation via Arban and some other stuff.  I find that hyper focus on fundamentals serves me well when the fatigue of travel and being away from home start to grind on me, not to mention the physical stress of playing a 2 hour band concert every night!

Tour is just one more thing this time of year that makes the end of August feel like back-to-school. Getting the kids ready for their new year and starting fall sports for our oldest son also contribute.  This also kind of feels like New Years for me, creatively. I start to look forward to things I have planned or will participate in this year. Valor Brass has some recitals in the DC area coming up this winter, and I'm going to continue some fun projects in the home recording studio. Virtual Trombonist podcasts will surface from time to time as I'm able to interview some more folks I want my listeners to meet.

Many of you have heard me sing the praises of it before, but I just subscribed to the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall, and I plan to make good use of my upcoming bus travel time to watch plenty of concerts. I am especially interested in some of the many interviews and films that are available as well.  Last night, I watched a fantastic concert from the Waldbuhne in June of this year, with Lang Lang playing the Grieg Piano Concerto... just fantastic...

OK, while I'm on tour, I plan to keep you posted through this blog, but also at Instagram with the tag #chrisontour...

Thanks for reading and have a great fall!

Yours virtually,

Chris

Listening Lately

Here goes... I've been getting back into some more listening the past week or so... Here's what I'm into lately... Sean Rowe - Sean has a new EP out, called Her Songs.  I especially like "Ode to Divorce" and "Soldier's Song".  "EP" is a little misleading since there is a video to go with each of the 6 tunes on the album.  Great stuff.

The Gaslight Anthem - I listened to the '59 Sound so much I got sick of it... I just realized this band has a few albums out since then!  The latest is Get Hurt.  I really like their sound!

Death Cab for Cutie - Kintsugi - I just love this album.  Still listening to it.  Bought tickets to their show at Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 13.

Valor Brass - yep, our album made it's way to my doorstep yesterday.  Currently available here.  We are thrilled with the sound from our engineer, Ed Kelly, at Cedar Knoll Media.  Phil Snedecor, longtime director and trumpeter of Washington Symphonic Brass was our producer.

Berlin Philharmonic - I recently bought a one-week ticket to Berlin's Digital Concert Hall.  Wow, what an experience!  I binge-watched a number of pieces and concerts over the past week... check out their recent Mahler 5 with a new trumpet concerto called Aerial performed by Swedish virtuoso Hakan Hardenburger.  There is also a great interview with Hakan and conductor, Andris Nelsons, given by Sarah Willis.  I also enjoyed immensely the Wagner set from Siegfried/Gotterdammerung conducted by Daniele Gatti.  $180 for a one-year ticket is quite a bargain when you see what you have access to on the Digital Concert Hall.  Finally, check out a great behind the scenes tour of their production setup.  Cool!

Alright, one more thing.  This is cool.  Great tune, performing, and possibly the best horn section name ever... Tim Akers and the Smoking Section.  The tune is "Uptown Funk".  Enjoy.

Cheers,

The Virtual Trombonist

Selling the Digital Experience

So today I find myself on a bus for a better part of the day, and with lots of time on my hands, children at daycare, and an electrical outlet for my phone charger, I'm doing what any technology junkie would do:  spending the entire drive catching up on articles and video that I've bookmarked! One thing I keep coming back to is the Digital Concert Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. The folks in Berlin have done something very smart by outfitting the Philharmonie with a professional television studio and rigging their setup to broadcast all of their concerts live in HD. Another brilliant thing they've done is to feature the talents of Sarah Willis, fourth horn in the orchestra. Besides being a fabulous musician and having her own very successful "horn hangouts" online, Sarah has done a number of interviews that are accessible on the digital concert hall. The Philharmonic recently performed a program featuring a new work for trumpet and orchestra by HK Gruber called Aerial.  The soloist was Hakan Hardenburger, for whom the piece was written. I got sucked in to watching an interview that Ms. Willis conducted with Hakan and the program's conductor, Andris Nelsons. I'll just get right to the point, the interview, and Mr. Hardenburger's insight into the process of playing and learning the piece was so fascinating, that I immediately bought a 7-day pass for the digital concert hall and watched the program on my long bus ride. What an amazing concert, soloist, and orchestra!

It's no surprise to anyone that an online digital presence is the future of classical music. Berlin has done it right. Not only can you watch live concerts in HD with fantastic audio quality, but they have an amazing back catalog of concerts, interviews with soloists and conductors, and documentaries about the orchestra.  Know I will be binge-watching quite a lot of Berlin Philharmonic concerts over the next 7-days!

As we enter fully the era of constant connectivity and faster internet connections, this type of experience is only going to become more prevalent for all musicians.  People fret that the Internet and mobile technology is going to make everyone more detached from their audience. Using the talents of Ms. Willis as an example, I don't think this could be further from the truth! What is now clearly critical is having the ability and desire to speak to an audience, conduct an interview, and otherwise engage people in a personal and informative way.  Oh! It's those people skills my parents used to always talk to me about!

I feel fortunate the U.S. Marine Band has begun to live stream many of our own concerts. The band also has some very cool projects on line now, with my favorite being the recording and release of free PDF parts and scores for every March John Philip Sousa ever wrote!  Their adding enough that the band is hiring a third full time audio engineer as well. 

Ok, back to my looong bus ride and my digital concert hall ticket!  If it seems I'm being secretive about where I'm headed, then well, I am!  The Marines don't do anything the easy way, and today is no exception. More about our trip later when the cat is out of the bag!

American Trombone Workshop, Friday report

Hey everyone,  I got to spend quite a bit of time at the ATW this week at Ft. Myer, Virginia.  What a great event!  As always, Chris Branagan, Sam Woodhead, and the entire US Army Band does a fantastic job of putting on a world-class workshop.  I have a number of things I want to write about, but I'm going to start with some events and exhibitors from today that made a great impression on me... First off, exhibitors...

Sterling Music Editions - Sterling is run by US Navy Band (and former Kalmus Music employee) trombonist David Miller.  Now, normally most people wouldn't get all that excited about a music publisher, but man, I can tell you David has some amazing things!  I have a pet peeve, and that is poorly produced (and highly priced!) sheet music.  I hate it when I spend a significant amount on a new piece only to find it is printed on low quality paper, with poor page turns, and (gasp!) white glossy paper to boot (too much glare).  Everything David publishes is absolutely beautiful.  Nice paper, which I admit to having a fetish for... I got that from my friend and former roommate Jack Sutte, who loved to walk in to Patelson's Music in New York and just smell all the old French paper...... yeah, I know, weird, but strangely compelling as well, and I guess it rubbed off on me!   Anyway, David's works are produced as printed music should be, for the performer, and quite inspiring to look at.  In addition to his own arrangements, he publishes works by his Navy Band colleague Andrew Skaggs.  Andy is a beautiful trombone player, and I had the fortune to play next to him on a few pieces on the Washington Trombone Ensemble concert at the workshop on Wednesday night.  David just published a new edition of Adolphe Danhauser's solfege book, in alto clef.  For anyone who has endured sight singing from the Danhauser book, this if a fabulous walk down memory lane, and it is a challenging and enjoyable addition to the alto trombone repertoire.

Dillon Music - always a treat.  The folks at Dillon provide fantastic customer service, and this visit was no exception.   Jose helped me out trying out some Greg Black mouthpieces, and was a pleasure to chat with.  They have just about anything you would ever need as a trombonist!

Giddings and Webster - Ivan Giddings is a no nonsense guy that makes some of the most awesome mouthpieces on the planet.  Stainless Steel, baby! Ivan has a large selection of sizes available, and they play wonderfully.  I bent Ivan's ear while I worked on finding something that works for me, and he was very helpful.  Go check it out, or better yet just order a Euros or Boreas and be done with it!  Seriously, Ivan has a large number of sizes and signature mouthpieces available, and he has something to work for YOU!

Soulo Mute - Soulo makes both Cup and Bucket mutes.  Man, I have NEVER played a bucket mute that sounds this good.  Absolutely beautiful.  The bucket has a couple of different positions it can be placed and the sound is just so... BUCKET... and mellow... and dark... and just, man, it just makes me want to play something (anything!) with a bucket mute.  I might even play Tuba Mirum with this thing I like it so much!  The cup mute is very nice... adjustable cup, and it gets a very "old school" cup mute sound.  Gorgeous.

Tonight's Concert

Wow, what a trio of soloists!

Dr. Benjamin McIlwain performed Polina Nazaykinskaya's Concerto for Trombone ; Pittsburgh Symphony trombonist James Nova performed Norman Bolter's "Of Mountains, Lakes, and Trees" with the composer conducting; and Vanessa Fralick, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, performed Henri Tomasi's Concerto for Trombone.

The soloists all performed beautifully.  These were three very difficult pieces.  The Nazaykinskaya started out deceptively tame, but beautiful, and got progressively harder and more interesting as the piece went on... As someone sitting near me said at the end, "my face hurts!".  Very challenging and interesting - Dr. Mcilwain gave the piece its due diligence and performed beautifully.  The Bolter piece was a tour de force for James Nova.  Playing alto, tenor, and bass trombone, Jim demonstrated not just what it means to be a "utility" player in a major symphony (Pittsburgh), but what it means to be a true musician first, and complete student of the instrument as well.  What an incredible piece.  Each movement is published as a separate work as well, just in case you don't happen to play bass, tenor, AND alto!  Finally, Vanessa Fralick gave a very interesting and beautifully jazzy performance of the Tomasi Concerto.  Vanessa has a beautiful approach, and such an easy sounding high register.  Anyone who thinks "girls can't play high", well, Ms. Fralick gave us all a master class in lyrical high register playing, not to mention STYLE, tonight!  Well done, all around.

I have some other thoughts on events I have heard this week, so stay tuned!