The Case for One Person Calling the Shots in a Chamber Group

I have been in chamber groups with one person calling the shots artistically. I’ve also been in chamber groups where everyone had an equal say in what was played and how it was played.

It’s seems to be a common belief that a true artistic democracy is the more desirable of these two models. That everyone putting their vision forward will always end up with a richer artistic product.

But in my experience, each model has benefits.

Jeff Curnow, former member of the legendary Empire Brass and current member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, talks in the clip from TBJ182 below about the benefits of playing in a group where one or two people are calling the shots.

It’s just food for thought if you’re ever considering starting a group.

Artistic democracies are good! But so are groups that are formed to realize the vision of just one or two people!

For episode 182 of The Brass Junkies, come for thoughts on how to set up a chamber group artistically and stay for the Empire Brass road stories. This interview was one of my favorite hours in quite some time.

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TEM Coaching Chat: Don't Blend In

This week’s TEM Coaching Chat is all about not blending in. I touched on the following:

• A 60-second clip from TBJ182 featuring Jeff Curnow of The Philadelphia Orchestra about his time with the legendary Empire Brass

• How Empire Brass stood out from other brass quintets and chamber ensembles

• The various ways a musician can stand out

Enjoy!

The Brass Junkies Episode 182: Jeffrey Curnow

Jeff Curnow is a legend!

I have looked up to him since my very first Empire Brass concert in August of 1988.

Jeff was one of the five people who changed my life forever that afternoon and it’s crazy to me that we are now friends and colleagues. The music business is funny that way!

We got some Empire Brass stories I hadn’t heard before (and I’ve heard A LOT of them so I always get excited for new ones!)

And Jeff spoke so highly of Sam Pilafian. It is obvious how much of an impact Sam had on his life and career.

Pretty crazy that I get interview people who were on posters on my wall as a kid but here we are!

You can watch the episode on YouTube below or head over to Pedal Note Media for all of the links to where to find it.

Enjoy!

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On This Episode of The Brass Junkies:

• How proud the three of us are for figuring out how to get on the same Zoom call

• How playing in a full-time touring quintet is basically like living together and can feel like a reality show

• The similar approach that Sam and Rolf shared on how Empire should play

• When the mics came on for a recording session you either knew your part or didn’t which helped to focus everyone even between sessions

• Rolf’s vision of walking onstage and leveling the place and how that shaped the entire artistic trajectory of Empire Brass

• That time when Lance told a radio interviewer that he used be an astronaut

• That time when Rolf woke Jeff up at 8:00 am and he was suddenly on his way to a radio interview where he ended up playing Guns N’ Roses

• The Empire Brass Seminar and the profound impact it had on so many people and how that hit home for Jeff when former EBS student Jen Montone joined him in the Dallas Symphony

• The intense attention to detail you need to play in a professional chamber ensemble

• Getting your musical ideas to the back of the hall

• Why you always have to have a musical opinion, go out on stage and make people feel something

• That time when Andrew was playing a gig with Marty Hackleman in Mexico and made a toast that had Marty staring a hole in him

• How all the time he had on the road with Empire led to a rekindled love of cartooning

• The parallels between his detail-oriented approach to both cartooning and music

• His process for making cartoons for NPR and The Wall Street Journal

• How he and Mark Gould collaborated on Orchestra Confidential

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Monday YouTube Fix: Empire Brass Live in Japan in 1984

A big thank you to Rob Singer of the President’s Own Marine Band for hipping me to this video surfacing on YouTube!

This performance is a master class in so many things: Style, pitch, phrasing, matching articulations, note releases, dynamics, storytelling. So good!

Enjoy!

Sam Pilafian Master Class Quotes on Chamber Music

The following is something I posted on the Boston Brass blog a few years ago. I first worked with Sam in a brass quintet at the Empire Brass Seminar at Tanglewood when I was 14 years old. It was special to get to work with him again in the same capacity 20 years later. Sam was a great player, a gifted communicator and an amazing teacher who is dearly missed.

Enjoy!

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Last week we had the privilege of being involved with Sam Pilafian’s master class at the International Tuba Euphonium Conference in Tucson, AZ. Sam used both the tuba quartet from the University of Arizona (who won the quartet competition) as well as Boston Brass to show how he coaches chamber music. The class was absolutely riveting for everyone in attendance. The amount of knowledge and first hand experience that Sam has in the medium of chamber music (both playing and coaching) is simply awesome.

The first half of the class featured Sam working with the U of A Tuba Quartet. During this portion, Andrew (@AndrewHitz) live tweeted some of the best quotes from Sam before Boston Brass took the stage for the second half of the class. This is just a sampling of the knowledge that Sam shared with everyone that day:

• “In Empire Brass we wanted to make sure the first 30 seconds (of a show) were great.”

• “Sell every part like it’s the lead.”

• “In the Empire Brass we spent more time studying the scores than we did playing them.”

• John Swallow to Sam Pilafian right before walking on stage: “Don’t fight the feel. Live for the groove.”

• “Your job as a chamber musician is make others sound better.”

• “You’ve got to play with so much opinion that 3 or 4 people can play with you.”

• “Everyone that listens to pop music learn the melody and next the bass line. So don’t get out of the way.”

• “Never repeat yourself more than twice.”

• “String quartets, when playing a slow movement, make the 8th notes as long as possible without being late.”

• “Chamber playing changes your solo playing.”

• “Our best tool for storytelling is dynamics.”

Sam conducted one of the best master classes that any of us have ever seen.  Tom McCaslin may have summed it up the best: “I think Sam Pilafian just humbled everyone with his knowledge of chamber music.”

Well said.

The Brass Junkies 100: Sam Pilafian

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TBJ100: The legendary Sam Pilafian on Empire Brass, Leonard Bernstein and life-threatening pedagogy

We made it to 100 episodes which is completely insane! An ENORMOUS thank you to everyone who has listened, become a Patreon patron, shared an episode with a friend, posted about it on social media or any of 100 other ways people have supported us in this crazy journey. THANK YOU!

I don’t even know where to begin when talking about this interview with my mentor, Sam Pilafian. As you will hear, I met Sam when I was only 12 and he has been an huge influence on me in more ways than I could ever articulate.

This episode starts out with some lighthearted banter about a couple of times that I poked the bear as one of his let’s just call it “precocious” young students back in the day! But this conversation gets really serious really quickly right after that.

Sam has just come out the other side of a battle for his life with an aggressive form of cancer. His story is hard to even believe. There are tears (and lots of them) in this episode. Some sad ones and some happy ones. There’s also lots of camaraderie between three humans who have been through a whole hell of a lot together, both personally and professionally.

I will always cherish this conversation, even though I’ve had thousands with Sam. This one made me awfully thankful to be alive and to be making music for a living.

You can check out the complete show notes including all of the links mentioned during this episode over at Pedal Note Media.

The Brass Junkies: Scott Hartman - Episode 48

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Scott Hartman, Lecturer in Trombone at Yale University joined us to discuss his incredibly successful and diverse career. Scott has taught and played concerts throughout the world and in all fifty states. He regularly performs and records with the Yale Brass Trio, Proteus 7, the Millennium Brass, the Brass Band of Battle Creek, and the trombone quartet Four of a Kind. Mr. Hartman spends several weeks each summer in residence at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. 

Scott covers his thoughts on how the chamber music business changed over the years since from his time with Empire Brass to today. We learn of the important distinction between Scott A. Hartman and Scott P. Hartman and get some great Empire Brass stories.

Oh and at one point, Scott may have sounded possessed. And he can be a meathead.

Links:

Don’t go to:
http://www.slushpump.com/

But do go to:
http://www.hartmanmouthpieces.net/
http://music.yale.edu/faculty/hartman-scott/
http://www.bbbc.net/roster/ 

Want to help the show? Here are three way:

Take a minute to leave us a rating and a review on iTunes.

You can help offset the costs of producing the show by making a small donation at https://www.patreon.com/thebrassjunkies. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Lastly, you can do us a HUGE favor by just sharing our show with your knuckle head friends who would also enjoy it. You know who they are. Bring them into the fold!

Produced by Joey Santillo

The Brass Junkies: Marty Hackleman

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We were honored to be joined by one of the best horn players in the world and a dear friend of mine, Marty Hackleman! As you will hear, the mindset that he brings to his craft is truly phenomenal. And it all stems from a decision he made when he was 16! It's an inspiring tale.

Marty also talks about the many stops along his incredible career, including winning his first professional audition at the age of 19.

He is the only person who was ever a full-time member of both the Canadian Brass and Empire Brass and discusses how it came to be that he and Dave Ohanian came to switch quintets.

And he has some tough love for Jens!

Eric Ruske: Monday YouTube Fix

Last month I was in the Berkshires and just happened to run into one of my mentors, Eric Ruske. (There are so many brilliant artists in the Berkshires during the summer that one wonders how many you pass on the street without even realizing it!)

Eric was the horn player in the Empire Brass when I was a student in their seminar at Tanglewood when I was 14 and 15. His horn playing, and in particular his phrasing and the singing quality to all of his playing, left a mark on me that remains to this day.

Here he is performing the Romance, Op. 36 by Camille Saint-Saëns. Phrases for days...

Enjoy!

"Romance", Camille Saint Saens plays Eric Ruske Las Cruces NM, February 23, 2009 Edith & F.E. Atkinson Music Center Recital Hall New Mexico State University Music Department presents guest artists recital Eric Ruske, horn & Lela York, piano invited by professor Nancy Joy

The 5 Most Influential Concerts I Ever Attended

I will list them in chronological order.  These five concerts were each life changing experiences for me.  I wouldn't be the person or musician I am today without attending each and every one of them. Empire Brass – Tanglewood July 1988

This was part of the Walks and Talks series that Tanglewood used to host.  The artists would lead a short walk around the grounds of Tanglewood while discussing their music.  It would then culminate in a performance for a small audience in a very intimate atmosphere.

This was the first time I ever heard Sam Pilafian play the tuba in person and it did nothing short of change my life.  I was simply awestruck by witnessing first hand what a tuba was capable of playing.  He has been my musical mentor since that day 25 years ago last month.

That is me in the blue sweatshirt looking on in awe! I have wanted to play in a brass quintet ever since that afternoon in the Berkshires.

Copeland 3 – Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra; Leonard Bernstein conducting – Tanglewood August, 1990

I have spent every summer of my life about a half an hour away from Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony.  As a result, I saw my first ever BSO concert when I was only two weeks old! But just before my 15th birthday I saw this TMC concert and it was the first time I really, truly got it.

This was the second to last concert of Leonard Bernstein’s career and it was an incredible experience for anyone in the audience that night.  I had enjoyed many orchestra concerts before but had never been inspired by one like I was that night.

I waited for over an hour after the concert to meet Bernstein and get his autograph.  I missed my curfew at BUTI and got in trouble.  I’ve never had someone yell at me and be so happy about it!

Mahler 2 – Boston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa conducting – Tanglewood July, 1991

This was the first ever Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert at Tanglewood.  It was just nine months after Bernstein had passed away.  There might not be a single human being that has left more of a mark on Tanglewood than Leonard Bernstein.  He had a very special bond with the place and with the Boston Symphony and that was evident from the very first notes of this performance.

I have been privileged enough to see over 200 BSO concerts in my life and I have never heard them sound better than they sounded that night in 1991.  It also didn’t hurt that Mahler 2 is my favorite symphony of all time (along with Beethoven 7).

This is the only concert of any kind that I’ve ever witnessed where a large percentage of the crowd was literally tearing up afterwards.  It was such a moving experience that it was an awful lot for someone not yet 16 to process.  I do know that it left a truly indelible mark on me and my musicianship.

Wynton Marsalis and his Septet – Skullers – Cambridge, MA May 1992

Wynton Marsalis and his Septet rehearsed the night before this gig at Boston University.  I happened to be there at the same time for a tuba lesson.  I was mesmerized as a I walked past the rehearsal room from which these magical sounds were emanating.  I also had no idea who was playing since the door was barely cracked open.

Excited I ran to ask my teacher who at BU sounded that good.  He smiled and said that it was Wynton Marsalis and asked if I wanted to meet him.  He had been friends with him for a very long time and actually interrupted their rehearsal to introduce me to the band.  Wynton then asked if I was free the next night.  When I eagerly said yes he said he would put me on the guest list since it was an 18 and over show.

Not only did he get me in but he spoke with me for 45 minutes in between their two gigs.  He took the time to introduce me personally to every member of the band as if we had known each other our entire lives.

I will never forget the mind blowing music I heard or the kindness and warmth that Wynton and his entire band showed me that night.

Phish – Worcester Centrum – Worcester, MA December 31, 1993

By the time I saw this show at the Worcester Centrum I had already seen over 50 rock and roll concerts.  But this one was different right from the start.  I did not know much of Phish’s music.  I had heard a couple of tunes and had enjoyed them but that was the extent of it.  My best friend Russell was getting tickets to this show so I asked him to get me one.  Little did I know that $26 ticket would change my life.

These four very normal looking guys walked out on stage without any explosions, fireworks, or hydraulic lifts.  I had always enjoyed the theater of big time rock and roll shows but there was something refreshing about four average Joe’s strolling on stage and letting the music do the talking.

They had me completely hooked on their very unique blend of everything from hard rock to bluegrass to barbershop quartet.  I have never heard any chamber ensemble that can play fluently in as many different styles of music as Phish.

I had no idea that I would go on to see the band over 170 times after that night during my freshman year of college.  They continue to be my favorite chamber ensemble of any genre performing music today.

As a result of Phish allowing the taping and distribution of all of their shows, you can stream that night’s music here.

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I don’t think it is a coincidence that every concert I have listed occurred when I was between the ages of 14 and 18.  Those were very formative years for my musical tastes.

Feel free to leave a comment about the most influential concerts you have attended.  I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments.

Note: This is an updated repost from the very short lived Boston Brass Blog which I ran for about a month.