Winning the Audition with Hiram Diaz

Are you putting in what feels like countless hours in the practice room but still frustrated by a lack of success at auditions?

Learn exactly what Hiram Diaz of The President’s Own Marine Band did to win the big audition and how you can apply to your own audition prep.

Hiram shares a ton of actionable advice including:

👉 Why in spite of having world class teachers and spending hours and hours in the practice room he wasn’t winning any auditions (and what he figured out that changed that)
👉 How he was able to get brutally honest with himself about what he could and could not play
👉 Why it’s okay to make a mistake in an audition if you continue to have a convincing musical product throughout
👉 Why he swears by recording yourself and listening to it immediately rather than while walking home from your practice session
👉 Hiram’s use of visualization in preparing for his audition (he goes into this with a level of detail I’ve never heard before!)
👉 His method of recording yourself while watching a tuner but without trying to fix anything and what that reinforces
👉 And much more!

Purchase long-term access to this workshop via the Hitz Academy Library for only $29!

The Brass Junkies Episode 159: Bente Illevold

This was one of my favorite interviews yet and that’s saying something since we recently passed #150!

Norwegian euphonium superstar Bente Illevold has created a remarkable career for herself. Her entrepreneurial spirit is contagious. This interview is must listen for anyone aspiring to have a career in the music business.

You can find various links to the episode here or catch it on YouTube below.

Enjoy!

The Brass Junkies 86: Listener's Choice - The Falcone Festival

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TBJ:86 Listener's Choice - The Falcone Festival

For episode 86 of The Brass Junkies, we did a deep dive on The Falcone Festival. Lance won the first ever Falcone euphonium competition (he is OLD!) and had lots of great stories. I learned a ton from this one.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Andrew’s medication
• Lance’s summer plans
• Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Simmons
• Boston Brass Portuguese cell phone story
• Falcone Festival
• Lance winning the 1st contest in the student level
• Judging the competition and judging in general

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 81: Matthew Murchison

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Matthew Murchison, excuse me, DOCTOR Matthew Murchison, is one of the most creative people playing the euphonium professionally today. He is an incredible euphonium and tuba player, a composer, arranger, deep thinker, knucklehead and a dear friend of mine. Oh man did we laugh during this one...

From the show notes:

TBJ81: Matthew Murchison, Sexiest Euphonium Player in West Virginia on playing, writing and charting your own course in music

Composer, tuba and euphonium soloist and all-around fellow knucklehead Matthew Murchison joins Andrew & Lance to discuss his bands Mainspring and the Matthew Murchison Mutiny, studies with Brian Bowman and being yourself as an artist.

In this fun and lively conversation, we cover:

• Being the Sexiest Euphonium Player in West Virginia
• That he is, in fact, a Doctor
• Teaching at Marshall University
• Former Solo Euphonium with River City Brass
• Workin’ on (p)stuff
• Breaking a spring
• His method book for teaching euphonium players to play tuba
• Studies with Brian Bowman in undergrad
• His band Mainspring: (flute, euphonium and rhythm section)
• Composing and arranging
• No preconceived notion of what euphonium music should be to regular audiences which is a huge opportunity
• Expanding his writing to include electronics
• Chewy
• Being yourself as an artist
• Who is doing interesting stuff right now (Demondrae Thurmon, Ben Pierce, Fernando Deddos)
• Whether competitions help or hurt young players
• Asking for feedback after competitions

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 79: Adam Frey

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Adam Frey is a phenomenal euphonium player and runs the International Euphonium Tuba Conference every year in Atlanta. Lance and I have known Adam for a very long time, especially Lance, so we had a good time with this one.

From the show notes:

Adam Frey has had a great career as a soloist, publisher, teacher and major proponent of the euphonium and has endured Lance's hump-busting for over twenty years.

He is also the mastermind behind both the fantastic International Euphonium-Tuba (IET) Festival and euphonium.com. He currently teaches at the University of North Georgia.

In this fun and lively conversation, we cover:

• Euphonium jokes
• How Adam and Lance met in the Brass Band of Battle Creek
• Tales of the Badger (dearly departed mega friend, Chris Matten)
• Meeting James Gourlay
• Teaching at the University of North Georgia
• Playing in Macau
• IET Festival, 15th anniversary in the summer of 2018
• How he started the festival and how it is organized
• The importance of good coffee when running a festival
• Being an ambassador of the euphonium and the Ambassador of Euphonium
• Fernando Deddos, David Childs, and other influential current players
• Creating opportunities and the importance of collaboration
• Working with Patricio Cosentino, Scott Hartman, and Jeff Nelsen
• Having good ideas vs. having good ideas and acting on them
• Starting and running euphonium.com

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: David Childs - Episode 51

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David Childs, phenomenal euphonium soloist, recording artist, teacher, publisher and magazine editor joined me and Lance to talk about his career up to this point and where he’s headed.

We talked to David about studying with his father (Robert Childs who along with Nicholas, made up the groundbreaking Childs Brothers euphonium duet), inspiring younger players and his explorations into electro-acoustic music, specifically his experiments with adding sensors to his horn. Additionally, we share our admiration for Demondrae Thurman (he's dreamy), portfolio careers and Richard Strauss.

Finally, David is a regular part of the North American Brass Band Summer School in Nova Scotia each summer, is a Manchester United fan and has inspired Lance to start using the term “X, Y, Zed” more frequently. Although for no clear reason.

Links:

Personal site, davechilds.com
North American Brass Band Summer School, nabbss.com
Prima Vista Musikk, primavistamusikk.com
Brass Band World Magazine, brassbandworld.co.uk

Want to help the show? Here are three ways:

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: Michael Colburn, Former Commander of The President's Own Marine Band

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Mike Colburn, former Commander and Conductor of The President's Own Marine Band in Washington, D.C., joined us to discuss his impressive career.

Colonel Colburn (or "kernel" as Lance like to call him) recently retired from a long and distinguished career, which began as a euphoniumist (probably a word.) He is now the Director of Bands at Butler University and believes in living a forward-focused life.

Oh, and he suffered a severe wally-ball injury and has a thing for ficus trees.

Links:

Mike's Butler Univeristy Page

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

Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass

The Brass Junkies: Fernando Deddos

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Lance and I recently had the honor of chatting with our dear friend Fernando Deddos for The Brass Junkies podcast. We met Fernando in May of 2010 when we attended the Tatui Brass Festival in Tatui, Brazil.

Fernando performed a recital that left both of our jaws on the floor. And then it turns out that he is one of the kindest, most giving human beings I've ever met in my four decades. He is a world class euphonium player, composer, and teacher.

He is breaking ground for the euphonium in his native country of Brazil and is leaving a mark on the musical world like few people his age have done. I count myself lucky to be able to call him a friend.

You'll love this episode! We talk about traditional Brazilian music, barbecue, and a whole bunch of brass.

Links:

Website
SoundCloud
Potenza Music
Eufonium Brasileiro

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

Produced by Austin Boyer and Buddy Deshler of FredBrass.

The Brass Junkies: Jamie Lipton

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Lance and I had the opportunity to sit down with Jamie Lipton, Euphonium Artist and Professor of Low Brass at Henderson State University for the latest episode of The Brass Junkies.

Jamie discussed her musical upbringing and how that led her to attending Northwestern and North Texas to study with Rex Martin and Brian Bowman. She talked about the reasons for her career decisions and where she would love to see the euphonium head moving forward.

On top of that she is an absolute riot. The episode starts with her telling the story of her very first day of student teaching. With the band director not in the room a student raised his hand and asked a question that will blow your mind. She decided she wasn't quite cut out to be a band director on the spot!

Her advice for Jens is pretty spot on as well!

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!

Andrew Hitz & Lance LaDuke: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is the presentation that I did with my Pedal Note Media partner, Lance LaDuke, at the 2015 Army Tuba-Euphonium Workshop at Fort Myer in Arlington, VA.  A big thank you to all of those from the Army Band who were not only involved with hosting the workshop but also with archiving all of the sessions for everyone to enjoy after the fact.

Our session was titled "Low Brass 101: It's Just Business" and discussed things that you can do today to help take your career to the next level.  As we stated at the beginning of the presentation, it really has nothing to do with low brass specific stuff.  We discussed things like networking, marketing, targeting specific customers, and many other business concepts.

We hope you enjoy!

8:00 a.m. - Two Part Warm-Up with Mitsuru Saito, euphonium. 8:45 a.m. - Tom Holz - "Life Outside the Orchestra" (HMusKorps Veitshochheim cancelled due to illness) 10:00 a.m. - What do You Mean - MUSICIANSHIP!!! with Dr. Brian Bowman, euphonium 11:15 a.m. - Ophiclide Recital with Dr. Richard Demy. 12:30 p.m.