Use the form on the right to send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999
(123) 555-6789
email@address.com
You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.
A blog about performing music, teaching music and the business of music.
Filtering by Category: Monday YouTube Fix
Glenn Gould. I am at a loss for words to describe his impact on me as a musician. The two words I keep coming back to in regards to this performance of Bach's Piano Concerto No. 7 in G Minor are elegant intensity. He was a truly special musician. Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyOf_L4cNHc&feature=related]
I doubt many of you were expecting me to post a link to a boy band as a part of this series. But watch this clip and you'll understand why... This is from Game 3 of the 2000 World Series in New York. I was over at a friends house in New York City and was not in a good mood since either the Yankees or the Mets were going to win the title. New York is the greatest city in the world but let's just say I don't exactly pull for their sports teams! When it was announced that 'N Sync was going to be singing the national anthem I started ranting about the fact that out of all the great musicians in that city they had to choose these guys?! You can hear from the very beginning of the clip I was not alone. The crowd was not thrilled.
And then something happened. Both me and the crowd were forced to shut up and listen because this boy band could sing their butts off. Who knew?!? Not this opinionated tuba player, that's for sure. This is a pretty stunning performance. They understood what almost no pop star in the world seems to these days: the star of the show at the point is the anthem. The melody is prominent and not overly embellished. This is a great arrangement and they nail the you know what out of it.
Similar to a visiting sports team "taking the crowd out of it", that's exactly what they did here. That place is silent a minute into this clip. I stopped painting all boy bands with a broad brush after this performance. Click on something by the Backstreet Boys and you'll instantly hear that they can't sing their way out of a wet paper bag. But I stopped the 'N Sync jokes after this performance. They left me, and a lot of New Yorkers, shaking our heads that night.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ymTrULwyM]
This is simply brass quintet at its finest. As many of you know, Sam has been one of my mentors since I was 12 years old. I have never heard any other tuba player play with such character within a quintet. He is the perfect foundation on which to build a chamber group. The amazing thing to me is how much character each one of them plays with while never stepping to the foreground musically when it is not called for. The ears that these five musicians have are special. Every lick that gets passed around the band is perfectly matched: the beginnings of the notes, the weight, the ends of the notes, the line, everything.
I sure am happy I stumbled upon this clip. I hope you enjoy it!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G6r5KcgJQw]
For the second installment of this series I decided to go with one of my all time favorite clips. Paul McCartney is one of my favorite singers in any genre of music. I love how he waits until over two and a half minutes into this tune to even slightly alter the melody he is singing! Today's pop singers in particular could learn a lot from Mr. McCartney. I will never forget about 15 years ago when my tuba teacher at Northwestern University Rex Martin referred to the singing group Boyz II Men as "embellishment without melody". That is one of the best quotes I ever heard in my life! We can all learn from it too and make sure that the melody, like Paul's singing in this version of Hey Jude, is the primary message and not embellishments, trills, or ornaments.
Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD3ovfZXO5Q]
I've decided to start a regular series of posts of my favorite YouTube clips from around the world. There is so much great music to be enjoyed for free on YouTube that it really boggles the mind. It is an incredible teaching and learning tool when used to that end. Every Monday I will post a video clip that speaks loudly to me. Sometimes it will involve the tuba or brass in general and plenty of times it will not. I listen to all different styles of music and these clips will reflect that.
The first clip is of the amazing Mnozil Brass. We had the privilege of seeing them perform just this past week in their native country of Austria and I was blown away all over again. This is their best known clip for a reason. Really amazing musicianship and showmanship. Enjoy Bohemian Rhapsody!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBLm747tyn0]