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A blog about performing music, teaching music and the business of music.
Filtering by Category: Monday YouTube Fix
This is a typically stunning performance by David Childs on the euphonium. His combination of lyricism and technique is pretty stunning. This is a performance with the Brass Band de Bazuin of "Brillante" by Peter Graham. You have to wonder how many hours someone who can play their instrument to this level in concert has spent mastering their craft. However long he's spent, we get to reap the rewards.
Enjoy!
Listening to any of our nation's top military bands perform a Sousa march is a master class on many different things. The first thing that jumps out at me from this clip is the amazing dynamic contrast across the entire ensemble. This reminded me of a quote from Charles Lazarus: "Technique is the ability to control your sound on any given note. At any given dynamic, 100% of the time." This performance of The Liberty Bell exemplifies that quote. The other aspect that jumped out at me is the uniformity of articulation throughout the band. As we all know, some instruments in the band have a very easy time putting a clear front on a note and others (like mine!) have a very difficult time doing so. The untrained ear would have no idea that was the case after listening to this performance. That comes from having amazing players with a great ability to listen across the ensemble. It also comes from having a conductor with a very clear idea of what sound they are trying to get out of the band at any given moment. Michael Colburn is one of the best at this.
"The President's Own" Marine Band performing one of The March King's most famous marches is as good as it gets. Enjoy The Liberty Bell!
I could listen to these three gentlemen play Beethoven indefinitely and never tire of it. The delicacy that Isaac Stern plays the violin with in this performance is unbelievable, even at the age of 72. The soaring lyricism of Yo-Yo Ma on the cello is truly inspirational. And the flow of Emanuel Ax's piano playing is as good as anyone in history. Beethoven is my favorite composer. If I could only take one composer with me when everything is all said and done, it would be Beethoven. The brilliant Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello ranks near the very top of my favorite compositions of all time.
(As a side note, imagine playing an instrument that was invented after your favorite composer had already passed away. I will probably be in therapy for the rest of my life!)
The special thing about musicians who know each other's playing as well as Stern, Ma, and Ax do is that each performance sounds like a private musical conversation which all in attendance get the privilege of overhearing. The amazing thing about technology is we all get to "attend" this concert 21 years later from our phones if we choose to!
Their communication both with each other and with the London Symphony is special in this clip. This level of artistry inspires me to go practice every time.
Enjoy!
I'll never forget meeting Jens Lindemann. Boston Brass had a few hour layover at LAX the summer of 2001 and Jens and his wife, Jennifer Snow, came to meet us at the LAX Marriott for a quick meal. All seven of us basically laughed uncontrollably for two hours before we got back on the plane. Instant friendships were born. Jens had recently retired from the Canadian Brass and taken as the trumpet professor at UCLA, a position he still holds today. We traded road war stories and vowed to work together as soon as possible. As chance would have it, both of our trumpet players' wives gave birth to kids within the next two years and Jens filled in each time.
I have also been fortunate to work with him on some other occasions as well, the most notable being in Mexico. He called me and asked if I wanted to play in a brass sextet with him, Jim Thompson, Fred Mills, Marty Hackleman and Julio Briseno in Texcoco, just east of Mexico City. I thought he was playing a joke on me! It was one of the highlights of my career.
As you can tell by this clip, Jens is one of the best players in the world. I have also learned an invaluable amount from him about being a showman. He is a master as you can see from the beginning of this clip. Jens is a true inspiration as an entrepreneur and artist. He is a beast on the trumpet and sounds amazing along with The US Army Band, Pershing's Own from the National Trumpet Competition in 2012.
Enjoy!
In the fall of 1993, during my freshman year at Northwestern University, my friend Matt Kerste asked me if I wanted to head downtown to see James Brown at the UIC Pavilion. I couldn't believe there were any tickets available but he said it wasn't quite sold out so we hopped in the car.
Before leaving Evanston we swung by Rose Records (many of you probably don't even know what a record store is!) and asked the man at the Ticketmaster machine for a pair of tickets. This was about three hours before showtime. To our amazement, a pair of seats in row J on the floor popped out of the machine. Not bad for a crowd of over 6,000!
Matt and I stuck out on that floor like sore thumbs (Matt is also over 6 feet tall and has bright red hair) but man did we get down! That was a baptism by fire to groove like I could never have imagined. His band was beyond tight. The music I heard that night immediately affected all aspects of my tuba playing. It was a magical night!
This clip is almost a full hour long! It is from a concert in Bologna, Italy in 1971. This band is beyond words. You can zone out on any single player and be amazed. Only a musician like James Brown could assemble a lineup like this:
James Brown: vocals, organ
Bobby Byrd: MC, vocals, organ
Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison: trumpet
Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells: trumpet
Fred Wesley: trombone
St. Clair Pinckney: tenor saxophone
Phelps "Catfish" Collins: lead guitar
Hearlon "Cheese" Martin: rhythm guitar
William "Bootsy" Collins: bass guitar
John "Jabo" Starks: drums
Don Juan "Tiger" Martin: drums
The bass player, Bootsy Collins, is one of the best musicians to ever make their living in the bass clef. He is a treat to listen to. Everything about his playing, articulation, groove, note length, seems just perfect to my ears. This clip is why YouTube was invented.
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIvrfWGGSwU
What can you say about Ryan Anthony when he has a trumpet in his hands? When I close my eyes and imagine the perfect trumpet sound, I am basically hearing Ryan's playing. His tone is the same on long notes as it on fast flourishes. It is the same in the low register as it is in the high register. It is the same when he plays ff as when he plays pp. He is a tone machine. Every single aspiring trumpet player needs to listen to as much Ryan Anthony as they can get their hands on. Whether it's his solo playing (like this clip) or his orchestral playing, his command of the instrument is unmatched. Oh yeah, he's also one of the greatest brass quintet players to ever live which is probably worth mentioning.
On top of that, Ryan is one of the most genuine, humble and courageous people you will ever meet. This live performance of the Kent Kennan "Sonata for Trumpet" is just a stunning performance by both him and The US Army Band. Great stuff!
Enjoy!
After a brief hiatus for the summer the Monday YouTube Fix is open again for business! I thought we would start light with a little Lassus Trombone from the Lawrence Welk Show. Some of my earliest memories are from watching the Lawrence Welk Show in syndication which ran until 1982. I loved watching the band play. This tune features the outstanding trombone section: Norman Bailey, Barney Liddell and Pete Lofthouse in 1956.
You gotta love the slide vibrato! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqhWjhZE2ew
There is so much great music available on the Internet that I can easily take it for granted. This clip leaves me breathless every time I hear it. You know those rare moments in music, when you realize that you were holding your breath as a listener even though you had no idea you were doing it? This is one of those clips. At the Savvy Musician in ACTION Retreat down at the University of South Carolina, I had the opportunity to get to know fellow Thought Leader Justin Kantor, the co-founder of Le Poisson Rouge. We were talking about all of the incredible performances that have happened in the space he created and this clip came up. I watched it on a big screen and was left speechless.
This is how you cover a song. You make it your own with an interesting arrangement, you play it with an incredible group of musicians, and you GO FOR IT! Somewhere, the guys from Radiohead are smiling from ear to ear. I'll never hear the song Creep the same way ever again.
Enjoy!
What can you say about this guy? Stefan Dohr is on everyone's short list for best horn player in the world. Like, everyone's list. And seeing as how he's not even 50 yet, he has a long career ahead of him. Dohr is the principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic and teaches at the Herbert von Karajan Academy. He is a special talent to say the least.
This video is of him playing one of the most famous horn solos in the orchestral repertoire, from the 2nd movement of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, sure makes this excerpt sound easy. The best players in the world give the rest of us the feeling of "Hey! That doesn't seem that hard. I bet I could do it."
If only it were that easy. Get ready for some effortless and spectacular phrasing.
Enjoy!
Wycliffe is one of my heroes. This five minute live clip off of someone's phone is a masterclass on style, phrasing, style, high playing, style and just about everything else. Did I mention the style this guy plays every single note and phrase with? He is a musician who happens to play the trombone. And he happens to play it better than most. Bebop, swing, gospel, dixieland. I have yet to hear him play in a style that doesn't sound just as convincing as the last.
What a gift it is for all of us to be alive at the same time this guy is making music. I've got to go practice now.
Enjoy!