The Next Level

I've found that to go from one level to another you often have to destroy some knowledge in order to gain other knowledge. - Yo-Yo Ma

Something I need to do much more frequently is question what I believe to be the facts about tuba playing.  Any breakthrough I've ever had has involved replacing what I know with better, newer, and more efficient knowledge.  To most efficiently make room for new knowledge I must question what I already believe to be true.

Cultivating a Bad Sound

You're cultivating a bad sound.

That is what my tuba professor at Northwestern, Rex Martin, used to say whenever I would play any note without using my absolute best sound possible.  That included quickly touching a note to get a pitch in my ear before buzzing.  It also included ghosting a note down an octave before playing a note in the high register.  He made me apply the concept to every single time I ever played anything and it is some of the best advice I've ever received in my career.

Every time you play anything you are reinforcing something.

Building a Solid Foundation

It takes a really intelligent person to practice really slowly and say “this is what’s good for me”.

- Joe Alessi

Earlier this week I was the guest of Mike Parker at the Monumental Brass Quintet Tuba Boot Camp.  We led the kids through the first page of the Schlossberg book and it reminded me of the above quote by Joe.

Like anything else in life, playing an instrument well is predicated on a solid foundation of fundamentals.  Many young players, especially the good ones, gravitate towards practicing very difficult and complex music all of the time.  But in actuality, it is the many hours spent practicing the simple things like tone production in the middle register that have produced the finest players in the world throughout history.

Joe Alessi Master Class Quotes (Part 2 of 3)

Here is the second installment of quotes from Joe Alessi's wonderful master class at Towson University last week.  If you missed it, you can read the first part here.

• "A lot of young players see a crescendo and just play loud.  Let's hold back and be very gradual."
   

• "I want you to play every note with more tone."
   

• "A new term I use is "constipation of air".  We can take the air in but we can't get it out."
   

• "There's a thing called being relentless about practicing."
   

• "I like to stay on the top 50% of my air supply."
   

• "It takes a really intelligent person to practice really slowly and say 'this is what's good for me.'"
   

• "If you have to take a breath in an awkward place like that you should always relax the note before it."
   

• "The further away your hand gets from your brain, the more difficult (the trombone) gets."
   

• "That's a really rich sound.  Now you have to figure out what to do with it."
   

• "With the trombone, you have to make more variations with your style and attacks.  You're not being creative with different ways to say things."
   

• "You have to be careful with a trombone because it can resemble a car horn.  You have to give your sound some flexibility.  Rather than laying on the horn you have to give it some beauty.  It's all might right now."
   

• "Your articulation is almost too good.  You're really tonguing the pants off of it.  You have to have a little more sensitivity in your style."
   

• "You have to have more fun with it.....do something unusual."
   

• "With my teacher growing up, if you didn't have a good release, you'd have to sit there and think about it for a while."
   

• "When you play fast try to lighten up.  Playing heavy while playing fast is like driving a Cadillac fast on a windy road.  You want to drive something smaller."
   

• "Do it again.  You're being too careful.  Just have fun."
   

• "Spend a lot of time getting into a passage so you know every square inch of it."
   

• "On a word in the music: Always go with the adjectives that you are supposed to do.  It's like a clue."
   

• "Anything that involves 5th position is hard.  The problem with 5th position is that people don't trust that it has to go out that far."
   

• "There are two types of playing: detached and non-detached."

3 Great Master Classes Quotes I've Heard Recently

Every time I attend a master class I always have my laptop with me to take notes. I find that note taking is by far the best way for me to retain the information and retention is the first step in implementing it into my playing and teaching. I also attend as many master classes as I possibly can.  As with all of the people who I idolize in the music business, I try to never stop learning.  Hearing another professional's perspective on how they approach both the physical and mental aspects of music for an hour gives me a surge in productivity every single time without fail.

It also seems that every time I attend a class there is always one quote that sticks out above the rest a few months later.  That is the quote that has done the best job of daily working its way into my playing and teaching.  Here are three such quotes that I literally think about on a daily basis:

Joe Alessi: "You have to worry about the right sides of the notes just as much as the left sides."

The next time you hear Joe play, either live or on a recording, check out the care with which he ends every single note.  Then proceed to pick your jaw up off of the floor.

Carol Jantsch: "When slurring up to a note focus on the end of the first note rather than the second note."

Try this yourself.  I always found it intuitive to focus on having a clean start to the note I was slurring up to.  Now that I have taken Carol's approach instead my slurring improved immediately.  As in immediately.  It's a great trick.  This is one of the many things she does to make her playing sound so effortless.

Marty Hackleman: "Even if you can play your ass off, try to make it easier."

If you watch Marty play the horn, there is no wasted energy of any kind.  It is pure efficiency.  This is why he has the endurance of horn gladiator even though he is approaching 60.

Hopefully you will find these quotes as helpful as I have.  Not a day goes by that I don't think about all three of them in my teaching and playing.  Is there a great quote that you've heard in a master class recently? Help us all out and leave it in the comments.

Marty Hackleman Quotes from 2011 Master Class at George Mason University

Last night, Professor Marty Hackleman gave an amazing master class at George Mason University.  Marty is the principal horn of the National Symphony and a former member of both the Empire Brass and the Canadian Brass.  In my opinion, he is one of the premier teachers and performers that the brass world has ever known. I have put a few of the quotes that really spoke loudly to me in bold.  What quotes jump out at you? Please comment with your favorite quote and how it relates to your playing.

Here are the highlights from the class:

• "It's not that you work, it's how you work."
   

• "How simple can you make the problem?  How simple can you make the solution?"
   

• "We don't see the causes.  We see the symptoms."
   

• "All that you want to do is make it slightly better than yesterday but not as good as tomorrow.  And you enjoy the chase."
   

• "When you do a daily routine, don't sit in front of the TV wasting your time."
   

• "Think of your routine as a physical brass mediation.  Enjoy the time alone."
   

• "The routine is a question of how you play and not what you play."
   

• "A lot of times when you have a problem with your playing and you think you know the solution try the exact opposite.  85% of the time it will work.  And that comes from personal experience."
   

• "I only breathe as much as I need when I'm warming up and I focus on quality over quantity.  But if you're playing a different instrument, like the tuba, it may be different."
   

• "It is more important to practice efficiently than a lot of inefficient practicing.  If you don't feel like it, stop.  Get a cup of coffee and then come back.  Then suck it up and make yourself feel like it for even 15 minutes."
   

• "Even if you can play your ass off, try to make it easier."
   

• "Make it as simple, natural and easy as you can."
   

• "Don't save the high notes until the end of your routine.  They shouldn't be that precious.  They should be a natural extension of everything else."
   

• "I failed first.  Everybody failed first.  But do you stop at failure?"
   

• "You'll be surprised that if you ask yourself to do something regularly, you'll find a solution."
   

• "If tension is creeping into your playing, your routine is where you find that out, not in rehearsal or in performance."
   

• "Support isn't caused by air.  They are separate things."
   

• "You want to use your routine to make yourself better, not just make yourself functional."
   

• "I know (my routine) works because at almost 60 years old I believe I can play better than I've ever played in my life.  And it's not luck.  I promise you."
   

• "First thing is you have to make sure that your horn sounds like what's in your head."
   

• "You have to be more responsible about being a musician and not just a horn player."
   

• "We make crescendos and we don't come all the way back.  If you come all the way back you have somewhere to go again."

Thank you Marty for such an insightful class! Everyone is welcome to attend his next class, free of charge, on Monday April 4th at 7:30pm at George Mason University.

Marty Hackleman Quotes from George Mason Master Class

On Monday evening fellow George Mason teacher Marty Hackleman, principal hornist of the National Symphony, gave a wonderful master class to all of the brass students.  In my opinion, Marty is probably my favorite horn player to either listen to or perform with in the world.  I have had the privilege of attending a number of his master classes throughout the years and every time I walk away with more information than I could have dreamed of obtaining in one session.  Marty truly is the (sadly) rare combination of master performer and master teacher.

As I did with the wonderful Carol Jantsch master class earlier this summer I’ve collected a number of great quotes from Marty’s class that I believe any musician will find insightful.  I couldn’t possibly get to all of the quotes but these were the highlights.  He gave the audience and the students who performed a lot to digest in a very easy to understand manner.  It was a great experience for everyone.

• "You’ve got to start thinking outside the box.  When you have a problem (with your playing), really admit it and address it.  You have to be honest about it.  You are only as strong as the weakest link in your playing."
   
• "We all have to be fearless.  You can’t ask a brass instrument.  You have to tell it.  It’s like a dog.  You have to be consistent and it will love you."
   
• "Do something more.  There’s no right or wrong…just be convincing.  You’re still apologizing for playing the trumpet."
   
• "As brass players, we see a long note and think 'I’m home free…I’ve just got to hit the beginning of it.'  Don’t let it sit."
   
• "Playing a valve instrument it is very important to worry about timing the articulations and the sound between the notes.   Sometimes you have to tongue when the valve goes down and sometimes when the valve comes up."
   
• "On a trill, you have to finesse the sound in between the notes."
   
• "Are you completely in love with your tonguing? I don’t think so.  You’re just used to it."
   
• "Don’t just glide through it.  With a little bit of care you can make it sound beautiful."
   
• "How simple can you make it?"
   
• "On brass instruments, we want to bring our instruments up to the level of the music and not the music down to the level of our instruments."
   
• "I think there are a lot of musical ideas in there but your trombone is not letting them out."
   
• "I won’t bite and if I do, you won’t get much of a mark."

I don’t know if he knows it, but Bud Herseth is probably the best teacher I’ve ever had.

Arnold Jocobs from a conversation he had backstage with Will Scarlett

If you don’t take the initiative and market your own brand or product, by default the competitor will position you (poorly I bet) by marketing theirs.

Sergio Zyman (former Chief Marketing Officer for The Coca-Cola Company)

I’ve been waiting for the music to get weird and out again. The Beatles happened because of radical political times. Well these are radical political times. So where’s the #@$&ing music? It’s gonna happen.

Sam Pilafian - Tuba Jedi