Excellent Definition of Technique by a Master

"Technique is the ability to control your sound on any given note, at any given dynamic, 100% of the time." - Charles Lazarus

Considering the tone that comes out of the end of Charles Lazarus' bell, it is not surprising that he nails this directly on the head.

The most important thing to do when working on your high register: play with your most beautiful sound possible.  The most important thing to do when working on your multiple tonguing: play with your most beautiful sound possible.  The most important thing to do when working on extreme dynamics: play with your most beautiful sound possible.

I think you get the point.  If you want to play the trumpet like Charles does (or any other instrument), this is some of the best advice you will ever receive.

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This quote is from Charles Lazarus' master class at the National Trumpet Competition this past March.  I will be posting a full list of quotes from his excellent class later this week.  It was one of the best I've attended in a long time.

Janos Starker's Inspiring Words on Teaching Music

"I've considered always that teaching is a far more important aspect of my life than performing...I've always said that after a standing ovation, people sit down. Teaching may affect generations."

- Janos Starker

What an amazing quote about the imperative that is music education.  It simply is not an option to eliminate it from any student's educational experience in this country.  Nothing short of future generations are at stake.  May we honor the late, great Mr. Starker, whom we lost this week, by continuing to fight the good fight when it comes to music education.

May he rest in peace.

Excellence is a Habit

You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.

-Aristotle

Becoming a great band director or an accomplished performer is not an accident.  If you require your students to play with their best sound possible at all times, it will become a habit.  If you make yourself play with great groove all the time, it will become a habit.

At the same time, if you allow yourself to clip a note to take a breath, it will become a habit.  If you allow your band to play heavier when playing fortissimo, it will become habit.

Excellence is indeed a habit.  Are your habits today promoting excellence?

Best Description of Articulation Ever

I've never heard articulation explained as well as Michael Mulcahy did in the Bud Herseth piece that is tomorrow's Monday YouTube Clip:

Arnold Jacobs had a tremendous vitality of attack, tremendous clarity. Not harsh, but more energy at the beginning of the sound than people associate with symphonic musicians.

More energy at the beginning of the sound is what I've been working 29 years to achieve and that is the best wording of it I've ever heard. Thank you Mr. Mulcahy!

Quotes from Marty Hackleman Master Class at George Mason University (Repost)

Two years ago this week I posted the following quotes from a Marty Hackleman class at Mason.  I still use many of these quotes in my every day teaching and thought they were worth reposting.  I hope you find these as insightful as I do! -----

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.

Some Advice on Practicing from Abe Lincoln

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."

- Abe Lincoln

President Lincoln uttered these words at a master class he gave at The Juilliard School shortly before he took office.  It was in regards to a clarinet player who was struggling with the high register.

Alright, so I made up the above paragraph! But the quote is real and is a great lesson for all of us musicians to hear.  If you are a clarinetist who struggles with the high register, the best way to improve is to play in the high register.  Not tomorrow. Today.

Putting off sounding bad in the practice room (or simply practicing at all) until tomorrow is like leaving your bills unopened.  Never in history has that ever led to someone owing less money when they finally open their mail.  (Do people even get bills in the mail any more?!) You will simply owe even more money when you finally face reality.

Don't wait until tomorrow to attack your deficiencies as a player.  Do it today.

A Reminder about the Kids in the Back Row

"Challenge Precedes Development"

- Arnold Jacobs

All musicians need to be constantly challenged to experience continuous development. This goes for everyone from professional musicians to middle school band students.

Some players, such as tuba players like me, don’t always have challenging parts all the way in the back of the band. This is why many low brass players don’t develop the same proficiency on their instrument as some of their fellow students.

Whether it be through chamber music, duets, lessons, or some other outlet, every player in the band must be challenged in order to grow. Many experience a challenge right in their band parts but that doesn’t go for everyone. I know. I’ve counted an awful lot of rests in my day.

Practicing Summed Up in 6 Sentences by Doug Yeo

The following quote from Doug Yeo, former bass trombonist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is the most succinct summary of the benefits of practicing that I’ve ever heard.

My wife Tiffany is a band director here in Fairfax County, Virginia and it comes from a poster on her band room wall.

This sums up practicing as well as anything can.

If you practice, you get better.

If you get better, you play with better players.

If you play with better players, you play better music.

If you play better music, you have more fun.

If you have fun, you want to practice more.

If you practice more, you get better...

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Playing Like Yourself

"Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself."

This might be my favorite Miles Davis quote ever.  Practicing is essential to both improving as a musician and mastering an instrument.  But sometimes we can all focus too much on the technical aspects of practicing and lose sight of our only true goal: finding our own voice.

Let Your Skeleton Do The Work

"If you stand or sit in a perfect way your skeleton keeps you up, not your muscles. If you have good posture you allow your body parts to move while you breathe." - Pat Sheridan

It is very important for us to let our skeleton do the work and not our muscles. When we use our muscles it creates tension which leads to hindered breathing and a bad sound.