Can You Fill In With Only Five Minutes Warning?

Filed under *always* be ready. From the Washington Post:

NEW YORK — Francesco Anile got to make his Metropolitan Opera debut in a T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. With 5 minutes notice.

The 54-year-old Italian tenor was in the green room during the last act of Saturday’s performance of Verdi’s “Otello,” which was being broadcast on radio throughout the world, when he was told by a stage director that Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko was sick and unable to sing the title role in the fourth act.

Five minutes warning to take the stage as the star of the opera. With the Metropolitan Opera. Wearing blue jeans and sneakers. You can't make this stuff up.

You always have to be ready for the call. You might never get a second one.

In fact, just last week I was able to attend the dress rehearsal of the Washington National Opera's production of Siegfried. The understudy had to fill in for Brünnhilde because the soprano playing that role twisted her ankle badly during a scene in the Die Walküre dress rehearsal.

The understudy filled in with just a few minutes notice during the Die Walküre rehearsal and sang the entire role in the Siegfried dress. You just never know when your number is going to come up.

I got a call at my apartment in Tempe, Arizona at around 9:00 pm on a Tuesday back in January of 2000. It was the Boston Brass asking if I could sub for them in an emergency situation. At 5:00 am the next morning I was checking in for a flight to Colorado. I proceeded to play with them for 14 years.

You never know when the call is coming. Are you ready?

Here's the full article from the Washington Post.

EDIT: My friend James Hicks, Principal Tuba in the Navy Band, read this and posted this as a comment on my Facebook page:

"I was once teaching lessons in the northwest Chicago suburbs and got a call from Gene (Pokorny of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) at 10am to come in and play Till (Eulenspiegel) on the 3pm matinee that afternoon. Also, got called one Sunday morning at 11am to drive up to Milwaukee to sightread a John Williams program with MSO on a 3pm matinee. You never know...."

You truly never know!

Why We Prepare

"Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That’s why we train so hard."

—Chad Winkler in Episode 30 of The Brass Junkies

This is probably the most succinct quote about preparation I've ever heard. When Chad mentioned this in our interview with him at Duquesne University we made him repeat it.

I personally love hearing stories of the people like Chad who were able to win a job with the likes of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (which is his hometown orchestra on top of it all...talk about pressure!). When you hear him in his interview talk about the path he took to get to that point and all of the preparation that went into it, it takes a little of the mystique out of wondering "How could I ever win a job like that?"

Not that it is simply as easy as preparing a lot and then winning. But you hear over and over again from people like Chad how intentional and thorough their training was leading up to an audition like that.

I hate saying nice things about trumpet players, but when you hear how much effort went into his preparation for the audition for his dream job you have to say he deserved to win it.

But please don't tell him I said that. :)

The Brass Junkies: Matt Vaughn

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Matt Vaughn, Co-Principal Trombone with the Philadelphia Orchestra sits down with me and Lance for a fun and wide-ranging conversation. Matt talks not only about his highly successful career, but about what it is like being a twin, what he listens for in auditions and what it was like to take on the role of Mother Teresa in Air Force Basic Training.

Oh, and he once played a gig at Cedar Point with his pants down. Allegedly.

Links:

Matt's Website
Philadelphia Orchestra bio
Book: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Book: The New Toughness Training for Sports
Book: The Inner Game of Tennis
TED Talk: Power Posing

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!

Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass

The Brass Junkies: Chad Winkler of the Pittsburgh Symphony

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Chad Winkler, fourth/utility trumpet for the Pittsburgh Symphony, sat down with Lance and me for our first ever live taping of the Brass Junkies. We spoke to him where both he and Lance teach at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

Chad spoke about the many different professional auditions he took before winning the big job with his hometown Pittsburgh Symphony. He also talked about what it was like growing up with a famous trumpet teacher as a father.

My two favorite moments from the interview were when he shared the best quote about preparation I've ever heard and when he and I got into a fight about hockey!

Links:

PSO Biography
Personal Website

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: Chris Castellanos

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We finally had a chance to sit down with our former colleague from Boston Brass, Chris Castellanos! When we caught up to him he was in Flower Mound, Texas with Boston Brass.

Chris had a long run in Dallas Brass before joining Boston Brass and also performed Phantom of the Opera over 1,000 times in Las Vegas before that show closed a few years ago. He's had an incredible career for someone who has yet to turn 40.

My favorite part of the interview was when we scared him by telling him we wanted back in the band...

Links:

www.chriscastellanos.com
www.bostonbrass.com
YouTube Channel

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

Become An Elite Problem Solver

I was listening to the Unemployable Podcast hosted by Brian Clark the other day and heard a great interview with Tim Ferris. Tim is the author of The 4-Hour Work Week and a number of other books and is one of the elite thinkers in the world today.

He said something that had nothing to do with music but that really got me thinking about practicing. He mentioned the importance of becoming an elite problem solver.

I immediately thought about the practice room. And I thought about how any of us who are really good at practicing (you do anything for over three decades and you're bound to get pretty good at it!) had to learn how to practice.

And when you break it down, all practicing is is targeted problem solving.

Being an elite problem solver in any field first involves identifying exactly what problem needs solving, then systematically trying various methods until the problem is solved.

Rather than having the overall goal of "getting better at the trumpet", perhaps instead have a goal of "getting better at problem solving" in the practice room. This 30,000 foot goal will help anyone to get better at specifically targeting exactly what it is in their playing that needs improvement.

The greatest players in the world on your instrument are, to a woman and a man, elite problem solvers in the practice room.

Article: The 4 Rituals That Will Make You An Expert At Anything

The 4 Rituals That Will Make You An Expert At Anything https://t.co/WQWESp4Wf6 via @bakadesuyo > Fantastic read!

— Andrew Hitz (@AndrewHitz) March 13, 2016

Read this article. Like, right now.

The four rituals:

1. Find A Mentor
2. It's Not "Try Harder", It's "Try Different"
3. It's About Doing, Not Knowing
4. Study The Past To Have A Better Future

Did I mention that you should read this article right now?

The Brass Junkies: Dan Perantoni

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Brass legend Dan Perantoni, Provost Professor of Tuba at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is our latest guest on The Brass Junkies. Not much left to say that hasn't already been said about his impact on the tuba and the brass world as a whole. The term legend is 100% accurate.

Did you know he initially dreamed of being a jazz pianist? Thankfully for all of us, he ended up participating in nearly every important milestone in the development of nearly every important milestone in tuba-dom in the last 50 years. Dan shares stories about Harvey Phillips, Rich Matteson, Don Knaub and the St. Louis Brass Quintet. He explains how he got into Eastman on sousaphone, details his approach to playing and teaching and how he makes meatballs by the hundred and tomato sauce by the gallon.

And to repeat, this dude got into Eastman on a sousaphone! Crazy!

Links:

Indiana University bio
www.danielperantoni.com
St. Louis Brass

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!

Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass.

It's All About Performing

“The more you play in public, the easier it is.”

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) February 15, 2016

This may be obvious but it still bears mentioning.The only way to get good at doing anything is by doing it.

All performers must go out of their way to get as much performance experience as possible. And the key is to create your own performance opportunities.

Don't wait for them to come to you! Approach 20 different venues where you live and ask them if you can perform there.

Nursing homes. Schools. Coffee houses. Bars. Senior centers.

What's the worst thing that can happen to you? You get 20 no's. Is that really that bad?

I've found that being willing to potentially get "rejected" 20 times is one of the key traits that just about every person who has "made it" in the music business share.

If you are in need of more performance experience, I challenge you to reach out to someone about about finding a performance space today. Don't wait until tomorrow or next week. Send the email. Pick up the phone. Text someone.

No one ever acquired something like performance experience by thinking about it.

The Brass Junkies: JD Shaw

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I hate to say nice things about him because he's one of my best friends but JD Shaw is simply one of the best horn players and teachers in the world. He is currently Associate Professor of Horn at the University of South Carolina and is my former colleague from Boston Brass.

JD talks about a new quartet that I'm in with him (along with Lance LaDuke and David Cutler) called Cones and Tones and about what it's like writing for horn, euphonium, tuba and piano. He also shares some fascinating insights into how the market for chamber music is changing and lists some of his favorite chamber groups.

And there are a couple of old Boston Brass war stories as well!

Please don't tell him I called him one of the best players and teachers in the world. I will deny it.

Links:

JD's bio at the University of South Carolina
Buy some of JD's arrangements at Potenza Music

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.