Bored With Scales?

Pros can play their scales throughout the full range of their instrument @ any dynamic and w/ any articulation.

Can you?

— Will Baker (@willbakermusic) August 30, 2017

Love this quote from fantastic trombone player Will Baker!

If your students (or you!) are bored with their scales, tell them THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG!

With a little practice, anyone can play any scale mf two octaves at a decent clip. That's really not very hard. All it takes it reps.

You know what's not easy and requires not just a lot of reps but a lot of concentration?

• Playing scales while changing articulation every note (either alternating between two articulations or cycling through three or more)
• Playing scales ff in the pedal register with a beautiful sound without dragging
• Playing scales pp in the extreme upper register with a beautiful sound
• Playing two octave scales while diminuendoing the entire way up from ff to pp and crescendoing all the way down with no two notes the same dynamic level
• Playing scales in thirds, fourths or any other interval
• Playing scales in thirds on the way up and fourths on the way down
• Take any of these suggestions and record yourself playing them and listen for things like an even sound, consistent articulation, truly even crescendos and diminuendos, perfect groove, phrasing, etc

You get the point!

Unless your name is Wynton Marsalis, I'm guessing you can't ascending thirds followed by descending fourths for the first time and have it mastered in all twelve keys within five minutes.

So if you or your students are bored with scales, you are experiencing a failure of creativity!

Get more creative and you will suddenly be reengaged while practicing the vital musical building blocks we call scales.

The Brass Junkies 66: Joanna Hersey on the 25th Anniversary International Women's Brass Conference and Being a Woman in a Male-Dominated Brass World

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Without a doubt this is the most important conversation that we've had in 2.5 years of Brass Junkies interviews.

We were joined again by our dear friend Joanna Hersey who is currently the President of the International Women's Brass Conference. She spoke with us about their 25th anniversary conference which was held this summer at Rowan University.

She also went in depth about what it is like to be a woman in a male-dominated brass world. Probably my favorite part was when she offered some incredibly practical suggestions for how we can empower young women who play brass. This was a great conversation that both Lance and I loved being a part of. Enjoy!

From the show notes:

IWBC President Joanna Hersey joined Andrew & Lance in her second podcast to spend some more time talking about gender issues in brass playing. Fresh off the 25th Anniversary International Women’s Brass Conference, we spent a good amount of time talking about that tremendous organization, from the founding (by Susan Slaughter) in St. Louis in 1993 to the highly successful event in the summer of 2017 at Rowan University. We learned that while women represent 28% of the horn sections of major orchestras, they only appear in  3-5% in the other brass sections. We also fall on our swords and explain why we’ve sucked up to this point in booking women. 

Additionally, we’re trying out a new platform for recording the episodes and In a moment of weakness and lack of foresight, Andrew left Lance in charge of a set of sound effects which you may hear from time to time. To time.

Possibly My Favorite Arnold Jacobs Quote

Scream this one from the rooftops.

"Breathe to expand, don't artificially expand to breathe."

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) August 10, 2017

The Brass Junkies 65: Ken Watters

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This was a fascinating interview! Trumpet player Ken Watters, who is the brother of former TBJ guest Harry Watters, gave us an inside look at the recording process in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where artists such as The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and Willie Nelson have all recorded over the years.

Pretty incredible to get to hear how the entire process goes down from the first call trumpet player. Ken did a great job of painting a picture. I found it riveting.

From the show notes:

Alabama Horns trumpeter Ken Watters joins Andrew & Lance for a fascinating masterclass in the difference between the Nashville horn sound and the horn lines from Muscle Shoals. Ken currently spends the majority of his time recording with legends like William Hightower, Eddie Floyd, Smash Mouth and Billy Ray Cyrus. He explains how Muscle Shoals became such a hotbed for recorded horn sections and explains how sessions and arrangements come together. He talks about how to write good lines, that simple is good and less is more and that sometimes it is best to write away from the horn. There are also tons of great stories from his time in NYC, Atlanta, recording and touring with his brother (TBJ guest and psycho buddy to A & L) Harry Watters and the story of how he met another TBJ alum, Wes Funderburk, in a 10 pm phone call, summoning him to come record with Natalie Cole.

He is also the first person to actually play his horn on the show (how did that happen?) and says that his trumpet is the watermelon. Whatever that means.

How to Prepare for an Audition

"One might say that the ability to evaluate one's own ability is the most important skill of all. Without it, improvement is impossible. And certainly ego makes it difficult every step of the way."

—Ryan Holiday in Ego is the Enemy

Many years ago I was supposed to be giving a joint master class with Joe Alessi in Banff but instead I was making him do most of the talking and taking notes!

One student asked him what the key to winning an audition is. Joe told him that he really didn't like answering that question but then proceeded to precisely put it into words:

"You have to be brutally honest with yourself and know exactly what you can and can not do on your instrument."

—Joe Alessi on the key to winning an audition

That's it. You need to do the equivalent of staring at yourself in the mirror while completely naked. No clothes to hide behind. No flattering camera angles. No beautiful scenery in the background to distract us. Just you and your glorious naked self.

He then went on to say anyone preparing for an audition should spend an equal amount of their practice time listening to themselves as actually playing. To hammer home that point, he said someone spending four hours in a day preparing for an audition should spend a full two of those hours listening to recordings of themselves.

This is how you get brutally honest about what you can and can not do.

And you need to do this every single day. Federal holidays. Your boyfriend's birthday. Your anniversary. The day you graduate.

The women and men who are on the short list of people who really have a good chance of winning any given audition are all doing this level of prep. So you'd better be.

The Brass Junkies 64: Composer Pete Meechan

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Pete Meechan is one of today's foremost brass composers and I am lucky enough to call him a dear friend. His pieces have been performed by soloists and ensembles around the world including by the President's Own Marine Band. He is a top-notch knucklehead and it was great to have him on the show!

From the show notes:

Pete Meechan, composer of “Song of Hope”, joins Andrew & Lance to talk about, wait for it, composing! Pete explains how he went from working in the bar at the Royal Northern College of Music to writing pieces which have impacted countless listeners and has allowed him to work with and write for some of the best players and organizations in the world. We discuss music as a healing process, talk about the state of the industry and how CDs can still serve as proof of quality. We learn who he considers to be his favorite composers, get the story behind his incredibly popular “Song of Hope” and hear about the music he is working on today.

And how he strives to set “new standards in not sucking."

The Brass Junkies 63: Michael Martin of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

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Michael Martin is infuriatingly good at way too many things. And on top of it all he is as humble as people come. It was a pleasure to get to interview him and talk about being in the Boston Symphony, touring with the Chicago Symphony and composing professionally.

From the show notes:

Boston Symphony trumpeter Michael Martin joins Andrew & Lance to talk his career as a player, and composer. Michael joined the BSO in 2010 and has had great success there, building on the training which began with his dad (Freddy Martin). We discuss his days at Interlochen and Northwestern, touring with his brother (Chris Martin) and the Chicago Symphony and how his composing career got off the ground at an early age. He also discusses his favorite conductors, what it takes to be a good section player, how to listen and how to learn new repertoire really quickly.

Oh, and he shares a hilarious rookie error story during a rehearsal of Mahler 2 under Michael Tilson Thomas. "20!"

The Brass Junkies 62: Andy Bove of Bove Audio

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Andy Bove is one of the most talented dudes I know. As you will hear in this episode, we go way back to 1991 when we were both students at the Empire Brass Seminar at Tanglewood.

Seriously, Andy is a phenomenal tuba player, one of the best recording engineers in the world and just an all-around incredible musicians. I have learned so much from him over the years. I had a whole lot of fun making this episode.

From the show notes:

Epic Low Brass game of Thrones mastermind Andrew Bove, joins Andrew & Lane to talk about his life as a tuba player and recording engineer. From his parallel life coming up with Andrew Hitz (the met as tuba-longs at Tanglewood and went on to study together with both Rex Martin and Sam Pilafian) to his opportunity to record the brass section of The Met, Bove also talks about recovering from a broken collar bone and the problem with peacocks. Lots of funny stories about his and Andrew’s “educational opportunities,” including a great story about Darth, I mean Professor Koch. 

Oh, and there are some other folks named Andrew Bove. Eclectic bunch. Check out the pics if you don’t believe me. 

The Brass Junkies 61: Mark Houghton of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

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We got to sit down with Mark Houghton, one of the more recent additions to the brass section of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. We touched on a bunch of different topics including his family's horn business and meditation.

From the show notes:

Mark Houghton, 3rd Horn with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Adjunct Professor of Horn at Duquesne University joins Andrew & Lance in a thoughtful conversation covering both the mental and practical sides of a career playing horn. Since joining the PSO in 2014, Mark explains how well the section clicks and the commonality of approach which helps them do what they do. He discusses the value of positive affirmations and meditation and we touch on the possible connection between long tones and meditation. Additionally, Mark talks about his family’s horn business and what goes into choosing an instrument. 

Arnold Jacobs on Playing Drills

"40% of (practice) time is spent on drills. Even during this time, make music with a high standard."

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) May 17, 2017

I find "being musical" is a very difficult thing to just turn on and off like a light switch. And I have yet to meet a single student in 25 years of teaching who was very good at that either.

So even "just" the drills and basics need to be done as musically as possible 100% of the time.

I sometimes like to visualize one of two things to help me with this:

1. I am broadcasting the drills to Facebook Live and soliciting honest feedback
2. I am recording the drills for a recording to accompany a method book

Do you think Sam Pilafian and Pat Sheridan had to be reminded to focus when they were recording the accompaniment to The Brass Gym? First of all, they are always concentrating to a high level. But even still, the threat of shipping to the world a recording of you playing your own exercises poorly is a good way to get you to focus.

How do you focus when you are "just" playing drills and other basics? It's what separates the truly great players from the good ones.