Joe Burgstaller at CCM

Joe Burgstaller visited CCM last week, taking time away from his busy performing and teaching schedule to lead a two-hour master class. Joe is well known for his terrific work in the Canadian Brass and as a soloist and clinician. He is currently on the faculty at the Peabody Institute teaching trumpet and chamber music. His newest release is a must-hear, Mozart's Blue Dreams & Other Crossover Fantasies.

Mr. Burgstaller heard the Gregson Concerto (DMA student, David Wuchter) and Koetting Intrada (Senior, Paul Futer), and followed with a quintet coaching. Both solos were played impressively. Joe shared many neat ideas and perspectives on performance and music-making. His time with us was very motivational and thought provoking. Here are some of the highlights shared by those who played and attended.

• Favorite concepts from his master class: honesty, and being willing to face uncomfortable performance situations. Since it's impossible to lie on stage and there's nothing we can do to change that, we may as well learn to soak it in and enjoy it.

• I really enjoyed what Mr. Burgstaller had to say about performing - about making yourself more open and vulnerable to the audience. The whole idea of leaving your center of energy there for the audience, instead of hiding behind a stand. I found his entire master class very interesting!

• I liked the time-line Joe Burgstaller gave in his master class. He slowly side-stepped across the stage, emphasizing total focus on playing well in the present. Worry about the next step when you get there, not before.

• I liked his encouragement to stop being absolute slaves to the printed page.

• He was able to encourage a freer sound and approach to playing.

• A successful performance involves more than just the notes. Communicating is only 30% verbal (or notes) and 70% energy (stage presence, posture, body language, countenance, etc). The show starts as you walk on stage even before a note is played. You can't lie on stage. Your bow, posture, and facial expressions matter. What you are comes across. No walls are allowed.

• Embrace the audience. Don't ignore them, but play to them. They can be a scary mass of people, so don't make them nervous.

• Don't think about your notes. Think about the story behind your music. You MUST emotionally connect to this story.

• Have energy right from the first note. Your first phrase is the most important and will get you going.

• Overdo EVERYTHING on stage. Appear confident to be confident. Remember your five P's - Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
  

• Don't hide yourself from the audience. Get away from/lower the stand.

• Practice constructive self-criticism. Remove negative words from your vocabulary.

• Practice technique: find ways to make difficult passages more difficult (slower, faster, softer, higher, etc.)
  

A few cool one-liners:

• Musicians are special.

• Dynamics are colors, not decibels.

• Before the audience can be sold, you must be.

• Learn to grab all the music you can from the printed page.

• Good intonation is more than pitch-adjusting. It involves tone-matching.

• Put air on the first note.

• If you're not creating line, you're creating boredom.

• Say of your playing, when appropriate, "That was really good!!"

Loser?

What are the deadliest three words in the audition business? After working diligently for months on your list, you do your best to survive all the travel stress on the big day, and then wait for hours trying to stay ready. Finally you get your 8 to 10 minutes, only to get rudely stopped by those three dreaded words, "Thank you. Next." The committee may as well have shouted "LOSER!" and then laughed out loud. Oh, the sting of it!

So, you give up? Change professions? Not so fast. Keep in mind that not winning can be the start of some great music-making on your part, if you want. Why be discouraged? That's normal. Anyone can get depressed. Here is your chance to learn from your loss and to manage your emotions. A defeat does not define us, it should propel us.

Consider your discouraging audition experience a vital part of the growth and refining process rather than a personal insult. Take inventory. In the heat of your audition moments dross (unwanted tendencies) rose to the surface and now waits to be skimmed off. But more importantly, have a new focus. Instead of despair, you have a fresh list of highlighted items to address tomorrow, not only negatives to reduce, but many positives to add.

It's the positives that make winners. Maybe it's not what you did wrong that disqualified you as much as what you did not do enough of. Consider that the committee really was rooting for you, but they didn't hear enough musical moments to advance you. Instead, they may have heard indecision and lack of confidence. Practicing being convincing is your first goal. (Or, if you were a little too convincing, perhaps tone it down a bit. That is, over the edge in style and dynamics, not likely to fit in, overdone, too exuberant. Most need to turn up the heat. Some need to cool it.)

Auditions also have a nice way of reacquainting us with much needed humility. After all, who do we think we are to have every one of life's rewards handed to us at every turn?

Another perspective: Others are watching to see how our loss affects us. Learning to handle adversity may well be the most important achievement of the day. Winners must learn how to lose. A gracious loser is better than a proud winner.

Lastly, life is bigger than an audition victory or loss. It's not life or death. Keeping that in mind can relieve some of the pressures of performance. The quality of the person is more important than the position held.

All Ears

French was not my thing in high school simply because I did not feel like studying for it. I liked the sound of it, but was not willing to do the work required to be conversant. As a result I nearly flunked, yet our teacher said that I had the best ears in the class! How could that be?

I could take down every syllable of a French dictation assignment accurately, but it made no sense. Phonetically it was perfect, but perfectly wrong when one tried to read and make sense of it. Even though my hearing may have been awesome, my fluency and study habits were awful.

Excelling in Music 101 is no different than excelling in French 101. Aptitude is nice, but it must be matched with diligence. Intense listening is just as important as efficient and sufficient practice. The tempting trap for us trumpeters is too much lips and not enough ears, or as Mel Broiles used to say "a little less blow and a lot more brains!"

Hearing is critical, but for too many of us our hearing is in critical condition. We just don't pay serious attention to others or to our own playing. Consequently our ear never gets fully developed, and so goes our quality. Is that a talent issue or a character flaw?

Most of our mistakes may be be traced to careless listening. More than an assignment, it must be a passion and an obsession - constantly feeding on the best playing and demanding it of ourselves. If all we give to our ears is mediocrity, that is what they will learn to tolerate. Ignore your hearing and it will go away.

Audiences won't know that you excelled in music history, or that you aced every theory test, or necessarily that you just finished 5 hours of practice. What they will recognize and expect is to hear quality playing. Should not we be as picky?

Don't Get Blown Away!

We shouldn't be easily blown away. If we are frequently shocked and awed by great trumpet performances, something is wrong. Yes, we admire, respect and appreciate exciting trumpet events, but each one should not be a wake-up call. Quality is to be expected, not a surprise and not foreign to us.

When all we listen to is ourselves, we reduce expectations, lose inspiration and quickly become out of touch. Each time we hear an inspired performance it should quickly have an affect on our playing. Response: "I can do (some of) that. I get it, and can't wait to try it!" Osmosis should be happening daily. With all the listening tools and opportunities we have available to hear top level playing, there is no excuse for not improving at a very noticeable rate.

Great players are not on some other planet. We inhabit the same world. Our job is to connect with what they do and absorb how they do it. Improving is as much about the student's initiative as it is in the training by the teacher. Critical listening in generous daily dosages is key. If you're not getting better fast, you're getting blown away.

Kiradjieff at CCM

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Assistant Principal and Third Trumpet, Christopher Kiradjieff led an excellent two-hour masterclass at CCM today. Never at a loss for great comments and very helpful suggestions, Chris heard four students play some of those familiar excerpts that never seem to go away. He followed with a very productive coaching of the full student trumpet section, extras included, on Pines of Rome.

For any note-takers, there was no lack of material shared. Here are just a few keepers that I captured. First up . . . .

Petroushka:

• Clarity is more important than speed. Individual, distinct notes is the goal.
  
• Slow-and-clear is better than fast and not-so-clear.
• Once it is clean, then speed can happen. Speed is the last item to add.
  

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra:

• Movement I: icy smooth and soft, secure starts, no vibrato, phrases must have direction, think crescendo between bars
  
• Fugue: strong and uniform, marked articulations, proper length of opening quarter, emphasize notes that tend to get lost
  
• Movement II: mechanical, clock-like, more obvious dynamic contrasts, don't be afraid of doing "duts" when needed, instead of all "duhs"
• Discover the "leaning, heavier" notes in the chorale.
• Movement V: 16ths clearly nailed dead in time, very steady, strong and articulate, drive the triplets
  

Gershwin Concerto in F:

• Don't be afraid of taking control, be soloistic.
• Develop the long notes immediately.
• Louder, more schmaltz
• Not too soft
• Wail, and be generous with the vibrato.
• The huge intervals become a non-issue when big, singing vibrato notes are what it's about.
  

Mahler 3, Chorale from Movement VI:

• Slow, soft and connected
• Come on in clearly on the first 2 notes, and then sail.
  
• Bring out slightly the "leaning" notes.

Isolated practice suggestions in general: slow, segmented practice; fluttertongue the hard stuff; use different rhythms; exaggerate the weak notes. Your playing has to be distinct at a distance.

Paraphrasing some highlights: Details are all good. The audience will notice. The integrity of the section, the whole ensemble and of the performance is at stake. Everything in the part matters and must be brought out. Rhythm, clarity and musicianship must rule! Exaggeration, projection, great sense of rhythm, knowing the key notes to be emphasized in a phrase, staccatissimo - all of these must be able to happen. Sound has to be full and secure. Instinctive, steady rhythm must dominate.

Chris has a gift for making the mechanical demands musical demands, which makes his approach fun and gets nice results. Little needed to be said about trumpet technique because the musical goals were clearly communicated and got the job done. It's like: "Here's exactly what we want. Now let's do it!"

Fifths and Tonics

"Six years of college and now I've gotta play this - a hand full of isolated peeps, pops, and poops? Bring on some Mahler, Strauss, or Stravinsky, but not a whole week of Haydn and Mozart! All of my training, and all I get to show for it is a bunch of tonic and dominant. Give me a break." Have we not all thought that at some point?

A modest portion of fifths and octaves may often be all you'll see for a week or longer, so you might as well settle in and get comfortable. Look at it this way, with so few notes to play, you'll be saving on valve oil. You could probably even leave your third valve at home, and maybe the second as well! Your handicapped horn could be quite the conversation starter during rehearsals! In fact, you may be thinking, "why not just bring a bugle to work?"

Don't be thinking that this repertoire is without its challenges. In many ways Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart can be more difficult than a Bruckner symphony or Strauss tone poem. With nowhere to hide and little room for error, your ability to blend, your intonation and control are on display big time. This music quickly separates the ok from the great players. Myron Bloom used to say that playing Mozart is the best way to learn control.

Although we may only play five, six or seven different pitches all night, we must control all of them perfectly. We act as percussion and reinforce points of melodic lines. We'll get our one or two shining moments, but mostly we are to behave behind the scenes as energetic helpers for the winds and strings. We're seldom in the spotlight, but if we do poorly, all will notice. Let's consider ourselves artistic surgeons, drummers with a skilled touch, and graceful swordsmen.

Enough grumbling and dreaming. How about practicing a good portion of your sessions with Mozart on your mind. Play softer, in tune, and don't play so much. Play many isolated high notes, yes lots of peeps and pops, but no poops, just good clean shortish notes. Control intonation even on individual eighth notes, well spaced and in perfect rhythm. Play long whole notes softly with diminuendos, followed by repeated eighth notes a beat apart. Do all things as if auditioning for a Mozart/Haydn orchestra. Play effortlessly and accurately. Make it a game. Can you play just a few Mozart-style notes perfectly? How about wearing a white wig to rehearsals? Nah.

Get the librarian to let you have a sneak peek at any of the Mozart, Haydn, or Beethoven Symphony trumpet parts. Play exactly what's on the page. There's a nice groove to this style of orchestral playing. Learn to fit in and enjoy. You'll be longing for this kind of a break after a long Mahler week. It's the perfect reset therapy after long blows. The fun for trumpets in Mozart is finesse, rather than force. Tonics and dominants matter.

Second-Class Music?

Why is it that you etudes are always restricted to the practice room? That's the only place we ever hear you! Seems like you can never find your way onto the recital stage. Too bad, because some of you are way too good just to be practiced and shelved. You should have an audience. But no, you are destined to remain lowly etudes with no titles, only a number, prisoners in the music world, and to be stashed away in trumpet students' lockers.

Rarely are you considered artistic. You are only an assignment on the professor's to-do list. You simply occupy space in a book, and only one page at a time, no more no less. You are an uninspired piece of boredom. You function merely as a project for the featured key of the week, or for your 12 lines of nonstop triple tonguing. Don't even think about inspiration or fame. We've heard the Bach Cello Suites, and you're no suite.

Let's liberate some deserving etudes from performance quarantine. Instead of the usual recital fillers, how about finding some gems from the etude world that ought to have a hearing, and giving them some respect. Here are just a few possibilities:

Bitsch - 20 Etudes. #1 could be a flashy opener. #17 is expressive and lyric. #20 is cool played in one, with a loud straight mute. You could combine three or four or more of these etudes together. Think of your own titles for each movement. These will be more inspiring as you think of performing them. Give each a story of some sort.

Caffarelli - 100 Etudes for transposition has a good supply of musical possibilities. #66, 40, and 70 are favorites. Even the Sachse - 100 Studies for transposition has a few. You could have a transposition feature on your recital including a selection of contrasting styles all transposed in different keys. Amaze your professor with your initiative and creativity! Who says you can't be musical and transpose at the same time?!

Reynolds - 48 Etudes for Trumpet has many nasty studies that you may prefer to keep in the practice room. There are several however that you could group together as an unaccompanied solo work on your next recital. Consider mutes too. If you are inclined, you might consider writing piano, percussion, or whatever accompaniment you like.

Tap the etude literature for solo possibilities. Audiences usually have to attend, so let's keep it entertaining, challenging and creative.

Hard Lessons

Some of the most difficult lessons we must learn are not about endurance, sight-reading, or transposition. Those are relatively easy. More challenging are those unexpected humiliations inflicted by people and situations out of our control. They can stifle the very reason we want to do what we do. It could be criticism, energy-draining attitudes, or any unforeseen scenario that threatens our confidence. Learning to expect them and to deal positively with them is crucial.

Criticism can be our best teacher. When we bristle and get offended, there likely is some truth to it. We would do well not to react, but to improve. Use criticism as motivation for the next practice session. A hard to please teacher or conductor may be just what you need to make you a better player and person.

Prepare yourself for any negative attitude before it comes. It may be yours or your neighbor's. It's still dangerous because it is poisonous. Your passion for playing must be strong enough to withstand the disgruntled, the discouraged, and the critical. Counter with good playing, not anger. Let it develop in you strength and leadership. It is not your clever cutting reply, but the quality of your playing that will speak loudest and inspire others to follow.

Adverse playing conditions are arguably the hardest obstacle. Sounding great with no help means you are able to sound great with no help! A cello soloist I know used to practice in the winter with the window wide open. In the hot weather he closed all doors and windows and put on a heavy coat. No bad hall was going to get to him. Whether it's a gym or a closet, there you are, and you must sound great.

Ours is a coddled generation demanding the easy way with constant pats on the back. Politically correct thinking so prevalent today is that no one fails, and everyone wins. We insulate ourselves from hard reality, so that the truth smarts when it finally comes. Learn to take the hits so that your great music will thrive anywhere.

What Christmas Song . . . .

a. has a descending major 7th? Hint: "have your . . . ."

b. has four consecutive descending thirds? Hint: M3, m3, M3, m3

A Daily Lesson with Ernest Williams

Who was Ernest Williams, and why do we hear so little about him today? His Modern Method is sadly becoming a lost treasure. Some have preferred it to the Arbans Method. He was one of the greats in the trumpet and cornet playing world way back in the 20th century. Mr. Williams was as competent a teacher as he was a performer. He also was Director of the Ernest Williams School of Music, conductor of his University Symphonic Band, teacher at Juilliard, principal trumpet under Stokowski in the Philadelphia Orchestra, and renowned cornet soloist with the Goldman Band under Goldman himself.

My first teacher, a pupil of his, lectured us kids about the great Mr. Williams at every lesson. We were respectful of course, but what did we know? We did benefit however from strict adherence to his well-organized approach to technique-building. We were forbidden from practicing solos until the daily regimen of scales was completed. I'm sure my parents knew well every page of his book, and when I graduated from high school they must have been relieved that all of those scales, arps, and chroms would finally be leaving our N.J. home.

I like his repeated instruction between each chromatic line on page 155. "Do not attempt to play the following line until the preceding line sounds pure and free." Today it could be said many ways. "Do not even think about continuing until you go back and fix what you just messed up." Or, "Dude, NO!" Mr. Williams' effective one-sentence lesson can still stop us in our messy tracks. Repeated furious and out-of-control attempts are never useful. Being the gentleman that he was, I can imagine him calmly saying: "Slow down. Listen, and control what you are doing, one note at a time. It must sound pure and free."

Let's listen in as he might have given instruction for a student beginning work on the Honegger Intrada. I can imagine him demanding that the first two notes be connected and clear before climbing up to the F at the top of the phrase. "Play just the first four notes cleanly, connected and in tune. Good. Add two more. You may now attempt four more notes and continue only if you can maintain control and quality." As soon as the notes begin to come faster than they can be controlled, he suddenly interrupts, "Do not proceed until the preceding notes sound pure and free!"

What great advice! Mr. Williams' one sentence can be our daily lesson. Enough said.

Playing for a Living?

It seems like we struggle with half of our brains tied behind our backs, and yet wonder why our trumpet-playing is more boring than rewarding. We go about our days cleaning, dusting, mopping, scrubbing, polishing and maybe even doing a thorough job of it. Yet half of our brain often lies dormant as our most productive weapon is bound and gagged. The Seven Dwarfs seemed to have learned this lesson in spite of their handicapped temperaments. They "Whistled While They Worked" and sang "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go!" Can that fantasy become reality?

Our assignments involve lots of technique work for sure. You can't avoid a thorough focus on basic issues of playing even for a single day. But how can they become a welcome challenge without a total meltdown of musical enjoyment? That's the difficulty.

This is not about being an obnoxious Pollyanna in the workplace, but rather in the practice room. The secret to a rewarding music career is learning to enjoy the work (as much as possible.) For example, can octave work also be considered a musical project? Can arpeggios be artistic? Must all scales only function as wallpaper designs in a score? How about slow warm-up slurs? Do they have to be a-musical? Where does it demand that all very high notes must sound strained and too loud? Does intonation-fixing have to be musically void? Are static notes useful in recitals? Can concerto work be more than an accuracy contest? Is it possible to transpose and sound good at the same time?

You've heard it said about some players that they did not seem to have a musical bone in their bodies? For others, it seemed that they could not play an unmusical note even if they tried! It must be a matter of developing musical instincts. A rewarding music career is not just about an awesome technique, or a beautiful expressive tone. A successful musician, no matter what the venue, is one who learns to enjoy working musically on a daily basis. Without the fun, it is only a job. Play for a living.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aURThUaRjCc&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY3aljAO7qU

Are You Hireable?

The defining questions in the minds of the audition committee: "Can we hire this person? Do we want to listen to him/her every day? Will the maestro go for this kind of playing?" Of course there are also those usual matters of sound quality, intonation, blendability, and musicianship. Those must all be givens, but are any stand-out qualities being communicated? In short, what will be their instinctive reaction upon hearing you? Deal or no deal?

Never mind the audition scenario. Let's visit your practice room. Would the committee want to offer you a nice contract based on what they heard outside your practice room today? Is your practice marketable? Will your notes sell? Or as Erich Kunzel asked a new young arranger on his first job, "Hey, kid. Are you any good?" (He was about to find out!)

Why not begin your next practice session with the mindset that all that you are about to play matters? You are being listened to and evaluated. Don't freak. Just enjoy why you're there. If you don't, they won't. Purify your notes and clean them up. Prime time may be nearer than you think. Very nice performances can happen in the practice building. Why not amaze your friends!

Flying Safely Under the Radar

Most trumpet players don't have trouble being heard. Problems tend to happen when we have to not be heard! Owning the stage is not always our job description as much as it is to blend and get out of the way. Remaining relatively unnoticed is often our most difficult assignment. Can you do it?

Performance in low decibels does not mean playing with low intensity. Soft does not mean boring, tense, or tentative. The trick is to perform comfortably and agreeably in all dynamic ranges. (Oh, to always be at home, home in the range.)

Imagine that you are a great operatic tenor-in-training, just itching to belt out your favorite romantic aria. However, instead of the concert stage, you are on a baby-sitting job with the sleeping child within earshot. You just gotta sing because it's in your blood, but it has to be very soft. Can you do it?

Can you play all the loud licks in pp with equal enthusiasm, spontaneity, and control? Flying under the radar doesn't mean we are certain to crash. It means we still perform with maneuverability, flexibility, and musicality.

Why don't you build a large cut-out of a conductor's big left hand? Fix it to a bobble-head type contraption so that it waves and jerks at you while you practice, insisting that you stop your loud blowings. Get used to it. Our task is to comply and play beautifully no matter how far under the radar we must play. Can you do it?

Trills Matter

Sadly, trills are rarely perfected, but with some meticulous work they can and should be. Trill drill is definitely worth the extra effort. Trills can dazzle your listeners when deftly executed. Your goal is snazzy, spiffy, sparkling clear finger-poppings, performed exactly in time. Even if other details are imperfect, your impressive trills can save the day. There is nothing quite as satisfying as that grandiose, confident and well-executed trill at the conclusion of a great piece of trumpet music!

Sloppy trills however, can drain your energy and bore your listeners. Don't be thinking like a truck driver while your fingers furiously flap away for 8 to 10 beats on a single note. Think "flute, soprano, solo violin, butterfly" or anything that flutters gracefully. Remember: trills are not tremolos, buzzers, or anything Black and Decker. Nice trills have two recognizable pitches, usually a major or minor second apart. And there is a reason that the two notes prior to the resolution are called "grace notes!"

Be sure to monitor your speed. Too often trilling is too fast and too intense. The important note in a trill is the first note. The rest are throw-away and less important (as long as they are decent). The resolution is where you are going. Whether you start above or on the note, make sure it is impressive and clean. Never mind the textbooks, just do it nicely!

To stop the trill or not to stop the trill is the question that is usually answered by convenience rather than conviction. How about Plan A. That is: trill right into the grace notes without stopping. This is a bit harder to do as it involves a lot more coordination, but sounds great. Resolving the trill before the graces is O.K. but still sounds like Plan B.

Once you seem to have mastered trills, prepare them in horribly awkward keys! Since we only need to train 3 fingers, we might as well discipline each of them to work for us in any key.

Note: don't forget that for picc work, the 4th finger needs training too.

Posted Notes

Busy today with no time to carve out a "decent" practice session? Here's a touch-and-go list of items. Better to visit each one briefly rather than let them slip. Remember that although you are rushed, your playing does not have to be sloppy or hurried. In fact, you might be a lot more productive with less time to waste. Note: in the future this might be the norm rather than the exception, so learn to practice getting it done quickly. Caution: don't forget to rest, and remember to vary your dynamics. Include pp! Your goal is not just to get it all covered, but to finish in good shape, ready for anything.

No music needed:

• LTs w/dims

• Interval slurs (pick random intervals/play slow, smooth, in tune)

• Scales (2 octaves - M - m (nat/harm/mel) - soft to loud to soft, and vv

• Chroms - polished, even, fast
  

• Arps - 2 octaves - M - m - A - dim7

• Flex. - arps leapfrogged (be able to start at the top)

• TT

• DT

(Do you ever do the above on your small horns?)

Music needed:

• Etude fragments

• Solo movement

• Transposition

• Excerpts

Split Personality

A great trumpet player is not unlike a dog. He/she must be comfortable on a tight leash, but also able to break free and attack on a moment's notice. Picture a nice little doggy quietly and obediently roaming around on his leash. Then imagine a pit bull on a fast and viscous mission with no leash at all! Both have gotta be you, nice and sweet, but with your killer instinct always intact.

You must control a gorgeously suave and stealth Schumann 2 on an audition, and turn right around and belt out a belligerent Goldenburg like a hungry dog with a bone. Try to blast that mute right out of the bell and straight at the conductor! You are a well-trained savage, restrained on the one hand, but also able to deliver a cold-blooded pummeling on the other. For example, you can't play Mahler symphonies without great control of soft details as well as being able to nail all of those violent blasting eruptions.

Think about your airstream. It must be so soft and gentle that it can move a spider web without disturbing the spider. Then it must be so forceful and focused that it blows an entire stack of papers off the desk, scattering them all over the room. That's you - a gentle breeze and a ferocious hurricane!

One of your practice goals is to be comfortable in both dynamic zones. You are fast becoming a highly skilled wind machine. Make those boring practice sessions more productive by developing control of extremes.

Avoiding Root Canals

It's day #1 on your orchestra gig. Life is good until you open the folder. There you are faced for the first time with Berlioz' Roman Carnival Overture with the cornet part in A. Next, you have Tchaikowsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture with the trumpet part in E and F. On the second half is Ein Heldenleben, and you've got the E flat part! Any of these transpositions at first sight in a rehearsal could cause some degree of panic not unlike drilling with no Novocaine. You just don't want to be there, so now is the time to do something about it well before you get the gig.

The remedy for this situation is a good skill in basic transposition. You may think of this as root canal work because it's embarrassing to sound like a beginner when having to transpose something. It's like trying to run with your feet in concrete blocks. But some daily pain in the practice room is far better than humiliation on stage.

So let's keep a Sachse or Caffarelli transposition book on your stand for daily use. If this is your first exposure to this unpleasantness, here are the assignments: Transpose to A, C, D, E flat, E natural and F. Get familiar with these and then you can attack A flat, D flat, G, etc. Begin with easy stuff to gain confidence. How about a key a week?

Remember, you can do most of the grunt work without your horn! The issue is speed from page to brain to fingers, so you can save your chops for now. Try to like this, it is possible. It takes time but it does get easier. Transposition is a skill that is quite doable no matter how you play. Do it and conquer laziness! Not transposing well is a character weakness, not a disability. Daily drills will keep you from the drill.

Visiting Your Local Park Bench

Do you have a favorite quiet spot? Maybe it's a secluded park bench, that Adirondack chair on your deck, or a tree stump next to a creek? Wherever it is, the only requirement is that you do not bring your trumpet to your little hideaway. The trumpet only tends to ruin the party, so leave it home and keep this a fun adventure.

What to bring? All you need is three fingers, your tongue, and your music, excerpts, solos, whatever. No equipment is needed, just you, nature and your natural musical instincts. We are going to perfect our input before it hits the horn. You must put quality in before you can expect a quality product. So begin to refine and energize your message. It must be so disciplined and driven that the horn won't have a fighting chance to resist. It will simply have to obey and cooperate with you.

Your goal is to get your tongue and fingers on the same page, or rather on the same note! They are often at odds with each other. They must become the best of friends. Take Fetes for example. That is a great exercise for our basic training. Both the tip of your tongue and the tips of the fingers of your right hand must articulate perfectly together. All four must be very athletic and coordinated. They must march in time. Sit there until you have them working together in perfect rhythm. Fingers are not allowed to fly high over the valve caps, nor are they allowed to flop sloppily over the top of the valves. It's about tips. You may use your left hand knuckles for valves.

Another favorite is Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. The whole piece is fair game for our boot camp, not just the opening. Begin slowly making sure the "T" of your tongue perfectly lines up with the "attack" of your fingers. Hey, good news! You only need to train two fingers for the opening! Only once will your third finger need to join in! Begin slowly, and eventually take this way faster than you'll ever need. How fast can you go and keep your "little attackers" in sync?

While you're at it, train the "K" as well as the "T". You will notice that your K is much more efficient when it is closer to your teeth. T and K must be good friends and must sound alike. Bring your sluggish K up to speed right there in the privacy of your articulation training zone.

Visit your "local park bench" regularly. Nobody will notice your mistakes but you. After a few intense and disciplined sessions, you will be able to amaze your friends. Remember, this is way more productive than a whole bunch of mindless blastathons. Brain beats blow any day.

Fred Mills Remembered

In the corner of a small room at Giardinelli's, Fred Mills sat patiently with me for a good hour as I struggled to find my next trumpet. He was very quiet but attentive, only offering brief advice when asked. Finally running out of steam, I asked if he would like to play them. Without any warm up he instantly played several very impressive and well-focused arpeggios, rendered his verdict, and handed the best horn back to me. I remember feeling like I had been hurling tons of mud at a brick wall. Fred just nailed it in less than a minute by skillfully throwing a dart at the bulls eye for me.

Some are talkers. Fred was a listener. In the few times I met and spoke with Fred, I remember him as a modest man who was always more interested in how you were doing than keeping you up to date on his own activities. When speaking of himself, it was always understated. I was impressed with him as a person and of course as a giant in the business. His terrific playing in the Canadian Brass spoke for itself. He seemed to get even better with time. An amazing list of accomplishments follows him.

An enormous amount of experience, wit, and friendliness was not far beneath that deadpan expression. Fred died in a car accident in Athens, Georgia. It was a sudden and very sad loss. He will be greatly missed.

A Pops Week with Erich Kunzel

It was one of those Tuesday mornings, the start of a ten-service week of the Cincinnati Pops with Maestro Erich Kunzel. There was to be a full complement of rehearsals, three concerts and two recording sessions. Our stands seemed awfully top-heavy with those thick red trumpet folders jammed full of repertoire. We had brought bags o' mutes, extra mouthpieces, and several trumpets all warmed up and ready for action. Approaching Music Hall even an hour early, one could see that his dark blue Mercedes with his EK Maine license plate was already there. Mr. Kunzel was always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

A typical Pops week meant you were going to have to work and play hard, loud and high, soft and sweet. You would be juggling mutes, switching horns, standing and sitting while quickly adjusting the music stand, trying to manage those fast segues from tune to tune, all the while being expected to sound great. Often a three-ringed circus with soloists, dancers, choirs, cloggers, aerialists, flame-throwers, you name it, would be happening right there on our stage. Try to play and concentrate when you and your colleagues were in some crazy costume with cameras in your face. It was literally lights, cameras and lots of action!

One of the most impressive gifts Erich had was his ability to organize and lead a recording session. He was Mr. Efficiency! There we sat looking at the long list of rep for the next three hour session often thinking "there's no way!" But there was a way, and he usually got it all done on time with maybe even a prerecording of some piece for the next album. Every minute of every break was used to quickly assess what needed to be fixed. Dashing from the podium to hear playbacks, he was always on a mission. Erich was great at that, working fast and efficiently under pressure. I always admired that he did not get rattled as the clock was ticking down.

Eventually the busy week would finally end right on the dot with the last tune in the can. With hair bedraggled, shirt wet with perspiration, water bottles empty, and all the scores in a disheveled heap, Erich's work for the week was done, and done very well. "Thank you, everybody!!" he would call, which signaled the official end of the week. Another Pops event had come and gone in its familiar whirlwind fashion. He made you work, but it was fun.

The stage hands would instantly descend onto the stage en mass like scavengers to quickly set up for the next set of rehearsals. String players scattered instantly. The busy librarians would gather up the remains of the week's work on carts like medics picking up the wounded after a battle. The massive amount of Telarc recording equipment would slowly begin to come down to be packed away.

The woodwind instruments would get swabbed and carefully placed back into their cases. The percussion guys would once again begin their long methodical take-down having just used every instrument they owned. There was the occasional murmuring from a few of us brass players, but all the hard work was worth it. We usually finished stronger than we began. Working for Erich was sort of like a high-powered body-building course. There were some aches and pains for sure. But hey, no pain, no gain. How hard could Mahler be after one of Erich's weeks! He made us unstoppable!

I am sure that we did not fully appreciate all that we had in Erich Kunzel's leadership. It was easy to take it for granted when we were accustomed to it for so many years. He began each week with a loud and upbeat "Good morning, everybody!!" He tapped the baton and we immediately began delving into the huge stack of stuff. The week closed with "Thank you, everybody!!" I will never forget those weeks. On August 1st, he conducted his last concert. We will miss him.

Thank you, Erich.