Bob Sullivan Master Class at CCM

CSO Principal Trumpet Robert Sullivan led an excellent master class last week at CCM.  It was all quality with not a wasted minute, an especially informative and inspiring event that will not be forgotten. Great stuff was shared that appeared to stick.

Grad students Nathan Sheppard and Dan Arute played some of their Air Force Band Audition repertoire receiving excellent pointers. Bob also coached and joined the CCM Philharmonia trumpet section on portions of the Mahler 3rd Symphony with Adrienne Doctor, Dan Arute, Rico Flores, and Tim Dailey.  The concert will be performed on March 2.  (Can't wait to be there.)

The theme of the morning was How to Practice.  Bob discussed and demonstrated the James Stamp approach as well as sharing a number of stories highlighting major points.  He spoke of the importance of having a secure technical foundation, stressing efficiency, and the need for inspired playing.  He spoke fondly of one of his mentors, the great Armando Ghitalla, former Principal Trumpet with the Boston Symphony.

The following are some notes submitted from a number of trumpet students in attendance:  

FOUNDATION OF TECHNIQUE

• "The greater the discipline of practice, the greater the freedom of performance." - Armando Ghitalla

• Build your foundation everyday. Start your day with conditioning and technical exercises. Once you've covered everything you need for the day you will be freer to focus on making music. The image was suggested of a beautiful beach house with little foundation having been totally ravaged by a hurricane. Foundations matter. Point made will not be forgotten.

• You have to be eager to go back to square one every day. Build a foundation that can weather the storms that will hit your playing.

• I liked how he talked about having a foundation to come back to. Eventually, something will happen, emotionally or physically.  When you come back to the trumpet, what will you come back to, a washed away house, or a strong foundation still in place? We must have fundamentals to come back to when we lose our way. I thought that was a great point!

• Lastly, he mentioned fundamentals and building a strong foundation. It easy to overlook that when things get busy and there's a ton of rep to work through.  These sentences don't quite capture how much impact his class had on me and all of us!

 EFFICIENT PRACTICE 

•  "It is impossible to reach perfection, but it is our responsibility to try. " - Armando Ghitalla

• Don't waste your notes.

• Double forte is two players playing forte. Triple forte is three players playing forte.  Quality of sound is still essential in fortissimo. Out-of-control blasting is to be avoided.  It also wastes precious energy and doesn't always project.

• He talked about practicing fast articulations with longer notes and a very clear articulation to help the musical line come out.

• His relaxed approach was so shocking, in a good way. He was very at ease which was apparent with his clear powerful yet beautiful sound.

• Practice using slurs or removing them to know how the air flows through the whole passage.

• Sustaining is more effective than over-blowing.  A sustained note projects better than one with only a huge attack. 

• Write out the part. We learn more from re-writing.

MUSICAL MOTIVATION

• He insisted on having something to say every time you pick up your horn. Being able to make people stop and listen is more important than playing technically perfect.

• Play the music like there's no time signature while still playing completely in time. The direction of the line is most important.

• Play the music, not the trumpet. Say something when you play. He recommended Aaron Copland's book, "What to Listen for in Music".

• Play with character.  This was my favorite!  I tend to just read music and try to play what its written, which is right.  Add the performer's character to it. I guess that is interpretation. Tell something to the audience, and convince them! 

• The master class was fascinating for me and I'm pretty sure for my colleagues as well. There are many thoughts I had, but several things that I liked and impacted me were - not having to play too loud, just sustain more, and more support from the section. 

JAMES STAMP METHOD

• Mr. Sullivan helped us understand the Stamp method.  I really liked his discussion about how to properly approach the Stamp concepts/book. Thinking up when down, and down when up, helps to avoid embouchure stress, intonation problems, and fatigue.

• The lost Stampism: play to the stem. Conceptualize the note as being where the stem of the note head is, usually an octave displacement. Do that for high and low notes. In the middle, play to the note heads. 

• Don't relax on the low notes.

• Blow down on the high notes (as from above), and blow up on low notes (as from below)

A trumpet player's greatest need is often the ability to organize practice time efficiently, having a plan, a goal, and a mindset to work.  Wise and inspired daily work seemed to be theme of the day.  Our thanks to Mr. Sullivan for a terrific class! 

This Unexpected Bummer!

There you are, all set to go, and now this!!  Oh, those unexpected and unplanned for bumps in the road that effectively stifle anything productive!  Your "this" can take many forms, be it sudden physical ailments, personnel squabbles, conductor's demands, problematic seating, unfavorable acoustics, unfavorable repertoire, a stuck valve, major fatigue, even a square wheel.  You can fill in the blank, but be sure that some sort of "this" is going to happen somewhere, somehow, sometime.

Success is when you have learned to deal with life's "this's". Good luck with that! Once the little fellow trying to ride his bike gets over his initial anguish, he will think clearly to find a solution.

"Dad? Someone? Help!"

"Son, you know that a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor."

"Swell! Thanks, Dad.  I'd like to see you ride this thing!"

P.S. James 1:2-4

Avoiding the Crash

Wow, what a dream house! There it is in its impressive location, high, mighty, and seemingly impervious to the ravages of nature.  But what happened?

CSO Principal Trumpet Robert Sullivan described well for us in his master class at CCM the tragic picture of glorious beach houses suddenly overcome by hurricane Hugo some years ago.  Although constructed high on stilts, they were quickly destroyed by an inevitable onslaught of wicked weather.  Further inland, it was those basic ancient concrete fortresses that easily withstood the nasty elements.  That vivid image serves to remind us of our dependence on a sturdy foundation.  Daily attending to the state of the structure is our responsibility.

So what is the structure of a multimillion dollar dream house?  Its structure is NOT the lush landscaping, nor the plush expensive decor.  The enviable external facade has its glory for sure, but the lasting structure of any building is unseen and plain, but very strong. 

A trumpet player may have awesome skills and incredible musicianship.  He/she likely has an array of abilities on call for the thrilling of audiences.  But the real value of the player is the strength and endurance of those basic foundational skills that enable great playing.  Those boring bolts, nuts, beams, screws, planks, and nails are all securely fastened to and part of a sturdy immoveable foundation that is rooted way down deep.

The proper use of wind, articulation, and flexibility are just some of those foundational issues that must be restrengthened every day.  They are not necessarily fun to deal with, but when attended to regularly, they free the player to focus solely on music making.  Well worth it, wouldn't you agree?

It is easy to see only on those outward attention grabbers - loud, high, fast, and faster.  Rather it is paying attention to those unglamorous basic foundational elements that marks the great players who overcome obstacles and who are still playing well after the storm.



  

Bad Chop Fix

"What happened?  I could play last night, but now nothing works!  I've been playing up a storm all week, but now this! What's the remedy for this dreaded dead chops disease? HELP!"

Feels like a horrible dream, doesn't it?  Except that when it happens it is all too real, and slapping yourself just makes it worse. Who hasn't awakened at some point with this scary predicament?

Many have their own therapy for such times. Remedies for an over-worked embouchure include taking a few days off, applying ice, massage, acupuncture, sandpaper, blubbering, etc., etc.  Some have even bullied their way through it by beating their chops into submission, not always a good result however, and not recommended.

One of the most effective ways out of this predicament is also an almost instant cure!  It is buzzing the mouthpiece very softly with a clear tone and perfect intonation.  However, you must insist on the following:  You want instant response.  You want it pianissimo.  You want dead-on accurate intonation.  And you also need frequent rests. 

Remember to use very light pressure on the lips as you buzz your soft perfectly-in-tune melodies.  Keep it simple and keep it soft.  No bravura concertos, just pure clean sounds in tune!  Rest and repeat.  Have a good night's sleep.  You won't need to call me in the morning. 

Sound Rules

What good is a very flashy line of music if the sound of most of the notes stinks?  If sound matters, why not try for the same sound quality as the solo in the opening of Pictures at an Exhibition?  Short notes should not get short-changed.  Sound rules.

#1. Play the first note of your passage with your best centered sound and sustain it for a full breath.

#2. Play the same note while fingering the notes of your passage on the lead pipe.

#3. Play that note once again but articulate the passage as one long note with many tongues.

#4. Now slur the passage maintaining your great tone.

#5. Next, play the passage with the correct pitches but with all long notes.

#6. Add some length to the short notes but keep the tone full.

#7. Gradually approach the correct tempo and articulations of your flashy passage with no loss of your full sound on every note.

Flashy is fine, but sound rules.

A Great Lesson

What constitutes a great lesson?  Is it one that leaves you really impressed with your teacher, or one that gets you totally pumped, or is jam packed with detailed information? Impressions, emotions, and information are each important, but can be quickly forgotten. A good lesson is one that immediately improves your playing and that stays with you. Quite simply, if your playing improves on the spot, you just had a great lesson! 

What makes a great student? One that does not require constant jump starts and repetitions of instructions.  He or she is quick to appropriate information and eager to utilize good musical instincts. The turn around time for hearing and doing is amazingly rapid.  Future lessons do not require constant rebuilding.  The lesson studio functions more like a locker room assessment at half time, and less like a hospital clinic.

Think not of spending 4 to 6 years to improve.  Think that school only lasts for a semester.  What can you get done NOW?  It depends on being a great student who is ready to have great lessons. 

What they want to hear

Three things ought to be your focus as you prepare for a performance.  Your audience wants to hear a message, a line, and a pulse.

Be sure of what you want to say.  If your message is only notes, you better not miss any.  But if you can tell a story, that's what they'll hear.  A beautifully phrased line sustains interest, but static notes get stale fast.  A consistent pulse gives stability, but tempos that are all over the place are annoying and rob you of the interest you want to capture. 

So, keep your goals simple:  Say something, go somewhere, and keep it steady.

Say something.  Some sort of programmatic theme should be your focus as your music unfolds.   Bring the listeners along with you.  Exaggerate for drama.  Give yourself completely to the message of each moment.  Play confidently without being cautious.  Look for all the magic moments you can find.  Ensure that the audience receives your message clearly. That's why you're there.

Go somewhere.  Find the high points in the music, and build your performance to make each one special.  Look for the loudest moment, the highest moment, the softest and lowest moment.  Bring out the sumptuous, the bazaar, the elegant, the brutal, and the sweet.  You'll need these highlighted features to mark your performance as legendary.  Go very soft, go very loud, go very dramatic, but always go very something. Ordinary and mundane are not what you want remembered about your work.

Keep it steady.  The mark of immaturity is rushing and unsteady tempos.  Deliver a rhythmically rock solid performance, and everyone will assume you are a seasoned pro. Good rhythm doesn't require great chops.  Just be steady! There's a place for rubato and waxing rhapsodic, but usually not.  Be a metronome and you'll stand out.

Your journey will be fun when you have something to say, somewhere to go, and steadiness in your pursuit.

Avoiding the Whatever Restaurant

Imagine a fine restaurant that had no menus.  There would simply be no balanced or nutritious suggestions ever offered. You just pull up a seat and start ordering any food that comes to mind.  Who needs menus anyway?

Welcome to the Whatever Restaurant. Nibble a little here, chug a little there, and then proceed to bite off way more than is chewable for a couple of hours at a setting.  Sounds like a nasty gorge fest and a recipe for some unanticipated ailments.

The thought is disturbing and absurd of course.  Yet is that not how we often approach our daily practice sessions?  You just pull up a seat and start in on huge helpings of chop-busting gorge fest goodies.  You try a little of this and then a bit of that.  But quickly your session turns into a whole lot of unwise blasting as you shower the air with a multitude of unusable notes.  Soon the chops cry "UNCLE!" and any cringing listeners gasp "NAUSEATING!"

Suggestion:  Don't ever eat at the Whatever Restaurant!  Plan your practice agenda for the day in advance so that your mind rules your session rather than your appetite at the moment.  Do what is needed, not what is fun. Rest between courses. Sow where there are deficiencies, so you will enjoy the reaping later.  Plan your daily menu as well as your weekly menu.  Don't cram a whole bunch of asparagus down in one session.  You get the benefits when it is taken over time.  Don't shun it either.  Include the unpleasantries along with the pleasantries so that you don't gag when they appear on your plate. 

Oh yes, there can be ice cream! But it tastes best when it has been earned and is guilt-free.  PLAN AHEAD!

Fluster-Proof

The word for today is fluster-proof!  It is that skill or temperament that marks you as incapable of being flustered.  Look at you!  No one dares mess with you.  Others are flummoxed, flustered and distracted, but not you.  They quickly sense that you are not to be put into a state of nervous or agitated confusion. Congratulations! You have graduated cum laude with that coveted degree of being unflappable! 

When you are fluster-proof, you are consistently good, dependably outstanding, automatically awesome.  Sounding great is just what happens when you play.  Your whole level of playing is simply better than everyone else.  You woodshed in hard labor just like every other student, but with the difference that you work intelligently just like a pro.  You're a business pro, and there's always brains behind your blow.

So what does this thick-skinned degree mean?  It means that you will not be paranoid or hyper sensitive to others' feelings about your work.  Nerves are not an issue for you because you know exactly what you are to do.  It matters not if it's slow or fast, loud or soft, who is there, or who is not, where you are, or where you're not.  You play music on the trumpet, period. Have trumpet, will perform.

NOTE: You will need this degree for recitals, auditions, performances, interviews, and more importantly for yourself.  You will listen to yourself way more than anyone else will for the rest of your life.  So you must be consistently able to convince yourself that you know what you're doing from the first note of the day to the last encore on the recital.  Don't criticize yourself right off the stage.  Be pleased, and your listeners will be too.   Mr. Fluster has no place in our business!

"Thank you. Next."

"Uh, thank you.  Next." We all know the pain of hearing those words.  For every promising day on the horn, there are seemingly countless days when we have seriously considered "why am I even doing this?" Especially discouraging is that dreaded response from the committee after a horribly played audition.  We interpret that "thank you" to be a pronouncement of "FAILURE!!" Angrily and sadly we pack up our gig bags, and trudge back home. 

Putting emotions aside, the reality is that this unpleasant weaning process does more than just produce finalists for the committee to further traumatize.  It serves to redirect or readjust the paths of those whose fulfillment is to be best found elsewhere.  It also serves to define and refine competitors for future ordeals. 

Retrace the steps of the greats.  If they all quit after their first rude dismissal, who would be left on stage?  Yesterday's lasts are often tomorrow's firsts.  Losses always precede victories.  Nobody waltzes straight to success.  Failures happen.

Consider also the adrenaline and emotions expended as a good basic training program for the toughness required for future performances.  If you can't survive one defeat, you won't do well on stage for a whole career of shows. Pressures can destroy us, redirect us, or strengthen us.  Emotions are real, but they change quickly and shouldn't be our only guide for direction.  

Ultimately failures don't define us.  You are more than a trumpet, or an excerpt, or a well or poorly played solo.  A failing performance pronouncement can be your best prodding for tomorrow.  Expect it and go on. We should learn to process "Thank you. Next" for our good. 

Not Enough Ears

The problem with your practice is that there are simply not enough ears in the room.  Only two is not working out so well for you, is it. That's because they're yours. You need a few famous listeners hanging around your practice room every day.  Will they like what you're doing?  Decide whom would you like to serenade, and play for them accordingly.  Don't be wasting your notes.  Someone is listening.   

Arnold Jacobs did his warming up just down the hall from Maestro Fritz Reiner and numerous other famous visiting conductors.  Why?  Because he wanted the reminder that all of his notes mattered.  Someone important was within earshot.  Don't blow it!  As Mel Broiles used to say, you need always to be performing in the practice room, or else you might not be able to turn it on at show time. Play to impress, or don't bother.

You want the audition to be just another day at the office, don't you?  Great playing is what you do, not what you hope to do someday.  You absolutely don't have to wait four years to get some document that declares you a Bachelor, or a Doctor, or a Performer, or an Artist.  Your only creds are the notes you consistently crank out of that horn.  Are you listening?  

Playing Like a Pig

Is playing like a pig ever acceptable?  Certainly you've been challenged to approach the music as aggressively as a hungry dog with a bone, but have you ever considered unleashing all restraints and going absolutely hog wild after the music?  The results might surprise you.

There lies within each of us a killer instinct that has probably been rendered dormant or extinct, especially after a year or two of conservatory restraining, I mean training.  Too often unchecked enthusiasm has been forbidden rather than nurtured.  Instead of honing a vibrant individualistic style, trumpet players tend to share a generic musically correct monotone with almost every other trumpet player in existence.  How about a nice course in pig-feeding!  Let's begin a project of nurturing that inner pig within you! 

Audition committees prefer aggressive, confident playing to cautious, tentative tiptoeing.  A high degree of technique must be attained without losing the ability to summon instantly that dog-eat-dog, king-of-the-mountain, winner-takes-all competitive mindset.  What makes our prize-winning pig so special is its amazing skill and control, in spite of its obnoxious piggy behavior.  We must train the pig without killing it. 

Envision a thoroughbred race horse with the eating habits of swine in the slop!  You must have the brute force of a Neanderthal, yet with the skill of an Olympic athlete.  You are the elegant and the visceral in one body.  Your front license plate says "CHEETAHS", but your rear plate says "PIGSRUS"!!

Somber, Sacred, and Joyous

Somber, Sacred, and Joyous Christmas Brass Music from the Cincinnati Pops 1989.

Promoting not ourselves here, but the One who has given us all so much.  "O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord."

Listen:

Heralding Brass

A Merry Christmas Season to everyone from the Cincinnati Pops Brass, recorded in 1989.

Listen:

Best Audition I Ever Took

I was walking on air, ready to conquer the world with not a single worry about failure or competitors!  It was one of those precious few windows in time when I owned it all, or so I had conveniently convinced myself.  Ever feel like that?  Nice that it does happen once or twice in a lifetime, hopefully a lot more often, like every week!

Our task is to make it appear to happen every day!  If our feelings  falter, our confidence must not.  The audience must never know that we are not totally thrilled with every single moment of the show.  Success is when you can mask those pesky competing emotions.  Success is having practiced to the point where you can convince yourself and your listeners that there is nothing at all wrong with this picture.

Now back to that marvelous audition.  The neat thing about it was that for much of my journey, my trumpet was not needed. Listening and visualizing the performance is more important than lip slurs and long tones.  Great strides can happen when there is no obstacle in hand to thwart your merry jaunt.  Of course the grunt work of rehearsing and practice had long since been my routine. There is always time to take a deep breath, however, and to enjoy the fruits of all the laboring. Now to scale the summit, nail the finals, and on to win the job!

So, what's the key after all you can do has been done?  Put the horn down and sing it perfectly.  Create all the energy, rhythm, and character of the music with your feeble voice.  Be able to drop in on the exact mood of each excerpt with no hesitation.  All musical instincts must be on high alert.  The committee calls for the piece, we deliver the music.  We are to produce the product as easily and naturally as reaching out to catch a tossed pencil.

(Way too much rambling here, but that tends to happen when the future is in the past.)  To the point: sing it to win it!  Score highly on rhythm, dynamics, and character, all with really nice intonation.  When you can dazzle without the horn, you are then free to sizzle with it.  The horn is the final piece of your musical puzzle.  If all those prior pieces are in place, the horn will fit nicely into position. 

That audition was fun, not a nerve-fest.  It was simply a special-delivery day.  It was how I had always imagined it would be in high school back in NJ sitting in my room practicing and dreaming.  Have we lost the wonderment of our profession?  Do we finish conservatory only to burn out and hate our work?

Am I still too dreamy and unrealistic?  Yes.  But why not give ourselves to recapturing the romance we once had with music?  Our jobs and our audiences depend on it.

Wallpaper?

You dutifully open your Arban Complete Conservatory Method to pages 142 through 151 to begin work on your lesson assignment.  Anticipating dazzling solo material full of triple-tonguing pyrotechnics and flourishes of cornet heroism, you instead are greatly disappointed to discover only repeated boring wallpaper designs!  Groan . . . grumble . . . close book!!

You ask, "What does great music have to do with these endless patterns of boredom?  Or vise versa? Why must I practice these same uninspired measures in every single key! I turn the page and there they are again in minor, then once again in dominant sevenths.  The next page has even more drudgery in diminished insanity! How dull is this picture!"

Quite dull indeed, if that's how you want to think of it.  You must learn to thrive on the architecture of music as well as the drama. Theory matters. Arpeggios are to music what steel girders are to skyscrapers.  Without the ability to arpeggiate in all keys, performers would be severely handicapped.

How boring if all music had to be confined to C major simply because musicians could not handle any other keys.  "Sorry, Johann, we can't publish any of your Brandenburg Concertos because of the key signatures.  Ludwig, you are not allowed to delve into any of those foreign keys.  Such extremes will only flummox, dumbfound, and bewilder the musicians."  

For peace of mind and confidence, own arpeggios in all keys.  You will not have time to read every note of those fast-approaching arps in context of solos and orchestral music.  Welcome the "worst" keys imaginable and conquer them.  Make it a game.  Vacchiano would offer money to anyone who could play the one-line g sharp diminished seventh study on page 149 of the Arban book without a mistake.  Apparently he never had to fork over any money to any challenging student!  Amazing.     

Is it wallpaper or music? 

Hanging with Fred Mills

It was 1970 something, and our yearly tour to NY!  That meant that at the first free moment I was off to Giardinelli's Band Instruments to try every trumpet in the store.  My purpose was to pick a winner, (and also to impress everyone within earshot.  You know how brass players think, or don't.)

Something about that famous place invited a dangerous overload of all competitive juices.  Common sense had a way of disappearing as soon as you entered the building. There was more showing off at Giardinelli's than anything else, sadly. Anyway, it was worth all the blasting, for by the end of the day I had discovered a nice new prize to take home. 

Something else happened however that was more memorable than my new trumpet. Soon after I began trying instruments, the door to that tiny trial room opened, and in walked Fred Mills of the Canadian Brass.  He quietly said, "Hi, Phil. Mind if I listen?"   He sat in the corner for a long time observing intently as I proceeded to blow out both lips and brains.  I was pretty sure he was amazed, but not for the reasons I imagined.

After a while I began to tire, having sprayed the room with every excerpt and solo lick I knew.  He got to hear me plow through oft repeated strains of Heldenleben, Aida, Mahler 5, Don Juan, Hummel and Loeillet Concertos, and anything else I could possibly think of.

Finally I asked if he wanted to play.  He shrugged, picked up a horn and began to play soft, perfectly clean and totally controlled scales and arpeggios.  He only played briefly, but the finesse was amazing for me to hear.  Somehow I had neglected to test and practice those vital elements of music-making.

I was given a very valuable and free lesson that day.  In his own humble way Fred Mills had just taken me to school.  "Here, I think I like this one the best," he said.  He handed it back, grinned, and left.  Great playing is not so much about the boldest blaster, but about the most controlled and versatile musician.  And that was Fred to a tee.  Lesson learned.

(See other post on Fred Mills in blog dated September 8, 2009.) 

Petroushka Ballerina Dance and Waltz

Ballerina Dance and Waltz from Stravinsky's Petroushka

Listen

Solos at 2:50 through 5:45

Snare Drum: Bill Platt

Britten - Trumpets from Young Persons Guide

Young Person's Guide, Variation K - Trumpets

Listen  

Snare Drum: Bill Platt 

Avoiding the Barrels

Caution: You are approaching orange barrels.  Slow down!

Following your macho instincts instead of your intellect, you disregard the highway warning signs to reduce your speed.  Instead you begin swerving recklessly between as many barrels as possible.  Impressive moves, but dangerous.  An eventual glance in the rear view mirror reveals a lot more bumped and smashed barrels in your wake than you realized.  Nevertheless with a carefree shrug, you proceed unfazed at your frantic pace.

At the end of your speedy meanderings however, a traffic ticket awaits you. Rushing carelessly on the audition or performance stage also has unpleasant consequences. In both situations the lesson is clear.  Slow down to avoid destruction, be it barrels, notes, or chops!

You can't be driving treacherously at 75 mph in busy congested areas, nor can you consistently blast your way through tough passages at great neck speeds.  The results are not good: "Here's your $75 speeding ticket!"  Even worse: "Thank you. Next."  Or, "Here's your pink slip!"

Slow down so your brain has a chance to catch up. Muscles remember well, so train them for dependability, not foolish risk-taking.  Train for drama, not trauma.