plumperstrunt

From the wisdom of Chris - Pt. 2

Mon, 16 May 2011 14:30:02 +0200

A guy calls the musician’s guild to get a quote on a six piece band for a wedding. The rep says “Off the top of my head, about two thousand dollars”. He says “WHAT? FOR MUSIC?” The rep responds “I’ll tell you what: call the plumbers’ union and ask for six plumbers to work from 6 to 12 o’clock on a saturday night. Whatever they charge you, we’ll play for half.” “I get your point” he said…

Check out Part 1.

UPCOMING

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:30:00 +0100

Saxophonquartett VIERUNG

Fr., 25.03.2011, 20:00 in der St. Marien-Kirche, Schulstr. 8, 24881 Nübel

(link)

Ein bisschen schnell auf dem Weg nach Berlin (by Marc Loehrwald)

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:46:15 +0100

Ein bisschen schnell auf dem Weg nach Berlin (by Marc Loehrwald)

All Nite Soul - Honoring Frank Wess (by Ed Berger)

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:28:45 +0200

All Nite Soul - Honoring Frank Wess (by Ed Berger)

Bob Reynolds did it again: Creep - Radiohead

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:51:00 +0200

Bob Reynolds did it again: Creep - Radiohead

"Just a normal day for an Intel CEO Intel CEO: “We need antivirus, can someone buy me..."

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:43:00 +0200

“

Just a normal day for an Intel CEO

Intel CEO: “We need antivirus, can someone buy me McAfee?” Few hours later: “Done.” “Great, which version?” “Version … ?”

”

- Just a normal day for an Intel CEO

Ich mag das ja immer noch! :-) An der Elbe (by loehrwald)

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:34:25 +0200

Ich mag das ja immer noch! :-)

An der Elbe (by loehrwald)

Bob Reynolds doing a Timbaland thing. Großartig, wie immer!!!

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:04:40 +0200

Bob Reynolds doing a Timbaland thing.

Großartig, wie immer!!!

From the wisdom of Chris

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:18:45 +0200

• “Technique” is primarily how you do something, not just how fast you so something.
• Find places to play with, hear, meet and study with musicians who create/perform music the way you’d someday like to.
• Soft music should have the same intensity as music played loudly, only it should sound very far away.
• Listen more closely to the sounds around you than forcing your sound on everyone around you. A variation on this idea: seek to understand, then seek to be understood.
• Seemlingly complicated tasks often turn out to be a series of simple tasks.
• Practice in order to make playing music on your instrument easier and more natural. Strive for the simple solutions, they tend to “stick” better.
• Your tongue should ride a continuous flow of air.
• LET the music happen when you play. Consider yourself a free-flowing conduit for Music, not necessarily some vessel containing some mysterious untapped “source” of that music.
• Remember to practice “simple” things with a commitment to their performance, not just as a part of your “warm up”.
• Great players are easily identified by one or two notes.
• Practice listening. Listen for the “inside” sounds. Listen to bass lines, counter melodies, percussion parts etc, etc. How does it all fit together? Sing what you hear, write things down occasionally. Commit to always being a better listener—this skill might save your life one day; musically and/or otherwise!
• Play this little game every day:
Hear it—->Sing it—->Buzz it——>Play it
• Play relaxed. Let tension go. Take inventory of tension every 15 minutes of every practice session. TAKE BREAKS!! Think of breaks as a part of your routine. Your body needs to re-boot once in a while! “Breathe” your way into a more relaxed state.
• “Perform” when you practice. Imagine yourself performing every note for a critical audience. Tape record yourself occasionally to create this environment.
• Developing skills as a brass instrumentalist is more about developing co-ordination than just building strength. Endurance is a combination of co-ordination and strength.
• Airflow is mainly constant from register to register. The direction and the volume of that airstream are the most important ways the air changes in and out of each register.
• Play everything with a sense of time, even rubato.
• Warm air and cool air each has its own place in music.
• The note starts in the air and lips, not the tongue. The tongue is the time-keeper.
• Project sound/music at all times, and at all dynamics.
• Your breath when you play should approximate your breath when you are NOT playing.
• Play everything with “IN-tention”, not “in TENSION”!
• Blow THROUGH every note, not just FROM note to note.
• Strive to communicate something in a group of notes [phrases], tell stories in sound.
• Be curious. Try new musical ideas for the heck of it. Switch an etude into different keys/clefs. Shift your warm ups and scale practice an eighth note earlier/later. Does “stacatto” in a Brahms Symphony mean the same thing as “stacatto” in a Sammy Nestico big band chart? Don’t be afraid to ask “why?”, “what if” and “why NOT”?
• On unison passages, listen more closely to your neighbors than to yourself.
• Be a time-keeper. Don’t totally rely on conductors, metronomes and rhythm sections. Be more PRO-ACTIVE with time, less RE-ACTIVE.
• Be in the flow of the music even when you are not playing at a given time in a piece. Consider yourself as a part of the musical flow even when you are not playing, the more into that flow you will be when you do play. Trombone sections are often late because they are not IN the music coming out of rests. Be your own “rhythm section”.
• Music is a language. Scales and chords are its vocabulary. Melodies are its sentences. Great pieces of music are prose and literature.

Photograph of F (via loehrwald)

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:06:38 +0200

Photograph of F (via loehrwald)

Probe Photograph of F (via loehrwald)

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:06:09 +0200

Probe Photograph of F (via loehrwald)

Fotos von unserem Abend im Schmidt.

Tue, 25 May 2010 12:57:57 +0200

Fotos von unserem Abend im Schmidt.

Upcoming

Thu, 06 May 2010 21:40:38 +0200

HORST J. GONZALES & DAS ORIGINAL-TIVOLI-ORCHESTER

„Sklaven von Rhythmus und Lust“
Montag, 10.5.2010 um 20:00 im Schmidt Theater

Get off my Road!!! (via loehrwald)

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:07:59 +0200

Get off my Road!!! (via loehrwald)

UPCOMING: HORST J. GONZALES & DAS ORIGINAL-TIVOLI-ORCHESTER „Sklaven von Rhythmus und Lust“

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:45:19 +0200

am 10.05.2010 im Schmidt Theater!

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:54:49 +0100

“Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.”

- Groucho Marx

Energie St. Pauli: Der Schatto-Pauli-Song

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:28:16 +0100

Energie St. Pauli: Der Schatto-Pauli-Song

Deep Vacation Slow Practice by David H. Thomas

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:34:41 +0100

November 27th, 2009

Several days visiting my father in Charleston, SC has allowed me the time to explore the edges of my technique. Relishing the open schedule, and sunny warmth of South Carolina, I had a great practice session yesterday. I always begin with slow scales.

Slow scales (quarter notes @ 60 or slower) allow one to connect all ranges of the instrument with full, legato air, smooth fingers moving “on the air”, and to standardize voicing through out the ranges. I start with mezzo-forte to warm up, and then mix in some forte and pianissimo. I often add some extremely legato tonguing, to test tongue position and tonguing “on the air”.

After moving through half the circle of keys, I switched to broken scales, in sixteenths, and also sextuplets. Broken scales are a great way to focus finger motions and fine tune concentration. Playing broken scales (both in groups of 4 and 3) without music is excellent for finger/mind concentration.

I then moved to measured trill exercises with a metronome, at least one for each finger motion. Starting slowly, half notes, and moving through all rhythms, to 32nd notes, making sure to keep the pulse clear without tensing the hand or the body. Measured trill exercises are one of the best ways to develop finger discipline, and also to develop subtle awareness of high speed finger rhythm and pulse. Staying aware of the beginning of each group of 32nd can be tricky at high speeds. Try not to accent to hear the note better. Play at a softer dynamic and “tune” your ear into the rhythm and notes to keep track of the number of motions. I also switch beginning notes to the top one (instead of the bottom one) to emphasize the other note pulse.

During all this, I work (but you don’t have to) on circular breathing, quality of breathing, voicing, embouchure, extreme high range. The main goal is pure legato and even-ness of tone throughout the range.

David’s Post

WBGO Photoblog » Snooky Young and Frank Wess

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:08:32 +0100

WBGO Photoblog » Snooky Young and Frank Wess

Skrippi bei der Arbeit (via max_hh)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:49:51 +0100

Skrippi bei der Arbeit (via max_hh)