Non-brass Influences
- bitbckt
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Non-brass Influences
I’m curious to hear from you all as to the schools of thought developed outside of the usual brass-centric pedagogy discussed around here that you find influential.
I’ve been reading (well, re-reading, but it’s been awhile) Tabuteau’s thoughts on phrasing, which inspires this topic.
What non-brass teachers or methods altered your approach to musicality in lasting ways?
I’ve been reading (well, re-reading, but it’s been awhile) Tabuteau’s thoughts on phrasing, which inspires this topic.
What non-brass teachers or methods altered your approach to musicality in lasting ways?
- WilliamLang
- Posts: 417
- Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 6:12 pm
Re: Non-brass Influences
Tabuteau is such a great resource!
William Lang
Interim Instructor, the University of Oklahoma
Stephens Horns Artist
Long Island Brass Artist
faculty, the Longy School of Music
founding member of loadbang
www.williamlang.org
Interim Instructor, the University of Oklahoma
Stephens Horns Artist
Long Island Brass Artist
faculty, the Longy School of Music
founding member of loadbang
www.williamlang.org
- LeTromboniste
- Posts: 1034
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Re: Non-brass Influences
In no particular order:
-My voice teachers and a few singers I've worked with;
-Lessons with, playing alongside and/or listening to great cornettists, in particular Bruce Dickey and Josue Melendez;
-Having lessons with and listening to players of bowed bass instruments, as well as the little experience I had studying violone as a secondary instrument.
-Having my teacher Charles Toet (a quite decent continuo player but by not a professional organist) play along in lessons on organ, where he could point out all the ways in which what I played related to the accompaniment, and which also meant everything had to be phrased really clearly, since he wouldn't catch me when I wasn't clear as easily as a professional accompanist would have.
-The insanely expressive ideas, metaphors and conducting technique of my undergrad university orchestra conductor.
-My voice teachers and a few singers I've worked with;
-Lessons with, playing alongside and/or listening to great cornettists, in particular Bruce Dickey and Josue Melendez;
-Having lessons with and listening to players of bowed bass instruments, as well as the little experience I had studying violone as a secondary instrument.
-Having my teacher Charles Toet (a quite decent continuo player but by not a professional organist) play along in lessons on organ, where he could point out all the ways in which what I played related to the accompaniment, and which also meant everything had to be phrased really clearly, since he wouldn't catch me when I wasn't clear as easily as a professional accompanist would have.
-The insanely expressive ideas, metaphors and conducting technique of my undergrad university orchestra conductor.
Maximilien Brisson
www.maximilienbrisson.com
Lecturer for baroque trombone,
Hfk Bremen/University of the Arts Bremen
www.maximilienbrisson.com
Lecturer for baroque trombone,
Hfk Bremen/University of the Arts Bremen
-
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Re: Non-brass Influences
Not teachers so much as listening influences, non-brass influences:
- E. Power Biggs on the pipe organ
- blues and R&B singers from the 50s - 70s
- Parkening and Segovia on the guitar
- E. Power Biggs on the pipe organ
- blues and R&B singers from the 50s - 70s
- Parkening and Segovia on the guitar
-
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Re: Non-brass Influences
Frank Sinatra (and other singers)
Some cello recordings. Elgar concerto is sooo great
Some very few conductors and band leaders, often not so much on specific and concrete musical advice, but on some more general thoughts about music and how to approach it, as well as some with a real role model function in how they lead the orchestra.
Some cello recordings. Elgar concerto is sooo great
Some very few conductors and band leaders, often not so much on specific and concrete musical advice, but on some more general thoughts about music and how to approach it, as well as some with a real role model function in how they lead the orchestra.
Markus Starke
https://www.mst-studio-mouthpieces.com/
Alto: Conn 35h, Kanstul, Weril
Tenor: 2x Conn 6h, Blessing medium, Elkhart 88H, 88HT, Greenhoe 88HT, Heckel, Piering replica
Bass: Conn 112h/62h, Greenhoe TIS, Conn 60h/"62h"
https://www.mst-studio-mouthpieces.com/
Alto: Conn 35h, Kanstul, Weril
Tenor: 2x Conn 6h, Blessing medium, Elkhart 88H, 88HT, Greenhoe 88HT, Heckel, Piering replica
Bass: Conn 112h/62h, Greenhoe TIS, Conn 60h/"62h"
- Wilktone
- Posts: 435
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- Location: Asheville, NC
- Contact:
Re: Non-brass Influences
I like to get ideas and advice from a wide range of musical, and non-musical sources. One great resource is the Bulletproof Musician. It's both a web site and podcast that takes a look at being better at practice and performance, focusing on research-based approaches borrowed from music and athletic sources.
https://bulletproofmusician.com
https://bulletproofmusician.com
- bitbckt
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- tbdana
- Posts: 251
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Re: Non-brass Influences
I learned to play jazz from Charlie Shoemake, a vibraphonist.
- harrisonreed
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Re: Non-brass Influences
Ado's somewhat unhinged and otherworldly vocals have left an impression on me. I wouldn't mind playing melodies like how she can sing them.
-
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Re: Non-brass Influences
The famous baritone of The Metropolitan Opera, Leonard Warren, with his perfect diction atop a constantly flowing stream of gorgeous sound. He demonstrated the best example of legato technique that can easily be transferred to the trombone. I would play his version of "Colorado Trail" for my students when all other explanations failed ! It is reported that he couldn't read music !!!! ![Amazed :amazed:](./images/smilies/amazed.gif)
![Amazed :amazed:](./images/smilies/amazed.gif)
- Mr412
- Posts: 115
- Joined: Fri May 20, 2022 5:57 am
Re: Non-brass Influences
I suspect it will get ridiculed, but I love how this guy plays, with his old-school Nashville sound:
Come to think of it, does a sax actually transition between reed and brass?
Come to think of it, does a sax actually transition between reed and brass?
-
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Re: Non-brass Influences
Some non-brass musicians I find inspiring, off the top of my head:
Glenn Gould
Eddie Van Halen
Jaco Pastorius
John Bonham on one side and Stewart Copeland on the other
Ella Fitzgerald
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
James Jamerson
Glenn Gould
Eddie Van Halen
Jaco Pastorius
John Bonham on one side and Stewart Copeland on the other
Ella Fitzgerald
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
James Jamerson
Gabe Rice
Faculty
Boston University School of Music
Kinhaven Music School Senior Session
Bass Trombonist
Hartford Symphony Orchestra
Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra
Vermont Symphony Orchestra
Faculty
Boston University School of Music
Kinhaven Music School Senior Session
Bass Trombonist
Hartford Symphony Orchestra
Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra
Vermont Symphony Orchestra
-
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Re: Non-brass Influences
The Kepler Quartet recordings of the complete Ben Johnston string quartets. This cycle really opens one's ears up to the rich possibilities of harmony that standard practice just skirts around, if at all. Especially this crazy, crazy "solemn" movement here:
Yes, I have the score for this.
No, I don't understand most of it.
Yes, I have the score for this.
No, I don't understand most of it.
“All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.”
- Thelonious Monk
- Thelonious Monk
-
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- Location: Canada
Re: Non-brass Influences
Obviously based on Tabuteau(so I’m not sure how different you’d find it) but I really enjoyed David McGill’s “Sound in Motion”.
- ghmerrill
- Posts: 585
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- Location: Central North Carolina
Re: Non-brass Influences
Yikes! I used to play his "Yakety Sax" a lot when I was in high school -- on a tenor sax, of course. With a brass Wolf Tane mouthpiece.
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Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb tuba
Mack Brass Compensating Euph
Amati Oval Euph
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone
DE LB K/K9/112 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Bach 12c)
Wessex EEb tuba
Mack Brass Compensating Euph
Amati Oval Euph
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone
DE LB K/K9/112 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Bach 12c)
- Mr412
- Posts: 115
- Joined: Fri May 20, 2022 5:57 am
Re: Non-brass Influences
Yes, he is perhaps best known for his "Yakety Sax". That was certainly novel, but I like him as a sentimental balladeer.
- ghmerrill
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- Location: Central North Carolina
Re: Non-brass Influences
The "Yakety Sax" was pretty "trivial"? A show-off piece.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb tuba
Mack Brass Compensating Euph
Amati Oval Euph
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone
DE LB K/K9/112 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Bach 12c)
Wessex EEb tuba
Mack Brass Compensating Euph
Amati Oval Euph
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone
DE LB K/K9/112 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Bach 12c)
- bitbckt
- Posts: 84
- Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:41 am
- Location: Maine
Re: Non-brass Influences
Yup, great book, largely an extension of the same ideas. “Note Grouping” is another treatment, but is less accessible.
This thread didn’t go quite where I’d hoped. I was hoping for more specific attributes/ideas that changed your music - something a little deeper than the subject line - but I got what I paid for.
-
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- Location: Canada
Re: Non-brass Influences
I’ll have to give Sound in Motion another read( and check out Note Grouping), but the discussion of how to phrase the Valkeries motif felt revolutionary when I first read it. It certainly made me notice how often I phrased things for ease or mechanics, or even on some sort of flawed autopilot.This thread didn’t go quite where I’d hoped. I was hoping for more specific attributes/ideas that changed your music - something a little deeper than the subject line - but I got what I paid for.
- Doug Elliott
- Posts: 3005
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- Location: Maryand
Re: Non-brass Influences
For phrasing and rhythm:
Frank Sinatra
Judy Garland
Gladys Knight
Eva Cassidy
Frank Sinatra
Judy Garland
Gladys Knight
Eva Cassidy
"I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two."
-
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Re: Non-brass Influences
Benjamin Zander’s wrote a book in partnership with his wife, Rosamund Stone Zander, called the Art of Possibility that has influenced me a lot. It’s not written for musicians, but Benjamin Zander talks about many of his life experiences and how we can live unrestrained by ourselves. Great thoughts for music and beyond.
Seymour Bernstein had some fabulous videos out on YouTube with ToneBase that have been very inspiring. He oozes music and it’s contagious. So much to learn from how he explains his view of music. He seems to be an incredibly real and humane person, which is inspiring in its own way. Seymour Beenstein has also talked quite vulnerably about his struggles with performance anxiety and his take is, for me, some of the best advice I’ve heard in that regard.
Seymour Bernstein had some fabulous videos out on YouTube with ToneBase that have been very inspiring. He oozes music and it’s contagious. So much to learn from how he explains his view of music. He seems to be an incredibly real and humane person, which is inspiring in its own way. Seymour Beenstein has also talked quite vulnerably about his struggles with performance anxiety and his take is, for me, some of the best advice I’ve heard in that regard.
- bitbckt
- Posts: 84
- Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:41 am
- Location: Maine
Re: Non-brass Influences
I’ll check them out, thanks gfunk.
When I was young and playing juries &c. I had some anxiety issues that were helped by the “Inner Game of Music” and Alexander Technique. I’m well past those issues now, but it can be crippling. The beta blocker candy store never appealed to me as a solution, but some peers did get through it chemically, so to speak. I’m always interested in how people have overcome those barriers. Thanks again.
When I was young and playing juries &c. I had some anxiety issues that were helped by the “Inner Game of Music” and Alexander Technique. I’m well past those issues now, but it can be crippling. The beta blocker candy store never appealed to me as a solution, but some peers did get through it chemically, so to speak. I’m always interested in how people have overcome those barriers. Thanks again.
- bitbckt
- Posts: 84
- Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:41 am
- Location: Maine
Re: Non-brass Influences
Following up to say that I picked up a copy of “With Your Own Two Hands” based on this comment, and am enjoying the read.Gfunk wrote: ↑Sun Feb 25, 2024 9:19 am Seymour Bernstein had some fabulous videos out on YouTube with ToneBase that have been very inspiring. He oozes music and it’s contagious. So much to learn from how he explains his view of music. He seems to be an incredibly real and humane person, which is inspiring in its own way. Seymour Beenstein has also talked quite vulnerably about his struggles with performance anxiety and his take is, for me, some of the best advice I’ve heard in that regard.
![Good :good:](./images/smilies/good.gif)