TromboneChat

I'm really proud of this recording from a solo residency at Duke last year. Exploring what it means to make vulnerable sounds on a brass instrument has been on my mind a lot lately, and this work by Tyler Jordan really let me lean into that world.

I've been finding in new music land that vulnerable and noisy sounds are often accepted from strings, woodwinds, and voice, but brass is still more often than not reduced to a right or wrong quality. There are obvious exceptions, as players like Mattie and their duo partner Weston spend time within this area as well, but it still pretty far from the norm.

I really enjoyed getting to push my own emotional boundaries with this piece, and if you feel like commenting just to say you don't like it, I'd kindly ask that you just listen to the second piece instead, which is a lovely Lament in D Minor by Alec Lawson, one of my students at OU and also a fine composer on the traditional side.

It's always been my view that experimental vs. classical (or jazz or commercial or etc...) technique is a false diachotemy, and that one shouldn't have to give up specific genres on order to access others.

Thank you for sharing the experimental piece! On digging around to find other work by Tyler Jordan I quickly caught a glimpse into a whole 'nother world I didn't knew existed, particularity with their level of rigor.

From your comment, "brass is still more often than not reduced to a right or wrong quality" do you mean in terms of compositions for brass or the execution of a work? Where exactly is that qualitative assessment in an experimental piece like this? The level of proficiency required here is really demanding, and from my ears you totally sell it and have every right to be proud of this work.

I listened to the recording a couple of times, and I have a couple of technical questions too. Do you think the perception of this piece would change in a dry room vs one so reverberant? Also, about halfway through where you are in the pedal range there's big gulps of air, are aspects like that called out or specifically notated? I honestly thought that they were absolutely stellar on the recording because it connected a deeper human element into the performance.

Thanks for posting. I found the first piece fascinating, and my spouse loved it, too. We both found it plaintive. Neither of us has listened to the Lawson, yet. I listened trying to imagine the work and technique that goes into playing something like that, interpreting it, bringing it to life. Respect.

As for genres, they're all artificial, aren't they? People have just divided music up into categories for their own purposes and conventions. It's not as if they've discovered something new. It's not as if one box is inherently more musically virtuous than any other. It's still all music. The divisions say less about the music and more about the people doing the dividing. I wish there were fewer lines drawn and more blending, more freedom, more creative license. The very categories themselves stifle creativity, IMHO.