Thoughts on music, trumpet playing, and education from Eric M. Berlin, Professor of Trumpet at the University of Massachusetts and Principal Trumpet of the Albany Symphony and Boston Philharmonic Orchestras.
A few weeks ago, I took part in a remarkable event. Members of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sheep Island Ensemble and local Boston music students gathered to perform Stravinsky's Rite of Spring for a "Dance Party" to raise money for an organization called Music for Foodwhich supports local food banks. This event in itself is worthy of discussion and may be the subject of a separate post, but what I want to talk about is the performance of the piece itself.
As the orchestra was donating a large portion of their time, we put this together in a single rehearsal preceding the event. What was most striking to me was the fact that this huge orchestra under the direction of James Blachley read it through and hung together in the Danse Sacrale even though a large number of folks (students and pros) were playing it for the first time.
How wonderful that such complexity of rhythm has become part of our language!
I remember my first time through the Rite. I was still a student member of the Boston Philharmonic when we performed it in 1991 (you can still buy the commercial recording we made). Playing 4th trumpet, I held on by my fingernails trying to decipher the strange time signatures that kept changing bar after bar. Ben Zander found a piano roll which Stravinsky created and we did our best to adhere to his fast tempos for this recording. What a terrifying but exhilarating ride! By the end I could feel the groove and ever since, it feels like a comfortable glove that feels better every time I put it on.
As a child growing up in the 70's and 80's with with YES and Rush on the radio jamming in complex meters, and of course Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" already part of our cannon, it was still difficult for me in those first rehearsals, even after a conservatory education. What must it have been like in 1913 for musicians whose most complex rhythmic adventure would be the waltz in 5/4 in Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony!
So, I see the Rite of Spring as a good way to measure my own progress and also watching young performers master it with increasing ease, as a measure of our overall progress. I am happy with what I see.
What will be the mind benders of today which will remain in the repertoire 100 years from now and how easy will it be for those who will come to take our places? My first thought is John Adams Nixon in China. About a decade ago, Boston Modern Orchestra Project performed this at the Majestic Theater. Sitting in the pit with Jeffrey Work and Terry Everson behind a bobbing and weaving sax section, I had never concentrated so hard for so long. What a rush that was, and absolutely worth the trouble.
Imagine for a moment if Stravinsky was alive today, what would he write to keep us dancing on the edge?!
I recently filled in on principal with a major full-time orchestra for a Pops show. The guest artist did a very entertaining broadway show which allowed me to enjoy my inner lead trumpet. Many things in my career are unique and one of them is that none of my orchestras have a regular pops series. Unlike most orchestras, those with whom I perform have rather specific mission driven programing. We concentrate on contemporary music in Albany Symphony and Boston Modern Orchestra Project and big romantic orchestral rep in Boston Philharmonic, so this was a real blast for me.
This post was spurred by a brief conversation with a fellow sub. As we talked about what we did, he asked:
"Do you play classical or commercial?"
That he had to ask was a wonderful compliment and I thanked him. Unfortunately, young classical players able to play convincingly in a commercial style have become more and more rare.
Commercial styles are a different language - there are accepted norms about rhythms and articulations which are not apparent on the printed page. The sound and range demanded often call for different equipment. Playing a convincing Harry James solo or playing an Earth Wind and Fire arrangement are totally different skills than playing Bruckner and Beethoven. Even in my own studio at UMass, I have had trouble convincing some players that they NEED to have these styles as part of their toolbox.
Many people may not realize that for most of my youth, a career as a classical musician was not really on my radar. My plan was to become the next Doc Severinsen/Maynard Ferguson/Conrad Gozzo/Harry James/Herb Alpert/Al Hirt/Chuck Mangione. Wynton Marsalis's double GRAMMY nomination opened my eyes to my eventual path in classical music, but I was still mostly playing in the commercial realm. I loved playing in my high school jazz band as well as some professional groups on occasion and loved playing musicals. Among my most treasured outlets was fall marching band season when I could stand before hundreds and wail some high note solo.
I tried to maintain both sides of my playing at NEC by splitting my practice sessions between classical and commercial as well as playing in George Russell's big band. What a rush playing those charts with the man himself! Before graduating from high school, I copied my entire big band lead trumpet book. I devoted some time throughout the week just reading through these. I even took a "Jazz Ear Training" course as an elective. While still a student, I began to work playing shows and even played in a salsa band that performed in a now defunct latin club nearby called the Taurus.
When I got out of school, all of this commercial experience paid off. Unemployed with a performance degree, I needed to be able to take anything that came my way. For most of my 20s, this included precious little orchestral work, but lots of wedding bands, musicals, a few big band gigs and some of the commercial orchestral work backing touring headliners and rock bands like Yes. I became known as a "classical" player that could be convincing in that setting. I credit a huge career boost to a random free rehearsal big band that I played in for kicks. It was there that I met an important lead trumpeter and contractor who would provide a significant amount of employment for years. He was glad to see someone who would play both sides and loved commercial playing enough to do it for free.
For anyone seeking a career as an orchestral player, look at the schedules for the orchestras that you aim for. See how large a portion of their year is devoted to "Pops". It is a significant money maker that supports the core orchestral masterworks programming that you hope to play. The demands of any orchestral job will be heavy enough that you will not want to cram to learn how to play a Sinatra act sandwiched between weeks of Beethoven 9 and Mahler 5.
While you are in school, make sure that you take advantage of the opportunities to speak this language. Although they will be useful, you don't need to have killer improvisation skills (I don't) but make sure that you play in the big band. Connecting with people who make music in a different way can help to open up some of the blocks we put in our own way as classical performers.
As a case in point, I remember one very important lesson from Charlie Schlueter during my first year in Albany. We had a crazy week with Also Sprach Zarathustra and Planets on the same program (Planets first...) As I stressed incessantly about all of the high Cs, he called me on the ridiculousness of my worry and solved the problem with:
"When is the last time you worried about a high D on your Bb trumpet in big band?"
So, be prepared to take any work that shows up and do a convincing job of it. Freelancing is the most probable career path for at least a part of our career. From brass quintets to broadway pits, you will have to swing both directions. If you do land your coveted orchestral job, know that pops conductors are interested in making their time in front of the orchestra as painless as possible on everyone. They don't want to teach you how to play the style on your colleague's time. Don't be the one player that your pops conductor badmouths around the country. Besides, once you learn the style, it really can be a load of fun. Enjoy!
(My apologies for letting this post sit in my drafts...)
Friday afternoon December 5, I was sitting at Starbucks in Lincoln Center occasionally hitting the refresh button on my browser window set to the LA Times Grammy announcements. Throughout the day, categories were announced in short bursts every 30minutes or so. All of a sudden the entire remaining categories were posted all at once. As I continued to scroll down the page, I got closer and closer to the one I was waiting to see, Category 81 "Contemporary Classical Composition".
I burst into tears, sobbing so loudly that a woman came over with a handful of brown Starbucks napkins and asked if I was ok. I called my wife immediately to share the news and she could hardly understand my words through my tears. Let me explain a a bit of what is behind these tears.
Stephen Paulus was one of the sweetest men in classical music. Without fanfare, he compiled a catalog of 500 beautifully crafted works of soul touching beauty for chorus, chamber ensembles, orchestra and several critically acclaimed operas. At the same time, he was championing the works of ALL contemporary composers through his founding of the American Composers Forum. That he passed away before being able to walk the red carpet and to enjoy this honor in person is a shame.
The entire disc "Fantastique" was conceived to center around this one remarkable work. Once introduced to it, I became totally enthralled and it became a mission to get it performed and recorded. In clustering several other wonderful works from less well known (at the time) composers around it, my hope was to gain exposure for everyone else involved; composers, soloists, conductor and students. Little did I suspect that the faculty and students of University of Massachusetts would ever reach such a large audience.
I am so very proud of our students who performed so valiantly on this entire project under difficult time pressures and more. Congratulations! To my co-soloists, thank you so much for sharing your artistry. To our conductor James Patrick Miller, thanks for taking the leap of faith to embrace this project even before your first rehearsal!
I am often asked for advice by my former students as they go out in the world and find the difficult decisions that are often put to us. My advice most often is to "stay true to the music and the rest will take care of itself." In this project, which was 10 years in the making, I did just that. I believed in the product of Stephen's soul and of all four remarkable composers featured on the disc. It seems that the music has taken care of itself.
Stephen, I again mourn your passing and hope that the Academy sees fit to honor you on February 8 with the actual GRAMMY Award. Fingers crossed and we have you in our hearts.
It was my great pleasure to be interviewed by Henry Fogel (yes, that Henry Fogel!) for Fanfare Magazine. It was spurred by his interest in the new disc "Fantastique" which he reviewed, but was a wonderful opportunity to share why this music matters to me and pay homage to the incredible composers and musicians involved. Check it out here:
In addition to my career as a performer and teacher, I serve in other capacities which sometimes demand that I speak publicly. At times these are rather high pressure situations. As with my playing, I spend an incredible amount of time and energy preparing for these occasions and am often fraught with anxiety leading up to the moment of truth. What I have observed, however, is that when it comes time to deliver, I am usually able to let go and feel very much like a conduit for something to speak through me. In these moments I feel like an observer listening to the words coming out, often in a surprisingly effective manner.
I was recently called upon to speak on camera about something that means a lot to me - music. I was asked what makes the greatest musical performances, and I observed the following statement come out of my mouth:
"the purest connection of minds free from any obstruction".
My body was absolutely relaxed and confident in the way we hope to be as performers on our instruments. Somehow, I was able to let go and trust my knowledge and preparation to get the job done well and found myself in "the zone". From this “zone” I was able to put together a series of words which I had never uttered before, but yet expressed perfectly what I meant.
The interviewer commented on the effectiveness and ease of my delivery, and I was able to observe and understand what happens to me in these moments with clarity.
"If I tried to say it 'right', I could never do this."
This was an insight I had never had before about my speaking, but it was the absolute truth. If I had written a script and thought through every word to deliver in precisely the right order, my priority would have been "getting it right" instead of communicating my message. With perfection as the focus, the connection between us would have become muddied at best and completely severed at worst. Letting go and trusting the knowledge you possess to speak through you can yield some remarkably effective communication.
Since these words came out of my mouth, I began to really reflect on what makes that "purest connection of minds free from any obstruction" in a speech and try to relate it to musical performance. I began to look at some of the most powerful speeches in history. Here in the US, there have been incredible Presidential acceptance speeches and inspiring words from political conventions in recent years. Thinking back in history, landmark speeches by JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. also come to mind. Each of these speeches has an element of improvisation and interaction with the crowd receiving the message. I took the opportunity to watch John F. Kennedy's 1963 speech in Berlin as a fine example of how to convey a powerful message.
Notice that he is not glued to a pre-written speech but only has a series of note cards to which he refers occasionally. Notice that his eyes connect with the people of West Berlin who eagerly consume each utterance. There is a conversation even though he is the only one speaking. There is also an element of improvisation as he interacts with the energy of the crowd. He owns the message he is delivering and is unfettered by the written page. It seems to me that the message is speaking through him.
Could he possibly have written down the exact words, seconds of pause between, which words to repeat etc and gotten the same response? I can't imagine it. Nobody trying to replicate that speech will ever do as well.
How does this relate to music?
The one thing that no computer or recording will ever replace is the live performance. The experience of listening to a great orchestra, jazz combo or chamber music group perform is a singular one with no two performances ever the same. By the very nature of so many minds constantly reacting to a music director and each other, an orchestra must be removed from that single static idea of "perfection". Yes, we are all reading pages of notes, but any orchestra member will tell you that the majority of our attention is spent watching, listening and constantly adjusting how we play what we see on the page to fit within the ever evolving collective effort.
Reflecting on recent Boston Philharmonic Beethoven 9 concerts in Symphony Hall, I was able to realize the magnitude of the shared experience. When considering all of the minds involved in this conversation, we see the connections grow exponentially. We begin with deaf Beethoven creating music in his imagination with so much more clarity than he could ever hear in the "real world". This incredible picture of such vastness is deciphered from the graphic representation of the score left by the composer and processed through the mind of the music director (in this case Benjamin Zander) and executed through further interpretation of 100 members of an orchestra, 4 soloists and a chorus. This message was then received by 2,800 audience members who fed the conversation with their own energy.
At a recent masterclass the great Hakan Hardenberger made one statement which stood out as the finest way I have ever heard to describe a great performance. He said
“We want to feel as if the music is being invented before our eyes.”
Perhaps now we understand why HE is Hakan Hardenberger!
This conversation, when an audience is open to receive and the musicians are highly trained enough to execute the music and comfortable enough to let go and allow the music speak through them, is what creates magic. This produces the same collective elation that draws an audience to its feet and to roar with cheers and applause in a concert hall as the citizens of Berlin reacted to the honesty and sincerity of JFK's message. The musical experience, however, is so much more powerful and visceral as there is no language to decode and nothing is lost in translation.
How does this relate to auditions?
As a result of this line of thinking I have re-examined my audition preparation process and returned to the words of my musical mentor and former Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony, Charles Schlueter. Charlie is a wealth of priceless concepts about music making and life. One of the principles he constantly drilled into his students was “never play it the same way twice”. This is key to communication through music.
I teach the concepts delivered by sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella in his books "Golf is not a Game of a Perfect" and "Life is not a Game of Perfect". I have always benefited from his concepts as they applied to auditions and the physical act of playing the trumpet. Dr. Rotella's concepts of training your swing on the driving range and trusting it on the course resonate well with me as a trumpeter. Thinking of technique while trying to hit a golf ball or playing the trumpet yields less than optimal results.
A quote from one of his books: "Before playing any shot, a golfer must lock his eyes and mind onto the smallest possible target." has been a mantra for me over the years. My translation of this to music is to have the clearest aural picture of exactly what I wanted to sound like. Many of us work really hard to come up with that one perfect rendition of Petrouchka or Pines etc. Upon reflection, in this I believe that I have missed an important part of the golf-music correlation.
In golf, you never play the same shot more than once! Picturing a golf shot is a response to unique set of circumstances at a moment in time. This is the same with music!
So, yet again the wisdom of Charlie’s teaching reveals itself to me in a new light. Practicing excerpts as most of us do is the equivalent of repeatedly reading a paragraph off the page exactly the same way. Instead of that, Charlie encouraged us to practice etudes and generally polish our ability to get the ideas in our head out in a variety of ways and only peripherally approach the excerpts. This process not only prevents undue anxiety building up around these small chunks of music, but allows one to “own” the material (how to play the trumpet) and be more responsive in the moment. Be sure that your preparation allows you to be responsive to the unique circumstances of the moment. Feel the energy of the committee, the resonance of the room and who YOU are in that moment. Make it a conversation.
Among the many books about the psychology of sports and musical performance on my shelf, "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner is one of the most powerful. The book and the accompanying meditations are a wonderful study on getting out of one's own way and tapping into the music that is flowing through all of us. I recommend this to every performer as an invaluable tool for achieving true and direct communication through music.
The goal for all of us is to use our printed page, chord changes, and whatever else we use to serve only as note cards that allow us to channel what we already know and feel deep inside us. Get rid of the obstructions of needing to be “perfect” and allow yourself to communicate. Proper investment in practice and preparation helps you to own your message so that you can let go and invent the music before your audience’s eyes.
This is a short post today inspired by a Huffington Post article that really infuriated me. It talked about"choking" under pressure, particularly in sports. The crux of the article is this:
Whether you choke under pressure might have more to do with your motivation: specifically, to what extent that you are driven by a desire to win or by a desire to avoid losing. If you're very loss-averse -- meaning that you hate losing more than you love winning -- your chances of choking will be lower. But for those who value the rush of winning over the pain of losing, the likelihood of choking is often higher.
What this entire article fails to acknowledge is that there is a third option. In addition to "loving winning" or "hating losing", the motivation that most successful athletes embrace is one that minimizes thought of outcomes and keeps them focussed on the task at hand. Athletes at peak performance level call this state of focus being "in the zone". For a shortstop to make a spectacular catch does not allow time for thoughts of winning or losing. An incredible putt from 50 feet over undulating greens at the Masters is a result of visualizing the path the ball will take, not an imagined final score. As musicians, we are high level athletes using incredibly fine muscle control to express ourselves through our voice or instrument. Whether we perform in a concert or in an audition, I make the clearest association with the game of golf because we have nobody playing defense! Like a golfer, the challenge of our job is to stay out of our own way. Thoughts of winning/losing or missing/hitting notes are defensive players of our own making.
What would Nike's corporate ledger look like with this slogan?
I am very loss averse
Any time that we perform, our best course of action is to control those variables which are in our control and focus on communicating clearly. Winning or losing an audition is NOT in our control, but presenting the best performance we can muster in that moment IS in our control. My beloved mentor Charles Schlueter ingrained in his students that the power is in "staying in the present". Notes missed in the past cannot be sucked back in and you can't do anything about the high C at the end until the moment arrives. Worry about either undermines your ability to create the most beautiful sound NOW. I often quote the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr when talking about auditions.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can;and wisdom to know the difference.
Seek to understand that difference. Oiling your valves, bringing your mutes, and diligent preparation are variables in your control. We cannot control outcomes, but we have the best chance of success with our motivation being the courageous third option of staying focussed on the present and JUST DO IT.
A week later, I remain saddened by the passing of Stephen Paulus, one of the most beautiful voices of American classical music. Stephen succumbed to complications from a stroke last summer on October 19, 2014. I hoped to generate some recovery energy with our new recording, but I am glad that we were able to capture a beautiful part of the spirit he shared with us. With it, we honor the memory of a gifted composer who was gentle, kind, witty and generous of spirit for all who express themselves through music. Rest in peace.
Stephen Paulus with Terry Everson and me after our BMOP performance of his Concerto for Two Trumpets in Jordan Hall.
Please read a wonderful obituary in the New York Times - http://nyti.ms/1FzufTb
Listen to his beautiful Elegy which speaks volumes today.
I am so pleased to announce the release of Fantastique! Documenting a decade of commissioning for trumpet and wind ensemble, I am delighted to share these works with the world. This labor of love began a decade ago when I asked my good friend Evan Hause to create a wind ensemble orchestration of the Trumpet Concerto the Albany Symphony Orchestra commissioned for me. For the 2007 ITG Conference, I asked Stephen Paulus to create a wind ensemble orchestration of his remarkable double concerto and James Stephenson to write a work for me and our teacher Charles Schlueter. For the final work on the disc I asked my UMass colleague Jeffrey Holmesto write a work for myself and trombonist Greg Spiridopoulos with whom I am fortunate to work nearly everywhere!
The disc opens with Herald Emeritus Fanfare which was written to honor my UMass predecessor, Walter Chesnut performed by my students in the UMass Trumpet Ensemble.
Every one of these pieces is a wonderful new addition to our repertoire. I thank the composers for sharing their genius with us. My fellow soloists and the students of the UMass Wind Ensemble are to be congratulated for great performances with very limited recording time. This of course is due in large part to the fine leadership of James Patrick Miller at the helm to steer the ship. Thank you to everyone!
For those trumpet geeks among you, each of these works has been heard at an International Trumpet Guild Conference as well.
Evan Hause – Trumpet Concerto (Denver 2004)
Holmes – Herald Emeritus Fanfare (Amherst 2007)
Stephenson – Duo Fantastique (Amherst 2007)
Paulus – Concerto for Two Trumpets and Band (Amherst 2007)
Holmes – Continuum for Trumpet, Trombone and Wind Ensemble (Grand Rapids 2013)
Official Release Date is September 1, 2014 - you can order your copy here http://www.msrcd.com/catalog/cd/MS1506
For more information about the works – please see the program booklet.
Last December as Greg Spiridopoulos and I premiered Continuum for Trumpet, Trombone and Wind Ensemble by our colleague Jeff Holmes, the wheels started spinning for more things to do together. By the time we performed the piece at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Grand Rapids, MI (Thanks to Rich and Val Stoelzel for the invite) we knew we wanted to do more. So, we booked some recitals as a trio with our pianist colleague Ludmila Krasin. What a great time we had!
After the initial recital in our home Bezanson Recital Hall at UMass, we took this program to Boston University and University of New Hampshire. Thanks to our hosts Terry Everson and Don Lucas at BU and Bob Steibler and Nick Orovich at UNH for inviting us to present this music to their students.
Then we headed south and west to Texas!
Our journey started on Thursday October 10 when I picked up Greg at his house at 3:30 am to go to the airport. We flew into Newark and then Dallas. From Dallas, we rented a car and drove to Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City University - Bass School of Music
The amazing Wanda Bass School of Music at OKCU
After 13 and 1/2 hours of travel, we arrived at OKCU's Bass School of Music welcomed by the smiling face of our host and great friend Michael Anderson. What amazing facilities! Greg, Ludmila and I spent a couple of hours with students in masterclasses, then quickly checked into our hotel to change before our evening recital. Propping our eyelids open, we enjoyed performing for a great audience and then were glad to grab a quick bite to eat before collapsing for the night.
After a very sound night of sleep, Greg and I returned in the morning to coach brass quintets and I got to observe Michael Anderson's "Trumpet Tech Class" with his studio. What a great idea - a weekly class covering fundamentals together with a new key area each week. Great students and a truly outstanding facility. Thanks for having us!
Friday was just what the doctor ordered with a hang at Michael Anderson's place. A great meal on their deck with a fire and dogs helped us relax away the stress of the past two days of traveling. Thanks to Mike and JeannMarie for their hospitality!
The weekend was open so Greg grabbed another car and headed to Tulsa to see family while Ludmila and I hung out in OKC. I met with a student on Saturday morning and then picked up Ludmila to do some sightseeing.
Cowboy Museum
Incredibly moving "End of the Trail"
Our first stop was the National Cowboy Museum. What a beautiful place! We began our tour of the place in a gallery of new art by Cowboy Artists of America. The first thing as we walked in was one of the most incredible pieces of leatherwork I had ever seen. This saddle was absolutely magnificent! Throughout the gallery there were examples of the finest saddles, chaps, horse bits, spurs etc and then there were the paintings. Oh my goodness! Some of the most incredibly vibrant portrayals of western life I had ever seen, and all by living artists! All of the works were to be sold that evening to benefit the museum.
The rest of the museum was a wonderful display of the history of the west, cowboy life, western movies, rodeo etc. We especially enjoyed the gardens with large scale sculptures.
Banjo Museum
Who would have known Banjos were such amazing works of art?
Who would have thought of a Banjo Museum? I will admit to really enjoying the banjo, and this was a very quaint museum worth the trip. It traced the development of the banjo from roots to the present and had marvelous examples of some of the most ornate instruments I had ever seen.
OKC National Memorial
Our memories of the Oklahoma City Bombing have begun to fade now over a decade later, but this museum and memorial help bring us right back to the moment in a very visceral way. Most memorable of the displays are the twisted and mangled truck axle and wheels from the the Ryder truck Timothy McVey used in the bombing and the room which has been preserved in its state of destruction from that day. The memorial itself is a beautiful tribute with the 168 empty chairs representing those who died.
Traveling to Lubbock
On Sunday we reconnected with Greg and drove south and west across Oklahoma and into western Texas. As the day progressed, the weather got increasingly overcast until we found ourselves driving through torrential rains which the region sorely needed. I particularly enjoyed the red clay canyon lands we passed through. The landscape was just as I imagined and one could easily imagine John Wayne or the Lone Ranger and Tonto riding in the distance. The small towns and vast expanses of range land were great to experience as well. After about 6 hours of travel, we arrived in Lubbock to meet our host Andy Stetson and his lovely wife Becca at our hotel. We had a great steak dinner with them to celebrate Andy's new job before sacking out to prepare for a long day ahead.
Texas Technical University
The newly minted Professor Herr Dr. Stetson welcomes us to his new job at TTU
Greg and spent time with students in lessons and masterclasses throughout the day on Monday. I learned some great new things from Will Streider and really enjoyed the students. We got to hang out with all of the brass faculty at lunch and were delighted to get to know these folks.
The evening recital was live streamed on the web which was very cool and we got to hang with Andy and Becca as well as my Colorado friends Kimberly and DJ Sparr for a bit after the show. This was really a great visit! Wonderful to see Andy and Becca as they begin their new life together and to meet Will who I have heard so much about.
Traveling back east
We left well before the sun rose on Tuesday to drive back east to Waco. The weather was even worse than Sunday with the roadways dangerously flooded at points. We enjoyed more really cool landscapes and small towns along the way as well as endless wind turbine farms. I love these things!
Baylor University
Baylor's small recital hall with a Boesendorfer piano made Ludmila's tour!
We arrived in Waco greeted by Brent Philips and Mark Schubert at the Baylor School of Music. The facilities here were beautiful even in the "old" music building. The recital hall was lovely with a Boesendorfer piano which Ludmila relished playing! We had the best turn out for any of our recitals with a very full house. Thanks folks! Greg and I then split with off to work with students in masterclasses. The level of playing in Wiff Rudd's studio is absolutely top notch.
Any trip to Texas seems to need a trip to a Rudy's. There is nothing better than good Texas BBQ and this is as good as I have ever had. The brisket was simply spectacular! It was a great hang with Wiff, Mark and Brent. Thanks for having us and for your hospitality!
We then headed to Fort Worth to prepare for a long day of work at UNT and TCU.
University of North Texas
It is always great to see Keith Johnson and John Holt. UNT boasts the second largest music program in the country with 1600 majors! The trumpet studio is often at around 100! We played a slightly shortened program at the studio hour and had some time to interact with the students a bit. Thanks to both John and Keith for having us!
Luckily we had time for a short nap before our final concert at TCU that night.
Texas Christian University
Our last performance was at TCU's Pepsico Recital Hall. Wonderful space!
The final stop on this whirlwind tour was Texas Christian University. This was my second visit TCU, the first being for the 2003 ITG Conference which was my first ever. Host Jon Burgess did a great job of putting together a great program for that. We met with our hosts Jon and Dave Begnoche for a nice meal before our recital. One of the best things about this trip was connecting with friends and sharing ideas about teaching and recruiting. Jon and Dave have really strong studios at TCU and the facilities are very nice. The recital hall is quite striking visually and was really nice to play in. Thanks for having us!
To wrap up the tour, we grabbed a quick drink with Dave and a good friend from Tanglewood in 1999, Kelly Cornel who was kind enough to stop by for the recital. Kelly is enjoying her new position in the horn section of the Fort Worth Symphony and it was great to catch up!
As I write this, we are at 30,000 feet heading back east where Greg and I have double rehearsals in Albany for our weekend concerts and recording. It has been a great trip and certainly one we will remember fondly forever! Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible and was so hospitable!
Below are videos of a few of the pieces we performed which we captured at University of North Texas
In addition to my career as a performer and teacher, I serve in other capacities which sometimes demand that I speak publicly and at times in high pressure situations. I normally spend an incredible amount of time and energy preparing for these occasions and am often fraught with anxiety leading up to the moment of truth. What I have observed, however, is that when it comes time to deliver, I am sometimes able to let go and feel very much like a conduit for something to speak through me. In these moments I feel like an observer listening to the words coming out in a surprisingly effective manner. I was recently called upon to speak on camera about something that means a lot to me - music. I was asked what makes the greatest musical performances,and I expressed that it is "the purest connection of minds free from any obstruction". As I spoke, I found myself oddly calm and easily able to voice this concept without ever having attempted to put these thoughts into words before. My body was absolutely relaxed and confident in the way we hope to be as performers on our instruments. Somehow, I was able to let go and trust my knowledge and preparation to get the job done well and found myself in "the zone" The interviewer commented on the effectiveness and ease of my delivery, and I was able to observe and understand what happens to me in these moments with clarity. "If I tried to say it 'right', I could never do this." This was an insight I had never had before about my speaking, but it was the absolute truth. If I had written a script and thought through every word to deliver in precisely the right order, my priority would have been "getting it right" instead of communicating my message. With perfection as the focus, the connection between us would have become muddied at best and completely severed at worst. Letting go and trusting the knowledge you possess to speak through you can yield some remarkably effective communication.
This experience has led me to really reflect on what makes that "purest connection of minds free from any obstruction" in a speech and try to relate it to musical performance. I began to look at some of the most powerful speeches in history. There have been incredible Presidential acceptance speeches and inspiring words from political conventions in recent years. Thinking back in history, landmark speeches by JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. also come to mind. Each of these speeches has an element of improvisation and interaction with the crowd receiving the message. I took the opportunity to watch John F. Kennedy's 1963 speech in Berlin as a fine example of how to convey a powerful message.
Notice that he is not glued to a pre-written speech but only has a series of note cards to which he refers occasionally as his eyes connect with the people of West Berlin eagerly consuming each utterance. There is a conversation even though he is the only one speaking. There is also an element of improvisation as he interacts with the energy of the crowd. He owns the message he is delivering and is unfettered by the written page. It seems to me that the message is speaking through him.
Could he possibly have written down the exact words, seconds of pause between, which words to repeat etc and gotten the same response? I can't imagine it. Nobody trying to replicate that speech will ever do as well.
How does this relate to music?
The last great hope for music is the live performance. The experience of listening to a great orchestra, jazz combo or chamber music group perform is a singular one with no two performances ever the same. By the very nature of so many minds constantly reacting to a music director and each other, an orchestra must be removed from that single static idea of "perfection". Yes, we are all reading pages of notes, but any orchestra member will tell you that the majority of our attention is spent watching, listening and constantly adjusting how we play what we see on the page to fit within the ever evolving collective effort.
Reflecting on our recent Boston Philharmonic Beethoven 9 concerts in Symphony Hall, the magnitude of the shared experience is enormous. When considering all of the minds involved in this conversation, we see the connections grow exponentially. We begin with deaf Beethoven creating music in his imagination with so much more clarity than he could ever hear in the "real world". This incredible picture of such vastness is deciphered from the graphic representation of the score left by the composer and processed through the mind of the music director (in this case Benjamin Zander) and executed through further interpretation of 100 members of an orchestra, 4 soloists and a chorus. This message is then received by 2,800 audience members who feed the conversation with their own energy.
This conversation, when an audience is open to receive and the musicians are highly trained enough to execute the music but also comfortable enough to let go and let the music speak through them, is what creates magic. This produces the same collective elation that draws an audience to its feet and to roar with cheers and applause in a concert hall as the citizens of Berlin reacted to the honesty and purity of JFK's message. The musical experience, however, is so much more powerful and visceral as there is no language to decode.
How does this relate to auditions?
I teach the concepts delivered by sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella in his books "Golf is not a Game of a Perfect" and "Life is not a Game of Perfect". I have always benefited from his concepts as they applied to auditions and the physical act of playing the trumpet, but this interview helped me understand the dangers of "perfection" in the more fundamental and more important frame of communication.
Dr. Rotella's concepts of training your swing on the driving range and trusting it on the course resonate well with me as a trumpeter. Thinking of technique while trying to hit a golf ball or playing the trumpet yields less than optimal results. A quote from one of his books: "Before playing any shot, a golfer must lock his eyes and mind into the smallest possible target." has been a mantra for me over the years. My translation of this to music is to have the clearest aural picture of exactly what I wanted to sound like. With incredible effort to refine that ideal, I have had some very positive results in auditions ending up in the final rounds, but I just didn't close the deal in the last final round.
Could it be that this ideal picture itself is akin to a perfectly constructed paragraph with meticulous grammar and punctuation? Could too strictly adhering to that aural picture of perfection be the last impediment to truly connecting with an audition panel as it would be in speech? How can we make that ideal less rigid and more fluid? What would responsive communication with an anonymous and invisible panel feel like? How do we turn that fully formed paragraph into note cards and "own the message" enough to deliver it in a more responsive and conversational way? How do we best let go and allow the music to flow through us?
Among the many books about sports psychology and the psychology of musical performance on my shelf, "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner is one of the most powerful. It is a wonderful study on getting out of one's own way and tapping into the music that is flowing through all of us. I recommend this to every performer as an invaluable tool for achieving true and direct communication through music. My goal for all of us is to use our printed page, chord changes, and whatever else we use to serve only as note cards that allow us to channel what we already know and feel deep inside us. After the proper investment in practice and preparation, allow that truth to flow without regard for perfection. Float above and enjoy the show. You may be surprised at what you hear!
