Last updated: August 9, 11:53 PM CDT

Daily Notes

Chris Branagan provides the following review of Sunday evening's activities.

Sunday Evening

8:00 PM — Keller Recital Hall

Joe: First of all, let me say congratulations to all the participants and auditors on a great concert today. I know it's late in the seminar, but we still have things to cover, so we should be prepared to stay a little late tonight.

Okay, there are a lot of important people here tonight that I would like to acknowledge: Greg Harper, bass trombonist with the Colorado Symphony; Brad White, second trombonist with the Houston Symphony; and Jo Dee Davis. I'm kind of knocked out that all these people are here. Next to Jo Dee is the great John Lofton, who has just finished a stint with the LA Philharmonic. We also have a very good colleague and fine player from the Santa Fe Opera, Marc Fisher; Dave Tall, bass trombonist with the New Mexico Symphony; and joining the participants on stage tonight is Richard White, tuba, from the New Mexico Symphony.

Alright, so we're going to start and let you guys play a while, and Pete Ellefson and I are ready to play if you need us. Take it away, these are excerpts from the Ring.

The group includes Kyle Samuelson, bass trumpet; Jon Lombardo and Brad Williams, tenor trombones; Andrew Chappell, bass trombone; J. Mark Thompson, bass trombone and contrabass trombone; and Richard White, tuba. They play several excerpts.

Joe: It sounds great. Okay, what are you guys looking to improve as you go along here?

Mark: Pitch, ensemble.

Joe: My concern is that the tempi aren't standard to the repertoire. Maybe Mark Fisher could comment on some tempi, and maybe the bass trumpet.

Mark Fisher: I think the tempi are pretty characteristic of the way we did this in Chicago (Lyric Opera). I think the slow stuff could be slower. The biggest issue is pitch, particularly between the two low guys. The contra is still settling in. Rich I feel like you could be more compact to help out the contra. Also, there are lots of thirds being missed.

The bass trumpet sounds good! I always say that if you feel good on the bass trumpet, you're not playing a small enough mouthpiece. The goal of the bass trumpet needs to cut through – CUT CUT CUT! But it sounds great.

Joe: Yeah, my issue was with the pitch. I'm a little unsettled when things are out of tune, I don't see you move. What are you going to do to make those chords ring? Adjust. Pete, anything to add?

Peter Ellefson: I think Wotan's Farewell was too fast. I always loved relishing in this slow passage. Also, I don't think you all know who is important, in terms of who has important chord tones and who moves to change chords.

Joe: Yeah, I think I'd like to hear more bass trumpet. It's been a dream of mine to play this part in the Ring. Also, I'd like to hear more contra. You've been carrying that thing around all week, so let's hear it put to use. Let's hear Wotan's chorale again, a little slower this time.

8:20 PM

Group plays again

Joe: Nobody knows what to do, Jon. Can you direct a little more? Okay, in this kind of setting, you seem to be sitting very far apart. I feel the distant between you makes it harder to figure out what everybody is doing. Let's sit closer together and try again. It takes time to figure out the tuning. The mystery of tuning is identifying the chord. If you're having trouble with intonation, you first have to figure out the chords, then you can write in some markings to help you.

There are all kinds of things in a section society that happen. You have to be flexible. If something starts to speed up, you have to go with it. Try it again, and this time I'm going to conduct.

Group plays

Joe: Good. Yeah, sometimes you just have to take time to figure this stuff out. Let's hear some more. I'll let you do another series of excerpts.

Pete: Regarding the parts, there are so many misprints in terms of where crescendos start, where you have dynamic changes, and things like that. When you get these parts, look at a score to make sure there are no discrepancies.

8:38 PM

Group plays

Joe: Try that again. You know, it says piu forte at the end, so how about a little more? Try again.

Group plays

Joe: Yeah, good. Kyle, when you have some of these loud lines, when you need to cut through, cut the steak a little thicker (sings the line with broad eighth notes). Try for a little more breadth in your sound.

Group plays another selection

Joe: Let's hear it again, a little faster, and with more contrast. There are lots of contrasts in the score we need to hear more of.

Group plays

Joe: As a group, we're not all together with the subito piano. Can you do it again, and all of you make an effort to play subito piano.

Group plays

Joe: Yeah, that makes such a difference. Let's hear something else.

Group plays

Joe: Let me help you out a little with this. Make sure you are very deliberate, and don't rush. Kyle, make sure you hang in there with the crescendo. I love the old NY Philharmonic with Phil Smith playing this huge crescendo right before the trombones come in. Kyle, you have to be Phil Smith. Let's do it again.

Joe conducts cheering on each of the players as they play.

8:54 PM

Joe: Okay, great. Make sure you bring out things like this triplet against the duple. Don Harwood does that really well. Let's congratulate this guy (to Kyle) for some great bass trumpet work. Is there anybody out there, some the younger players, is this the first time you've heard this excerpt? (a few hands raised) Great, now you need to go out and listen to some recordings of this music. Mark, can you recommend some recordings?

Mark Fisher: Solti conducting Vienna.

Joe: Yes, absolutely, and I love that recording with Mehta conducting the NY Philharmonic. Okay, let's here the next group.

The next group features Tim Dugan, Luis Fred, Jason Malloy, Harold Van Schaik, and Richard White performing Bruckner 8 and Schubert 9.

9:05 PM

Joe: Okay, what is the story with the doubling? You know I used to double first, but now I think that it just messes up the balance in the section. I tried it for a while, and it's not very much fun for the guy assisting, and it's not much fun for everybody else. Jason, you're doing a good job filling out the section on this excerpt. But, I'm having trouble hearing the dynamic differences. The three f's section needs to sound special, not just like two f's. Let's hear the first thing you played from this piece.

Group plays

Joe: Yeah, much better. The intonation wasn't right on the first time. Peter, anything to add?

Peter: Yeah, just make sure it stays Bruckner-esque. It can be loud, but watch out for that little extra burn in the sound.

Group plays Fourth movement again

Joe: That time, I didn't like the blend you got. It needs to sound glorious – a comfortable fortissimo. Luis, you're fine on top, maybe let Jason do a little more of the work. And maybe a little less from Rich. Do it one more time.

Group plays

Joe: Very nice. Okay, Richard, have a little rest, and we'll hear some Schubert. You know some of those old Solti recordings with Chicago, they used a more aggressive-type sound. And Masur, during his tenure with the Philharmonic, he wanted a very homogenous sound. Okay, let's hear Schubert.

9:20 PM

Group plays Schubert 9

Joe: It sounds great. It sounds like you guys took a lot of time to prepare this. Let's hear some more. (group plays) Good. Let me just say that I bought a record of this when I was in high school. I had to find what the trombones did in these pieces, that was my quest. We're dealing with some high end trombone players here, but we have to respect that some in the audience may have never heard the piece before. I challenge you to go out and find recordings. It's all trombones in this passage – you have to just let it fade away. Try again.

Group plays

Joe: Beautiful, that was really gorgeous. Pete, any comments?

Pete: Yeah, I think you can crescendo as you go down the arpeggio, then diminuendo on the way up.

Joe: The recording I have is George Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra. You have to treasure these recordings. I did a master class at Lasater High School in Atlanta, and after the class I heard a group of trombone players doing Brahms 1 and Hungarian March by memory. That's the stuff you need to do, get together with your friends and do stuff like this. Use the Gordon Cherry CD. That's what I want to tell the younger players – don't wait for the orchestra to call you, do it on your own. Okay, let's hear the next section.

Group plays

Joe: You know, you have to have "radar" when you work with a section. You have to find some common ground. When things aren't going well with something, you have to be respectful of the "section society". There are certain ways to go about saying things. You don't just tell people how to play, that's not the way to do it, you say "let's try this section a few different ways." Then you talk about it. Also, a word of advice, be careful about working on stuff on stage. Other people in the orchestra may not like you honking on stage. Try playing things soft, or go somewhere else to honk. Okay, keep going.

Group plays with Joe conducting

Joe: There's a little too much fishing going on. Peter, come up here and let's try this (Joe and Peter Ellefson sit first and second, respectively). Let's play that last section. Yeah, Peter is laying it down. Come back Jason and try it.

Jason Malloy sits with Joe and Harold to play the final chords

9:46 PM

Joe: Yeah, much better. Good job Jason. Okay, let's take 5 or 10 minutes and come back with the next group.

9:53 PM

The next group features Brent Phillips, Samuel Barlow, Jonathan Whitaker, Charles Reneau, and Richard White performing Hindemith's Mathis der Maler.

Joe: Very nice. Let's do a little of this again. (Joe conducts) Try to lay it down – don't fish. And try to get the resonance, not after the fact, but right at the beginning. It really has to sing a little more, not be so square. Okay, let's hear the next section.

Group plays

Joe: Very nice. These grace notes, at 11, make them smoother. Not angular, super smooth, really sing. Try again.

Group plays

Joe: Yeah, this is good training, sometimes a conductor may want something like this. You have to give them what they want the first time.

Group plays next excerpt

Joe: The other thing we need to remember is that sometimes, even though we may think it's important, a conductor may not think it is as important. The way you just played this sounded great, but a conductor may not want it that way. Let's try it again, and play a little less. Okay, let's keep going.

10:09 PM

Joe: Here's another spot where a conductor may want less. Just relax a little bit. It sounds really nice. Do the same spot.

Peter: There are a lot of unisons in this, how do you and Dave (Finlayson) get such a great, unified sound?

Joe: It's just the fact that we've played together for so long. He knows where my notes are. Most of it is just playing together often. I think Dave and I, when we take a tuning note, we take it seriously. If there are any rubs, we always take time to play a few things together and find each other. It's very fine tuning, you should simply play a lot together. Play duets together, play other things. It's repetition – we've just found each other over the years. I think you also have to recognize things like temperature and not playing for a long time. You have to know that things like temperature will make you flat before you come on stage.

10:23 PM

Joe: Okay, play the last section from this movement.

Group plays

Joe: Great, excellent. Okay, let's go on to the next piece.

Group plays the Finale from Mahler 6. Joe comments on a few specific intonation issues, then the group moves on through the movement.

Joe: You can tell Brent really knows this piece. I like that I can feel his pulse throughout the movement. In an audition, you have to be comfortable doing this stuff, come in, lead, and get the job done. I like the way Brent does this – he's very professional. This is great, let's keep going.

Group plays

Joe: Okay, let's try just a little more sound. Make sure your rhythm is good and that your slides are moving together. You may have to breathe more often. (Joe conducts) Very good, let's move on.

10:36 PM

Joe: Let's go right to the chorale.

Charley Reneau: Can we play some of the hammer blows?

Joe: (laughing) Charley wants to play the hammer blows, let's do it.

Group plays hammer blows with Joe conducting. (audience applause)

Joe: Now, I forgot to mention the bells up. We do the play with the bells up when it's called for. That's the challenge in Mahler, to figure out exactly what all his directions are.

Group plays chorale

Joe: That was a pretty good effort. You know stuff like this - this is where the trombones earns their money. Also, this is where you can attract the wrong kind of attention. This is what sections need to work on more than anything — work on staying relaxed and remaining calm. Don't try to manipulate the sound with the chops. Okay, I think we have to stop. Let's give them a round of applause.

10:45 PM

The final group features Joseph Rodriguez, James Scott, Barry Hearn, Andrew Chappell, and Rich White performing Strauss's Alpine Symphony.

Joe: Wow, that's impressive (audience applause). Let's keep going.

Group plays

Joe: Okay, we're sort of playing leisure excerpts. In the orchestra this is much more difficult with lots of ritardando, crescendo, and other things. Let me say one thing about unison, if you're not sure, don't back off. If you all blow the same, it will work. Don't apologize for it before you play it. Lay it down, don't be afraid. The minute you start fishing, you'll fish every time. Instead of worrying about fishing, worry about blowing. You can blow a note into shape.

Let me say one thing about posture. I like that Joe (Rodriguez) is sitting up on the front the chair. Get your back off the chair. Okay what's next, Tchaikovsky?

11:00 PM

Group plays Tchaikovsky 6, movement 1. Joe corrects some specific intonation issues.

Joe: Good, but it's a little too pushy. There are three guys playing, let all three carry the load. Very good, let's go to the chorale now and finish the class. In the chorale, it might be good to try the exercise where we close the eyes to listen for the releases.

Group plays

Joe: Okay, that was pretty good, but I want to hear three distinct levels.

Joe conducts group encouraging very soft dynamics at the end.