Last updated: August 2, 10:51 PM CDT

Daily Notes

Christan Griego provides Edwards readers with a minute-by-minute account of the daily activities at the Alessi Seminar. Check back often for new content.

Tuesday Morning

Mark Thompson takes to the stage playing a piece by composer Donald Grantham (UT Austin).

9:34 AM

Joe: Let's talk about tuning. When you are tuning with the piano, have the pianist play a strong Bb chord. A single Bb is not enough for our instrument to tune to.

Mark plays solo

9:46 AM

Joe: (Grabs mic as he has lost his voice) Many people would call this funny music, but many pieces are even funnier. I think this is a very viable piece of music and it put me in a certain mood. It sounded very lyrical and this is what I liked about what you did. My comments are few. I'd like to talk a bit about stage presence.

First, the stand is a little high and it becomes the focus of the stage. I want to see more of you and less of the stand — almost as if you're playing in a big band gig without bending over. Tilt the stand up and try to play like you are not staring too much at the music. Try not to focus in too much on the notes.

Mark: There are a lot of notes. (laughter)

9:48 AM

Joe: You have to communicate with the audience a bit more.

Let's talk about tapping one's foot on stage. You won't see a violinist tapping their foot during a concerto. Your posture was leaning one way a bit too much into the piano and did not come off well to the audience. We have to think beyond the notes with all of the great players that are out there. What else is there? We have to perform for the audience.

I don't have too much to say about the music. I noticed you had a little trouble with the high register.

Mark: I don't play that much above the moon. (laughter)

Joe: The high register has to be like the pyramid. The base is very large, and the top is small. Even though it says crescendo you have to make the low stronger and keep the air speed correct. We want to make the air speed faster in the upper register. I like the idea of arching the tongue. Think the syllable "T". Pick up your horn. Just say you're going to play Bolero and think the syllable "T". Just say it. Don't hesitate. Should be like shooting a gun. Aim and fire. Say "T" — no hesitation.

9:55 AM

Joe: Try to make the low range fatter; it's almost like a springboard. If you're on a diving board your first motion is down and you will create energy then you will go high. You must think about what you are doing in the low register before you go high.

9:56 AM

Joe: Don't lean one way or the other. Stand with your feet solid and you will feel better.

There was a little problem with the balance with the cup mute. The piano was a bit too loud. Make sure the balance is correct with mute. When you put any mute in you will go sharper. You don't need to change the tuning slide, but you must adjust with your slide. Play all notes a bit lower than normal.

9:58 AM

Joe: I want to talk to you about the ending. Can I hear you play this?

Playing note by note without piano, Joe works out a few intonation issues.

10:00 AM

Joe: You must respect the note tendencies of your instrument. The natural notes that will be sharp you must note and make adjustments.

Mark plays...

10:03 AM

Joe: Try it again, but don't force. Make sure not to start the phrase too loud.

Mark plays...

Joe: I don't think you're coming down enough.

Joe's voice is very scratchy. He is trying to conserve it while still providing feedback to the players. He couldn't speak at all during Monday night's performance, so we're all hoping he'll be able to get through the Seminar.

10:06 AM

Joe: Every day you should put on the metronome and focus on attacks. Without doing this it can be easy to lose your confidence in certain note attacks.

10:09 AM

Joe: One thing I like to watch for in breathing is activity in the belt buckle region. The belt moves, the back becomes concave (arched) and the body fills with air. I learned this technique when I was 18 years old. Before that, I didn't know what support really was. I watched the opera singers from the pit and saw Alfredo. His cumber bund was really moving out. That cumber bund movement has something to do with the way he sounds. I thought about deep breathing and expansion.

10:12 AM

Joe: It seems like every Seminar the bass trombonists are really taken care of. While Brad (Williams) is getting ready I'm going to use Sam (Bar low) as a guinea pig. I want to show you how to expand on your breathing techniques. Pick a clean spot and lay down. Have I done this with you before?

Sam makes face. (laughter) He lays down and starts to breathe deeply.

Joe: Breath is initiated from the belt line. Breathe through your nose because this will accomplish it more than breathing through the mouth.

Thanks Sam. (applause)

I recommend doing this lying in bed in the morning when you're completely relaxed. There are no muscles working except for the breathing muscles. Sometimes when we pick up the instrument the relaxation can disappear. We must carry this over.

10:16 AM

Christan: Brad Williams takes to the stage and tunes to a Bb chord. He is playing Cavatine. Brad seems a little nervous. We've all been there! He is working through the nerves very well. His sound is very clear. These participants play after sitting for quite a while. He nails the end, finishing on a high note.

10:21 AM

Joe grabs mic: OK. Good job, very good playing. How much prep time did you put into this piece?

Brad: About a month.

Joe: You have to have a recipe when working on a piece of music. You can do the recipe as written, or you can improvise and experiment with other options. I think you need to more of the latter.

I think you play this piece as an orchestral player. Orchestral players are told what to do and when to do it. Conductors expect trombone players to make an entrance and that's about it. Maesel always looks over just to make sure we come in. After we come in he's happy. I think that's what you're doing here, you're making your entrances. I think you need to do more than this, you need to take this to another level. Start the piece again and stop when you think the piece changes.

Brad plays before stopping at the first triple tonguing part.

10:25 AM

Joe: Right there?

Brad: Yes.

Joe: See, I think it started a long time ago.

Joe demonstrates the changing of style. He is moving time and changing dynamics a lot. A jackhammer starts up and it sounds like it is right outside the hall. People scramble to get it to stop. Summertime in the school is often the best time for construction crews to get to work.

10:29 AM

Joe: You have to use every part of the music to be entertaining. Lets look 5 bars after 1. Those accents? If you look at the shape of the accent you can focus in on the attack, but instead of this I focus on what happens after the attack. The decay. This is more interesting than BAAAAH BAAAH.

Brad plays

Joe: The piano is building a ramp in the intro for you. Take this and build upon the ramp with a strong entrance. In the faster passages sometimes the hand does not keep up with the brain. In this case you must supercharge your slide. I like to move the slide, blow air, and articulate through the horn. The tongue must be more precise and really articulate, make sure the slide does not lag behind.

To correct this try an exercise: play one note short and move the slide as fast as you can to the next note. Then play then line with this same slide speed. Don't get lazy in longer throws.

Brad plays

10:35 AM

Joe: You really have to work on these things really hard. Kick yourself in the… you know to get these thing going.

Brad plays the intro

10:36 AM

Joe: Lets talk about something. Pulse. There is no rhythm in your body right now. Get this into your body and play.

Brad plays

Joe: I want you to go deeper into the music, Brad. I want you to explore all musical possibilities. I don't want you to be the trombonist that just makes the entrance.

Whose next? Okay, Andy. After this we will take a ten minute break.

Andy Chapell lives/works in Houston.

10:45 AM

Andy plays Bozza's New Orleans.

10:52 AM

Joe: Okay, the first thing I want to work on is your ending, because you are only as good as your last note. Play the last three measures.

Andy plays

Joe: I like bass trombonists that show off their goods. (laughter)

You need to show us your stuff.

Andy plays last interval section into ending and really lays into it. (applause)

Joe: Now that's a bit much but at least we're on the other side of where we were. Make sure to put all your intervals in the right place. (voice goes for a second and then returns).

10:57 AM

Joe: How far do you want to take your technique? Style and technique must balance. Lets start at measure 8.

Andy plays

Joe: You can always tell when a trombone player is in trouble because he starts leaning towards the stand.

Andy plays

11:05 AM

Joe: This is why trombonists should play more with a piano. You should be aware of your pitch. Any time you are starting in fifth position you must be wary. As a child we knew where 3rd (bell touch), 4th (thumb touch bell), and 6th(as far as arm would go) were but nobody knows where 5th is. Please don't do these child techniques, but be aware exactly where your positions need to be.

Christan: The last two bass players had clanky valves. This can be eliminated by proper oiling of the valves.

11:12 AM

Joe: The further the hand gets from the brain the more problems occur. When you're moving from 6th to 5th be very careful.

Joe: On loud articulations do more with your breath than with your tongue. Adjust the air to tongue mixture to produce a nicer effect. Practice with no tongue (not for performance technique). This will encourage the air to be part of the attack. Play a Bb note with no tongue, play forte. Add just enough tongue to make it ping. Less tongue for louder/higher notes.

11:16 AM

Court is in recess

11:28 AM

Joe: Lets welcome Luis Fred (applause)

Luis: I play principal in the Puerto Rico Symphony and I teach at the Puerto Rico Conservatory. I will be playing the Ewazen Concerto.

Joe: Luis has been a finalist at many auditions in the past few years.

Luis plays

11:38 AM

Joe: Very good, how do you feel?

Luis: A little frazzled.

Joe: I understand because I've played this. You must count this piece off before the piece starts so the rhythm is going before. We've all encountered the player with the stutter start. In order to fix this you must count yourself off regardless of what you are playing. Go ahead and count yourself off out loud and then play. Then internalize this and the stutter will never happen again.

11:40 AM

Joe: Let me hear an F scale starting from above the staff into the staff.

Luis plays

Joe: Tenor trombonists always need to work on our middle register. In order to keep the middle/low register intact you must do more practice descending every day. Lets hear measure 96.

Luis plays

Joe: Don't control the low A with your lips. It does not have the same resonance as the octave above it. Just blow through the low A and don't try to control it. Try not to release the low A with movement. Say ahhh as you release. (more resonance can be heard in room as he releases this note).

11:47 AM

Joe: When you crescendo in the upper register it is easy to lose control. Make sure not to crescendo too soon. This is important with Ewazen because he has patterns. When the pattern rises we make natural crescendo's. When the pattern goes lower we like to diminuendo, which is not a good thing, I think. Don't start too loud at beginning of passage, this gives you nowhere to go.

Luis plays

11:50 AM

Joe: When you play louder there's something you have to do to keep the sound from being a pancake. I had a waffle for breakfast and it has a design. Sometimes the note gets a little flat (not in pitch, but in shape). You can't just sit on the note and do nothing. Be aware that these little details we're talking about are the things you have to think about at this point… and how it compares to a singer.

11:56 AM

Joe: It sounds like you're more concerned with each individual note rather than the phrase. Blow through these phrases regardless of what your chops feel like. Without air there will be no resonance.

Luis plays

11:57 AM

Joe: When getting big/loud make sure to not blow the notes out of shape. Keep them in control.

Luis plays — amazing difference in sound!

12:00 PM

Joe: Never lose track of the forward motion of this piece. Don't play soft for the sake of playing soft. Keep the dynamic contrast (between piano and trombone) so you are not lost under piano.

Luis plays

Joe: Everything was beautiful until the C#-F#, which was out of context.

12:06 PM

Charles Reneau takes to the stage. Charles is a Juilliard student.

Plays the Vaughan-Williams Tuba Concerto

12:11 PM

Joe: There's something I want to talk about. My main beef with this is while I'm sitting in the back, I'm trying to feel a pulse. I couldn't feel the pulse and you didn't stay in your groove with your rhythm. To be honest the piano and you need to both stay in the groove and feel the pulse throughout. There's no accelerando in this piece is there? (no) Tenutos? (no). I think this is a gigue.

Joe attempts singing

I can't sing, this is sad, VERY SAD!

Sings Pop Goes the Weasel (very hoarse) and then has everyone sing it.

Joe: Keep this groove, be consistent with pitch and rhythm. Be consistent. I want to hear this again and I want to hear a fixed tempo. I want to hear a groove.

Christan rushes out for a quick lunch before everyone visits the Edwards room during their lunch break.