[Trombone-l] Notes from Alessi Seminar 2005

[jscot at ucalgary.ca]

Hello Everyone -

This past August, I was privileged to be a participant at the Alessi
Seminar IV in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As you might expect, it was an
inspiring time, with Joe in fine form as usual. The level of playing was
high, and I found a lot of inspiration from listening to my fellow
participants, and from the large, and very accomplished auditor class as
well. Peter Ellefson, Joe's assistant, and guests Wycliff Gordon and Mark
Fisher also provided some very informative commentary, and the folks just
dropping by to catch a session or two were a "who's who" of the trombone
world as well.

I took over 20 pages of notes, and have distilled then down into about 7
typed pages of tips and suggestions. A disclaimer - these are my
recollection of what was said, and have been copied from handwritten notes
that were done "on the fly". Please don't take them as being verbatim
quotes from Joe Alessi - there could be an inaccurate quote or two. Still,
I thought that it would be helpful, and very much in the spirit of Joe's
seminars to share them with the list.

I hope everyone finds these useful. Please e-mail me off-list if something
is unclear, or you have a further question about any of these tips.

Jim Scott
Calgary Philharmonic


Alessi Seminar 2005 - Notes


- To work out “dwa” attacks, try using glisses on legato passages, keep a
feeling of slide and air being separate - then, add tongue to phrases.

- Fragment technical passages in your practicing - 4 or 5 notes at a time
- then combine the fragments.

- Find sources of tension in body when playing - look in a mirror as you
take horn away from face to see if you look tense in your body.

- When soloing with band or orchestra, we may have to increase volume, but
try to bring the levels back down when playing with piano - look for
places to use true pianissimos.

- Temper your excitement when you play passages that lead up to “big
moments” - delay crescendos when possible.

- Try ignoring “dry mouth” - if you drink a sip of water on stage, you
will go dry again almost immediately. Try to hydrate backstage and focus
on the music instead of your nerves, or how you feel physically.

- On technical passages, try playing a bit softer to make them less
cumbersome.

- Try to always shape the end of a note before the breath. Watch to not
“announce the breath”. Let note relax before breath - take stress out of
sound and body.

-  When you play a passage that sequences (repeats in a higher or lower
key center), follow the line with your dynamics (louder as passage
ascends, softer as it descends).

- For pedal tones - lips stay together, oral cavity and jaw open up. Use
slow air.

- Secco and staccato are not the same - keep pitch in the sound when
playing loud staccato passages.

- Temper your fortissimos in unaccompanied passages.

- Nervousness will bring out any weak spots in your playing - “shore them
up” so they can stand up even when you’re not playing your best.

- “Miming” with your slide is a good practice technique - try articulating
into horn without actually playing, and move slide in a purposeful manner
between notes. Get the slide action to be programmed into your arm. Play a
passage slowly this way, then try it played normally, and gradually speed
it up.

- In phrasing, think “contours”, not “pancakes” - don’t let the music be
“flat”, there should always be direction, and areas of interest throughout
the phrases.

- Tuning between “F” above staff and high “C” - watch all the
micro-adjustments - for instance “E” to “F sharp” are only about ½
position apart - don’t “overshoot”. Play lots of scales, etc. in this
register.

- Take time with grace notes - don’t let them become percussive.

- For lip trills - movement should only be from the tongue (not
embouchure). Try to not favor either note. Practice starting trill from
above and below to get evenness.

- When playing with piano, try tuning to a full (forte) B flat chord,
rather than just one note. You may also wish to play the arpeggio
yourself.

- Stage presence - Perform to the audience, not your stand. Keep stand
fairly low, and try to point almost directly out to crowd. Use the “well”
in the side of the grand piano as a place to stand.

- Low register is like the bottom of a pyramid, high register is like the
top. Try “tee” syllable up high - it makes the tongue arch very slightly.

- Articulating up high like firing a gun - “Aim and Fire” - no delay
between breath and attack.

- Mutes generally make the horn go a bit sharp - know the tendency and
plan for it - listen.

- When you take a good breath, the belt line expands and the back arches
slightly.

- Practice breathing laying on floor, breathing deeply through your nose -
watch where the expansion happens. Try doing the same when playing (and
breathing through mouth).

- Working on a new piece like preparing a recipe - you can just follow the
directions exactly, or you can “add your own spices to it” to make it more
interesting.

- In music notation, accent sign looks like diminuendo sign - “this is not
a coincidence”.

- Balance your technique and style - don’t go overboard in trying to
achieve a stylistic approach, to where your clean technique suffers.

- Be careful to not lose energy/direction when the music diminuendos.

- Experiment with Air/Tongue ratio to achieve different sounds. Practice
breath attacks (for practice only, not performance) all the way to heavy
accent, to have choices in your playing.

- Practice 2 octave descending scales into middle and lower range for
opening up tone.

- 6/8 time, many people have trouble maintaining consistent pulse
throughout - think “Pop goes the Weasel”.

- In staccato passages, don’t “stab at the notes, blow through them”.
Think of the notes like meat at the butcher shop - “slice them a bit
thicker”.

- Notes are like a head (attack) and body (sustained portion) - if head is
distorted, the body suffers. Make sure air doesn’t lag behind the tongue.
Staccato notes need to have the same air behind them as longer notes.

- Check mirror for too much facial movement - great brass playing like a
ventriloquist - little movement seen from the outside.

- Embouchure - keep skin (cheeks) in contact with the teeth.

- Louder playing - less tongue. Softer, use more.

- If possible, finish phrases in “natural positions” rather than
alternates - better pitch and sound.

- Posture - Stand tall, and arch back slightly. Same when seated - don’t
touch chair back when playing.

- Slide - try holding cross bar like a key turning in a lock in technical
passages. Same grip, but now imagine that you’re holding a small bird for
legato passages. Keep consistent grip on cross bar of slide at all times
(thumb may come away in 6th & 7th positions) to maintain good pitch and
technique.

- When you play “mp” or softer, try to not control the dynamic with the
aperture - try playing a full (forte) sound and do a dim to “mp” - keep
the same sound. Let the air make the difference, not your chops.

- When going for a high note don’t “Scrunch down” - get taller, and even
lean back a bit. Think of a lead trumpet player’s posture.

- Embouchure - the high/low of the setting is much more important that
left/right.

- Collapsing forward with the torso interferes with blowing - be a
“blowing machine”.

- Wide intervals - support lower note and “spring” to high note - Tah -
EEE. Faster air speed. Try whistling to observe this phenomenon.

- If you touch the bell when you play, you will play 2 and ¾ position
instead of 3rd.

- Experiment with phrasing/dynamics options when preparing a new piece -
put your own stamp on it.

- Two identical phrases in consecutive order should have something
different about them - vary a dynamic, tempo, attack, etc. to create
interest.

- Natural slurs are the best way to teach legato - you may need to use
legato tongue for consistency and security later on for certain passages,
but teaching natural slurs makes the player learn the horn (where glisses
might occur) and use their air.

- If you miss a passage twice in practice, circle it to indicate that it
needs remedial work.

- Usually in a piece of music, if there’s a hairpin dynamic, you will want
to start from even a bit softer than where you were playing before for
more contrast.

- Practice technique - be a “Rhythm Machine” - try singing technical
passage, filling in spaces of longer notes with sound effects to keep
pulse going.

- Try breathing with mouthpiece staying in place. Opening up mouth too
much causes throat tension. Think “Doctor’s office breath” (like for
stethoscope), and try sighing.

- The louder you play, use more length to the notes and  less tongue. Many
split notes in fortissimo are because of using too much tongue and not
enough air.

- For pieces with piano that begin awkwardly (ie; after an eighth note
rest, etc.), try taking a slow inhale and having the accompanist start
when you reach the top of the breath (or middle, depending on how much
time you need).

- To work fuzziness or “cloudiness” out of sound, try playing a full note
and doing a dim to “ppp” - hold very long. Don’t squeeze lips - control
air like making the flame on a candle flicker. Try this with a tuner -
don’t allow pitch to rise. You can also reverse this exercise to control
“fff” playing.

- Nerves - “Be a fighter” - who’s going to win, you or nerves? Concentrate
on music, and fight through nerves. “Come out swinging").

- Freedom comes from the breath - you formulate the music during your inhale.

- Singing the music in your practice (convincingly!) will put the music
(pulse, style, etc.) into your body.

- If you’re nervous, think of the area around the stand as “your box”. No
one else can come in that area - just for you and the music. Don’t let
“voices’ into your thoughts - concentrate one phrase at a time.

- When you’re running out of air on a passage, don’t lean forward - lean
back to allow abdominal muscles to squeeze last of air out if necessary.

- Put breath marks in music - plan!

- Learning is like taking apart a jigsaw puzzle and putting it together
again. It gets easier each time, because you remember pieces from before.

- Stay true to the music - don’t “bend it” to accommodate your technical
issues.

- Watch to not “chew” with your embouchure in low register tonguing.


Excerpt advice

Bolero - try putting a decrescendo at very end of solo, making the “d
flat” near the end the peak - makes for harmonic tension against “c”. Also
gliss to last high “d flat” doesn’t have an accent - play less than
others.

Heldenleben - Don’t be afraid to make an attack in Strauss & Wagner. Play
dotted eighths/sixteenths with some space between them.

Saint-Saens 3 - Make contour in each phrase. Don’t play this stiff on an
audition. This excerpt (and Tuba Mirum) may be the only really lyrical
thing you play for the committee.

Creation - Play at a good quick tempo, but lightly and cleanly. At a
faster tempo move to dah attacks instead of tah.

Hungarian March - Practice 8va skips with breaths and next note - Don’t
rush 8vas to find room for breath. Get comfortable with that part of the
passage. Use 1st position “d’s” for better pitch/sound. Use legato tongue
rather than lip slur for control at “ff”. Intonation near the end of the
excerpt eliminates most players at auditions.

Rhenish - Stagger breath w/horn. Joe likes to breath after the “a flat”.
Choose a tempo where you can feel a “backbeat”, for steadiness.

Hary Janos - On dotted eighth/sixteenth passages move slide in an “indexed
manner” to the resolution. Slot the positions, don’t “float” the slide.

Prelude to Act 3 - Practice singing and clapping subdivision to
internalize time. Hear the opening of the piece in your head before you
start playing the excerpt. To practice pitch, take away small notes - make
it a scale - get a great tonal center. Practice the triplets by “miming”
w/the slide and tongue (no sound). Isolate dotted eighths/sixteenths with
a “kick” on sixteenths for practice.

Final Session

Nerves -

1. Perform more - trombonists don’t have as many opportunities as some
other instrumentalists for exposed playing - create your own
opportunities.

2. Try to do 2 recitals a year (can be the same program twice).

3. Make the stage become familiar.

4. Play for your peers.

5. Deep breathing - make yourself do it.

6. Distract yourself a bit before going on stage.

7. At an audition - warm up elsewhere first, then arrive 1 hour early to
avoid feeling rushed, and in case they are running early. Don’t play too
much beforehand - just a bit for comfort, and try to find your own space
away from others.

Rhythm -

Sing and conduct in your practicing - get it “into your body”. Great
rhythm will get you noticed on an audition (as will great pitch). It
actually makes your sound seem even better.

Pitch -

- Play duets with good players and with yourself (on tape).

- Trombone quartets, trios

- Play with drone notes - make your own by taping long tones.

- Play with piano regularly

- Tape yourself - spend as much time listening as playing.

- Smart Music - computer accomps. that can follow, change keys, etc.

- Closing eyes while playing can be helpful when working on pitch.

- Practice standard tunes without music for ear training - try to “see”
notes as they go by.

Misc. -

Slide technique - work at “slotting” your slide - take a scale or any two
notes and work at placing the slide right where it needs to be.

You should work on isolated slurs - work on making smooth connection and
control of slide/air.

Try buzzing notes while sitting at the piano, hitting random pitches on
the keyboard and matching the with the mouthpiece. No looking, no
“scooping”.

Try working on vibrato by using a metronome and vibrato different note
speeds (eighths, triplets, sixteenths, etc.).

Preparing for a recital -
1. Always jump to hardest parts first in your practice.
2. Use a metronome!
3. Don’t go to first piano rehearsal not knowing notes, or breathing spots.