[Trombone-l] musicianship question

Wed Mar 1 23:49:58 CST 2006

The one thing that I see almost completely missing in the study of
musicianship is the idea of phrasing. Too many people are too content just
to make sure that they get the right notes, in tune, the correct
articulation at the right time. As brass players, it is so easy to become
robotic, particularly when notes are tongued. It seems so that we think that
the only time we have to phrase anything is when it is slurred. It is so
easy to get into this thing where we "warm up" (I still hate that phrase)
unmusically in that we don't phrase. 

Wayne, you'll appreciate this one. A friend of mine was working on the
SECURITY IN THE HIGH RANGE section of the Remington warm ups last week. He
asked me if I did anything special in order to get the high notes as far as
moving the mouthpiece, or changing my embouchure, or anything like that. I
told him that the secret to really mastering this was to think of it as a
beautiful line out of a song, irregardless of whether you tongued the notes
or slurred them. Don't worry about the method---go for the product, which is
THE PHRASE. $50,000 lesson for free. (Perhaps that's why I don't use the
Remington studies because I've heard them played so badly. I do use some
things out of those studies, but I much prefer the Colin Lip Flexibilities.
To me, they resemble musical lines more than the Remington studies).   

Even if you have 2 whole notes, they need to be phrased together. I actually
witnessed a situation in a professional orchestra where the tuba player had
4 sets of 2 whole notes, and it was so obvious that they needed to be
phrased together in twos. He didn't do it, and the entire musical effect was
ruined in that he had trouble getting the notes to speak. Nothing was ever
said from the podium in any of the rehearsals. 

I'm teaching the Tannhauser excerpt to 3 of my students for youth orchestra
auditions in a couple of months. I dug out my budget CD of the old Chicago
Symphony Orchestra (1970's) playing that overture, and I heard phrasing all
over the place. That trombone section really understood that you've got to
play phrases. In reality, that's what wins and loses auditions. It's not
about how loud you play it, (even though those guys play it loud enough to
turn the Pope Protestant) it's how well you phrase it, and observe all of
the other stuff too. 

Paul Kemp       

-----Original Message-----
From: trombone-l-bounces at maillists.samford.edu
[mailto:trombone-l-bounces at maillists.samford.edu] On Behalf Of Wayne Dyess
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 11:58 PM
To: Jay Sheridan
Cc: trombone-l at samford.edu
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] musicianship question

I have found that most school groups need some direction to sound 
musical.  I have them write in little things that are not in the 
printed music.  Hairpins, accents, dynamic contrasts... contouring a 
line to follow the melodic content.

There is great book that was published by Vandercook simply called 
"Expression" that lays out a pretty good plan for teaching 
musicianship.  I don't know if it is still in print, but it sure helped 
me when I was first teaching (in those days, jr. high band).  The ideas 
I learned from that have carried me through my now 30th year of 
teaching at the college level... and I still use many of the techniques 
presented in the Vandercook paperback.  Terrific book.

Dynamics are given numbers.... 1 the softest... 10 the loudest.  A jr. 
high band might only get 4 to 7 or 8 with good taste and tone quality.  
A high school band should be able to go from 2 to 9.  College, the full 
range hopefully.  That was but one of the techniques used to teach 
musicianship.

Fun topic.
Good luck!
Wayne Dyess

On Mar 1, 2006, at 1:34 PM, Jay Sheridan wrote:

> For all those that do any teaching, how do you teach a student (or 
> group- band/orch etc) to play musically? I have tried several 
> different ways, but none seem to be working. I have a group that can 
> perform rhythmically and in tune, but is lacking musically. The group 
> in question is actually a choir, but I usually think in trombone terms 
> when talking to them anyways.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jay Sheridan
> Director of Music
> Upper Scioto Valley Local School
> McGuffey, OH
> jsheridan at usv.k12.oh.us
> _______________________________________________
> Trombone-l mailing list
> Trombone-l at maillists.samford.edu
> http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l
>
>

Dr. Wayne Dyess, Professor of Trombone
and Director of Jazz Studies
Lamar University Dept. of Music, Theatre & Dance
P. O. Box 10044
Beaumont, Texas  77710
409-880-8146
http://lamar.edu/

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