[Trombone-l] Listening to Frank...

[Wayne Dyess]

Great posts from folks I admire and respect.

Happy New Year.

For some strange reason, this all makes sense to me (kidding, just  
kidding).

Seriously, face time is where the answers lie, more often than not.   
I do agree that the proper equipment gets you passage into the room,  
but it's the dedicated practice that earns you the seat.

I had not gotten out my "axe" since the Thursday before Christmas.    
I got in about an hour of face-time today.  At first, everything  
sounded awful and felt bad.  After 15 minutes of good ole' Remington,  
however, my sound started to open up and the attacks were coming.   
For me, I like to just buzz long tones in 3 registers.  Then 2 or 3  
note slurs.  I follow that with flexibilities or some tonguing.   
Scales in 2 octaves.  Repeated notes with varied tonguing.  I never  
"practiced" today.  I just dealt with fundamentals.  FACE TIME.

I'll do the same tomorrow.  Then it's a 4-hour gig tomorrow night.

Happy New Year everybody.  Get some face time.  SOON.

Cheers,
--Wayne


On Dec 30, 2007, at 5:23 PM, John.McVey at frb.gov wrote:

> If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that  
> there is no
> substitute for practice, and as I still work full time at my day  
> gig, I
> still have trouble finding the time to practice enough.  About 10  
> years
> ago, I was talking with a friend (Steve Bulla) about how difficult  
> it was
> to make my Bass trombone "speak" easily in the pedal register. His  
> question
> back to me spoke volumes, "How much face-time are you putting in?"  
> He was
> absolutely right. It wasn't so much the equipment or the mouthpiece  
> as it
> was that I just needed to practice and play more. The more you  
> practice,
> the more easily it will be for you to get the sound you are looking  
> for. I
> definitely am NOT saying that equipment doesn't make a difference,  
> it most
> certainly does. But there is no magic bullet. I play a Bach 50B2  
> Bass and a
> King 2B tenor and have settled on just two mouthpieces for each  
> that give
> me the sound I like, depending on the venue and style of music. I've
> stopped spending lots of $$ on different MPs or lead pipes, and  
> just try to
> play the best I can on what I have.
>
> It works ok for me, your mileage may vary.
>
> Happy New Year, Everyone!!
>
> John McVey


Dr. J. Wayne Dyess
Professor of Trombone
and Director of Jazz Studies
P. O. Box 10044
Lamar University-Beaumont, Texas 77710
Visit our alumni jazz band website @
http://www.ndotex.com