Here at the Reference Desk, you can access
multimedia articles and other entertaining and educational materials on
a variety of musical themes. A brief description appears below
each title along with any content advisories for that link.
Bookmark this page and be sure to visit often to see the new Word of the Week,
Joke of the Fortnight and
Tip of the Month.
Bringing in a Brass Chamber Ensemble Whether you play in a brass trio, quartet, quintet or sextet, an
important technique for a group leader to master is the cue that brings
the ensemble in at the beginning of a performance. This multimedia
article teaches a method that the Empire Brass has used for over three
decades and has taught to hundreds of other brass ensembles. Because of the online video demonstrations throughout this article, it
is best view using a high speed connection. The video clips are in
Flash format. If your Flash plug-in
is outdated or not installed yet, you may be
prompted to download the most recent version. Due to Microsoft’s
update of Internet Explorer in April 2006, you may have to click on the
video once to “activate” it and then click on it again to begin
playback.
Diversity in
Phrasing The elegant and imaginative shaping of a musical phrase requires the use
of many techniques. This article describes these techniques and
how they may be applied to create a more rounded performance. An
even broader understanding of when to apply the techniques described
here can be gained by first reading its companion essay,
Intelligent Design.
Gate Checking Your Large Musical Instrument (or Case)
If your instrument or the case you’re using (i.e., double, triple or
quad-case) is too large to be considered a carry-on item, you have two
choices when you fly in the United States: check your instrument as
baggage or buy a seat for it. If you fly often, purchasing an
extra seat on every flight may not be practical. So how do you
minimize the risk to your instrument when you have to check it?
Try gate-checking it.
Intelligent Design Playing what is written on the page is good. It is also the least
that is expected. Capitalizing on the more hidden expressions in
music requires that a performer first be able to find them. The
search for such moments often requires more than instinct but
open-mindedness and objectivity as well. This article examines the
things to look for when mining a of piece music for hidden expressive
opportunities.
Musical Chairs
The seating configuration of any wind ensemble does not have to be
fixed. In fact, moving instruments around for certain pieces may
make more sense both practically and musically than one may think.
Presented here is a perspective on seating configuration for bands and
wind ensembles as well as a discussion of its many benefits.
Fiction
Short Stories
How to be a Jazz Critic Bill
Anschell tells gives you all the catch phrases you need to know to
become a first rate jazz critic.
Jazz Jam
Sessions: A First-Timer’s Guide Experience the comedic musing of writer/pianist,
Bill
Anschell, as you learn the proper etiquette and hidden dynamics of a
jazz jam session. This short story contains adult themes and language that some readers
may find objectionable or offensive. Readers’ discretion is
advised.
There’s a Sucker
Born Every Minute This short story by Bill Anschell takes an inside look at the
death-defying life of a staff musician aboard the S.S. Norway. This short story contains adult themes and language that some readers
may find objectionable or offensive. Readers’ discretion is
advised.
Searching for Glory at the Cookin’ Cadenza
Here’s a humorous tale about struggle of trying to be a “real” musician in the midst of mediocrity. This short story contains adult themes and language that some readers
may find objectionable or offensive. Readers’ discretion is
advised.
Careers in Jazz A clear and concise
dissertation on the structure of the jazz world and the interactions of
its constituents.
Wilson is tired of paying for clarinet reeds. If he adopts a
policy of playing only on rejected reeds from his colleagues will he
be able to retire on the money he has saved if he invests it in
mutual bonds, yielding 8.7%, before he is fired from his job? If
not, calculate the probablitity of him ever working in a
professional symphony orchestra again!
Jethro has been playing the double bass in a symphony orchestra for
12 years, three months and seven days. Each day, his inclination to
practice decreases by the equation: (total days in the orchestra) x
0.0076. Assuming he stopped practising altogether four years, six
months and three days ago, how long will it be before he is
completely unable to play the double bass?
Wilma plays in the second violin section, but specializes in making
disparaging remarks about conductors and other musicians. The
probability of her making a negative comment about any given
musician is 4 chances in 7, and for conductors is 16 chances out of
17. If there are 103 musicians in the orchestra and the orchestra
sees 26 different conductors each year, how many negative remarks
does Wilma make in a two-year period? How does this change if five
of the musicians are also conductors? What if six of the conductors
are also musicians?
Betty plays in the viola section. Despite her best efforts she is
unable to play with the rest of the orchestra and, on average, plays
0.3528 seconds behind the rest of the viola section, which is
already 0.16485 seconds behind the rest of the orchestra. If the
orchestra is moving into a new concert hall with a reverberation
time of 2.7 seconds, will she be able to continue playing this way
undetected?
Horace is the General Manager of an important symphony orchestra. He
tries to hear at least four concerts a year. Assuming that at each
concert the orchestra plays a minimum of three pieces per concert,
what are the chances that Horace can avoid hearing a single work by
Mozart, Beethoven or Brahms in the next ten years?
Rosemary is unable to play in keys with more than three sharps or
flats without making an inordinate number of mistakes. Because her
colleagues in the cello section are also struggling in these
passages she has so far been able to escape detection. What is the
total number of hours they would all have to practice to play the
complete works of Richard Strauss?
Ralph loves to drink coffee. Each week he drinks three more cups of
coffee than Harold, who drinks exactly one third the amount that the
entire brass section consumes in beer. How much longer is Ralph
going to live?
If you like this Joke of the Fortnight,tell a friend, bookmark
this page and be sure to come back in two weeks.
…always sustain it for, at least, 4 counts beyond when you think you
should release it. Assuming you’re in tune and have a well develop
sound, this can be musically effective with both loud and soft endings
even if you choose not to change the note’s dynamic or vibrato during
the hold. There are two prevailing reasons why sustaining a fermata
longer than your natural instinct will be is a successful device*. Metering the entire fermata to
a set count can often work, however, when acoustic conditions change so
too can the affect created by the duration of a sustained note. The same
note in two differing venues may, aesthetically, require two different
lengths to be fully appreciated.
The physical stresses experienced by a performer are not shared by
the audience. When holding an un-metered note at the end of a work,
these stresses can often distort a performer’s (instrumentalist or
conductor) perception of the amount of real-world time that has passed. When such distortion occurs, it almost always makes the performer feel
that time is passing faster than it actually is. That is, a performer
feels that they have held a note for a certain length of time only to
discover later, during a timely review of the performance tape under
less stressful conditions, that they didn’t hold the note as long as it
originally felt to them. Many things can contribute to this phenomenon,
including;
the technical difficulty of the held note
how well the performance has gone
the performer’s opinion of the music
the performer’s perception of the audience’s opinion of the music or
performance
the temperature on stage
fatigue
the acoustics in the room
and any number of other factors.
In great performances, the pacing of the music, including its
conclusion, is careful controlled by the performer(s). There is a
natural sense of pacing at the ends of phrases and pieces which
everyone, including the audience, feels. This can be observed when large
groups of non-musicians sing together (e.g., hymns sung in church). When
you end a piece with a held note, the audience has an idea of when the
release will happen. By extending the anticipation of the release for a
few more moments you unexpectedly, yet inoffensively, defy and surpass
this communal expectation. During a loud, intense ending the audience is
just waiting to burst into a fevered applause. During a soft, delicate
ending they’re wait to exhale (emotionally) with the release. At this
point, before relinquishing control of the moment, the most uplifting thing you can do
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