Articles

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  If your Flash plug-in is outdated or not installed yet, you may be prompted to download the most recent version.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.

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.

Word of the Week

calando (Itl.) = dying away in volume (and sometimes tempo as well)—as in Prokofiev’s Symphony No.5

Featuring the voices of Michelle Montone Campbell (Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra, bass clarinet) and Mark Hetzler (Empire Brass, trombone)

Joke of the Fortnight

As a bagpiper,...

...I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a grave side service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. And as I played Amazing Grace, the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together.

When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full. As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

Apparently I’m still lost...

If you like this Joke of the Fortnight, tell a friend, bookmark this page and be sure to come back in two weeks.

Tip of the Month

How to begin practicing with a metronome is somewhat intuitive, however,...

…knowing how to use one to monitor and test one’s rhythmic develop is not.  When you initially practice a piece, setting the metronome to click on every downbeat is certainly a good idea.  The danger of setting the metronome this way is that a musician can become very good at “following” the metronome instead of internalizing the time.  Once you are confident that your rhythm and tempo is steady while the metronome marks downbeats, it is important that you use the metronome to further test and, if necessary, solidify your sense of subdivision.  This can be done using a couple techniques.

First, set the metronome to click on the upbeats.  If you listen to rock music you’ll notice the “snap” in the time comes from the drummer striking the snare drum on beats 2 and 4. The bass drum hits on beats 1 and 3 have a relatively “fat” or “wide” articulation and doesn’t possess the same “pop” that energizes the rhythmic groove.  Jazz musicians have always felt the rhythmic groove of the music through the “weak” beats (they, literally, snap their fingers to it). When practicing, this concept can effectively be extended to the upbeat.

It’s easy for a player’s weak sense of tempo to go unnoticed if they are playing with a metronome clicking downbeats.  The articulation of a downbeat seems to be psychologically longer than that of an upbeat and tiny, unconscious adjustments can be made by the player in order to “stay with” the metronome.  With the metronome clicking the upbeat, it is almost impossible to play more than one or two beats without first mentally establishing a strong sense of rhythm (folks with a weak sense of rhythm or those who don't subdivide the beat before they start playing even have trouble doing a count off and coming in with a metronome set this way).  Ironically, when a strong sense of rhythm is present, a metronome clicking on upbeats reinforces this sense in the player and it becomes very easy to settle into a steady groove.  This technique is a way of ensuring that your subdivision within each beat is even.  If it’s not, the truth will become apparent much more quickly than playing with downbeat clicks, and, if it is, this practice technique will be very reassuring.

A second technique for testing and monitoring your sense of time is by having the metronome clicks spaced father apart.  When you get to the point where you believe your time is steady, have the metronome click on every other beat (or every bar in 3/4 or 5/4 time), then every bar, then every other bar and finally have the clicks spaced as far apart as possible.  Depending on the tempo of the music, this can be done by setting the metronome to half the tempo and/or (on some metronome models) setting the click/chime to sound only after a certain number of beats.  Going through this process will make you very paranoid about whether you’re playing in tempo but will eventually make you more confident about your rhythm than playing with continuous downbeat clicks ever will.

Imagine, after incrementally spacing the metronome clicks farther and farther apart, practicing Stars and Stripes Forever with the metronome set to chime every six beats with the tempo set to 60 beats per minute. This would mean that the metronome would chime once every six measures! When you can do this successfully and consistently, you will have the mental concentration and confidence to do it comfortably and at any tempo.

The effective use of a metronome follows the same concept as that of a tuner and many other performance enhancing tools: At some point it must stop being used as a crutch and be set as a unaccommodating reference of one’s technical achievements.