I recently purchased The Conservatory Method for Trumpet, by J. B. Arban — it’s sorta like the brass bible. It’s got tons of really tough studies and exercises. This, combined with the berp training device, are really helping me build up my chops.
I came across some funny reviews of the book tonight:
Arban is sooo annoying!! It's funny though I managed to persuade my teacher to lend my copy to another guy she teaches, so I can't practice for the next week or so and he has to suffer it!!
My euphonium teacher just lent me her copy....although I did try and point out that I was likely to spill/break/ruin it in someway shape or form she insisted that I take it..... It's still sitting in the carrier bag next to the euphonium....ah well...
[Question:] May i ask what arban is?! [Answer:] It's a (is it originally for cornet?) book for brass players full of nasty studies and exercises! It's hateful!
i decided to sign up for private trumpet lessons, and i just had my first lesson yesterday. i’m playing with scott weigum, who i found through the union street music store. i just had my first private lesson with him, and he seems pretty good so far.
first thing we did was play a piece of my choosing (i picked dvorjak symphony 8, which i just played with the band). then he gave me a few comments:
Breathe!
i’m not breathing correctly for trumpet. i went to an alexander technique workshop with the symphony about a month and a half ago, and they were very preachy about posture and breathing. i talked about this with scott, who thinks that alexander technique is great, but wasn’t specific to brass players. he says that being able to push out your gut while playing will make your tone a lot more solid. breathing from the bottom of my diaphragm, as opposed to with my shoulders will help with air flow, and improve my tone.
Buzz!
he also pointed out that my tone could be improved further with mouthpiece-only training. my notes crack every once in a while because i lack this type of skill. he wants me to think of the rest of the horn beyond the mouthpiece as just an amplifier, and that for every note i play on my trumpet, i should be able to play the note using just my mouthpiece. so he had me play a chromatic scale of whole notes, each note played first on my trumpet, followed by playing the same note on my mouthpiece detached from the horn. we did a similar exercise with some interval studies (Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet, p.125 #7, p. 127 #3). i was amazed after playing it on the mouthpiece alone how much better it sounded when i brought the mouthpiece back to the horn.
Sing!
he showed me “Last Rose of Summer” (ibid. p.192 #6), but he made me sing it. “no, no, you don’t want to hear me sing, i’m a horrible singer” to which he replied, “sing the way think this song should be played. think about how you want it to the sound - otherwise the trumpet is a roadblock to acheiving that sound.” meh, i sang it decently, though i’m pretty sure it would be my voice that is the roadblock to a good sound, not the trumpet. played it first on the horn, then just on the mouthpiece, then sang it, then played it on the horn again. the singing actually helped a lot, both in realizing how all the dynamics should (could?) sound, and in hitting the right pitches on my horn.
he also suggested buying a “BERP (Buzz Extension and Resistance Piece)” to acquire muscle memory in my lips for embouchure & tone. i bought one tonight from Bronstein’s Music in South City, and it’s pretty fun to use. it cost about $20, and it seems like it’s working already… placebo effect? possibly…
my homework: page 1 of “venezia carnivale” (ibid. p. 339)
someone told me this song was in my Arban’s book, but i couldn’t find it. yesterday scott showed it to me (it’s actually called “Fantasie and Variations” with “Carnival of Venice” in small type underneath. i listened to him play the first page, then i had to play each phrase on my horn, then on my mouthpiece, then sing it, then play it on my horn again. it feels stupid, but it’s a really good way to practice. i’ve never played this song before. the first page is very lyrical, and flowing… the lower half of the page is all 16th notes in 6/8 time, with tons of difficult slurs. the next pages get even crazier. definitely pushing my limits on this piece. i can handle sight-reading the intro, but the rest of it is a little out of my league. once i can play the first page slowly, i’ll try speeding it up.
we ended with a few duets.
here is allen vizuti, playing “the carnival of venice”:
There’s a lot of code for credit.com, and a lot of it is extremely spaghetti-fied (i re-factor code every day, but still haven’t had enough of a lull to plan the ‘grand’ re-factoring where all our site variables are contained in one place, all our javascript functions are documented and easily importable, and all our images and styles are cached in a css repository on our CDN….). While trying to get to the bottom of a JavaScript problem I was having with IE, I googled “javascript validator” and came across a very useful tool:
Which reminded me of a CS comparator rule, and showed me where the problem was. Basically I was testing a variable to find out whether or not it was null. When you test for null, you need to use an additional equal sign in your comparison operator:
“==” becomes “===”
and
“!=” becomes “!==”
Firefox allows the non-null equivalency operator to be used on null comparisons, but IE is stricter, and throws an error when this is done. So… though the problem was only apparent through IE browsers, it was a result of bad code. If Firefox were stricter about what it allows in JavaScript, this error probably would’ve been caught by my predecessor… It’s fixed now. The moral is: use “===” and “!==” with null comparisons, and when testing JavaScript, make sure to test in IE (duh!), consider building for IE, and then testing in Firefox after the goal is accomplished…..
while ‘youtubing’ for a good version of the hummel trumpet concerto, i kept seeing the name “alison balsom”.. i kept asking myself, why does she look familiar? oh that’s right, i saw her play this summer in the SF symphony’s “summer in the city” concert at dolores park. she played the hayden trumpet concerto, all three movements, (the first movement is the best, IMO). she was really good, but i didn’t know anything about her when i saw her. now i have all this background information, i’m more stoked about her, but… i don’t know when the next time i’ll see her play will be.
note to self: next symphony concert i go to, find out who the featured musician/artist is ahead of time.
we just had our dress rehearsal for the symphony concert at the conservatory. holy mother of god!!! that room is amazing!!!!!!!!!!
what a great feeling to play in there. i can’t wait for the concert. being on that stage and familiarizing myself with the building was a huge help in getting the nervousness out of my system. hearing myself play on my new horn, with the hard wood walls and flooring felt really solid.
during one of the songs that i’m not in, i sat and listened near the back of the concert hall. very nice blend. the difference between the concert hall and our practice space is profound (as it should be i suppose), but i hadn’t realized how good the group sounds all together! (that sounds arrogant… oh well). the building also features incredibly ornate walls and ceiling. there’s a choir balcony behind the stage, as well as a side balcony…. i then walked around the building trying to find access to the balcony. i got onto the choir balcony through the second floor (we might open this as overflow seating if we sell out the main seating area). then i asked around for the smaller side balcony/box seat. none of the conservatory students knew what i was talking about, but i eventually found a locked door on the third floor labelled ‘loge’, and i figured that was it.
anyway…. i’m super-excited about this concert! such a cool location, such wonderful music.
tomorrow is my freedom band dress rehearsal. it’s at ebenezer lutheran church, which will be another huge improvement, accoustically speaking. i’m sure it will also sound much better than our band practice space.
I’ve posted the press release for the symphony I’ve been playing with this past summer below. Our summer concert at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music is coming up this Saturday, 9/13. The tickets are priced at $16-32, sliding scale, which includes a free wine reception immediately following the concert.
You can purchase tickets online (http://bars-sf.org/Concerts.html), by phone (415-57-VIOLA), or directly from me up until Friday. The show may sell out (there’s only 400 seats), so reserving a place ahead of time is strongly recommended.
The press release:
Move over Donna: summer’s close belongs to the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS)! The hottest gem of San Francisco Bay Area will showcase the cooling and contemplative music of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Vivaldi on Saturday, September 13 at 8PM at the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Like the setting of the summer’s sun, the Rainbow Symphony’s 65 musicians will color the night’s air first with the vibrant Leonore Overture no. 3 by Beethoven, the tranquil “Nocturne” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Mendelssohn, the meditative Symphony no. 8 “Unfinished” by Schubert and, lastly, the haunting Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave) by Mendelssohn. The evening also stars principle bassoonist Thomas Hill as soloist in Vivaldi’s Bassoon Concerto in B Flat Major “La Notte.” Hill, who’s visual art and sculpture has been commissioned by BBC and Hyatt Hotel Group, has performed around the world, locally with the San Francisco State University Orchestra, and is thrilled for his BARS and Conservatory premiere this September. All guests are invited to a free wine reception with the musicians following the concert.
The BARS musicians from across the San Francisco Bay area are led by internationally acclaimed guest maestro Daniel Canosa. The Argentina-born conductor is considered one of the best of his generation and has led orchestras and choruses in Argentina, the United States, and Europe, including the highly praised Conjunto Egmont, Apollo Orchestra, Auburn Symphony Orchestra, and Camilla Symphony Orchestra, among others. In 2001, his all-Beethoven program with the Auburn Symphony received recognition: “Pluck is what it takes to tackle Beethoven… Canosa’s careful conducting shepherded the orchestra in the right directions… [and] proved commanding [in] Symphony No. 7, landing its attacks, severe cutoffs, and varied dynamics like a gymnast in fine form.” (Patricia Beach Smith, Sacramento Bee.) Canosa studied composition and orchestral conducting at the Argentine Catholic University and the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and privately with Sergio Siminovich in Buenos Aires and conductor Nicholas McGegan in Berkeley, California.
The September 13 concert marks BARS début at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. “The Conservatory’s 400-seat Concert Hall, which opened last year in the school’s new Oak Street digs, proved an ideal acoustical fit for the group (Chanticleer); the sound was clear and crisp throughout, and sight lines are excellent.” (Georgia Rowe, Contra Costa Times.)
The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony strives to provide a safe and supportive environment for musicians of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. The ensemble makes cultural, social, and educational contributions to the San Francisco Bay Area by performing ambitious repertoire to a high standard. Additional information about the ensemble can be found at http://bars-sf.org/.
Hope to see you there!
-Greg
p.s. If any of you are allergic to classical music, but still have the desire to hear me play, you can see me in the San Francisco Lesbian Gay “Freedom Band” on Friday night, at Ebenezer Lutheran Church at 8pm. The music in this set will be more modern, more geeky, more goofy, and possibly more fun. Admission is free.
i’ve been playing trumpet in two groups this summer, the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, and the San Francisco LGBT Freedom Band. they’re both coming to a close, and it’s been a lot of fun. i might have to do both again next quarter. that basically fills up my evenings for two days out of the week. i decided to sign up for private trumpet lessons, but it may only last until the next quarter of band and symphony starts up. i’m not going to have much of a social life outside of music, but c’est la vie.
he also suggested buying a “
