TROMBONE-L Digest 2310 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) ...yet another review (same concert different paper) by Gabriel Langfur 2) RE: let's take a vote by "Kerry Family" 3) White Sonata by Kenneth Jackson 4) Singers Unlimited Albums by Carl Webster 5) Composers & Performers knowing their craft. by Bear Woodson 6) Re: Eddie Bert in New York City.....got off the big band newsgroup by Gary Sloane 7) Re: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. by James Scott 8) Please continue to keep it polite. by Bear Woodson 9) restricting air flow by "Daniel Pliskin" 10) Re: restricting air flow by sabutin 11) Re: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. by "Adrian Drover" 12) April travels,,,anyone want a clinician? by sabutin 13) results from "let's take a vote" by Peter Collins & Sara Wilbur 14) Mt. Auburn Trombone Quartet, Tuesday, Southwest Ohio by David Burch 15) Re: April travels,,,anyone want a clinician? by Hector Bourg 16) Re: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. by "Aaron Roth" ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 12:02:18 -0800 (PST) From: Gabriel Langfur To: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: ...yet another review (same concert different paper) Message-ID: <20020223200218.72758.qmail@web10306.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Pro Arte performs proficiently by T.J. Medrek Monday, February 18, 2002 Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Isaiah Jackson, at Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, yesterday. A charming Haydn symphony, a planetary encounter via Norman Bolter's marvelous new trombone concerto, ``IOURS,'' and a loving performance of Schubert's warm, gentle Fifth Symphony made for a winning afternoon concert by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Isaiah Jackson, at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge yesterday. Bolter, a composer and, since 1975, a trombonist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has created in ``IOURS'' (pronounced EYE-oars) an altogether winning concerto that chamber orchestras should now be lining up to perform - if, that is, they can find a soloist capable of meeting its virtuoso demands the way Bolter himself did here. A 21st century man who hasn't forgotten humankind's place in the universe, Bolter composed this three-movement concerto to depict members of what he calls our ``cosmic family'' - the moon (child), the Earth (mother) and the sun (father) - in musical terms focused on his own instrument, which he played fully voiced as well as muted in various ways. He even, briefly, sang through the trombone as he played it, a haunting effect. Bolter's music for the moon conjured up the vastness of space with long, widely spaced string notes onto which was grafted trombone music that was sweet and playfully childlike. The Earth, by contrast, sounded like a place of lush wonder with, however, echoes of the moon music to remind us of the gravitational ties - a cosmic umbilical cord, perhaps? - between mother Earth and child moon. Finally, the sun arose in blazing brass splendor, grand and just a bit forbidding - fatherly, indeed. Music Director Isaiah Jackson directed the work with customary confidence and polish, as he did the program's opening work - Haydn's charming, solo-filled ``Morning'' Symphony - and the closing Schubert. Written when Schubert was 19, the symphony is full of optimism and sunshine. Its glory is its slow, gorgeous second movement, which Jackson led with gentle reverence. Using little more than a flick of the wrist, a wave of a finger or a nod, he urged from the Pro Arte musicians perhaps their finest playing of the afternoon. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 20:01:16 -0000 From: "Kerry Family" To: "alex iles" , Cc: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: RE: let's take a vote Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >From: alex iles [mailto:alexiles@earthlink.net] >An arrangement of F.B. is on "Tutti's Trombones". I forget who wrote it. >I like your idea of making the saxes playing the "dut dut's". My record sleeve doesn't credit the arrangers for individual tracks, but indicates that the arrangements are all by Tutti Camarata himself. Stephen Kerry, Reading UK ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 17:52:13 -0800 From: Kenneth Jackson To: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: White Sonata Message-ID: <3C69C6CD.6B6A982B@bellatlantic.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Donald White Sonata > A friend of mine is playing the Donald White Sonata for Trombone and Piano > on our recital (on April 8th) and he's looking for a recording of it. Any > ideas where he might find one? Thanks for the help. > > Take care, > James Yardley > Per Brevig (or Keith Brown ?) recorded this on a MMO LP..............I don't remember if it was the complete work or just 1 or 2 movements........I'm 95% sure this is available on CD now..... Check Hickey's music. Ken Jackson ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 17:11:21 -0600 From: Carl Webster To: TubaEuph@yahoogroups.com, tpo-list@yahoogroups.com, tpin@parnassus.dana.edu, TROMBONE-L@po.MISSOURI.EDU, Subject: Singers Unlimited Albums Message-ID: <002101c1bcbf$6b4e17e0$6401a8c0@xppro> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_pJ1kbNW2O967XErYVFkLrg)" I have the following Singers Unlimited albums for sale. Thought I would offer them to the list first before putting them up on eBay. Make an offer. Payment via PayPal, cashiers check, USPS Money Order or personal check (after waiting for it to clear the bank). Christmas [acapella] (1980) A Capella I (1981) A Capella II (1981) A Capella III (1980) Invitation, with Art Van Damme (1980) In Tune, with The Oscar Peterson Trio (1971) Easy To Love (1981) Chuck Findley & Warren Luening, tr & fl, Vince DeRosa horn, Bill Watrous tb Four of Us (1982) Friends (1976) Tommy Johnson tu, Buddy Childers, Danny Stiles, Gary Grant, Malcolm McNabb tr, Bill Watrous, Chauncy Welch, Don Waldrop, George Roberts tb The Singers Unlimited with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass (1980) A Special Blend (1980) Chuck Findley tr Just In Time (1977) Sentimental Journey (1981) Eventide (1982) Sing The Music of Lennon, McCartney, Ellington (1982) I will sell individual albums, groups and, of course, the whole thing. To offer a beginning price point, the average bid price for all the different albums I have been offering for sale is $10. This is $9 per album plus $1 for shipping for $10 per album. I double bubble wrap each album, insure the package and ship via UPS so you can track it. Albums have been in storage and not played since 1984. Webster Carl Webster MCSE, A+ Cell:501-230-6004 Office:501-268-8881 ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 17:35:14 -0700 From: Bear Woodson To: Trombone List Subject: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. Message-ID: <3C783541.C3EFAFB5@cox.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hello, Trombone List. This Thread was originally "let's take a vote". I couldn't agree more that too many composers do not know their craft. Of all the hundreds of fugues that J.S. Bach wrote, there are a few types that are SO hard to do well, that even he wrote only a handful, or less, of each. These include such things as: a Stretto Fugue; a True 4-Voiced Fugue for an Unaccompanied Violin; a Double Fugue, and a Triple Fugue. I was trained as a composer 30 years ago, got out of music during the 1980's, and came back to composing heavily for the last 8 years. It always was my ambition to write a series of virtuoso unaccompanied pieces, chamber works, accompanied sonatas, KonzertstŸcke, and full concerti for each major orchestral instrument. In just the last 8 years, I have already written several of these works, and have even had an entire Dissertation written on just 4 of my works for horn. Of the above- mentioned Difficult Types of Fugues, I have already written at least one of each. I have fugal movements in many of my works, and a growing list of famous com- posers and theorists, agree I seem to know something about my craft. (I even have 2 works, where a melody is carefully written-out in Original and Retrograde Inversion against each other, and harmonizes in Chromatic Modality [in other words, in a Modern Jazz / Hindemith Harmonies, but NOT in 12-Tone Formulae]. I never liked nor used 12-Tone, and it's dead now, anyway.) I've only been distributing scores via these Instrument Lists for 3 years, and am already getting my music studied and/or performed in 18 countries around the world. When I start a new virtuoso work for another instru- ment, I work closely with a soloist of that instrument, and too often the resulting work is described as "solidly playable", but often exceeds the skills of most players. Most violinists talk about the 3 Fugues and Chaconne from the 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin by J.S. Bach, BUT most violinists just can't cut it themselves. No one has dared play my "Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin" (July 1994, 4 mvts., 25 min.), in public for the same reasons. (This is the work that has the 4-Voiced Fugue as its 2nd Movement, and has transcriptions for Viola and Cello of the entire sonata.) My best successes have been to work with Women Per- formers, such as harpist / composer Kimberly Houser, and horn professor Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler. Both have per- formed the virtuoso works that I have written for them, but sadly they are the exception. Too often the very people who brag the loudest that they can play anything, are the first to scurry away, and not perform works of mine that I had written for their instrument. Sometimes this is partly because the mood of my music is often very intense, profound, and is not a light, simple-minded-Popular-Music type of personality. I can understand that, but cop-outs only go so far. Rock 'n Roll Audiences may not go out of their way to hear the 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin by J.S. Bach, but that doesn't make Bach an idiot for having written them. Nor does it slam most violinists for not being able to play them. The works of Bach will forever stand as monuments to both good composition and virtuosity. Only history can say, if my hard work will ever equal a fraction of Bach's genius; but I can't be faulted either, by having at least worked toward that goal. The relevant points being: I'm a well-trained com- poser, who knows enough to keep learning. NO ONE ever knows enough about Good Counterpoint and the Idiosyncrasies of writing for Each Instrument. I own several orchestration books, and they all say WAY too little about writing well for each instrument! That's why I always seek out the advice of experts. But then there comes point where the Expert Per- formers need to fess up. Not everything I write is as hard to play as a 4-Voiced Fugue on a Violin, and my easier works DO get performed with increasing fre- quency, but my hard works keep getting excuses. My "Canticle for Unaccompanied Tuba, or Bass Trom- bone" (Sept. 1998, 9 pieces, 11' 24") has already had a number of performances, but my "Arioso for Unac- companied Tenor Trombone" (Jan. 1999, 4 sections, 7 min.) still scares Tenor Trombonists. Hornist Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler has already re- corded the Piano Reduction Version of my "Horn Con- certo" (Dec. 1999, 3 mvts., 16:35) and the first 3 move- ments of my 4-movement "Sonata No. 1 for Horn and Piano" (Oct. 2000, 3 mvts., 20:31). Both of these works have transcriptions for Tenor Trombone and the latter also for Bass Trombone. After Dr. McGale Fiehler gives a Live Performance of each (especially with orchestra), I can then release the trombone transcriptions of each. (The still-unrecorded 4th movement of that "Sonata No. 1 for Horn and Piano" is an "Evolving Double Fugue with a Triple Fugue Coda" that is at least 7 1/2 minute long after the 20 minutes of the first 3 movements. Yep, I think I've paid my dues for trombone writing for a little while.) With all do respect, we need a little balance here. I'm days behind in reading, storing and answering my E-Mails, so today I spent a few hours reading all the kvetching on the Trombone List from the last few days, about composers who don't know every detail about every instrument. I'm sure that for all my struggles, I will never know everything about any one instrument, and certainly not all of them. But how are you guys doing at virtuosity on your instruments? Hmmm??? Are all of you tossing off the concerted works of Zwilich, Creston, Rouse and Dr. George Walker? It's good that you guys help us composers to know the mysteries of the trombone, which I find to be a won- derful instrument. We composers will never be able to write solid, idiomatic music for any instrument, without a lot of good advice from polished performers, but please don't go too far about Casting the First Orchestration Book. Too often the people who whine the loudest for Paganini-level music, can barely cut Suzuki. I've seen it happen too often and am still not amused. Bear Woodson Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 16:41:29 -0800 From: Gary Sloane To: "Richard Johnson" Cc: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: Re: Eddie Bert in New York City.....got off the big band newsgroup Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" This should be a great concert. Before and after, you can often hear Eddie Bert with my college roommate, Harvey Kaiser, and a bunch of old Basie and Ellington sidemen variously known as Ten Left Feet and the Kansas City Sound, if you happen to be in the Hudson Valley. I heard them at a CD release party a year and a half ago in a cafe in Rosendale, NY, and Eddie's still got it. Roswell Rudd often sits in with this group, too. Check the local papers when you're in the area. Subject: Eddie Bert Returns to Town Hall From: "George Gee" ggee@nyc.rr.com Date: 2/21/02 3:26 PM Central Standard Time Message-id: <1Cdd8.23266$Ci6.3097702@typhoon.nyc.rr.com> February 22 , 2002 Attention All Media For Immediate Release - Advance Announcement - "Eddie Bert Returns to Town Hall" Tribute to Legendary Trombonist Eddie Bert Celebrating His 80th Birthday Thursday, May 16, 2002 For more info visit: http://www.eddieber tjazz.com On May 16, 2002 at The Town Hall, New York City, tribute will be paid to legendary trombonist Eddie Bert on the occasion of his 80th Birthday. The concert will feature Eddie Bert himself with the George Gee All-Star Jazz Orchestra under musical direction of Walt Szymanski, and with many special guests to be announced. This will be a Town Hall homecoming for Eddie: In 1945 he played in a Red Norvo concert at Town Hall which also was recorded. He also played and recorded at Town Hall at the historic concerts of Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk. In his 62-year career, which is still going strong, Eddie moved back and forth between the big swing bands and the be bop bands and groups. Eddie was named Musician of the Year by Metronome in 1955. Eddie's first professional performances were with Sam Donahue in 1940 and then Red Norvo's band. Since then, Eddie has been ubiquitous in jazz including being a member of the bands of Mingus, Monk, Stan Kenton, Bill Finegan, Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Charlie Parker, Benny Goodman, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Bobby Short, Lionel Hampton, just to name a few. Eddie appears on hundreds of recordings with those bands and as a sideman in other bands like Tito Puente's. Eddie is still going strong and touring worldwide. He just returned from a tour with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in Roumania and spent a week at the Zurich Festival with the Gee Band this past June. He appears regularly with Bobby Short's band. Eddie Bert's career is a virtual history of jazz. His photographs are a treasure trove for jazz historians. In his well-known notebooks, he has recorded the members of the bands of all of his performances and recordings from 1940 to the present. He also has an archive of acetates he and his wife Mollie recorded in the forties. For the Town Hall tribute evening, the Gee All Star Orchestra will include Lance Bryant Tenor Sax and Co-Musical Director, Charles Stephens Trombone, Eddie Pazant Alto Sax, Willard Dyson Drums, Jon Cowherd Piano, Daryl Hall Bass, Jack Jeffers Bass Trombone, Alex Harding Baritone Sax, Mark Gross Alto Sax, Derrick Gardner Trumpet, Vincent Gardner Trombone, Steve Wiseman Trumpet, Carla Cook Vocalist and many others. This concert is being organized by The Friends of Eddie Bert. For further information contact: Alan Sugarman Zort Music sugarman@zortmusic.com 212-873-1371 http://www.eddiebert jazz.com * * * * * Media Contact: Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845/ 986 1677 / F: 845-986-1699 E-Mail: jazzpromo@earthlink.net **************************************************************************** ** Richard Zemry Johnson, Jr. "The Untouchables" Jazz Ensemble Shreveport Metropolitan Concert Band ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, , "There won't come a time when you won't have to practice anymore." J. J. Johnson **************************************************************************** ***** I'm not satisfied with anything about my playing. I know what I want. I can hear it; but it will take time and study to get it" -Sonny Rollins (1956) ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 19:36:22 -0700 From: James Scott To: bearwoodson@cox.net Cc: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: Re: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. Message-ID: <3C7851A6.1C9B189F@ucalgary.ca> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Bear - I couldn't agree more that there needs to be balance in these complaints, and that composers must be given the chance to learn from mistakes, just as musicians need the same consideration. If mine was one of the posts that you found to be complaining in it's tone, let me set straight for the record that I have no problem with being challenged by a new work, but this discussion started because a composer wrote a passage that could only be played as written by a 3 armed trombonist! I love to play new works that challenge me, but I expect a composer to have studied his craft (including orchestration) in the same way that I have studied mine. This is especially important when someone writes for a professional group such as an orchestra. The music will be put out a week or two ahead for the performers (at most!) and they will be trying to give the best performance they can for it, as well as for all of the other pieces to be performed on the same concert. If there are obvious glaring mistakes in orchestration like woodwind notes too low for the instruments, or no time to put in mutes in the brass, or string effects that can't be heard, the musicians will lose interest, and will put more of their efforts into the other music on that concert. Right or wrong, it's hard to take a piece seriously when there are glaring errors in it. In my original post, I mentioned Stravinsky, Berg and Hindemith as 20th Century composers who obviously studied orchestration as part of their training - their music contains many difficult passages, that are playable by good professional players, and playing that music is very gratifying for the performers because of the challenges that are ultimately acheivable. The same can be said of the other more recent composers that you cited, but it is not always easy to find occasions to program modern solo trombone literature (particularly with orchestra accompaniment!). Jim Scott Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Bear Woodson wrote: > Hello, Trombone List. > > This Thread was originally "let's take a vote". > > I couldn't agree more that too many composers do > not know their craft. Of all the hundreds of fugues that > J.S. Bach wrote, there are a few types that are SO hard > to do well, that even he wrote only a handful, or less, > of each. These include such things as: > > a Stretto Fugue; > a True 4-Voiced Fugue for an Unaccompanied Violin; > a Double Fugue, and > a Triple Fugue. > > I was trained as a composer 30 years ago, got out of > music during the 1980's, and came back to composing > heavily for the last 8 years. It always was my ambition > to write a series of virtuoso unaccompanied pieces, > chamber works, accompanied sonatas, KonzertstŸcke, > and full concerti for each major orchestral instrument. > > In just the last 8 years, I have already written several > of these works, and have even had an entire Dissertation > written on just 4 of my works for horn. Of the above- > mentioned Difficult Types of Fugues, I have already > written at least one of each. I have fugal movements in > many of my works, and a growing list of famous com- > posers and theorists, agree I seem to know something > about my craft. > > (I even have 2 works, where a melody is carefully > written-out in Original and Retrograde Inversion against > each other, and harmonizes in Chromatic Modality [in > other words, in a Modern Jazz / Hindemith Harmonies, > but NOT in 12-Tone Formulae]. I never liked nor used > 12-Tone, and it's dead now, anyway.) > > I've only been distributing scores via these Instrument > Lists for 3 years, and am already getting my music > studied and/or performed in 18 countries around the > world. > > When I start a new virtuoso work for another instru- > ment, I work closely with a soloist of that instrument, > and too often the resulting work is described as "solidly > playable", but often exceeds the skills of most players. > > Most violinists talk about the 3 Fugues and Chaconne > from the 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied > Violin by J.S. Bach, BUT most violinists just can't cut > it themselves. No one has dared play my "Sonata for > Unaccompanied Violin" (July 1994, 4 mvts., 25 min.), > in public for the same reasons. (This is the work that > has the 4-Voiced Fugue as its 2nd Movement, and has > transcriptions for Viola and Cello of the entire sonata.) > > My best successes have been to work with Women Per- > formers, such as harpist / composer Kimberly Houser, and > horn professor Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler. Both have per- > formed the virtuoso works that I have written for them, > but sadly they are the exception. Too often the very people > who brag the loudest that they can play anything, are the > first to scurry away, and not perform works of mine that > I had written for their instrument. > > Sometimes this is partly because the mood of my > music is often very intense, profound, and is not a light, > simple-minded-Popular-Music type of personality. I can > understand that, but cop-outs only go so far. Rock 'n > Roll Audiences may not go out of their way to hear the > 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin by J.S. > Bach, but that doesn't make Bach an idiot for having > written them. Nor does it slam most violinists for not > being able to play them. > > The works of Bach will forever stand as monuments > to both good composition and virtuosity. Only history > can say, if my hard work will ever equal a fraction of > Bach's genius; but I can't be faulted either, by having > at least worked toward that goal. > > The relevant points being: I'm a well-trained com- > poser, who knows enough to keep learning. NO ONE > ever knows enough about Good Counterpoint and the > Idiosyncrasies of writing for Each Instrument. I own > several orchestration books, and they all say WAY too > little about writing well for each instrument! That's why > I always seek out the advice of experts. > > But then there comes point where the Expert Per- > formers need to fess up. Not everything I write is as > hard to play as a 4-Voiced Fugue on a Violin, and my > easier works DO get performed with increasing fre- > quency, but my hard works keep getting excuses. My > "Canticle for Unaccompanied Tuba, or Bass Trom- > bone" (Sept. 1998, 9 pieces, 11' 24") has already had > a number of performances, but my "Arioso for Unac- > companied Tenor Trombone" (Jan. 1999, 4 sections, > 7 min.) still scares Tenor Trombonists. > > Hornist Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler has already re- > corded the Piano Reduction Version of my "Horn Con- > certo" (Dec. 1999, 3 mvts., 16:35) and the first 3 move- > ments of my 4-movement "Sonata No. 1 for Horn and > Piano" (Oct. 2000, 3 mvts., 20:31). Both of these works > have transcriptions for Tenor Trombone and the latter > also for Bass Trombone. After Dr. McGale Fiehler gives > a Live Performance of each (especially with orchestra), I > can then release the trombone transcriptions of each. > > (The still-unrecorded 4th movement of that "Sonata > No. 1 for Horn and Piano" is an "Evolving Double Fugue > with a Triple Fugue Coda" that is at least 7 1/2 minute > long after the 20 minutes of the first 3 movements. Yep, > I think I've paid my dues for trombone writing for a little > while.) > > With all do respect, we need a little balance here. I'm > days behind in reading, storing and answering my E-Mails, > so today I spent a few hours reading all the kvetching on > the Trombone List from the last few days, about composers > who don't know every detail about every instrument. I'm > sure that for all my struggles, I will never know everything > about any one instrument, and certainly not all of them. But > how are you guys doing at virtuosity on your instruments? > Hmmm??? Are all of you tossing off the concerted works > of Zwilich, Creston, Rouse and Dr. George Walker? > > It's good that you guys help us composers to know > the mysteries of the trombone, which I find to be a won- > derful instrument. We composers will never be able to > write solid, idiomatic music for any instrument, without > a lot of good advice from polished performers, but please > don't go too far about Casting the First Orchestration > Book. Too often the people who whine the loudest for > Paganini-level music, can barely cut Suzuki. I've seen it > happen too often and am still not amused. > > Bear Woodson > Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 20:11:29 -0700 From: Bear Woodson To: Trombone List Cc: "Mr. James Scott" Subject: Please continue to keep it polite. Message-ID: <3C7859E0.7239072A@cox.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, Trombone List and Mr. Scott. Oops, no. Please don't misunderstand me. I was deeply impressed at the courtesy and articulation of the number of articles by trombonists, about shoddy or young com- posers. Every point they made was right on target, but it was just getting a tad one-sided. My only point is: it's easy to criticize, about something that someone doesn't do. I used to play piano (sonatas by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, etc.), but never had the polish to be anywhere near close to the talent to be a True Pianist. Then in then early 1980's I had nerve damage to the right arm, and have had to switch to writing left-handed only, ever since. During the 1990's I regained most of the use of the right arm, but still write left-handed. I even wrote a Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, but it's way beyond me, having not ever had the performance talent, nor having practiced in 20 years. Besides, I never would have survived Stage Fright. Since I can't perform, I am cautious to criticize perfor- mers, as ALL of them have an ability that I lack. In a similar frame of mind, I just wanted people to not go to extremes with criticizing the composers, when I find myself left holding the bag too often, from the braggings and broken promises of performers of all instruments, including a number of Tenor Trombone Players. So far, all of your points have been politely and correctly made. I'm just saying, please continue to keep it polite. (I'm on over 20 Instrument Lists, and they too often go into Feeding Frenzies. I just want to avoid that.) By the way, I have always been a big fan of the har- mony and philosophies of Hindemith: to try to write well-crafted, practical music for each instrument. I still have limited feeling in the right arm, plus terrible Stage Fright and Absolutely NO Talent for Performing, so I could never imitate Hindemith's genius for performing so many instruments as well as he did. But I try my best to learn as much as I can about each instrument that I write for. (I even mark all the Bowings in the Strings of my orchestral works, for years.) However, I'm still looking for that Lobotomy, to give me that long-overdue Personality! If someone can find a spare lobotomy lying around, please E-Mail it to ME! Bear Woodson Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA "The 'X-Files' is just a stupid TV Fiction, written by juvenile, paranoid Humans. I know this, because the Space Aliens have told me so." - Bear Woodson, (2000) ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 04:00:24 From: "Daniel Pliskin" To: trombone-l@po.missouri.edu Subject: restricting air flow Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hi List, I was reading The Art of Brass Playing, by Phillip Frakas. He talks about using lots of breath support and restricting the flow of air with the vocal cords, in order to play soft. Can that really be the way it should be done? It seems like that technique would generate unnecessary tension, when compared with just using less air pressure. Or is that a French horn technique, not used by low brass players? Inquiring minds· DanP _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 00:29:32 -0500 From: sabutin To: trombone-l@po.missouri.edu Subject: Re: restricting air flow Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ; format="flowed" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi List, I was reading The Art of Brass Playing, by Phillip Frakas. He talks about using lots of breath support and restricting the flow of air with the vocal cords, in order to play soft. Can that really be the way it should be done? It seems like that technique would generate unnecessary tension, when compared with just using less air pressure. Or is that a French horn technique, not used by low brass players? Inquiring minds· DanP =============== I am tempted to get very PC and say "Well...to each his own; whatever works, etc. etc. etc." but I think I'll resist that impulse just this once. The Farkas book stands as an artifact of the orchestral system as it stood in the 1950s. It is published very nicely...it's a HARDCOVER book, for Heaven's sake, it MUST be correct, Why, it's even got PICTURES !!!! But if you delve deeper into it...it's really pretty weak. "HERESY!!!" they yelled. But...the pictures of the embouchures and what Farkas SAYS about them just don't line up. Farkas himself reportedly said later that he was wrong about a number of the concepts he presented in it. Vocal cords + resistance? PLEASE!! Unless you want multiphonics...no no no no no. S. ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 08:24:09 -0000 From: "Adrian Drover" To: , "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: Re: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. Message-ID: <000201c1bd27$0f6adb80$b77d68d5@homel29g9mgyk9> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: "Bear Woodson" . >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Most violinists talk about the 3 Fugues and Chaconne from the 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin by J.S. Bach, BUT most violinists just can't cut it themselves. No one has dared play my "Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin" (July 1994, 4 mvts., 25 min.), in public for the same reasons. (This is the work that has the 4-Voiced Fugue as its 2nd Movement, and has transcriptions for Viola and Cello of the entire sonata.) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> With all due respect, I cannot see any point in writing music that is either impossible, or so difficult to play that no soloist would bother to spend the time and effort to polish it to performance standard. Your 25 minute sonata, which must have taken many hours of toil to create, has been lying on a shelf gathering dust for 8 years. The only way you will ever hear it is either in your own mind or by typing it into a music setting program or sequencer, and who on earth would want to hear it played by a soleless computer? However much you are devoted to your art, you need to earn a living. Your dust laden sonata is not making a penny in royalties. Above all, I'm sure that every composer needs performer and audience feed back to make his/her efforts worth while. A. Adrian Drover ADIOS, Scotland www.adios.co.uk Personal email: adrian@adios.co.uk ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 10:14:31 -0500 From: sabutin To: trombone-l@po.missouri.edu Cc: jjlist@yahoogroups.com Subject: April travels,,,anyone want a clinician? Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Hi all... I am attempting to put together one of my ad hoc, drive-by teaching tours this April, I have two traveling jobs,,,one series around April 1-7 in the Indianapolis area (which really means Indianapolis, Bloomington, Cincinnati, Dayton + Columbus) and then April 24 - 27 in Washington DC w/the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. I would like to try to connect the two with more clinics...say anywhere w/in the eastern part of the US from as far north as Minnesota to Georgia in the south. That's a lot of territory,I know, but since I'll driving, if I can schedule things just right it might possibly work out. (Motel 6s are my life...) I have been doing more generally focused clinics...rehearsing jazz bands, giving brass masterclasses, teaching improvisation and arranging/harmony/composition...as well as specifically trombone oriented things, and appearing as a guest soloist at concerts as well, so... Anyone interested, or anyone who might KNOW someone who would be interested, please get in touch w/me. The more I can put together, the less each one will cost. What I really need in order to do this is a minimum of 3 clinics in each of the two weeks between April 7 and April 24 that are w/in some driveable route. (The definition of "driveable" is open to individual interpretation. 12 hours in one day is mainstream for me. 60 MPH average, including stops...no problem. That's over 700 miles. You can cover a LOT of territory that way.) Later... Sam Burtis ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 10:21:20 -0500 From: Peter Collins & Sara Wilbur To: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: results from "let's take a vote" Message-ID: <3C7904F0.CBF5831D@sympatico.ca> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi list, Here is the original message with the results inserted in the appropriate places: Peter Collins & Sara Wilbur wrote: > > Hi all, > > And now for something completely different... > > I have a new music concert coming up next week and I have come across a > classic new music composer characteristic. I have a piece that is not > very difficult (at least at first glance) but contains plunger work down > into the valve register (low C's to be specific). Should I: > > 1. Approach the composer or conductor and tactfully suggest some other > options and simply explain the difficulties with said writing. number of votes: 9 > > Or, > > 2. Figure out a way to do it, i.e., attach plunger to stand, attach > plunger to stick attached to leg (a la somebody's post from last week), > have the second player work the plunger for me, etc., number of votes: 2 > > Or, > > 3. Both. number of votes: 1 And one vote for the option that I forgot to add: Neither > > Thanks for all your input, I will be taking tabs of all votes that come > in whether they go to the list or to me personally. I will post the > results before the first rehearsal which is on Sunday afternoon. > > Yours in good fun (but with a hint of seriousness...) > > Peter Collins > Bass Trombone > Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 11:31:21 -0500 From: David Burch To: Trombone list , Andy Badger , Subject: Mt. Auburn Trombone Quartet, Tuesday, Southwest Ohio Message-ID: <3C791559.2E18935D@fuse.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The Mt. Auburn Trombone Quartet will be performing as part of the Fitton Cafe, a musical variety show held monthly at the Fitton Center for the Creative Arts in Hamilton. The evening begins at 7:00PM, with our segment beginning at 7:30. Admission is free; refreshments may be ordered. Our program will be: Alexander's Ragtime Band Michelle; Yesterday (The Beatles, arr. John Glenesk Mortimer) George M Cohan Medley Stardust Madrigals by Palestrina and di Lasso (arr. James Curnow) You Made Me Love You America the Beautiful (arr. Robert Elkjer) The quartet includes: Andy Badger Dave Burch Bob Coil Brian Fowler, with Norm Parr filling in Other performers on the bill include Act II, Sweet Funk, Jake Speed, and Cormican. The Fitton Center is at 101 South Monument in Hamilton, just downriver from the easily-spotted Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Their phone is 863-8873. If you can make it, come say hello! Dave Burch Hamilton, Ohio ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 12:06:06 -0500 From: Hector Bourg To: Bone List Subject: Re: April travels,,,anyone want a clinician? Message-ID: <3C791D7E.1070805@attbi.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit sabutin wrote: Hi all... I am attempting to put together one of my ad hoc, drive-by teaching tours this April, I have two traveling jobs,,,one series around April 1-7 in the Indianapolis area (which really means Indianapolis, Bloomington, Cincinnati, Dayton + Columbus) and then April 24 - 27 in Washington DC w/the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. I would like to try to connect the two with more clinics...say anywhere w/in the eastern part of the US from as far north as Minnesota to Georgia in the south. Although I'm sure that Sam doesn't need it, here's an unsolicited endorsement: My group was priviledged to take advantage of Sam's proximity last year for one of his "drive-by" clinics. His comments, observations and advice were right on point...just as he's so ably demonstrated here on the list. He even managed to put up with this bunch of enthusiastic "weekend warriors" without cracking a smile! :-) Our rehearsal conductor still quotes Sam's observations to us when we backslide. Much fun was had by all. If Sam's itinerary brings him close to you, by all means take advantage of it. We found it to be a very worthwhile experience. HB ****************************************************** Hector "Butch" Bourg Jr. - Graphic and Web Design - Atlanta, GA Trombonist - Sentimental Journey Orchestra - http://www.thesjo.com ** NOW CELEBRATING TWENTY-SIX SWINGIN' YEARS ** ****************************************************** ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2310 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 12:30:37 -0500 From: "Aaron Roth" To: trombone-l@po.missouri.edu Subject: Re: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed >From: "Adrian Drover" Reply-To: slide.rule@adios.co.uk To: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: Re: Composers & Performers knowing their craft. Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 08:24:09 -0000 From: "Bear Woodson" . >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Most violinists talk about the 3 Fugues and Chaconne from the 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin by J.S. Bach, BUT most violinists just can't cut it themselves. No one has dared play my "Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin" (July 1994, 4 mvts., 25 min.), in public for the same reasons. (This is the work that has the 4-Voiced Fugue as its 2nd Movement, and has transcriptions for Viola and Cello of the entire sonata.) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <