I’ve always wondered whether it was really true that not cleaning your instrument often enough could make you sick. Take a look at this NPR story and ask yourself when the last time you cleaned your horn was!
Playing Tips
Adam Woolf Sackbut Tutor Now Available
A number of months ago I mentioned in this blog that Adam Woolf, member of His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts and many of the other leading early music ensembles in Europe, would be publishing a sackbut method book in the…
Pinchas Zukerman Masterclass: A Few Notes
World-famous violinist Pinchas Zukerman gave a masterclass at BYU last week. He worked with 3 violinists. There were, of course, plenty of technical things that he talked about, particularly about bowing—bow hold, bow angle, bow speed, etc.—that don’t apply directly…
The Basics: Leonard Bernstein's "5 Priorities"
Sam Pilafian was recently a forum speaker here at BYU. He gave an excellent talk on his musical influences, among whom was Leonard Bernstein, who taught him at Tanglewood. According to Sam (and I realize this is 3rd-generation information, but…
Learning the Alto Trombone
I added a new page, Learning the Alto Trombone. Drawn from my own playing experience, research, and 10 years of full-time college teaching, it offers a few suggestions for learning the alto trombone.
Practice Strategies
Below are some basic practice ideas I put together a few years ago for my college students. They apply, in most cases, to players at every level. Daily Practice What should I practice? 1) Warm-up/fundamentals 2) Range exersize/soft practice (alternating…
Performance Order and Repertoire in Competitions
We sometimes speculate as performers about what effect the relative order of a performance may have on the outcome of a competition, audition, or jury grade. An intriguing study published by Flores and Ginsburgh in The Statistician, available online here, sheds…
Improving Tone on Trombone
There are 3 “non-negotiables” in trombone playing: 1) tone, 2) intonation, and 3) time/rhythm. If a player is in good shape in all 3 of these areas, chances of success in almost any performance, audition, or competition are high. Tone,…
The Comeback Trombonist
The Comeback Trombonist As a trombone teacher at BYU, I work regularly—3 or 4 times a year—with players who have just taken 2 years away from their horn (for their LDS missions) and are returning to playing. After helping numerous…
Questions for Chamber Ensembles
As coordinator of brass chamber music at BYU, I require that the groups I oversee rehearse at least one hour a week without a chamber coach. I have found that these ensembles seem to get significantly more done when they…