Backstage Brass

July 8th, 2008 - No Comments

Hi everyone!

It’s been a fantastic beginning to the summer so far. We hope you’ve had a good one too!

We had a bit of time apart, and were happily reunited on June 15 in California to perform for twenty thousand Rotary Club members at their International Conference in Los Angeles.

We performed right across the street from the Staples Center where the LA Lakers/Boston Celtics played their second last game of the NBA (basketball) playoffs. They had a few more thousand people there, but ALL of our audience members were happy at the end of our show!

Toronto was our next stop, to be the final presenters on June 20in Moses Znaimer’s sensational event IdeaCity. It’s known as “Canada’s meeting of the minds.” Every presenter appears for twenty minutes, and it’s three days FULL of fascinating ideas. There were doctors, scientists, musicians, poets, authors, athletes, and any other type of thinker/performer you can imagine.

Here we are onstage, with Moses Znaimer supporting us from the wings. He’s an incredible support for the arts in Canada. His latest artful creation is Classical 96 FM. Moses and this station are doing what a certain other Canadian radio station has confidently stopped doing…fearlessly playing classical music! It’s on FM 96.3 in Toronto, so please check it out!

There was a reception afterwards, and Brandon and I went to share some more ideas…aaaaand maybe some food too.

While we were in Toronto we took some photos with Brandon.

Here’s Gene directing Joe, Brandon, and our photographer Robyn.

Joe and Toronto’s CN Tower.

After IdeaCity, we were off to Quebec, for our bi-decade appearance on June 25 at a beautiful church in Sainte-Petronille.

We always begin with some magnifique food du Quebec. We sat and watched the Saint Lawrence seaway float by as we approached…

DESSERT!! Oh la la!!!

We rehearsed some Carmen because we hadn’t played it for a while. Merci encore! We will see you in 2013!!

I’ll leap ahead now to today, July 7. Last night’s concert was in one of the most amazing settings we’ve every played! We were on the island of Corfu, Greece. We performed an outdoor concert in the evening, as the sun set over the Ionian Sea! Take a look at the setting.

Not only was the setting incredible, but there were other factors that made things quite exciting. We began with some sunlight, but the sun quickly went away while our ability to see our music went with it. There were lights set up, but for some reason they could not get power to them. This also meant the microphone was not working.

I don’t share these details to complain, but just to share what can happen at any concert venue, anytime. We could have been upset, but instead we just smiled more to each other and the audience, and performed. So the first half was spent quite darkly, while Chuck and Gene used their best Shakespearian “Project-to-the-back-of-the-theatre voices. It was also probably at least 30 degrees C, so wet embouchures abounded, as well as warm instruments make tuning exciting as well.

Jeroen Berwaerts has joined us on trumpet again for our Eurpoean tour. He was probably getting a bit more anxious than the rest of us about the growing lack of light, as he doesn’t know the music quite as well. Don’t get me wrong…he nails his parts like the freak musician that he is. But take away the lights, and he can’t quite guess at the notes as well as we can, as we have performed the music much more than he.

Near the end of the first half of the concert, as beautifully as the sun had set, the lights slowly beamed down upon us. An audible “ahhhhhh!” came out of the audience, and then a huge applause came up from the crowd. It was a pretty cool effect actually.

The concert grew from there, and it definitely is one concert we will relive together often! Also, the Greek people make for a very enthusiastic audience. We loved it there, and we look very much forward to our return.

As with everywhere we go, we made some close bonds with some new friends. Two of mine were with Antonis Lagos (hornist with Melos Brass Quintet) and Hector McDonald (Principal hornist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra). They were the horn faculty. This is a picture with them and a few of the horn students from the festival, and Hector’s awesome daughter.

We were invited to Greece by the Melos Brass Quintet as well as Thomas Lubitz with Yamaha. They were most gracious and fantabulous hosts!

Canadian Brass and Melos Brass

(left to right- Sakis Mironis, tuba; Chuck Daellenbach, tuba; Jeroen Berwaerts, trumpet; Spyros Farounghias, trombone; Gene Watts, trombone; Panayatos Kessaris, trumpet; Jeff Nelsen, horn; Antonis Lagos, horn; Sokratis Anthis, trumpet; Joe Burgstaller, trumpet)

We did a master class in the morning and heard some wonderful brass playing by some of the student participants in the “6^th annual Melos Brass Quintet Music Festival”.

Playing along with the quintet.

The group! Yayyy!!

During our “question and answer” period of the master class, we were asked many excellent questions. The final question was this:

“Can you tell us five “make-it-or-break-it” rules for a chamber music group?”

We talked about this for quite some time, and it was really interesting and helpful for eveyrone. Chuck and Gene basically have written the book on this subject! I’m going to share one rule per Backstage Brass issue. I will also work on getting Chuck and Gene TO write a book about the subject!

Chamber Music Success

Rule number one:

Be prepared!

This is an oldie but a goodie! Come to rehearsal completely prepared. Know your part, and have an artistic plan of how you want to contribute to your group’s performance. More importantly, have an artistic plan for how you want to contribute to your audience’s experience at your concert.

It is incredibly difficult to get 5 or more people together to rehearse. This time together is very valuable! If one member of the group hasn’t put enough time (or good enough time!) into learning the technical aspects of their part, then that rehearsal’s value is drastically diminished.

Get recordings and listen to the pieces. Learn how your part fits into the listening experience. We can figure out when we have the melody alone, before rehearsal time! Mark your parts well. Write, “You have the melody here!” if you want! I write allllllll over my parts. That way, when performance time comes, I don’t have to worry about forgetting something. I either have it memorized, or it’s written down. Worry about forgetting things clutters the mind. If it’s written down (or already made into a habit) then I have an uncluttered fearless mind to create and share musical artistic things in performance.

This rule was beautifully summarized by Joe. He said, “Don’t practice on your colleagues’ time.”

All music students have already been given a long list of ways to “Be Prepared!” There are some great lists floating around music teacher’s filing cabinets or “welcome to music school” packages. Ask your teachers for their ideas on this.

We know how to be prepared. For your colleagues and their success, come to rehearsal over prepared! Their success turns into your success!

Stay tuned for “Chamber Music Success Number 2!”

Here are some pictures from our amazing “Backstage Brass” time in Greece!