There are two basic reasons for warming up on a brass instrument.
- Getting the muscles around your mouth working. Just as an athlete warms up prior to competition or a game, so the muscles the brass musician is about to work need stretching and loosening.
- Helping with the intonation. Cold air in a brass instrument is denser resulting in the pitch being flatter. The body-temperature air coming from you to your instrument will cause the pitch to sharpen. It’s good have the instrument up towards playing temperature, before you start.
Written by Ian McKenzie on February 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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Nigel Horne has put together a helpful primer on writing and arranging music for brass bands. This is not an in-depth tutorial on music theory and composition. Rather, someone with an understanding of writing four-part harmony and some idea of the make up of a brass band can use this information to get started composing works for brass bands.
Writing For Brass Bands
Written by Ian McKenzie on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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Dave Werden give an idea how double tonguing could be used to articlulate rapid dotted 8th/16th passages.
This feels awkward at first, but it is possible to get used to it fairly quickly. Once you have mastered it, you can play a dotted-8th/16th figure with much more speed and fluidity.
Read at Tuba-Euphonium Blog: When Do You NOT Want to Double-Tongue Evenly?
Written by Ian McKenzie on December 18th, 2006 with no comments.
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Theme Magazine —from The Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda Territory— has republished some thoughts from Staff Bandmaster Brian Burditt on being an effective brass teacher.
The teacher’s responsibility is threefold: observation, diagnosis and prescription.
First, the teacher observes the student and his performance problems; second, he thoroughly analyzes the problem; and third, he prescribes a remedy to solve the problem, which, with patience and careful practice, will in time correct the difficulty.
Salvationist.ca – Theme Magazine -Tutoring Tutors
Written by Ian McKenzie on November 30th, 2006 with no comments.
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A collection of concepts on becoming a successful performer written by 57 of today’s most outstanding brass professionals. Contains to-the-point, thought-provoking ideas proven successful by master teacher-performers. Problem-solving tips, philosophical concepts and technique-building skills, all in one easy-to-read collection. An ideal source of exciting strategies for all levels of development.
(Book not yet released.
Click above image to pre-order.)
Contributors include:
Euphonium players:
Demondrae Thurman, Steven Mead, David Werden
Tuba players:
Kenneth Amis, Roger Bobo, Velvet Brown, James Gourlay, Toby Hanks, Daniel Perantoni, Jon Sass, Deanna Swoboda
Trombone players:
Ralph Sauer, Douglas Yeo, Charles Vernon, R. Douglas Wright
Horn players:
Dale Clevenger, Gail Williams, Froydis Ree Wekre
Trumpet players:
Jeffrey Curnow, Ronald Romm, John Wallace, Warren Vache
Other authors: Jeff Adams, Lisa Bontrager, John Clark, Abbie Conant,
Kurt Dupuis, Peter Ellefson, Laurie Frink, Jack Gale, Wycliffe Gordon,
Dick Hansen, Kevin Hayward, Lesley Howie, Gregory Hustis, Alex Iles,
Ingrid Jensen, Dave Kirk, Craig Knox, Mark H. Lawrence, John Marcellus,
Raymond Mase, Brad Michel, Gregory Miller, Bob Montgomery, Jennifer
Montone, Marc Reese, Mike Roylance, Susan Slaughter, Phyllis Stork,
David Taylor, Kenneth Thompkins, Rick Todd, Adam Unsworth, Tom Varner,
Bill VerMeulen, and Jeremy West.
Technorati Tags: How To, Brass Playing, Brass Technique, tips and tricks
Written by Ian McKenzie on July 25th, 2006 with no comments.
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The attached pdf has a series of lip slurs played on open tones. Work to make the slurs cleanly, with no stray notes or sounds in between.
Click to download:
[tags]Brass, Practice, Music, Warm Up, Lip Slurs, Exercises, Free Download[/tags]
Written by Ian McKenzie on June 19th, 2006 with no comments.
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