Blog Idea

Well, it's late and I had an idea that I wanted to talk about and will most likely forget, so what better way to remember than to blog about it?

One of my favorite brass CD's is Phil Smith's orchestral excerpt CD.  I cannot remember exactly what he said, but I believe it was in the introduction he speaks about mimicking other people's sounds.  In order to come up with your own concept of sound, find someone you enjoy listening too, imagine their sound, begin to emulate it and then adapt it to your own.  Probably not the exact wording, but it was something like that.

Today, as I was studying for comps, I was reading about Arnold Jacobs and he was discussing how he taught beginners.  He said the first step was playing a few notes on their horn to get the concept of what a good sound was into their ears.  Then he would have the student pick up their horn and begin trying to emulate what was heard.

I believe these concepts can be applied to rehearsing with a chamber ensemble.  One of the first steps to learning pieces should be listening to others perform.  You get an idea of what the piece is supposed to sound like, then you begin noticing things you liked and things you could change.  A performer is certainly not expected to completely mimic a performance, but it is a great starting point.

More to come on this post in the near future!