TromboneLessons.com Video Podcast

The Juilliard School, located adjacent to Lincoln Center in New York City, is a marvelous place. The faculty and students are world-class. It sits in the heart of one of the world’s most vibrant and energetic cultural centers. Every time I visit there, I come away awed and inspired. In this Episode, I visit with my friends Clayton Chastain and Marc Boehm. I knew them both when they were high school standouts here in Atlanta. All of us here in the ATL are incredibly proud of these 2 young men! It’s great to see them working so hard, learning so much, and living so fully. They will introduce us to some of their friends; we’ll play a bit; and they’ll tell us what its like to be studying at one of the world’s finest conservatories. Hope you enjoy meeting them! Thanks for the “hang” fellas.

Also in this episode, we announce that viewers of the Podcasts can use our password to download SmartMusic for $25. This is made possible by the generous contributions of you viewers. Thanks to everybody that has donated to make this possible.

SmartMusic, as you may know, is one of my favorite tools for music-making. It’s an incredible resource for those that make use of it. We encourage you all to check it out and try it. Hours of fun await you:-)

PS- just one day after this interview, Mr. Chastain performed his first Brandenburg Concerto! It’s a fabulous performance, available at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISt0Qxm5Z7Q

Clayton used to be a trombone player, but for some stupid reason, he switched to trumpet. Oh, well, seems to be working out well for him:-)

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Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen!

In this Episode, I’m pleased to introduce my friends from the US Air Force Reserve Band’s Brass Quintet. The players are:

Michael Richter, trumpet

Thomas Salyers, trumpet

Michael Pekarek, horn

John Caputo, trombone (and euphonium)

Michael Andrew, tuba

These guys are great! They have a new CD out, too. More info about the CD and the US Air Force Reserve Band can be found at their website: http://www.band.afrc.af.mil

A career as a military musician can be a really wonderful experience. If you have any questions about it, I would encourage you to contact these gentlemen. They are marvelous performers and seem to have a lot of fun doing their jobs. I’m sure they’d be happy to talk to you about their careers as military musicians. I speak from experience when I say that playing in a military band can be an awesome thing!

BTW- I just received word from Colin that he has been invited to the Final round for the Principal Trombone job with the Boston Symphony! I know we all join in wishing him the best of luck. Although, as I was recently reminded….luck comes to the well-prepared mind:-) You’re an inspiration to us all, Colin. Bravo.

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***NOTICE: the original posting on March 1 had a few typos. This is a re-edited version. You may wish to download again. If you have the original (with typos), I guess you have a rare “collector’s edition”. Could be worth million$ one day:-) ***

Wow, it’s been nearly 3 weeks since our last post……sorry to those of you suffering withdrawals:-) Things have been quite busy ’round here, so I apologize for the delay. But, I’ve got a good one for you this week:

Through our friend, Dr. Robert Ambrose, the Atlanta Trombone Quartet (actually a quintet) was asked to record a newly published work by Andrew Rindfleisch. It is a beautiful quartet for trombones entitled “Chorale and Prayer”. In this episode, you get a peek into the recording session. I think you’ll agree that the music is absolutely gorgeous. It’s also nice to see the great interaction between these master trombonists and Robert, who produced the recording. Our thanks to the members of The Church of the Redeemer here in Atlanta. Their lovely sanctuary proved to be the perfect venue for this solemn and uplifting music.

You’ll hear only a portion of the piece. If you’d like to hear the rest of it, we think you should buy it and play it with your friends! Trombone Love to Mr. Rindfleisch, you know?

It’s available through Manzo Music, at: www.manzomusic.com

If you’d like to know more about the composer, Andrew Rindfleisch, please visit his website: www.andrewrindfleisch.com

Thanks for all the great emails! We are thrilled and humbled by the responses we’re getting to the Podcasts. Love you guys. Peace.

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A while back, a very nice gentleman named Gary Garner contacted us about Episode 18, where we play and talk about the Bruckner Sym. No. 8.

Gary is retired from West Texas A&M University, where he was the Director of Bands. He was invited to do a clinic at the Texas Bandmasters Convention on INTONATION. He asked if he could use our Bruckner 8 in his presentation. We were honored to abide, of course, but if you’ll recall the audio fidelity was not the greatest. In Episode 18, the audio feed is off my camera’s mic. Not bad, but not great. We had the really nice mics in the hall recording the entire session, though. So I re-edited the video for Mr. Garner, using the better audio from the mics in the hall.

This is just a very short clip, but I think you’ll like it…….the complete discussion about this excerpt can be found in Episode 18.

If you have good speakers and/or good headphones, now’s the time to use ‘em.

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“So these 4 trombone players walk into a hotel……..”

Sounds like the beginning of a good joke. Well, just watch what happens!

Spontaneous improvisation. Good for the chops, good for the ears, good for the mind, good for the ensemble, good for the soul.

These are trained professionals (believe it or not), please do attempt this at home.

Participating in this soiree are myself, Lee Watts, Wes, and a guy who suggested that we never, EVER, show this publicly. (He’s our musical guru, though I suspect he secretly wishes for a demotion.)

By the way, this all happened in beautiful Kentucky. Lee makes a very clever allusion to this fact, if you pay attention…assuming you last that long:-)

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In this episode, we bring you some Holiday Cheer from the Country Walk neighborhood in Powder Springs, Georgia, USA.

When I was in the Navy Band, our drum major, Jeff Myers, had a wonderful tradition of marching ’round Capitol Hill in Washington, DC playing Christmas Carols with a brass group. It was always the highlight of everyone’s Holiday Season.

When Katlyn and I moved to Atlanta, we decided to keep the tradition alive……this year was the 5th Annual Brass Caroling at Country Walk. It was a real joy and I thank all the wonderful musicians that joined in the merriment. You guys are the best!

Also in this Episode is a great tip for you bass trombonists that suffer pain in your hand, shoulder, etc. Lee Watts shows us his remedy for holding the tortuous beast known as the Bass Trombone. It’s a little stocking-stuffer tidbit for you:-)

Thanks, Lee! You can check out Lee’s website at: http://wattsbone.com/

Also, thanks to the talented Tim Redman for the still photos. He’s pretty awesome with a camera, check him out at Flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trombontim/

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays everybody.

By the way…….still no sign of my taped interview with Joe Robinson. ARGH!! Would y’all mind saying a little prayer and/or rubbing your good luck charm that I might find that thing? Much appreciated.

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Wes Funderburk, of FUNDERBONE.COM fame, visited the other day. We decided to goof around on some duets, because I guess we’re geeks. We played from these 2 awesome books. Every ‘bone player should own them:

Vaclav Nelhybel: Interplays Published by: J. Christopher Music Company

Ten Duets For Tenor Trombone - Pederson Published by:Kendor Music (www.kendormusic.com)

We hope you have half as much fun watching as we did playing:-)

It’s the most stressful time of year for musicians, we hope you’re keeping your cool and enjoying every opportunity to play….I guess we can all breathe a heavy sigh after the New Year, eh? Peace, everybody, and Happy Holidays!

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It’s been my pleasure this week to work with the wonderful organist, Donald Sutherland. He is the Coordinator of the Organ Department at Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He has many recordings to his credit and has enjoyed a celebrated career as a recitalist, church organist, and teacher. Please read more about him here: http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/484

Donald was invited to perform in recital at Morningside Presbyterian Church here in Atlanta. The church is celebrating the restoration of their powerful, beautiful organ. Our good friend (and Tubist with the Georgia Brass Band!), Robert Coulter, headed up the restoration and did a terrific job. Congrats Robert! Read more about Robert here: http://coulterorgans.com/

On the recital program was the “Stabat Mater” adapted by Franz Liszt from a work by Rossini. It is for Trombone and Organ.

Some of you probably know the story of the Stabat Mater (”sorrowful Mother”). The music tries to evoke the emotions of Mary as she watched Jesus suffer on the Cross. For more info, and a translation of the text, you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabat_Mater

We hope you enjoy our rehearsal/performance of the “Cujus animam (Rossini - Stabat Mater) for Trombone and Organ” by Franz Liszt (1811-1886).

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Here is Part 1 of the “LIVE (almost) Recital” series that Colin and I will be doing over the next few weeks. Part 1 features the “Sonata for Trombone and Piano” by Misha Stefanuk (www.stefanuk.com)

Mr. Stefanuk joins me on piano and gives a brief introduction of himself and his fascinating piece. We had only one hour to get something together for you, but I felt compelled to do so. Trombone Love. It does that. We really hope you like this piece. I had to make a few rough edits but this is essentially LIVE, as we just finished a couple hours ago.

We filmed in the sanctuary at Johnson’s Ferry Baptist Church and we thank them for their hospitality. Look for Part 2 very soon (we all anxiously await Colin’s renditions of the Tomasi “Concerto” and Peaslee’s “Arrows of Time”, don’t we? Yeah, baby.)

Peace, everyone. I’m off tomorrow to Slippery Rock University for Trombone Day! I’ll also be paying a visit to my Alma Mater, North Hills High School in Pittsburgh. Looking forward to it, as I haven’t seen the place in almost 20 years. Time really flies, we are wise to make the most of it, eh? Hope to meet some of you on the road….

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“Wow, Dr.Tom, two awesome Episodes posted within 3 days! You are too kind!”

Well, it’s the least I could do……because it looks like the LIVE recital scheduled for Nov. 12 will necessarily be postponed. Sorry, but coordinating everybody’s busy schedule is proving most difficult. Besides, you know who’s too kind? Nick in Wisconsin is too kind. Your letter, Nick, was one of the nicest things I’ve ever read. We wish you the very, very best as you pursue your dreams and share your talents with the world, making it a better place for all. If there is ever anything we can do to help, never hesitate to ask, OK? We dedicate this Episode to you, sir. Hope you love it.

So, as for the recital…..we’ll get ‘er done just as soon as possible. In the meantime, please enjoy this Episode. Joining Colin in this impressive performance are Catherine Lynn, Helen Kim, and Brad Ritchie. Like the Persichetti Episode (#31), these fabulous musicians give us a glimpse into the fine art of Chamber Music for trombone. If you’ve attempted to perform on trombone with string players in a chamber setting, then you will surely appreciate the musical sensitivity, dexterity, lightness, transparency, and awareness shown by Colin in this video. I marvel at it every time I watch. It is very refreshing at times to hear a trombone in this context. In the hands of a master artist, ours really is the greatest of instruments, isn’t it?

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Our friend Mark Williamson is the esteemed guest on this Episode. You hear him in the opening credits of every Episode playing on “Tom’s Bag O Bones” with me and Wes Funderburk.

Mark is one talented fellow……a former Euphonium player with the US Air Force Band in Washington, DC, he is now a law partner at Alston&Bird here in Atlanta. He also makes great music on piano, trombone (all styles, including ta