“Fearlessness – Making Simple Easier”
Yayyyy!!
Winter is over…for another year! Yipee! (Sorry Australia! Ha haaaa!!) Speaking as a Canadian who is living in Bloomington, it’s not too bad there. I don’t know what everyone was warning me about with regards to the weather in Bloomington. It was quite balmy and nice compared to my years in western Canada. (ohhh, especially that year in Winnipeg!)
Sorry it’s been so long on the blogging! I’ve been…oh, never mind…sorry! Great to see you back! I’ve switched my website over to a new server. He rocks! (So did/does my former webmaster, but he’s busy with other huge projects. Congrats, and thanks Dave!) My new webmaster is Joe Auty, and he’s a trumpet player as well as a web genius. His website is www.netmusician.org for your information. He’s made software that allows musicians to manage their own sites! And he’s reeeeally great! Check him out!
Ok, first thing is…heh…my wife Nina and I have heard a few times that we have had a child. This came as mildly alarming news, as we really should have been the first to know! The last rumour came in the form of, “…and Mathilda is beautiful!” which cleared up the mystery. The picture of the newborn in my last blog is the child of my sister Lisa and her husband Alex, in England! ?
Well I’m now in New York City for the summer…on and off. Exciting town to visit! Extremely happy to be living in Bloomington, and equally happy to be in New York for the summer! I’m here playing the newest mega-musical “The Pirate Queen”.
Hilton Theatre – 213 West 42nd Street, New York City
It’s written by Boublil and Schonberg, the creators of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon and produced by the people who created Riverdance. It’s a beautiful show! The critics have not shown much/any love for it, but the crowds sure have! Large crowds are on their feet at the end of every performance. We’re recording the cast album (sorry…that’s what we old folks call a “CD”) on Monday and Tuesday as well. That should be available soon…
Between playing these 8 shows a week and teaching summer school at IU, I’m also doing a few summer seminars. I’ve created a “Fearless Audition Training” seminar that will happen every summer at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. This year it is only for hornists, but each following year’s seminar will be open to all instrumentalists. The dates are August 2 – 7. Click here to get more information about it and to download an application as well.
I am also on faculty for the IU College Audition Preparation program. It is a great program that will show young musicians how to prepare to perform, and audition for their colleges of choice. Wouldn’t you like to be able to choose out of any school you wanted to go to, come next fall?
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged sooooo let’s talk about something…
…ummm…yeah…soooo…I got nothin’.
Who wants cheese?!
Hmmm…ok, that was supposed to be a non sequitur, but the cheese comment reminded me of a fun thing that I got to do a little while ago. I got to play horn in the band for Barry Manilow in Madison Square Garden! It was a blast!
“Can’t Smile Without You” chart with some of the 20000 people!
Barry talking about the Chopin C minor prelude that he based “Could it be Magic” on…then he played the first chord, and the audience went DEAFENING! It was awesome!!
In the background, you can see a bunch of little lights, yeah? It was little green neon rods. Twas a very cool effect!
I also got to go to an Indiana Hoosiers basketball game, and it was the game that WE beat the number 2 team in the country! Wisconsin! Ahhhhh yeah!! IU trombone faculty member Dee Stewart had another ticket to the game, so he invited me…and I jumped at the chance!
It was the first time the crowd had stormed the court in who knows how long! (actually, I bet my IU brass faculty colleague Joey Tartell knows! I’ll put it in the next blog!) Thanks Joey!!) It was incredible! Walking out, Dee was amazed at how the first game I got to see at IU was one of the best games he’d ever seen! I’m totally hooked now! Go Hoosiers GO!! (Joey was quite upset that I, a non-sport-fanatic, was at the game, as he, a tooootal sports fanatic, watched it on his TV about a mile away from the live action! Na na naaaa nee new newwww!!) and thanks Dee! I’m free for any of the upcoming games, just so ya know!!
Here is my dear friend and colleague Rick Seraphinoff. We’re enjoying teaching together at IU very much! This is a photo of him in his work shop! He builds amaaaaazing natural horns! Check out his website here!
He just built me my very own natural horn! Here Rick is, the DAY after he finished building my new horn…! Weee!!
In the picture below, Professor Seraphinoff displays how beautifully balanced his instruments are. Impressive, eh?!
I did receive another new instrument from a childhood friend. Marc Patsula played horn with me in the Edmonton Youth Orchestra in central Alberta, Canada. He now lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia (still Canada ?).
It’s called a didgeridoo!! That was my first note I blew on the crazy thing, and I think Rick was quite moved by it…heh… Marc’s website will soon show his didgeridoos for sale…check him out. He also makes very cool jewelry.
I bet it looks like all Professor Seraphinoff and I do is play with new instruments. That is not entirely true. Sometimes we play with other things too! Below you’ll find him working on his timing. The Nintendo Wii is a wonderful tool for working on one’s hand-eye coordination. Rick is a master!
Next we have professor Seraphinoff and IU horn student Jared Disbro getting more hand to eye musical training on some other vital instruments.
“Guitar Heroes”, the both of them!! The song was “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas, and wow, did they nail it!! They carried on incredibly waywardly!! Well, ok…Jared might have nailed it…and Rick carried on fearlessly!! Rick is ready for “Natural Horn Hero” though…look out!
It’s not all play on the IU campus. We do take time to coach a few students with their tuning, here and there. In the picture below, professor Seraphinoff and I subtly hint to Seth Morgan whether he is sharp or flat.
…aaaand we thought he could puff his cheeks out more, and close his eyes tighter. He’s coming along famously.
There were some impressive visiting artists to IU this term. The wonderful horn events I did not get a picture of were:
An awesome performance by a great horn quartet called “The Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse”.
Oops…just found a picture:
Tony Licata, Audrey Good, Gerald Wood, Me, Kaz Machala, and Paul Blackstone (outside of the best pizza joint in the worrrrrld…Mother Bear’s Pizza!!)
They performed a knock-out program that included a few pieces written by their coach and horn teacher (at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music) Kaz Machala. Watch out for these guys…and gal… Ummm…these Hornsmen! Hornsperson? Hornpersons. Hornspeople! Horn player people. Hornsmen people persons! They have a professional sound and a well polished “show” approach to their performance. Make sure you check them out if they’re ever nearby! The TransAtlantic Horn Quartet may be seen collaborating with them in the near future as well.
A grrrreat performance and master class on “Improvisation for Classical Musicians” was shared by Jeffrey Agrell and Evan Mazunik. I am sad to have missed the class, but heard that it was fantastic! The horn players reading this will know Jeff from his extensive writing in the Horn Call, among other areas. He is professor of horn at the University of Iowa School of Music.
Another event I didn’t get a picture of was a visit by the United States Army Brass Quintet. They performed for a full large room of brass students and faculty, coached a few brass groups, as well as spoke about the great opportunities there are for young players as a member of a US Army Band. They sounded great, and ended their class with a wonderful performance of a soundtrack of a silent movie…with the movie playing! It was very entertaining. I got to spend some time with the group’s hornist, Joseph Lovinsky, and stole a picture too…
In March the IU brass faculty recorded two pieces for a Christmas CD release that will feature many of the musicians who make their home the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Carl Lenthe, Edmond Cord, Joey Tartell, John Rommel, Dee Stewart, and Dan Perantoni
The recording was brasslicious, and the arrangements were created by Chris Dedrick. Chris is best known in the brass world for arranging many Canadian Brass recordings including the entire “Canadian Brass Plays Bernstein” CD and the “All You Need Is Love” Beatles CD as well.
In March I was also in New York and got to see an incredible concert at Avery Fischer Hall. It was the New York Philharmonic horn section performing Schumann’s Concertstück!
Andrey Astaiza, Phil Myers, and me
The concert was really fantastic! Andrey, pictured above, is a hornist who is helping translate my articles into Spanish. You should see them on my “Fearless” page soon…as well as many other new articles throughout the years to come. Stay tuned!
Phil Myers, principal horn with the New York Philharmonic, constantly blows my mind, as a hornist, and thinker, and a person. It was as inspiring as ever to hear him perform on that night, and a few weeks ago he came to Indiana to perform in Elkhart. He agreed to come in to IU and do a 3-hour master class for the students. It was by far the largest turn out I’d seen all year at IU for any master class setting.
I’m going to write an article about some of our talks, but I’ll mention something that has been on my mind ever since we spoke about it. I had a framed “Brian Andreas” in my car. It’s the yellow one that leans at a forty-five degree angle. It looks like it’s crooked, but it was in my car because I was getting it re-strung so it hangs overly crooked. It’s a nice aesthetical variation from all the other square hung pieces…but it’s also kinda interesting what the piece of art that looks wrongly hung says on it.
It says:
“I can imagine it working out perfectly,” I said.
“I can’t,” she said.
and I said, “No wonder you’re so stressed.”
I get students who come in stressed about things to read that one sometimes, and it sometimes helps…sometimes. Heh. I showed this to Phil, and he said, “Interesting. I pictured him going the other way on that one.” I was surprised to hear that, and asked why. Phil said, “Well, you know that saying, ‘In hope there is stress.’?” I said, “Yeah, in hope alone there is stress. If we’re not also doing the work.” I think he agreed with that, but he took it much deeper. He said, “I don’t go into a performance hoping to play my best. I just go in there to play like me.”
We spoke a great deal about his genius approach. In that one sentence, he elevated so many thoughts that go into our approach to a performance when we hope play our best. Essentially, when we go into a performance to play our best, our hoping to play our best leaves the possibility of not doing our best on the radar. When we go into a performance planning on, “playing like me”, then that’s our only goal. Simple. Thank you, Phil Myers! We all know he does this, and creates successful performances with this approach week after week, year after year!
Of course, the immense work part of this approach is in the pre-performance training, where we make sure that when we play like ourselves, it’s amazing! This is what all the artists we enjoy hearing perform are doing with their days. This is the painstaking process of finding a routine that works for us, recording ourselves, doing mock auditions, reading good books, listening critically and constructively to ourselves and others…and endless more things we can do to create habits of excellence in ourselves. If we train like this, then all we do in performance is play like us!
Simple.
Not easy…but simple.
“Fearlessness – Making Simple Easier”
Fearlessness training is a fantastic thing! I’ve said it a thousand times, and passionately believe this to be true. I always experience that a fearless approach to a task makes that task easier. As musicians, we are constantly trying to simplify our presentation of melody so we can best connect with our audiences and audition panels. A simply performed melody is easiest to understand. Simplifying our practice routine helps make efficient use of that time. Simplifying what we do when our instruments come up to playing position helps. Making as many good habits as possible for ourselves, essentially simplifying things, is good too! Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
For the record, “simple” in no way means “boring”! It means that no one note is sticking out, or there are no drastic colour changes, etc. When I look at when I am optimally ready for a performance or audition, I see my goal as going in there to perform beautiful music as simply as possible. Doing so, however, is never easy! I still have to be 100% in the moment, fully focused on the right things for every split second of the performance. For this reason, I don’t say, “making simple easy”, because things that take a high level of study and sacrifice are never easy…
…but fearlessness will make these things easier! Fearlessness is a wonderful accompaniment to the rest of the training we’re doing on our paths to excellence in our art…and in our lives.
We succeed at making great art when we bring a fearless state of mind to our actions of music making. This is what I remember to do when I read, “Fearlessness – making simple easier”. This is looked at much deeper in the book…still coming soooooon…
The day after Phil’s visit we went back to ‘work’.
IU Horn Student Katie Grigg and me ‘working’
IU Hornists Madison Roberts, Danielle Kuo-LeBlanc, Sarah Williams, Katie Grigg Working away at IU!
“Sunny Days – Making Work Easier!”
Ok, we might have done some actual work too…but it was grrrreat work!! Here’s to everyone having a wonderful summer! Before I send you outside, I’ll share a great quote from this month’s recommended reading.
“Man’s mind, stretched to a new idea, never goes back to its original dimension.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
(Women’s minds too! ?)
Ok, NOW go outside!! Go stretch your bodies and minds!!
…til next time…
Jeff
Thanks for the Holmes Quote!!…..made my evening….
When I studied with Phil Myers, his vision of music was very different than your “simplify” approach. I don’t think different in the negitive, but just different. I have a hard time accepting your approach for all musicians, for all music and every phrase. I doubt you intend it for “ALL” but I question this approach for a couple of reasons.
First off, in our modern orchestra world, you dont have to go far to hear many a “simple” performance of any given masterpiece. What we do at our bell, cannot express music to the audience properly. Only with the extremes of emotion, expression, edge of control and striving for the greatest performance ever, can musicians be considered great. There are dime a dozen good players. Greatness is achived through the struggle (!) towards this vision.
Secondly, because of this common player type in many of our major orchestras, the level of musicianship is eroding quickly. I see more frustration in music than bliss in most orchestral situations. Besides the fact that many of these players have not yet “found themsleves” so to speak, musicially, they also cannot express truly their emotions about the music they perform. I hear more of an executed performance which ends up frustrating the player, and those around them.
All in all I understand the simple approach and I would rather hear that approach for a horn Section position. But for soloists, principals and students, pushing the limits of our emotions, ability and spirit is the only way for me to communicate music to the world, IMHO.
all the best,
Matthew
Hi Matthew…
Thanks for your thoughts. What you say is true. I’d like to add a few thoughts to your reading of my writings.
I agree that there are too many performances out there that end up being too far to the “uninspired” version of simple. What I mean by ‘simple’ has nothing to do with allowing mediocrity. This will be extensively covered in my book, and lectures, etc. Soloists, principals, students, and sections alike can simplify the technical things while still sharing raw passion and angst and pain and love and everything that shares greatness. Keeping the goals simple (in an uncomplicated way) in my mind does not mean the passion gets diluted.
I hope this adds to your reading of what I mean by “simple”. It is an endless subject, and one I plan on discussing for many years to come…much like people have already been doing for years gone by…
Also we are free to ‘struggle’ toward these goals, as you put it, or ‘naively lovingly pursue’ them…as I try to choose to approach things. and there’s a million different approaches between these two…
Hopefully as we travel down our paths of making music, our executions can evolve each time, and get better. Frustration is another choice, in my opinion. It means that what we are frustrated with is not in the state that we think it should be. We are always free to choose objective reflection, then to look at what could have frustrated us as info…and figure out how to get it to where it needs to get. That state it needs to get is usually the state that frustrated people think it is already in…
Just some more thoughts… Thanks for commenting Matthew! Your thoughts are insightful, and good food for discussion… I hope mine were too!
I loved your mention of “pushing the limits of emotion, ability, and spirit” toward communicating music to the world!!!
Here’s to much more of that!
All the best,
Jeff
(Noon, June 6, 2007)
Great ideas Jeff !!! The “state” of any idea, emotion, sound or mantra is left up to us to Evolve, which is a very cool proposition for us humans…
“Keeping the goals simple” has made me understand where you are coming from with the “simple approach”, rather than just a simple interpretation. Ah, the Holmes quote holds it’s truth strongly.
I look forward to hearing your own evolution of ideas, I enjoy them greatly which was why I was here!!
Matthew Scheffelman
Principal Horn, Colorado Springs Philharmonic
Assisant Professor of Music, Colorado State University
I note your comment, “I don’t know what everyone was warning me about with regards to the weather in Bloomington. It was quite balmy and nice…”. My only comment is WAIT UNTIL AUGUST! ;-)
Good idea, Can be considered a learned thing, ok!
Already linking back to this. Great post.