Starting them early

Here is my son Thomas playing my Yamaha 642S with a Shilke 51D Mouthpiece.  He has a pretty good sound despite not having a firm embouchure.  He likes to puff out his cheeks when he plays. :-)  But still, he's 3 and a half and has been able to buzz on a mouthpiece since a little before his 2nd birthday.  He's awesome.

 Below is my daughter Sarah Cate.  She is almost 4 months old now and is able to grab on to the mouthpiece pretty successfully.  She even knows where it goes!  Right on the lips!  Or maybe that's just Freud's ORAL stage of development...and that's where she thinks everything goes.  (My wife's a psychology major...should explain it).

Maybe she can hold on to it a little TOO successfully.  After that last picture was taken, she raised her arm up and bonked herself on the head with the mouthpiece!  Poor girl.  I guess this means that Mouthpieces are not good toys for babies.  Schilke?  Dr. Bowman?  Where are the padded mouthpieces for kids?  Come on!  Look at those tears!

Ryan McGeorge's myspace

Yesterday, I was doing a little more euphonium searching on Google and came across Ryan McGeorge's myspace.

I admire Ryan a lot.  We don't know each other, but I have read articles about his hard work and dedication.  He was also involved as a Euphonium Soloist in the broadway production of "BLAST!" which I think is pretty fantastic.  BLAST! got its start as a drum corps (Star of Indiana) but branched out to "Brass Theater" and eventually into the form it takes today.  I know a couple of musicians that were involved with the production and they are great guys.

Anyway, when I auditioned for "The President's Own" in 2004, Ryan was the winner.  Here's his Myspace which features him playing a few tunes:

http://www.myspace.com/ryanmcgeorge

Breakthrough! No more Double Buzz!

While I often have little breakthroughs throughout each day (they give me energy and continued motivation), I rarely have a HUGE breakthrough that completely changes the way I play.  I am very glad I have this blog to help document this event. 



Tuba player double buzzing with a clear mouthpiece


For the past 5 or 6 years, I have dealt with double buzzing.  It has occured mainly with my Gb in the staff, but has also happened one half step above and below this note.  Now the frustrating part is that the double buzz would come and go and I would not know why.  And it seemed like the more I focused on it, the worse it got.  I tried long tones, focusing my air, buzzing on the mouthpiece, and nothing worked.  I left in the middle of many practice sessions because I was beyond frustrated with this problem.  I actually remember at one point actually getting very upset and angry because everything that I could think of wasn't working.

This is all in the past.

I tried to google the problem again today (I have googled it in the past, but did not have much luck in the way of advice).  Thankfully, I must have typed in the right combination of words because I found a website that not only knew about the problem, but had models on how and why it occured and what to do to fix it.

I didn't want to get my hopes up, so after I read the article I went back to my horn to try the things it suggested...and you know what?  It worked!  I jumped up and down and had to call my wife to tell her!  I know how to avoid double buzzing.  It was an amazing feeling being able to run my scales without cringing or ignoring the problem.  AND, an amazing by product of this was that I added a couple more half-steps to my playable range!  What an amazing day.  The rest of today could have gone horribly wrong and I still would have been in a great mood (thankfully it didn't). 

Interested?  Here's the link to the website:

Article on Double Buzzing

Arban's Characteristic Study #1

Yup,  the classic Arban's studies that address almost any issue you could ask.  I spent a half an hour today before I even played my horn just going over the fingerings.  I find that if I work on fingerings while blowing air without playing, I save my lips for later on in the day.  I can get a lot more done.  Anyway, I worked for a good amount of time on this study today, just making sure my intervals were solid an transitions were fluid.

I also took a look at the Bai Lin exercises 1-4.  I read exercise Number 2 like it was in Bass Clef and it allowed me to work on my lower register.

I also touched on the clarity of my upper range.  It has been pretty muddy recently and I have found that focusing my air and making sure the center of my lips aren't overblown helps quite a bit.

Excerpt Day!

For my initial warm up, I tried 2 note Remingtons with a nice warm sound starting on low Bb, then on middle F, then on top-of-the-staff Bb.

Later on in the day, I continued my warm-up with the Bai Lin exercise #1.

After that, I touched on Multiple Tonguing in the Arbans (exercise #1).

During my lunch break, I worked a LOT on my first excerpt.  Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms.  I LOVE listening to Michael J. Colburn play this piece.  His tone is so even throughout the register and the high notes just pop out like they are no big deal at all.  He's the MAN.  He is currently the DIRECTOR of the "President's Own."  And is now a Colonel.

If I got in to the band, I would be under his baton.

Anyway, for "Endearing Young Charms," I worked on the second half of the excerpt starting at dotted quarter = 40 BPM, then moving up to 50 BPM when I was comfortable with 40, then up to 60.  I was pretty happy with my sound and technique.  With the metronome, I added the off-beat to make sure I was being honest with the arpeggios.  This also gave it a cool triplet feel.  I also practiced with a triplet beat, again to double check my rhythmic accuracy.
I am happy with how that excerpt is coming along except my jump from middle of the staff F up to High C.  I will be working on that quite a bit over the next week.

Later on in the day, I touched on Aegean Festival Overture excerpt taking it at a ridiculously slow tempo.  I need to work on jumping octaves.  When I change at a fast tempo, my lower notes become "congested" and fuzzy.  However, they are fine at a slow tempo.  I think this is a flexibility issue.  So I know that I need to double my efforts on lip slurs, arbans interval studies, and clarke studies.  I also need to continue working on my lower register.  It is somewhat frustrating not having the range I used to have.  But at least I know what I need to work on, right?!

This evening I have been listening to recordings of all of my excerpts.  At least all of them that I have.  I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised at Grainger's "Colonial Song."  What an awesome piece of music!  It's...Grainger.  There's nothing else that can really be said.  Long phrases, perfectly scored and highly emotional.  I LOVE how he uses the ranges of instruments to create intensity.

Lip Flexibility

Since I have never really practiced lip flexibility diligently, I have found that starting at the beginning is the best way to go.  This evening before dinner, I worked on Bai Lin Lip Flexibility exercises.

I worked on exercises 1-4.

After dinner, I was able to spend some time in the basement of my in-laws.  It is relentless, because it has a 7 foot ceiling.  And since I am a tall person, my sound comes right back to me.  I always feel like I need to work on my articulation more after I practice there.  Either way, I started out my after dinner session with playing along with a recording of "Gentle Annie."

I then worked out of the Arban's Book.

I played Scale Studies numbers 1 through 4 in both Bb major and B major with a metronome at 90 bpm.

Next I played Chromatic Scales numbers 1 through 3 again with metronome at 90 bpm

I also worked on Multiple Tonguing numbers 1 and 2 at 60 bpm

Finally, I worked on Intervals exercise number 1.  Joe Alessi recommends I should practice the exercises at mm=75.  Not there yet.  I did mm=60.

1st post: Autobiography and back to the Euph.

Well, here I am on Saturday April 9th.  It's a little after 10:00 PM and I am starting a blog about my experience as I prepare for my audition for "The President's Own" Marine Band based in Washington D.C.  For more information on "The President's Own," please go to their website at: http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/

When I was a kid (around 6th or 7th Grade), I first heard about military bands in general and the Marine Band specifically.  At that point, I thought that it would be an awesome career.  I mean, what is there not to like???  You get to play your instrument with some of the best musicians in the world, travel the country (once a year or once every other year), play for the President and foreign dignitaries in the White House, and GET PAID for doing it!  What a great job :-)  So I set my sight on becoming a great musician.

I had a good start thanks to my parents.  They were both music education majors in college and knew the importance of learning how to read music.  I started piano lessons in second grade and joined the local children's choir in 3rd grade.  In the summer between 5th and 6th grade I picked up the Euphonium (at that time, I played a bell-front American "Baritone").  See the difference between an American Baritone, a British Baritone, and Euphonium at this website:
http://www.dwerden.com/eu-articles-bareuph.cfm

About the middle of my 7th grade year, I decided I wanted to Major in Music at college.  I seemed to have a natural ability for matching pitch and good pitch memory, so making music came easily.  It seemed like a simple choice.  Being an Indiana resident, I couldn't pass up the wonderful in-state tuition and outstanding music program of Indiana University in Bloomington (http://www.iub.edu/).  So I set my heart there and only applied to one other college.  I didn't even audition at the other college because I knew that I just wanted to go to I.U.  I worked hard especially in the middle of my junior year of high school when my parents bought me a brand new Euphonium.  A Yamaha 642S (http://www.brassreview.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/2326/cat/434).  It was top of the line at the time.
Yamaha had not yet come out with the 842 model
(http://www.woodbrass.com/en/product_info.php?products_id=13942)

and a Willson
 (http://www.wwbw.com/Willson-2900S-Series-Compensating-Euphonium-463766-i1436726.wwbw)

or Hirsbrunner
(http://www.hirsbrunner.com/lang/engl/instruments/html/index.html)

were a little out of the price range for our family at the time.  So the Yamaha it was.

I started taking private lessons my Junior year because I knew that NO music school worth it's salt would let me in without lessons.  Being very, uhm, shall we say self-assured, I didn't really think I needed a private lesson teacher.  After all, I was the 2nd chair in the Indiana All-State Honor Band my junior year without ever having looked up the local teacher's names.  However, as I settled in to lessons, I was very thankful that I had someone to help coach me.  I don't know if I could have gotten in to I.U. if it hadn't been for my lesson teacher during the last half of my junior year and first half of my senior year.  I also attribute my lesson teacher for me getting first chair in the honor band my senior year.

I also attended Interlochen Arts Camp (http://www.interlochen.org/) after my junior and senior years of high school.  It was a great experience and I recommend any young musician to go and immerse yourself in the arts at this camp or others like it.  Two great summers.

While at I.U., I started thinking about auditioning for a Drum and Bugle Corps.  I had always been impressed with the precision and dedication of the members.  So I auditioned for the Corps that was closest.  The Cavaliers from Rosemont, Illinois (www.cavaliers.org/).  A couple of weeks before I went up to audition in the fall of 2000, I had found out that they had just won the Drum Corps International World Championship that summer!  That was very impressive to me, but I was a bit discouraged.  It was rare for a drum corps to win more than one summer in a row.  But I wanted a good marching experience so I stuck it out.  I am glad I did.  Not only was it the hardest I had ever worked, it was one of the most satisfying experiences I had ever had.  And we DID win the International Champtionship in the summer of 2001!  My first International win of ANY kind.  The next year, I was fortunate enough to have been picked to be the Euphonium Soloist that opened the 2002 show.  It was a fantastic opportunity.  I got to play a solo in front of tens of thousands of people that summer.  Maybe even hundreds of thousands.  It was an amazing experience and I credit my time with the Cavaliers for giving me a never-say-die attitude when it comes to playing my horn.  I learned that if you want to achieve a goal, you HAVE to work hard every day...even if...and maybe even especially if you don't "feel" like it.  There were a few days in the Cavaliers where I wanted to quit, but yet following through with those feelings were simply out of the question.  I would have let down the entire corps.  That's something else I learned from my time with the Cavaliers.  Never do something just for yourself.  You won't have any reason to keep doing it when the rough times come.  And they inevitably will come.  Life just keeps coming and doesn't stop.

Anyway, for a lot of guys (it is an all male drum and bugle corps), it was the best ensemble they had ever played with.  And it probably would always be the best ensemble they ever played with.  But I wasn't satisfied with that.  Mainly because at I.U., I was a big dumb rabbit with a carrot dangling right in front of me:
The Indiana University Wind Ensemble under the direction of Ray Cramer.

I went to as many of their concerts as I could. from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2002.  I just couldn't seem to break through the glass ceiling from being first chair in the Symphonic Band to being 2nd chair in the Wind Ensemble.  This was doubly frustrating because there were no real EUPHONIUM players in the band at the time.  They had a grad student trombone player doubling on Euphonium in the group!  It was maddening!  I even approached Stephen Pratt, director of the Symphonic Band about the reason why I was not in the Wind Ensemble.  I don't really remember what he said, but in hindsight, I think I know what it was.  Ray Cramer expected...no...DEMANDED a certain level of musicianship from the members of the wind ensemble.  I was not up to snuff.  Case closed.  As a matter of fact, I remember being shocked when I found out that Mr. Cramer almost never took F Horns that auditioned for the band department.  He almost always "hired out."  He had the Horn section of the Philharmonic Orchestra play with the Wind Ensemble every semester.  So THAT'S why they were so good!  But anyway, after my 2nd summer with the Cavaliers, I was in shape mentally, physically and musically, and I hit the practice rooms hard.  I nailed the sightreading (which is the clencher for getting in to the wind ensemble).  Not only did Mr. Cramer allow my hard working patootie in to the Wind Ensemble, but he also took a second Euphonium player in.  A new Grad Student Euphonium Player who was put as first chair.  I was somewhat relieved because honestly, after the first rehearsal...I didn't think I belonged in the group.  I wouldn't have been able to cut it as the first euphonium player.  I was one of 4 undergraduate students in the whole band.  The rest were masters/doctoral/performing artist students.  It was just unreal.  The technique, musicianship, blend, intonation, and just subtle nuance of the group made me giddy every day we had rehearal.  When the grad student euphonium player and I walked to rehearsal, I walked a little taller and strutted a little more because of how proud I was to be in the Wind Ensemble.  THIS was why I wanted to come to I.U!  I felt like Wayne and Garth when they met Alice Cooper "WE'RE NOT WORTHY!  WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"  When I mentioned this to the grad student he said, "Good, that means you'll practice your band music enough to play it perfectly."  Those words hit home :-)

Throughout college, I had stints of good practice sessions, but for some reason, I was always finding other things to occupy my time.  I always hate to admit it, but I did enough to get by.  I kept the status quo.  I recently saw a shirt that said "Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard."  You Bet!  I found other interests and while I still enjoyed music, other things just seemed more important at the time.  In the back of my mind, there was still the pipe dream of playing with the President's Own, but the light was somewhat dim...until I saw that there would be an opening and audition in January of 2004!

Suddenly, my dream came to the forefront of my mind.  I knew a trombone player who had just won a job with the Marine Band so I contacted him and found a place to stay.  I started to practice...but for some reason, my heart really wasn't into it.  I don't know what it was, but maybe I just felt overwhelmed by the idea that I would be trying for my dream job.  Or maybe I was afraid of failing.  Anyway, I halfheartedly practiced the excerpts (and it was indeed half-hearted because there were one or two excerpts that I didn't even practice).  My heart completely broke in half when I flew down to the University of North Texas and had a couple of private lessons with Brian Bowman in December of 2003.  He tore me apart.  For the first time, I was confronted with a teacher who knew exactly what I was doing wrong, why I was doing it, and what I needed to do to fix it.  I was devastated.  My little bubble world of being a "pretty good euphonium player" was burst.  While I knew the fingerings and musical ideas (phrases, dynamics, etc.), I had no command over my tone, intonation of my instrument, or even what I wanted to sound like.  I was deflated.  I went ahead and went to the audition in January.  I just decided to do the best I could and enjoy the aspect of taking an audition.  It was pretty nerve wracking!  Around 50 Euphonium players trying for ONE spot.  Yeesh.  And these were the BEST the U.S.A. had to offer.  They came from all corners of the country with one goal in mind--to WIN the job.  The warm up room made me nervous.  But when my number was called, I went in and played to a blank screen in the middle of John Philip Sousa Hall behind which were, I assume, the Euphonium players of the President's Own.  Sweaty Palms, anyone?  Anyway, they asked to start at the first excerpt and they would stop me when they had heard enough.  I played 3 excerpts out of 14.  I found out later that the most ANYONE played in the first round was three excerpts.  I felt fortunate to have gotten through all 3.    I talked to a couple of Euphonium players who were stopped after the first one!  What made the audition experience fun was the fact that out of those 50 people who auditioned, they took 7 to the second round. I had 2 friends who made it to that round.  Neither won the job.  But it was still neat to see them get past.  I now knew what it took to make it to the next round.

Fast forward a few years.  I got a degree in music performance, landed a job as a band director (how I did that is a story for another time) and now have a wife, Susanna, and two amazing kids.  We live in a small town.  I teach band at a small school.  And life is really very pleasant.  I generally enjoy going to work and making my living by helping kids learn how to make music.  But my pipe dream still existed in the back of my mind.

On Saturday, March 12th, 2011, I saw on the President's Own website that there was an opening for Euphonium.
http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/career_information/vacancies/index.htm

My wife knew about my pipe dream and I told her about the audition.  At first, she was very apprehensive about the whole thing and understandably so.  Moving to the D.C. area, etc.  It would be a major life change.  But after thinking over the positives and negatives, she is behind me one hundred percent and is encouraging me to audition for the job.

One major thing has changed since I last auditioned.  And that is, I grew up.  7 years ago, I didn't know what I was doing or what life was like.  I like to think that I am little more humble than I was 7 years ago...not in the sense that I think less of myself or degrade myself in anyway...but more in the sense that I can take criticism pretty well and roll with it.  Incorporate it.

I have played on an off since college.  I have subbed on Bass and Tenor Trombone with 4 of the local orchestras (Lafayette Symphony, Northwest Indiana Symphony, LaPorte, and South Shore Chamber Orchestras) and am currently the 1st Euphonium in the South Shore Brass Band based out of Merrillville/Valparaiso.

Since learning about the audition, I have been practicing daily (whenever possible) and am REALLY putting in the time, effort, and work to get to the audition and not only make it to the 2nd round, but ultimately win the job.  I have absolutely nothing to lose.  My family supports me, I have confidence that I could win the job, I have my extensive notes from my lessons with Brian Bowman, about a million technique books and a band room full of literature for me to sightread on a daily basis as well as Daniel Perantoni who is just 2 and a half hours away.  I have a good tuner which I use with my metronome on a daily basis with most of my exercises and NOW, thanks to the help of an old college acquaintance, am playing on a WILLSON 2900S (THANKS BROOKE!)

The blog will be what I practice and my journey on the way.  Maybe I'll have a following, maybe not.  But I want to keep myself honest about how I am doing.  So here we go!  My new adventure :-)