Non-brass Influences

[bitbckt]

I’m curious to hear from you all as to the schools of thought developed outside of the usual brass-centric pedagogy discussed around here that you find influential.

I’ve been reading (well, re-reading, but it’s been awhile) Tabuteau’s thoughts on phrasing, which inspires this topic.

What non-brass teachers or methods altered your approach to musicality in lasting ways?

[WilliamLang]

Tabuteau is such a great resource!

[LeTromboniste]

In no particular order:

-My voice teachers and a few singers I've worked with;
-Lessons with, playing alongside and/or listening to great cornettists, in particular Bruce Dickey and Josue Melendez;
-Having lessons with and listening to players of bowed bass instruments, as well as the little experience I had studying violone as a secondary instrument.
-Having my teacher Charles Toet (a quite decent continuo player but by not a professional organist) play along in lessons on organ, where he could point out all the ways in which what I played related to the accompaniment, and which also meant everything had to be phrased really clearly, since he wouldn't catch me when I wasn't clear as easily as a professional accompanist would have.
-The insanely expressive ideas, metaphors and conducting technique of my undergrad university orchestra conductor.

[hyperbolica]

Not teachers so much as listening influences, non-brass influences:

- E. Power Biggs on the pipe organ
- blues and R&B singers from the 50s - 70s
- Parkening and Segovia on the guitar

[MStarke]

Frank Sinatra (and other singers)

Some cello recordings. Elgar concerto is sooo great

Some very few conductors and band leaders, often not so much on specific and concrete musical advice, but on some more general thoughts about music and how to approach it, as well as some with a real role model function in how they lead the orchestra.

[Wilktone]

I like to get ideas and advice from a wide range of musical, and non-musical sources. One great resource is the Bulletproof Musician. It's both a web site and podcast that takes a look at being better at practice and performance, focusing on research-based approaches borrowed from music and athletic sources.

https://bulletproofmusician.com

[bitbckt]

One great resource is the Bulletproof Musician.

That's very interesting. Thanks!

[tbdana]

I learned to play jazz from Charlie Shoemake, a vibraphonist.

[harrisonreed]

Ado's somewhat unhinged and otherworldly vocals have left an impression on me. I wouldn't mind playing melodies like how she can sing them.

[2bobone]

The famous baritone of The Metropolitan Opera, Leonard Warren, with his perfect diction atop a constantly flowing stream of gorgeous sound. He demonstrated the best example of legato technique that can easily be transferred to the trombone. I would play his version of "Colorado Trail" for my students when all other explanations failed ! It is reported that he couldn't read music !!!!

[Mr412]

I suspect it will get ridiculed, but I love how this guy plays, with his old-school Nashville sound:



Come to think of it, does a sax actually transition between reed and brass?

[GabrielRice]

Some non-brass musicians I find inspiring, off the top of my head:

Glenn Gould

Eddie Van Halen

Jaco Pastorius

John Bonham on one side and Stewart Copeland on the other

Ella Fitzgerald

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

James Jamerson

[AndrewMeronek]

The Kepler Quartet recordings of the complete Ben Johnston string quartets. This cycle really opens one's ears up to the rich possibilities of harmony that standard practice just skirts around, if at all. Especially this crazy, crazy "solemn" movement here:



Yes, I have the score for this.

No, I don't understand most of it.

[RossM]

Obviously based on Tabuteau(so I’m not sure how different you’d find it) but I really enjoyed David McGill’s “Sound in Motion”.

[ghmerrill]

I suspect it will get ridiculed, but I love how this guy plays, with his old-school Nashville sound:

[Boots Randolph]

Come to think of it, does a sax actually transition between reed and brass?

Yikes! I used to play his "Yakety Sax" a lot when I was in high school -- on a tenor sax, of course. With a brass Wolf Tane mouthpiece.

MPC507-3.jpg

[Mr412]

Yes, he is perhaps best known for his "Yakety Sax". That was certainly novel, but I like him as a sentimental balladeer.

[ghmerrill]

The "Yakety Sax" was pretty "trivial"? A show-off piece.

[bitbckt]

Obviously based on Tabuteau(so I’m not sure how different you’d find it) but I really enjoyed David McGill’s “Sound in Motion”.

Yup, great book, largely an extension of the same ideas. “Note Grouping” is another treatment, but is less accessible.

This thread didn’t go quite where I’d hoped. I was hoping for more specific attributes/ideas that changed your music - something a little deeper than the subject line - but I got what I paid for.

[RossM]

This thread didn’t go quite where I’d hoped. I was hoping for more specific attributes/ideas that changed your music - something a little deeper than the subject line - but I got what I paid for.

I’ll have to give Sound in Motion another read( and check out Note Grouping), but the discussion of how to phrase the Valkeries motif felt revolutionary when I first read it. It certainly made me notice how often I phrased things for ease or mechanics, or even on some sort of flawed autopilot.

[Doug Elliott]

For phrasing and rhythm:
Frank Sinatra
Judy Garland
Gladys Knight
Eva Cassidy

[Gfunk]

Benjamin Zander’s wrote a book in partnership with his wife, Rosamund Stone Zander, called the Art of Possibility that has influenced me a lot. It’s not written for musicians, but Benjamin Zander talks about many of his life experiences and how we can live unrestrained by ourselves. Great thoughts for music and beyond.

Seymour Bernstein had some fabulous videos out on YouTube with ToneBase that have been very inspiring. He oozes music and it’s contagious. So much to learn from how he explains his view of music. He seems to be an incredibly real and humane person, which is inspiring in its own way. Seymour Beenstein has also talked quite vulnerably about his struggles with performance anxiety and his take is, for me, some of the best advice I’ve heard in that regard.

[bitbckt]

I’ll check them out, thanks gfunk.

When I was young and playing juries &c. I had some anxiety issues that were helped by the “Inner Game of Music” and Alexander Technique. I’m well past those issues now, but it can be crippling. The beta blocker candy store never appealed to me as a solution, but some peers did get through it chemically, so to speak. I’m always interested in how people have overcome those barriers. Thanks again.

[bitbckt]

Seymour Bernstein had some fabulous videos out on YouTube with ToneBase that have been very inspiring. He oozes music and it’s contagious. So much to learn from how he explains his view of music. He seems to be an incredibly real and humane person, which is inspiring in its own way. Seymour Beenstein has also talked quite vulnerably about his struggles with performance anxiety and his take is, for me, some of the best advice I’ve heard in that regard.

Following up to say that I picked up a copy of “With Your Own Two Hands” based on this comment, and am enjoying the read.