Trombone
World-famous violinist Pinchas Zukerman gave a masterclass at BYU last week. He worked with 3 violinists. There were, of course, plenty of technical things that he talked about, particularly about bowing—bow hold, bow angle, bow speed, etc.—that don’t apply directly to brass playing. One overriding concept, however, was very relevant. In every case, he slowed [...]
Sam Pilafian was recently a forum speaker here at BYU. He gave an excellent talk on his musical influences, among whom was Leonard Bernstein, who taught him at Tanglewood. According to Sam (and I realize this is 3rd-generation information, but it’s good advice anyway), Bernstein said he had 5 priorities in picking musicians for an [...]
There are 3 “non-negotiables” in trombone playing: 1) tone, 2) intonation, and 3) time/rhythm. If a player is in good shape in all 3 of these areas, chances of success in almost any performance, audition, or competition are high. Tone, of course, is the first of these priorities. Without good tone, nothing else you can [...]