WINTER 2017 £5.00
THE
TROMBONIST BASS BONE FILES WITH CHRISTIAN JONES AUBREY LOGAN TALKS ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
SEPTURA
THE SENSATIONAL SEVEN PIECE GROUP
WIN
A SE PTUR A CD
REGULARS 6
RESOURCES 12-14
Our new president; Dávur Juul Magnussen.
Want to know how to play it? Jeremy Price explains.
Jane Salmon talks to Septura.
7-8
16
30 YEARS OF HMSC
PRESIDENTS COLUMN
NEWS & EVENT REVIEWS
What’s been going on in the world of trombones and events on the horizon.
25
G&T
Back with more suggestions for your diary.
JAZZ BY JEREMY
THE IMPORTANCE OF AIR
With James Morrison.
32
GEAR REVIEWS
Gear, gear and more gear.
34
WHAT’S ON
See what takes your fancy.
Cover photograph courtesy of - Matthew Lloyd 4
PROFILES 18-20 SEPTURA
22-23
With Barney Medland.
29-31
AUBREY LOGAN TALKS...
about the use of social media.
FEATURES 9
HUNGARIAN BOOT CAMP ROUND UP
28
DAVUR’S LOOK AT THE FUTURE
Credit: Matthew Lloyd
CONTENTS
WELCOME TO THE WINTER ISSUE
OF THE BTS MAGAZINE Welcome to this, the last paper copy of ‘The Trombonist’, and the last time you will hear from both of us before Jane Salmon takes over the role of editor. We would like to thank everyone for the support over the last few years. Our ever-popular Christmas Crossword is back and Jane will look forward to receiving your answers. In this edition we feature Septura, Aubrey Logan and lots more to get your well used trombone chops into. Of course, keep us up to date via Social Media and let us know any cool things you are doing! For the last time here…Merry Christmas! Ross & Simon
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THE TROMBONIST MAGAZINE Editors: Ross Learmonth & Simon Minshall editor@britishtrombonesociety.org Sub-Editor: Peter Chester Alison Keep Publishing and Distribution: HMCA Reviews Editor: Jane Salmon news@britishtrombonesociety.org Advertising: Jane Salmon advertising@britishtrombonesociety.org Design: Sian Nowley sian@hmca.co.uk
CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE: Aubrey Logan James Morrison Dávur Juul Magnussen Jeremy Price Jane Salmon Roger Argente Matt Gee Mark Templeton Adam Crighton
Martha Ann Brookes Davie Thornber Rosemary Abram Barney Medland Ross Anderson Simon Minshall Mark Harrison Ross Learmonth
PAGE 29-31
PAGE 18-20
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WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Dear Readers,
It is with absolute pleasure, as well as slight trepidation, that I take over as President of the British Trombone Society. I have big shoes to fill indeed and I will do my very best to keep this marvellous Society flourishing and growing. Luckily, I am not alone. Behind me I have an incredible team, chomping at the bit to get going. You can read more about the personnel changes and moves elsewhere in the magazine. However, I feel that Simon Minshall, who is stepping down from his role in the editing team deserves a special note of gratitude. For nearly ten years, he has untiringly brought us a whole series of brilliant magazines, often under challenging conditions. Simon, you are OUR hero !!! The magazine you are holding in your hands is the last print version of “The Trombonist”. From the spring edition of 2018, we will be an e-magazine published on www.issuu.com. You will perhaps have seen the trial versions and a limited back catalogue already available on that platform. With the print version, the vast majority of the society’s money was being spent purely on printing and delivery costs. The truth is that these prohibitive costs, combined with dwindling advertising interest were actually outstripping the Society’s income. You will have felt that yourselves when we were forced to go from 4 magazines a year, to 3. And what is even worse is that this was threatening to become an evil downward spiral. The economies of scale mean that as we were forced to produce a smaller and smaller output, the cost per unit was increasing. So, in the end it was an absolutely necessary adaptation, and therefore an easy decision for the whole Committee to take. 6
I am personally sad to see the print versions go, but on the other hand it frees up a lot of resources for the Society. We can now produce more and better content, as well as more and better live events. The digital platform will let us explore new interactive content, and will help attracting new advertising income for the society. This is all absolutely imperative. The magazine might be the central part of our organisation, but I feel we should be about a lot more than that if we want to continue growing and become an even more valuable resource for trombonists all across Britain, and indeed, the world. Be prepared for a re-invigorated BTS, which is about to enter an irresistible upward spiral of growth. Yours Sincerely, Dávur Juul Magnussen
president@britishtrombonesociety.org
BTS OFFICERS & STAFF MAGAZINE CONTACT LIST
British Trombone Society www.britishtrombonesociety.org CONTACT LIST President: Dávur Juul Magnussen president@britishtrombonesociety.org Immediate Past President: Liam Kirkman pastpresident@britishtrombonesociety.org Vice-President: Matt Gee vicepresident@britishtrombonesociety.org Chair: Simon Minshall chair@britishtrombonesociety.org Vice Chair: Rosemary Abram vicechair@britishtrombonesociety.org Treasurer: Liam Kirkman treasurer@britishtrombonesociety.org Secretary: Alison Keep Darcy Gate, Kelvedon Road, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex, CM9 8EL Tel: 07976 881893 secretary@britishtrombonesociety.org COMMITTEE: Nick Hudson nickhudson@britishtrombonesociety.org Jane Salmon janesalmon@britishtrombonesociety.org Becca Pope beccapope@britishtrombonesociety.org Adrian Taylor adriantaylor@britishtrombonesociety.org OFFICERS: Administrator: Chris Sowerby 1 Ullswater Road, Dewsbury West Yorkshire, WF12 7PH Tel: +44 (0)1924 437359 administrator@britishtrombonesociety.org membership@britishtrombonesociety.org Commissioning Editor: Jane Salmon editors@britishtrombonesociety.org editor@britishtrombonesociety.org Reviews Editor: Vacant reviews@britishtrombonesociety.org WEBSITE: Events Editor: Ross Anderson events@britishtrombonesociety.org News Editor: Barney Medland news@britishtrombonesociety.org REPRESENTATIVES: Scotland: Simon Johnson 07973 861623 scotland@britishtrombonesociety.org Wales: Jo Hirst 07729 144690 wales@britishtrombonesociety.org North East: Peter Chester & David Thornber northeast@britishtrombonesociety.org North West: Vacant northwest@britishtrombonesociety.org Midlands: Martha-Ann Brookes 07966 416198 midlands@britishtrombonesociety.org Northern Ireland: Stephen Cairns 02892 602646 northernireland@britishtrombonesociety.org London: Bones Apart london@britishtrombonesociety.org South West: Andy Berryman southwest@britishtrombonesociety.org East Anglia: Ben Bouzan 07970 502509 eastanglia@britishtrombonesociety.org Wessex: Robb Tooley 07713 093193 wessex@britishtrombonesociety.org Yorkshire: Jonathan Beatty 07966 214362 jbeatty70@icloud.com Brass Band: Ryan Watkins 07801 955297 brassband@britishtrombonesociety.org Jazz: Jeremy Price 07850 685784 jazz@britishtrombonesociety.org Young People (North): Hannah Stell youngrepnorth@britishtrombonesociety.org Young People (South): Daniel Higham youngrepsouth@britishtrombonesociety.org Military Bands: James Howard 07906 392992 military@britishtrombonesociety.org ADVERTISING & TRADE VACANCY: Contact email to: administrator@britishtrombonesociety.org webmaster@britishtrombonesociety.org
NEWS ALL CHANGE AT BONE TOWERS! It has been a busy summer at BTS Headquarters with many changes happening behind the scenes as we progress towards a new-look online magazine. After several years in the chair – or should it be sofa? – Simon and Ross have decided to step down as co-editors of the magazine, partly to pursue what they really set out to do, which was to continue their missionary work playing the trombone in various parts of the world. We thank Messrs Minshall and Learmonth for their esteemed editorial skills during their tenure and no doubt we will hold a ceremonial breaking of the quill pen over the odd flagon of ale in the not-too-distant future! Simon will remain on the Committee for the foreseeable future, so we won’t be losing touch altogether. Ross commented that he has felt very lucky to have been a part of the new era of “The Trombonist” magazine. It has been wonderful to watch the publication grow over the last few years, initially being on the team as News & Reviews Editor and then taking over from Carol Jarvis as Co-editor when she moved on. Ross has found it an absolute pleasure working with Simon, Carol and Jane [Salmon] on the magazine and he wishes Jane and her new team all the very best for the future! He hopes to remain part of the BTS in some capacity and looks forward to seeing the Society go from strength to strength. So, “where do we go from here?” you may well ask! Donning the green eye-shade is Jane Salmon, trombonist extraordinaire and loafer on the sofa, as our new “Perry White.” Up to now,
Jane has been beavering away in the dungeons of Bone Towers penning various articles which have appeared on our website and dealing with our advertising section, and all with very little recognition because it’s rather dark below stairs and we didn’t know she was there. The articles appeared as if by magic! Welcome to the upper echelons, and daylight, Jane. We have a shiny new office for you in the West Wing and when we finally catch the Christmas Turkey, we can provide a shiny new quill pen for you as well – and the Committee will have Christmas Lunch! Jane is very much looking forward to her new role with the BTS! She graduated from Guildhall School of Music in 2015 and has since been enjoying life as a trombone player with plenty of cycling along the way as well and is very excited to be looking after our publications and online content for you all. Jane can be contacted at editor@britishtrobonesociety.org. Joining Jane will be House-Elves Barney Medland and Ross Anderson. Barney takes over from Jane as News Editor (news@britishtrombonesociety. org) and Ross steps into the newlycreated role of Events Editor (events@britishtrombonesociety.org).
Barney is excited to be coming onboard at BTS HQ. He’s a bass trombonist who studied for his undergraduate degree at the Guildhall School of Music and has recently completed a Master’s Degree at the Royal Academy of Music. He enjoys unusual and innovative music, but – whether it’s Tchaikovsky or Elton John - he always has a soft spot for a good tune. Barney also has a growing collection of old brass instruments; a few of which he can actually play! He’ll be keeping you up to date with all
the news and happenings that will interest you as readers of “The Trombonist” and promises to write the occasional feature as well. Ross is also looking forward to being part of the BTS team. He is a professional trombone player who studied at the Royal College of Music and when not lurking in a theatre pit can be found on a forest trail, zooming around on his mountain bike. He will be taking on the new role of Events Editor with the BTS to help promote the exciting happenings in the world of all that is trombone and to keep our calendar up to date. Welcome to the team, gentlemen! We encourage all our members and friends to contact Barney and Ross and keep us up-to-date with what’s going on out there in the trombone world. So, from 2018 “The Trombonist” magazine goes online and this issue is the last of the print-media copies – a collector’s item, perhaps? Here’s a thing! Why not keep it “mint-inwrapper” as it might appreciate in value. An extra copy to read can always be ordered from your beloved Administrator at the ever-so-reasonable price of £6.50 including postage! Joking aside, the online version, available via the Issuu platform (www. issuu.com), will enable us to include direct links to our advertisers’ own websites, in addition to links to video and other trombone-related material. Our intention is to email members with a notification as and when a publication is uploaded to Issuu. From 2018, publications will be available only through the Members’ Only section of the website, so do make sure your membership is up to date and you keep us informed of any changes to your email address. 7
News by Barney Medland: news@britishtrombonesociety.org
NEWS Michael Rath Trombones was founded in West Yorkshire in 1992. Now, Rath trombones are some of the most highly regarded and sought after brass instruments money can buy and are the first choice of many classical and jazz professionals across the world. This international profile means Rath
already generates 60% of their sales overseas, in 25 different countries. However, as Michal Rath himself has said: “We’ve been trying to get into China...for some time… [but] a lack of understanding of Chinese business culture, which is very different to ours, is holding us back”. In 2012, China’s musical instrument market surpassed the USA’s to become the largest in the world. This includes importing $300 million worth of instruments a year,
photo: Aboud Dweck
RATH LOOKS EAST
Britain’s leading trombone manufacturer has appointed an expert in Chinese business culture to advise the company on how to increase exports to China.
so the untapped potential for Rath is huge. Rath is hoping that exports to China could boost overall sales of their handmade British trombones by a massive 25%.
NEW TOP BRASS IN HUDDERSFIELD Trombonist Richard Ward has been appointed to the position of Head of Brass at Huddersfield University. He is one of Britain’s top freelance trombone players, having performed with most of Britain’s top orchestras, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Richard has performed in dozens of West End musicals and played on television and film soundtracks, as well as playing with chart-topping pop stars. He is musical director of Zone One Brass Band, London’s leading brass band, which he has led to the National Finals at the Albert Hall on no fewer than
ALINE NISTAD, 1954 - 2017
In September, we heard the very sad news that Aline Nistad, principal trombone with the Oslo Philharmonic for 37 years, had passed away at the age of 63. Aline studied at the Guildhall School in London in the late 1970s. She returned to her native Norway in 1979 and was promptly appointed principal trombone at the Oslo Philharmonic, where she remained until her retirement last year. Aline played as soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic on a number of occasions, including giving performances of the trombone concertos by Larsson, Grøndahl and Albrechtsberger. In her busy career as a chamber musician, Aline played with leading ensembles, including the Norwegian Brass Quintet and Norway’s foremost contemporary music ensemble, the Oslo Sinfonietta. Aline was an influential teacher who, as Professor of trombone and chamber
AND FINALLY...
Marcus Bonner produces the cases of choice for countless trombonists and other instrumentalists all over the world. Now they are bringing out a new line of 8
four occasions. Richard is a leading educator, co-creating the award winning Brass Tacks education project and also working with the Palestinian Youth Orchestra and Trinity Laban conservatoire. Richard will bring all this experience to bear on the brass department at Huddersfield University. Deputy Head of Music and Drama at the university, Dr Lisa Colton, has said: “We are looking forward to the opportunity to work with Richard, whose international reputation as a performer will further bolster the department’s established reputation for brass playing”.
music at the Norwegian Academy of Music, taught a generation of trombone players. Students across the world had the opportunity to learn from Aline’s wisdom as she regularly gave masterclasses in Europe and America, including back at Guildhall, her Alma Mater. Aline inspired respect and affection wherever she went and will be missed by everyone who knew her.
DEATH OF DEREK BOURGEOIS
September also saw the death of Derek Bourgeois, a titanic figure in British music. Bourgeois frequently wrote with humour and had an ear for a memorable tune that few other composers could match. With an amazing 116 to his name, he also overtook Havergal Brian’s record
products… cases for wine! With cases made to hold one, two, four or twelve bottles, all accompanied with a thermal cover that maintains the temperature of
(32) for most symphonies composed by any British composer. Bourgeois was introduced to the brass band world in 1980, when he became conductor of the Sun Life (now Stanshawe) Band. It is through his prolific output of wind and brass music that so many readers will love and remember Derek Bourgeois. He wrote a number of important works for the trombone, including one of the most popular concertos in the repertoire, as well as demanding and impressive chamber works like his trombone octet, Scherzo Funèbre. Bourgeois wrote in an unapologetically lush and tuneful style. He always prioritised the enjoyment of the audiences who would actually listen to his music over the opinions of a tiny handful who might critically acclaim it. For this, Bourgeois has delighted, stirred, cheered, and moved countless people who have performed or listened to his music.
the wine inside, we expect they shall be receiving interest from a fair few trombone players.
BY DAVID THORNBER BTS NORTH EAST CO-REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE
HUNGARIAN HUZZAH The Hungarian Trombone Boot-camp – observations from a trombone foot-soldier
• Jamie Williams - Deutsche Oper, Professor at Hochschule fur Musik and Yamaha Artist
Being a former Royal Marines musician, the concept of a ‘Boot-camp’ brought back a flood of memories, involving; very cold, sleepless nights on Dartmoor, being shouted at (on numerous occasions) by a gorilla of a drill sergeant, and crawling through mud and water filled tunnels. What would this event, masterminded by Hungarian bass trombone supremo, Matyas Veer, be like? Would I be required to undertake lip press-ups, or push out squats with a contrabass trombone over my head? The mind boggled.
• György Gyivicsan - Slokar Trombone Quartet, Szeged Trombone Ensemble, Professor in Szeged University, B&S artist
What transpired was a high quality, cornucopia of trombone teaching, performing, and listening, organised by the dynamic duo of Matyas Veer and Zoltan Kiss, ably supported by members of the Hungarian Trombone Connection and Corpus Trombone Quartet.
• Gusztáv Hőna - Professor of the Franz Liszt Music Academy
Taking place in the Budapest Music Centre - a fabulous facility for music performance - over four days in August 2017, the HTBC attracted 50 participants from a wide range of countries including: France; Belgium; UK; Serbia; Austria; Malaysia; Poland; South Korea; Japan; Hungary; Ukraine; Sweden and Australia. At least half of the students on the HTBC are currently studying in Germany. Four full scholarships were awarded to Hungarian students who received 1st prize for a national trombone competition in Hungary in 2017.
• Csaba Wagner – Gewandhaus Leipzig
A multi-national, stellar line up of trombone greats led on the teaching and performance sessions, including; • Matyas Veer Essener Philharmoniker, Soloist • Zoltan Kiss - Mnozil Brass, Soloist - Schagerl and Lätzsch artist
• Denson Paul Pollard - Metropolitan Opera, Professor in Indianapolis, Courtois artist
• Marshall Gilkes -Professor at Berklee College of Music, WDR Big Band Köln, Jazz Soloist, Edwards Artist • Robert Káip - Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Professor of the Debrecen University • Dirk Ellerkamp - Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Lätzsch Artist
• Zsolt Szabó - Professor at Eastern Carolina University, Edwards Artist • Hiroyuki Kurogane - NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo • Eric Budd – Multi-instrumental musician, Melbourne, Australia • Corpus Trombone Quartet – Michael Rath artists • Lätzsch Trombone quartet Boot-camp participants could opt for a package of lessons and concerts as a tenor, bass, or jazz trombonist, or attend as a day student or simply an observer. When I saw the joining instructions for HTBC, I knew that, as a once professional now amateur player, fast approaching 60 years old, it would be a slightly scary but much welcomed adventure, certainly outside my comfort zone. Participants were given a ‘headsup’ of orchestral excerpts to prepare, and were required to submit details of the pieces and études they would be performing during the week.
There was a great deal of ‘on your face’ time during the week, starting with the daily, morning warm-up sessions led by varying members of the faculty, one-on-one (but open) session lessons, and massed blow rehearsals for the final ‘flash-mob’ concert in Fovam Square on the final day. When not involved in formal sessions, participants were squirreling themselves away in dark corners of the BMC, to practice all of the gems of wisdom they had picked up from their lessons or from fellow students, or trawling the trade stands to test out the many trombones and mouthpieces on offer from Lätzsch, Schagerl, Courtois, B & S, and K & G. My overriding memories of the week were: the amazing Hungarian hospitality (we were treated to a superb, postconcert dinner fuelled by the best goulash you will ever try); lots of trombone banter; lashings of Palinka - the local hooch; the generous and expert teaching - my personal thanks to Matyas Veer, Csaba Wagner, Hiroyuki Kurogane, and Paul Denson Pollard; scintillating trombone performances, both solo and ensemble from the teaching staff and guest performers and a jaw-dropping final night jazz concert starring Marshall Gilkes, Zoltan Kiss, Eric Budd, and students from the jazz class. If you haven’t been exposed to the Hungarian school of trombone playing, I would urge you to check out YouTube and search for The Hungarian Trombone Connection – you will be blown away by the standard of playing and musicianship. For those of you who missed this year’s HTBC, you will be delighted to know that Matyas and Zoltan plan to run another Boot-camp in Budapest in 2018. The tentative dates are 20th – 23rd June 2018. 9
WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
BY ROSEMARY ABRAM
SALFORD TROMBONE DAY
its proximity to the Salford Museum and Art Gallery. I took the opportunity to nip in for a sandwich lunch and having been taken back a century by a walk down its Victorian Street, vowed to return when I had more time. The curtailed break was well worthwhile though, as Christian Jones took to the stage to introduce the afternoon’s session.
A warm weather front occurs when a warm air mass is replacing a cold air mass. I felt that this phenomenon was at play in Manchester on September 16th. The heat and excitement generated by the playing of the two Black Dyke trombone quartets and friends hit and largely compensated for the unseasonably cold air of Peel Hall, where the boiler had broken down.
Fortunately for the hardy souls who were in at the beginning, the day started gently with a mass blow of an arrangement for ten trombones, masquerading as bagpipes, of Roever and Korb’s Highland Cathedral. This was capably led by Brett Baker, setting the tone, so to speak, for the whole day as he roundly refuted the myth that men can’t multitask! He performed the whole gamut of essential activities from solo performing to tea-making, all the while making welcoming and informed introductions to the other performers. First up was Dan Eddison who fully exploited the wonderful acoustics of the hall with resounding renditions of DL Blues by Don Lusher, Sång Till Lotta by Jan Sandstrom and Fantastic Polka by Arthur Pryor. Dan was followed by three pieces of contrasting mood played by Hannah Snell. These were Fantasi by Sigismond Stojowski, a solemn solo from the opera Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas and the powerful 1st movement of the Concerto by Grøndahl. Brett himself then performed an appealingly eclectic mix. The lively Shout by Rob Wiffin and the rousing The Patriot by Arthur Pryor, opening with allusions to the Star-Spangled Banner, acted as nicely-contrasting wrap-arounds for a tenderly arranged and interpreted rendition of Ivor Novello’s We’ll Gather Lilacs. All three soloists were beautifully accompanied on the piano by Ruth Webb. Post-coffee break, the whole Senior Black Dyke quartet took to the stage. Paul Woodward, Garry Reed and Adam Reed had filtered into the hall as we warmed up and were a very welcome re-enforcement to the mass blow. Along with Brett, they came into their own with a programme which picked up where The Patriot started and hinted more than a little of our ‘special relationship’ with the USA. Some of the pieces had in fact been played when 10 10
the group had first visited Kentucky a few years ago. Once more, we enjoyed a lively and engaging execution of some interesting arrangements, comprising Ian Jones’ arrangement of Heaton’s Praise, Bruckner’s Locus Iste, arranged by Joseph Lunn, G. Brazil’s arrangement of Penny Lane and a charming interpretation of Fly me to the Moon arranged by Bob Hughes. The Penny Lane performance, in particular, transported me back to the 1960s, as I admired the teamwork of Paul strongly carrying the melody against Brett’s soaring counter-melody, both well supported by finely textured under-pinning from Garry and Adam. The pace hotted up again with a stirring rendition of Barry Gray’s theme from Thunderbirds and the smouldering James Bond suite. This well-crafted tour de force culminated in good brass band tradition with a march, Woodward’s arrangement of Leidzen’s On the King’s Highway. The Senior’s numbers were then swelled by the addition of their young counterparts as Joseph Heartfield, Adam Warburton, Paul Jackson and Oliver Atherton swiftly interspersed themselves. Today was a début, or perhaps a baptism of fire for some, but with a nice blend of youth and experience they launched into Fine, Geoffrey Hargreaves’ arrangement of Gospel Tunes. This was a pleasing contrast to the ensuing march Red Shield arranged by Ian Jones as a signature tune. A quick flight of fancy then transported us to South America as they rounded off with the compelling staccatos of Piazzolla’s Libertango. Just time for another massed blow before lunch, with The Procession of the Nobles from Rimsky- Korsakov’s Mlada being added to our repertoire. A bonus to this choice of venue, Peel Hall, was
Christian delighted us with winningly executed renditions of Walter S. Hartley’s Sonata Breve and a premier of Cereal Bars by Dan Jenkins. The second piece, containing as it did some interesting sequences of notes, was indeed a clever play on words. Christian then turned his attention to the Black Dyke Youth Group. I’m guessing that Adam, Oliver, Paul and Joe must have entered this with some feelings of trepidation as the spotlight was really on them for the next hour. Each in turn played a piece of their choice. After giving the player and his peers the opportunity to appraise the performer, Christian went on to suggest techniques and strategies by which their interpretation might be improved. He did this with such sensitivity and gentle humour that the players felt able to take this on board on the spot – even when this involved singing for one of their number! Well done, Joe (The Bluebells of Scotland), Adam (Praise Be To Mary), Oliver (Seventy Four) and Paul. Such Masterclasses have the added advantage of giving the audience the opportunity to consider how their own playing might be similarly enhanced. In fact I believe that this is one of the joys of attending such events. As we moved on to the final mass blow it gave me cause for reflection what an uplifting combination of playing and listening they entail. We closed with a reprisal of the earlier numbers plus a playing of Bill Reichenbach’s Scarborough Fair. As I hit the M6 shortly afterwards, those tunes were still in my head, along with the buzz of being a participant in such an enjoyable and productive day. Thanks are due to Brett and Christian for all the work that must have gone into making this happen and to Chris Sowerby for his efforts in continuity and photography. The Society hopes to organise some similar events elsewhere in 2018 – hope to see you there!
BTS MIDLANDS DAY On Sunday 19th March I attended the BTS Midlands day held at Warwick School, organised by Martha Ann Brooks. I learned a lot from the day and I really enjoyed it. There were about thirty people there, all with different musical backgrounds and abilities and I met lots of interesting people. My favourite part of the day was probably listening to Bourton Bones. I had never heard a trombone choir before and the sounds were just amazing. We also had performances from the English Trombone Consort and Andy Derrick with Nick Hudson, who played some X-rated Mozart, and there were workshops. I learnt a lot from Andy Derrick’s jazz improvising workshop, and I found some really interesting tips from Nick Hudson’s warm up workshop. Adrian Taylor’s talk on the new ABRSM syllabus was also a real eye-opener. I definitely had a lot of fun playing a pBuzz, if you can call it that (!), and we had a great massed blow together. At the end of the day there was a fantastic concert. Thank you to everyone who was involved and especially to Martha for making such an exciting day happen. JESSICA ANDERSON Many thanks to Mr Simon Hogg, Head of Performing Arts at Warwick School, for allowing us to host the event at the School. The facilities were ideal and much appreciated. MARTHA ANN BROOKES.
About thirty trombonists met at Warwick School for what was to be a most enjoyable day. We met at 10am and were welcomed by Martha Ann Brookes, Midlands’ area representative for the BTS. She introduced us to Nick Hudson, Andy Derrick, Alwyn Green, Adrian Taylor and Derrick Parker who led the sessions through the day. First up was Nick Hudson who took us through a warm up. He stressed the importance of controlled relaxed breath, both inhaling and exhaling, buzzing at pitch and ‘forcing’ the instrument to sound different notes with and without moving the slide, something that is included in the Louis Maggio’s warmup book, but only at very low pitches. Nick then took us through a really good arrangement of Pastime with Good Company and Dem Bones, both very different pieces but both enjoyable. Adrian Taylor gave us a presentation on the new syllabus for ABRSM and the material available. He explained how the early grade pieces were selected with young players in mind, thus avoiding the ‘dreaded’ seventh positon. There seems to be a great deal more flexibility in the new publications than when I did my grades. After refreshments, we were given a presentation by Andy Derrick on some of the important features of improvisation. He explained the importance of ‘not running before you can walk’ and not trying to play as
many notes as possible. Accompanied by CD backing, he treated us to a few examples. We were then treated to a short concert from the English Trombone Consort. This was the highlight of the day for me. I love this early music, whether played by trombone quartet or two trumpets and two trombones. I’d seen them before and wasn’t disappointed this time. After lunch we split into three groups; beginners, more experienced and bass trombone players. It was really good that there were these sorts of workshops for everyone, irrespective of their experience. Then we had Bourton Bones. Their Director, Derrick Parker, is well-known to trombonists throughout the Midlands, and has been a staunch supporter of the BTS for many years. His casual manner hides Derek’s great musicianship and he led the group in a great concert. Bourton Bones rehearse twice a month and is open to anyone in the Midlands area. As usual for BTS trombone days we had a ‘blow through’ before winding up the day with a short concert. It was a great day: well-organised, with top trombonists from a wide range of styles, and something for everyone. Well done, Martha, and the BTS. Looking forward to the next one….. ROBERT HARPER
11
JAZZ BY JEREMY
WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
Yes, now you see this is quite a beast to tame and unless you have really secure technique, it is likely to blow you off course from orthodox trombone playing.
OPEN OR CLOSED... BY JEREMY PRICE
This issue’s jazz article is aimed at flagging up the all important and perhaps increasingly rare art of plunger mute trombone. To many of us, it’s a dark art, with many mysterious sounds and obscure techniques. It is perhaps associated with traditional and mainstream jazz first and foremost, but there are some amazing contemporary exponents as well. Ed Neumeister, Steve Turre and Albert Mangelsdorff have to be acknowledged by 12
anyone aspiring to get this together in the 21st century. In fact I have to credit my good friend Ed Neumeister with much of the information I’d like to try and pass on in this article. Most of what I know I got from Ed in a fantastic masterclass he gave at Birmingham Conservatoire last year and from various chats we have had about this area. Ed Neumeister is indeed the present day ‘meister’ of plunger and pixie mute trombone, so for the definitive word, just use this article as a prompt and go straight to him if you can. Ed has generously put up quite a few good YouTube posts about this so I would say that is your first port of call. Try www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Ip132XZPtl8 for a start.
The two transcriptions are both from the Duke Ellington band. The first is Tricky Sam Nanton on Chloe. To me this is the perfect example of the elusive “Ya-Ya” vocal quality that is so hard to pull off. The track opens with the Ya-Ya and the initial accompaniment is sparse so it is an ideal example to tune your ears to the exact sound. It’s an uncannily human vocal sound. It will be dependent on individual physiology as to what type of Ya-Ya you can manage, so you may
not be able to get this exact noise, but for me that is part of the beauty of it. You are invited to be a sound innovator as these Ellington players were, to make the sound in your own way. Try a softish rubber plunger with no hole in it and a trumpet straight mute as a pixie mute. You’ll find that with no hole in the plunger there will be a large intonation change that will require compensation on the slide. This is all part of the art so don’t let it put you off. The trumpet
straight mute as pixie will also require you to pull your tuning slide out to stay in pitch. Yes, now you see this is quite a beast to tame and unless you have really secure technique, it is likely to blow you off course from orthodox trombone playing. I guess this is why it is rare these days as there are so many demands on the modern player to be so uniform and correct that getting into plunger techniques can be seen as a bit of an indulgence or a distraction.
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The second solo is by Quentin Jackson as is on The Mooche. The transcription is another excellent offering form Rob Egerton, who is absolutely right to note that notating growls and open/ close of the plunger is only going to be an approximate science. As with all transcriptions, use the recording as your first source and the notation as a guide only. If you watch the YouTube footage of this solo, you will see the use of longer alternate positions to get the desired phrasing and glissandi. You will also notice the ease of 14
co-ordination and independence of the slide direction with open/close approaches. You can devise your own exercises to gain this sort of flexibility. Do open plunger for on beats and closed for off, with the slide in one direction, then reverse, for instance. This will be a necessary practice regime if you want to get out of the habit of always doing the same open/close combinations. Don’t let go of the slide instead of open plunger! It has been known!
Really I’ve only just scratched the surface of this amazing but very under-utilised area of jazz trombone. In an art that favours sound innovation and encourages an individual and idiosyncratic approach, I think this area is a rich seam to be mined and in my view currently under exploited by contemporary players on the scene. The Ellington trombone masters are an ideal starting point for inspiration but then, for something dazzling of recent times, find Ed Neumeister’s solo on Jim McNeely’s album Lickety Split.
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ACROSS
DOWN
1. Her wings flapped around George and Ira (8)
1. Irish singer played golf with news chief (6)
5. Swedish group at party for Claudio (6)
2. Play tuba or steal bird(6)
9. Frisky bear I let free (8)
3. Pump organ to inflict pain on single superior male (9)
10. More! Oliver’s clumsy beadle (6)
4. Peahen in trio playing al fresco (2,3,4,3)
12. Discordant duo to surpass (5)
6. Max sounds as though he’s making tea in China (5)
13. Mixed peel at Hampshire’s fifth carnival. More than one (9)
7. Venetian composed worked in Ancient Britain (8)
14. Missing person loses energy, puts on weight and speaks badly (12)
8. Toserve pot stewed would go too far (8) 11. Not the leading violinist’s first offence either (6,6)
18. Stones single brought back to create feelings of despondency (5,3,4)
15. Food our freezer holds has no smell (5,4)
21. Can I sit on writhing maestro? (9) 23. Art orchestrator stays in Travel Inn (5)
17. Silly creature goes from pole to pole and backto find musical family (8)
24. Violent rebel with time for a boy chorister (6)
19. Slave state archives sacred texts (6)
25. Easy raid possible? Probably! (1,4,3)
20. Drama started, keep performing (4,2)
26. Dodo is recreating dance move (2-2-2)
22. At sea, Delia sickened (5)
16. Fluttering poster envelopes US soldier at gallery (8)
27. Baroque composer instructs his butler by the sound of it (8) 15
WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
TIP FROM THE TOP BY JAMES MORRISON
The name James Morrison is known throughout the world for his sheer brilliance as a jazz musician and an all-round entertainer. He is constantly on the move, touring everywhere and anywhere fine music has an audience. His recordings are bestsellers and James works with the cream of the world’s best performers. Ray Brown called him “The Genius”; Dizzy Gillespie called him “One of The Best” but Wynton Marsalis summed it up: “Man, James Morrison can play!” James Morrison is, by anybody’s standard, a virtuoso in the true sense of the word. Besides the trumpet, this multi-instrumentalist also plays piano, all the brass, saxophones, and double bass. In 1998, jazz critic Leonard Feather described James Morrison as: “A Wizard from Oz…and…the next superstar”. Some years later he is being hailed as just that. Born into a musical family (mother plays saxophone, father clarinet, brother the drums), he started on cornet at the age of seven. Within a year he was also playing trombone, tuba and euphonium, in fact anything he could get his hands on. At 13, James was playing six hours a night in a Sydney jazz club and in 1979, at the age of 17, he made his
American début at the Monterey Jazz Festival. The following year he graduated from the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music with a jazz studies diploma. His first appearance in Britain was at the Royal Command Performance in 1985. Since then, his fame has spread; he has toured and recorded with the Ray Brown trio, toured around the world and played for Royalty.
Ask him about the problems of changing his embouchure, and he will tell you: “I never even think about it. All I think about is the sounds I am trying to create, and playing the trumpet as opposed to the saxophone was just a matter of learning to use your fingers this way instead of that… “Never forget that your instrument runs on air. People talk about tonguing techniques, embouchures, mouthpieces, and all the things to do with their face and where the trombone touches their body. I know that’s very important, but something to be remembered, above all others, is that with the right air supply and control, all the other problems are sorted out… “If I’m having difficulty with something, I support it with more air and the problem seems to go away. For example, people ask me about playing very quickly. Am I triple tonguing everything? I only ever single tongue. I have found that, with the right air control and just the right of air behind my tongue, I can single tongue as fast as I like and then I’ve got much better control over what’s going on. So the bottom line for me is always air. Any problem that arises, or anything I want to do – maybe I’m really going to push it, perhaps play high on a large bore trombone, or something like that – air is the answer. The whole thing runs on air… “In January 2010 I started working with the team at Schagerl in Austria to create a new line of instruments. The work continues, so check out the latest at www.schagerl.com.
The Schagerl instruments basically fall into two categories – the Meister series – which are custom-built, hand-made horns and the Academica series – which are referred to as intermediate professional models…
“There are two JM Academica trumpet models (JM1 and JM2) that are both available in Lacquer or Silver plate. The JM1 is a lighter, brighter trumpet that suits jazz and lead work. The JM2 is heavier and a little darker in sound, more for orchestral work. Both of them have superb response and are very free blowing… “The Academica trombone is next; I’m playing the third prototype at the moment and it is just wonderful. No firm date on when that will be available but I’ll definitely be tweeting when it is… “Meanwhile the JM Meister trumpet was the first to be done and I’m playing it a lot. This trumpet is a regular piston valve trumpet and the first of two Meister models. The second is a rotary valve trumpet that breaks some new ground in its design. It is called the Raven and looks a little bit like a cornet – but it’s definitely all trumpet. It has a warm sound when played gently but turns into a weapon when you put some air through it… “Of course the bass trumpet is a beautiful instrument and I’m using that on most of my gigs now. This is a second version with a new valve mechanism to increase the speed and fluency of the valves and a totally different look. My new ‘Meister’ Flugel Horn is done and I’m using that on my gigs now also. It has a very warm, rich sound but unlike many flugels, is very free blowing and maintains great intonation in the upper register… “Finally there’s the Meister Superbone; this is the most radical design of all. Robert Schagerl really stretched the boundaries here and made a valve and slide trombone that can be played simultaneously with either”. The instruments James mentions above can be viewed on his website www.jamesmorrison.com/schagerl/
BY PETER CHESTER
9 OUT OF 10 CATS PREFER... A TROMBONIST? The frivolous fact culled from the sample of trombonists who attended the East Anglia BTS day at Oundle School on November 5th, that more had cats as pets than dogs was one of the more unexpected things that emerged, thanks to Adrian Taylor’s genial technique of breaking the ice, as players of all ages gathered for what was to be a very pleasant and informative day. Nothing could quite compete with Ben Bouzan’s bearded dragon, but that’s another story…
Adrian was in fact opening a lengthy and very enjoyable massed blow session to start the day. Approximately 25 players were involved, so all ensemble parts were covered effectively, everything from alto to contrabass and with a useful blend of different levels of experience on hand, some gorgeous sounds were produced. Starting with the rhythmically simple Eye of the Tiger, we were led through a pleasing variety of styles. A beautifully lush arrangement of Red, Red Rose gave everyone a chance to play a flowing melody and show how warm a trombone sound can be. An arrangement of The Pink Panther called for cool style, and improvised percussion (two mouthpieces clinking together!), whilst gentle warmth and tone were again required for an arrangement of the Theme from Band of Brothers. Brothers of a different nature, that is Blues Brothers, provided yet another contrast with a funky Everybody Needs Somebody. Having enjoyed the pieces all before lunch we were happily able to play them again at the end of the day. An optional extra at lunchtime, apart from Ben’s abundant and rightfully celebrated sandwiches, was the Annual AGM. Back to music making in the afternoon, members were treated to two contrasting sessions. The first consisted of an open rehearsal involving six of the more experienced players, who in fact had never played as an ensemble before, publicly working on a couple of sextets. A simple formula one might think, but one which proved very informative. The first piece explored was Enrique Crespo’s Bruckner Étude.
Apart from its gorgeous warm harmonies, however, what came through, in terms of watching the group work, were fundamental points such as the importance of listening to one another, of breathing and phrasing together. Tempo is also an issue and with a slow piece like this one, as one player said, there’s always a danger of “waiting for something to happen,” which further tends to slow things down. Of course, the more a group becomes familiar with the music, the more they will bring out its nuances and blend the parts together. To more advanced players such observations will be obvious, but to see it working in the practice situation was a useful reminder, and for younger players very informative.
The second piece played was by Bill Reichenbach, his exquisite arrangement of Scarborough Fair, called Back to the Fair. This was certainly a step up from Richenbach’s earlier quartet arrangement of this melody and for the players it presented a number of challenges, notably of co-ordinating clever mixed-metre passages. Picking out the tune across the complex passages underlined the importance of listening, but also brought into play peripheral vision and body language. At different points every player seemed to take the lead, with the clear gentle down-beat that is possible with the trombone slide. Needless to say, the performance of this scratch sextet (!) did improve as the session progressed. If nothing else, the day marked the first day of Dávur Juul Magnussen’s Presidency of the BTS and we were treated to a fittingly presidential recital by him as the high point of the day. Accompanied by Colin Druce, and all delivered with an informal and selfeffacing ease, Dávur give us quite outstanding performances of three of his favourite works, plus an encore of one he was not so keen on. The recital opened in dramatic style with the Sonata (Vox Gabrieli) by Stjepan Šulek, to which he brought a bright and singing tone as well as rhythmic precision and exciting
climaxes. Noted for its virtuosic piano part as well as the trombone lines, as Dávur said, it was like “playing in front of a full trombone section.” The Sonatina by Kazimierz Serocki came next and its three movements allowed Dávur to demonstrate considerable variations of tone and style. The opening movement’s jaunty themes contrasted with the bleak, almost lonely atmosphere he generated in the slow movement. The lively and rhythmic finale was delivered with great control, despite the intense energy of the music. The Concerto for Trombone by Launy Grøndahl is Dávur’s self-confessed favourite concerto and completed the programme. We learned that the inspiration for the music came to the composer on an Italian holiday and Dávur certainly brought out the operatic qualities in the piece, especially in its first movement. The Andante second movement was given with a gentle singing tone, devoid of any edge, almost like a lament, with some wonderfully smooth playing, high in the register, at its conclusion. The operatic characteristics of the Finale were tastefully delivered, and we were left in no doubt of Dávur’s affection for the music. As for the encore, a piece he did not like very much, we can only draw the important lesson that, like it or not, a real professional has to be prepared to play anything. Shame Dávur did not like it though, as his performance of Arthur Pryor’s Blue Bells of Scotland was quite outstanding. Its difficulties need no introduction but like all virtuosos giving memorable performances, Dávur’s technical skill was enhanced by his own personal nuances and twists to the music. What else can you do with something so well known? Wonderful playing and great fun, for the audience at least... Of course, the day could not have taken place without the organisation of Ben Bouzan, to whom grateful thanks and congratulations were offered at the end of the day. What happened to any remaining sandwiches remained a mystery, but the bearded dragon may be part of the explanation. 17
WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
MEETING SEPTURA BY JANE SALMON
We talk with members of Septura: bass trombone player Dan West and Artistic Directors Simon Cox (founder, trumpet) and Matthew Knight (trombone).
with Matthew Gee, Matthew Knight, Peter Moore and Dan West on trombone and Pete Smith and Sasha Koushk-Jalali on tuba.
Simon Cox: “I always intended to do brass ensemble music but for various reasons, I had not always enjoyed playing in quintets and dectets. I gradually had an idea of a septet and decided to do a PhD at the Royal Academy of Music to look into the whole thing - what kind of repertoire to play, how to approach it and how to develop this focus on serious music.”
Simon Cox: What we do is a bit different to PJBE but the position that they had and the way they inspired all these other groups to form is somewhere we aim to be. We certainly want to become established as a significant chamber music medium.
Credit: Matthew Lloyd
Septura really started to come to life around five years ago and the ensemble is now drawn from some of the leading British brass players. Trumpets include Philip Cobb, Simon Cox, Huw Morgan and Alan Thomas
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Jane Salmon: I can see many connections between your work and that of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble who famously put brass chamber music on the map. Are you hoping to encourage players to follow your lead too?
Do you see a future for brass equivalent to string chamber music? Could this make up an established part of work for a brass player? SC: I would love to think so, but I’m not sure whether we’d see it in our lifetimes. It would need a big shift in the industry in favour of
programming brass music. I believe strongly that sort of thing is possible and I think the brass septet and the sound it creates is a really special thing. Dan West: It’s down to public perception isn’t it? It’s when people decide that they will consider brass chamber music in the same breath as a string group. I would really like to see a future like that for brass players and I think it would transform the way we approach brass playing. Has working so closely with an ensemble influenced your own playing? SC: Absolutely. When we are doing a lot of Septet playing I feel really differently when I play with an orchestra. I feel so much more confident to just trust my ears. There is often a disconnect with what is being shown by a conductor and what is actually happening. Dealing with those kind of situations becomes so much easier when you just trust yourself to play with the leader, the first oboe, or whoever it might be.
How has this influenced your orchestral playing?
Do you workshop your parts? What is it like to rehearse new music?
with what we do. It’s always tricky to link the two sections.
SC: In the course of an orchestral career, especially if you’re freelancing, you can go a long time on the periphery of what is happening. One of the things the group does is that it gets you used to hearing your own playing and you become confident, so when you do have those occasional moments in an orchestra when you have an important role, you are much more comfortable with it. You are used to the feeling.
MK: Something that makes it a lot easier is that we write with the players in mind and can write to their strengths. Normally when we do repertoire it is in preparation for a recording so we tend to have a rehearsal quite early and then have a break for about a month. This gives us time to redo little bits in the parts and time to practice. When we are recording, we are fine-tuning all the way up until we finish.
Have you experimented with various tubas too?
Matthew Knight: It’s fantastic developing all those kinds of things, though the style of playing is slightly different. We don’t generally play at orchestral dynamics and we don’t play brick shaped notes.
SC: The aim is to make sure that when it comes time to perform the music that it works really well. I think the problem in brass chamber concerts, even with really good players, is there is such a danger of stamina becoming a problem. You’ve got to constantly manage it and through this process of going over everything with players and adjusting it, we are able to get through our concerts intact. We’ve all experienced brass quintet recitals when people aren’t quite delivering what they’d like to by the end.
What’s it like to have chamber music as part of what you do? DW: I find it really rewarding. My show keeps me on top of my game in a different way. I get the tune here and there but lots of time to catch up on my reading. This is much more involved; it’s a nice opportunity to stay focused and even deal with nerves that haven’t popped up in my playing since I left the Academy, since recitals and things like that. It’s different from any other type of playing. MK: When we have a few months where we don’t do anything, coming back to it feels pretty hard at first but, because we’ve been quite busy in the last few months, we have built up a bit of stamina. It seems to get easier and easier. It’s nothing like playing in the orchestra – there isn’t really a way to prepare for it. You have just got to do it. Septura is recording a series of 10 discs for Naxos Records, so far all featuring arrangements by Simon Cox and Matthew Knight. The first four discs have received critical acclaim and the music is now available to buy from Resonata Music. How do you choose your music for each release? MK: We pick a theme for the CD, a period or genre. We whittle it down to a few composers and then we listen to a lot of music. Loads of it we really like but decide it’s not going to work. It gets whittled down until we have a few pieces that we think will work and will sound, hopefully, like original brass works when they are done.
DW: Each time I’ve seen one of the programmes that these two created I have always thought – can we do this? Can I personally do this? It’s a really rewarding feeling at the end when we actually have accomplished it. Could you tell me a little about your approach for writing for this combination of instruments? MK: We try to create a lot of the colours from the original music. For example, we use mutes but because the changes are so quick, even if they were just on the chair it would be awkward. To remedy this, we have some special things that Matt Gee’s Dad made for us. They hold the mutes upside down so you just grab them and throw them in. That is something that came out of necessity; we could not do some of the repertoire we do without it. We also try lots of different instruments – we’ve done pieces where I play the valve trombone, sometimes the euphonium and Matt plays the alto in a few things too. When we did a piece by Lassus we used smaller trombones – we all go down a size. Simon has quite a hard job as he plays the second Bb trumpet part, which quite often crosses over with the trombones. He’s got some pretty low parts sometimes and they’ve got to blend in
MK: We have occasionally used an F tuba. We’d like to experiment a bit with a cimbasso for when we want to have a more trombone-like sound throughout. We haven’t yet but when the time is right it is sure to come out. Do you commission new works? SC: For future concert series we’re planning to do a lot more of that. Really, that would be the most important aspect of the group’s work. It is original repertoire that really establishes a medium. It’s clever to have arranged such wellknown works. Take the Shostakovich String Quartet no. 8; people know the music and to offer an opportunity to hear the piece on brass instruments, especially with such detail included, is a fantastic way to show that brass players can do it too. SC: We are creating our own repertoire, our own counter-factual history but in a way, if you have to boil it down to one aim, it is just to demonstrate that we can do this stuff. Some of our transcriptions might not be for everyone; some people might think some might work better than others and so on, but I don’t think anyone can deny that we can play that kind of music, so why not write for us? I can imagine you’ve listened to much more music than you may have done otherwise. How has this influenced you? MK: Each disc that we have done is so focused, we have really been able to immerse ourselves in a style and really think about that before moving on to something else. We’re starting now to do arrangements that aren’t just for the recordings because we need more repertoire. Even so, we try and carry over the same approach. I like your focus on really considered programming. It’s another lesson that brass groups should learn. MK: Rather than just throwing stuff together, we always try and have a concept or a theme underlying it. That’s a big part of what the series is about. As part of their role as Ensemble in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music, Septura direct a course for the students. 19
Credit: Matthew Lloyd
SUMMER2017 WINTER 2017THE THETROMBONIST TROMBONIST
Could you tell me a little about your course at the Academy, what is involved? MK: We don’t try and push the septet in our course but the idea is to get the students to go through the same process we have been though. We want them to engage critically with it and actually think about what formation they want to use and what repertoire they want to play, rather than just doing a quintet because that’s what everyone does. We talk about the pros and cons of different formations. We talk about choosing repertoire and specific things about arranging for brass – what might or might not work, and how to get around certain things. During my time at Guildhall, I would almost say I learned the most from my Chamber ensembles. It feeds right back into orchestral playing and there is no better way to learn how to play with different people. MK: We always say to the students when people come into the orchestra – students or young players – the ones that basically do well are the ones that have developed good radar and actually listen and slot in. Chamber music is the best way to develop this - you have to do it so much. SC: In Britain we have a lot more chamber music offering for brass students than in many other countries but it is still not a huge part of the curriculum. Obviously a lot of the work opportunity is in orchestras and that’s what everyone is focused on. Is the repertoire accessible? How have your students got on with your arrangements? 20
DW: It’s the kind of music that pretty much anyone can have a go at really. Technically, nothing is probably past a certain grade point but musically, to make it work and to match together, it’s much harder than it looks on the page. What have the challenges been in putting this together? SC: We have to figure out how to move things forward; there is no set pathway for us. With a string quartet there are all kinds of schemes and trusts and such things available for you to apply to. They have a different problem in that they have to try to make themselves stand out from the pack; we’re obviously inherently unique – we’re the only septet around. British brass playing seems to have gained a fantastic reputation worldwide. Has this helped you to build an international presence? MK: PJBE did such a lot of good work for all of us; they somehow managed to gain a reputation for the brass playing in the whole country, not necessarily just their group. We can all do well on the back of that. SC: It feels like brass groups succeed a bit like pop groups – you succeed because of your own following. Canadian Brass, Mnozil Brass are very, very successful and great at what they do, but they’ve got their own fan base – they go around playing to them. String quartets are less personalitybased and fans will go and watch any established quartet that is in the area. I don’t think we have the same thing for brass music. That’s the thing we have to keep working at. We’re building our own following, which is great and
that will hopefully allow us to do more concerts, but if we can get them into the music itself, that would be a broader benefit. What advice would you offer to someone wanting to get their own project rolling? SC: It would be good for people to know about the realities of the professional world. It’s not enough to just gather together a group of good players and decide you’re a group and expect things to happen. You really have to think carefully about what kind of music you want to play and how you want to go about presenting yourselves. DW: There isn’t one way of doing things; there are opportunities to be had out there. With this group, what Simon and Matt have done has proved that there are opportunities out there to create work for yourself and your colleagues. What does the future hold for Septura? SC: We would like to keep our concert series going. We feel that’s a really important focal point for our work. We are hoping to keep expanding things internationally as we seem to have a decent following online of people all over the world. There are promising projects in the pipeline. We would love to play in some of the larger music festivals and venues too. Thank you for talking to the readers of The Trombonist. It’s reassuring to see that the clear vision behind your ensemble is helping you to succeed, and I hope you will inspire musicians across the world to think about what would work for them.
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WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
35 YEARS OF HIS MAJESTYS SAGBUTTS & CORNETTS The famous diarist John Evelyn vividly described the arrival of Charles II in London on the 29th May 1660 as ‘a Triumph of above 20,000 horse and foot, brandishing their swords and shouting with inexpressible joy: The ways strewed with flowers, the bells ringing, the streets hung with tapestry, fountains running with wine… the windows and balconies all set with 22
ladies, trumpets, music, & myriads of people flocking the streets.’ It was for this historic occasion, the coronation of Charles II and the restoration of the House of Stuart, that Matthew Locke wrote Musick for His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, a masterpiece of early English wind music. In 1982, 35 years ago this year, Cornett players Jeremy West and David Staff, and sackbut players Susan Addison, Richard Cheetham, Paul Nieman and Stephen Saunders drew on the illustrious history of the name and established His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts once again. One of those pioneering founders, Jeremy West, told me the story behind the foundation of HMSC:
Credit: William Whitehead
BY BARNEY MEDLAND
‘The group was founded in 1982 with its inaugural concert at St Martin’s in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, on September 3rd that year. We were offered our first recording deal as early as the interval of that concert and two recordings, a late black vinyl record and an early compact disc, were subsequently released as a result. Individual members of the group had been playing together for many years prior to this, in various combinations and for a raft of different directors; we decided the time had come to take the law into our own hands!’ I have had the pleasure of talking to Adam Woolf, one of the world’s leading sackbut players and author of Sackbut Solutions, A Practical Guide to Playing the Sackbut, who has played with HMSC since 1997. How have attitudes towards early music, especially early brass music, changed over the last 35 years?
‘My experience is that historical performance has become much more common-place these days and with specialist players all over the world, the job of modern-day sackbut playing is becoming more and more challenging and rewarding. As the number of players has grown, so has the number of groups, with many festivals focus only on pre-classical repertoire. As principle trombone with Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s orchestras for the past 20 years, I notice also that many audiences no longer even realise that they are listening to period instruments: they just know that they like a particular ensemble’s sound. More and more composers arewriting successful contemporary pieces using our instruments, too, and this to me, shows that period instruments are finding their own musical voice on today’s platform - rather than being just novelties, curiosities or some older version of their more well-known modern descendants. With many modern orchestras requesting that their brass players use instruments closer in design to the ones the composers knew, it is nice to see how the historical performance movement has helped to make people more aware of other performance options. Nothing is black and white, right or wrong, and at the end of the day, regardless of whether one plays a modern or historical trombone, it is all about the musician behind the instrument.’ What is the core repertoire that HMSC plays? Does the process of rediscovery continue today? ‘Regarding repertoire, the jewel in the crown is Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers. It is not beyond the realms of possibility to imagine that it is performed all over the world on a monthly, if not weekly basis and virtually guarantees a full hall or church. Calling for three cornettos and three sackbuts, it features virtuosic writing by Monteverdi specifically for these instruments and also a wide range of possibilities for scoring many of the movements. Apart from this, there are smaller-scale pieces which have become accepted as standard chamber repertoire as players have become more adept on the instruments and instrument makers have refined their instruments, bringing them closer to the originals. ‘There are many players who are investing time in the discovery and performance of music from libraries
around the world. That said, we still only play just a small percentage of our surviving repertoire on a regular basis. But also, as we learn more about historical performance practice, the more established pieces take on a new life, such as A = 465Hz [authentic pitch] becoming a regular practice as well as transpositions and ornamentations.’ What do you think our brass playing ancestors would have been like? Were there big regional differences across Europe? ‘It is quite clear that throughout most of Europe, the job of the sackbut-player called for similar skills and presented similar opportunities. They played in city bands, with choirs in chapels and cathedrals, and in royal courts. Certain players travelled internationally, being sent from court to court and gaining reputations for their skills, gaining favour with Kings and Emperors and even on occasion indulging in espionage. Composers were aware of the way that the instruments were being used in other countries and literature was published advising on the way to write for, and play the instruments. Brass ensembles, mixed consorts and vocal settings call for sackbuts in repertoire from across Europe. We also know that certain players were creative entrepreneurs, composing and publishing music and methods and that many had to be multi-instrumentalists as part of their careers, playing not only other lip-reed instruments but strings and reeds, too. Finally, there are also accounts of players (over)indulging in the delights of hop and vine, falling asleep during church services, and generally getting themselves and each other into trouble in a variety of other ways!’ Finally, what are some of your fondest memories or favourite stories from your time with HMSC? ‘Due to HMSC’s long established reputation, we’ve been called upon for some very special performances over the years. These have included performing in some of the world’s top concert halls, on TV and radio and other notable venues including Royal palaces. Giving the modern-day premier of performance at the BBC proms of the modern-day premier of Alessandro Striggio’s 40/60part mass was particularly special as well as collaborating with top ensembles
such as the King’s Singers, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir. We’ve also had the pleasure of working with modern-day composers including Martyn Harry, who wrote a 19-movement work for us. Alongside the music-making, a real treat has been all the travelling. We have toured all over Europe, America and the USA, and wherever we go, we invest as much energy and enthusiasm in the dining arrangements as the performances themselves!’ Playing alongside Jeremy and Adam as current members of His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts are founding member Stephen Saunders on sackbut (bass), Jamie Savan and Helen Roberts on Cornett, Abigale Newman on sackbut and the ensemble’s newest member, Stephanie Dyer, also on sackbut. 35 years ago, authentic performances of early wind and brass music were a niche art. Now however, every conservatoire student has the opportunity to take up the sackbut and audiences have come to love the glorious music of the 15th and 16th centuries and everything that authentic instruments and performance practice brings to it. The future looks bright for early music. 35 years ago, the founders of His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts led the charge; the seven current members continue to do so today.
My experience is that historical performance has become much more common-place these days and with specialist players all over the world, the job of modern-day sackbut playing is becoming more and more challenging and rewarding.
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BY ROSS LEARMONTH
FAREWELL THANKS Here at the BTS, we are very sad to be saying a very fond farewell to our co-Editor and all-round superstar, Simon Minshall. After becoming Treasurer in 2012 Simon took over as over as co-editor of ‘The Trombonist’ alongside the equally incredible Carol Jarvis in the Spring of 2014 – a highly talented team that made ‘The Trombonist’ what it is today! Since joining the magazine team for Spring 2014, Simon has overseen the production of fourteen editions of ‘The Trombonist’. It’s easy to miss just how much work actually goes in to producing one of these wonderful magazines. When Simon asked me to take over as co-Editor from Carol when she left, I thought “Yes. How hard could it be?” I couldn’t believe just how much time is taken up choosing interesting content, commissioning people to write the articles and then painstakingly scrutinising the final proof before it lands on your doorstep or now, your computer screen – Hello 21st Century! Simon’s priority throughout his time as co-editor was to make the magazine as informative and resourceful as possible; encompassing all genres to involve as many people within the trombone community as he possible could. This has been a real defining feature of this era of ‘The Trombonist’. Throughout the last fourteen editions 24
we have had content ranging from coverage of Brass Band Championships, our now regular feature of ‘Jazz by Jeremy’, the G&T column letting you all know about exciting classical concerts throughout the UK and even branching out to how to go about creating your own home studio. Moving away from the magazine briefly, I’d like to take a moment to talk about Simon’s contribution to the wider workings of the BTS. Back in 2013, Simon developed a plan along with Carol Jarvis, then with President Christian Jones and Kerry Baldwin to host the 2014 ‘National Trombone Day’ at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester – a day Simon pinpoints as his proudest and favourite memory. The day was a complete success, with keen trombonists from all over the country descending on Manchester for a day of trombones! Despite the stresses, tearing our hair out and having to go shoot some clay pigeons to alleviate some stress, Simon, alongside Carol, Christian and Kerry produced an exceptional day. Highlights included recitals from Blair Sinclair, Katy Jones and Simon Cowen, our first ever online discussion/interview with Jiggs Wigham and all rounded off with an excellent gig at Band on the Wall with Jiggs Wigham and Soul Tubes, of which Simon is a founding member. Thankfully, Simon is staying on as a committee member with the BTS so we can hopefully have more of these days in the future!
So, I guess all that is left for me to say is an enormous thank you to Simon and his contribution to the magazine. It has been an absolute pleasure working with him for the last few years on the magazine and we both look forward to seeing it go from strength to strength under the keen eye of Jane Salmon and her new team. A word of advice from Simon – “Provide some humour and give us a laugh. Include lots of variation and an insight into different genres.”
Now, I’ve had my say so far in this article, so let’s hear from the man himself and others who have worked with Simon throughout his time with the magazine. “I’ve really enjoyed editing the magazine and have picked up some invaluable skills that will stay with me. There is so much to be gained from being involved in it. I have worked with some great co-Editors in Carol and Ross, and I know Jane will do a fantastic job with her new team.” – Simon Minshall. “It was a real pleasure getting the latest version of the BTS magazine off to a great start with you. You’ve continued to produce a brilliant publication and it was a lot of fun being a co-Editor with you (and quite hilarious how our ‘magazine meetings’ quite often took place as quick catch-ups at gigs and pubs!) Nice one Simon! Xxx” – Carol Jarvis. ‘It has been an absolute treat to work with Simon. His contributions have been so very special and his continuous care and hard work has inspired us all. Thank you so much Si!’ – Jane Salmon. “Simon, bravo and thanks for all your enthusiasm, commitment and hard work during your time as editor of The Trombonist. The high quality and content of the magazine over recent years is something you should be really proud of being a part of. Great job!!” – Bob Hughes. “Since my very first encounter with Simon he as always struck me as an inventive, diligent and just all-round solid guy. When I later joined the BTS committee I was not surprised therefore to see how much his input mattered and how he has kept the magazine at its high standard for such a long time. Not surprised, but full of awe. I hope we will manage to continue his legacy going forward.” – Dávur Juul Magnussen
Photography courtesy of Betina Skovbro
G&T BY MATTHEW GEE & MARK TEMPLETON
If our ability to horse-neigh was more akin to the trumpet, Christmas would be a far more entertaining time of year. So, while you ponder why we really need five verses of Good King Wenceslas, here are the concerts that should keep up your Christmas cheer. ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA - ROYAL CONCERT HALL, GLASGOW, FEBRUARY 24TH, 7:30PM Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8. Need we say more? Described as ‘Cathedrals in sound’ these symphonies are deeply touching masterpieces, and Eight surely has to be any trombonists favourite.
BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - CITY HALLS, GLASGOW, FEBRUARY 22ND, 2PM One of my favourite pieces, Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin. The trombones are the awesome villains and run riot throughout the whole work. THE HALLÉ - BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER, FEBRUARY 3RD, 7:30PM It’s that time of year when Ravel’s Boléro does the rounds. Here it forms part of an all Spanish programme with plenty of warmth and passion to shake off any Christmas Blues.
opera Les Troyens. I played this a couple of years ago and it was a revelation - great tunes, great action, not to be missed. CBSO - SYMPHONY HALL, BIRMINGHAM, MARCH 7TH, 7:30PM Adès conducts Adès, Britten and Stravinsky. Three of my favourite composers, in a great hall with a great orchestra. Britten’s Sinfonia de Requiem certainly offers a few corners for the trombones to negotiate. Truly an occasion not to be missed.
Over to you Mark. LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA –ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON, SATURDAY 27TH JANUARY, 6PM. Wagner: Das Rheinegold. I’ve played a few Wagner Operas at Glyndebourne over the years but this is my first foray into Wagner’s Ring. There are some amazing moments in this opera but when Wotan leads the Gods into Valhalla, the musical landscape is one of such beauty and magic that it is well worth a slightly numb bum. LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – THE BARBICAN, LONDON, SUNDAY 7TH APRIL, 7PM. If you want plenty of noise and bustle, Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony doesn’t disappoint. The trombones have a wide variety of roles in this one. For instance, they drive a juggernaut through the 3rd movement then play a nice oompah to accompany a really cheeky trumpet solo. Hold on to your hats.
the bridge from scherzo to finale when the ‘bones, tuba and timps start a great little rhythmic figure. No.7 is a bit darker but the big trombone solos bring rays of sunshine with them. BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. THE LIGHTHOUSE, POOLE 21ST MARCH, 7.30. COLSTAN HALL, BRISTOL, 22ND MARCH, 7.30. THE GUILDHALL, PORTSMOUTH, 7.30PM. Tchaikovsky Symphony no.6 and Korngold Violin Concerto. I went for a curve-ball on the Korngold. First time I played this I was blown away by how many colours you can hear that inspired John Williams, John Barry, Gerry Goldsmith and the like - beautiful stuff. Tchaikovsky 6th we have featured before so I will just say it is still my favourite Tchaikovsky Symphony. That’s all for this issue. This is just a snapshot of what’s happening in the classical world. As we said when we started G&T, these suggestions are to give those who may not be so familiar with the symphonic repertoire a way in to a new sound world. But in some of the greatest works, it’s not all about the trombones you know (well sometimes it is). Chin chin. Follow Matt by visiting www.matthewgee.info or on Twitter @Geetrombone Follow Mark on Twitter @mbonetempleton
BBC PHILHARMONIC BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER, BARBICAN, LONDON, JANUARY 12TH, 7:30PM SATURDAY 6TH JANUARY, 7.30PM. Follow thegleaming BTS on brass Twitter: @britishtrombone and Like us on Facebook to receive Plenty of players feature Sibelius’ Symphonies no. 2 and no.7. regular dates for your diary. in Janáček’s Sinfonietta. But before that, I love the brass writing in the 2nd MT some numbers from Berlioz’ two-part Symphony especially the harmonies in
MG
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Christian Jones, thank you for taking the time to tell the BTS about yourself and your life as a musician. N FOR YOU’VE BEEN A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIA UT YOUR 17 YEARS, CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABO BACKGROUND ? black and I always had an interest in music, and that ed to refus white newspaper photo was taken after I from the away continue Mum’s shopping trip and walk on in ringt Wer of ge brass band playing in my home villa Staffordshire! ol brass Fast forward a bit and I signed up for scho . About 1990 er lessons at the start of Y6 in Septemb while our lips our ed forty of us stood in line and buzz spot the on ded deci , Hall brilliant peripatetic, Ralph of wary was I to. d suite best be which instrument we’d ler, simp h muc ed look es valv ght thou the trombone and so he but a friend of mine lived closer to school, onium case staggered home that day with the huge euph in a With . bone while I waited four months for a trom with out Rock and rale year I was attempting to play Cho the and band s bras re the Staffs Moorlands Music Cent rest is history… having started I started working professionally in 2000, BBCNOW, with to pick up work, and had my first trial, in that year. HESTRA ? HOW DID YOU COME TO JOIN YOUR ORC , so much Like my ‘choice’ of playing the trombone the Hallé in life comes down to luck and chance: both bone jobs trom principal trombone and Opera North bass in the were I and were vacant in 2011. At that time Katy time the ng havi and ely LSO and Philharmonia respectiv s. mble ense l of our lives in these wonderfu ents made However, the continual touring commitm time with ly fami it virtually impossible to organise out Katy d foun even our two-year-old daughter (we to be in ened happ s estra orch was pregnant when both were and ’ north ‘up jobs the to Tokyo!), so we applied . tions posi the ed offer be to gh both fortunate enou
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Christian Jones WHERE DO YOU LIVE? of the We live in a village near Holmfirth, of Last ti beau a rict: Summer Wine fame, in the Peak Dist ter! ches Man and s ful area and right in between Leed a ht boug we so ery surg Our house is the old doctor’s so and room bath no s, oom bedr shell with no kitchen, no with e, hom a ming beco ly final it’s on. Five years on and ing and the old consulting area now a fantastic teach practice studio. BEEN THE DO ANY EVENTS STAND OUT AS HAVING ING OF MOST MEMORABLE AND ENJOYABLE PLAY
YOUR CAREER? how privileged How long have you got?! I can’t tell you derful won y I feel to have collaborated with so man musicians. where the Standout projects for me are always those uctor: cond or repertoire particularly suited a soloist with 5th ler Mah at the Philharmonia this included ry Vale with 7th Gustavo Dudamel; Shostakovitch Alfred nen; Salo a Pekk EsaGergiev; Turangalila with ardo Ricc with iem Requ i Verd Brendel’s final prom; les Mackerras Muti; Janacek’s Sinfonietta with Sir Char and many more! remains a The 2003 tour to the Far East and Australia socially. and y icall mus both ory, highlight in my mem social ated pred trip the that best the It’s probably for media! now Here at Opera North our 2016 Ring Cycle, was es Farn ard Rich r unde e, all available onlin ld get to breathtaking: I never dared to hope I wou , let alone perform it all on the contrabass trombone semi-staged in six complete cycles!
to amazing Not forgetting my roots, I was introduced , especially but lesser-known repertoire in the BBCNOW s in serie itch during the Barbican’s Britten/Shostakov ral Fune ian Russ en’s 2001 when I first experienced Britt by beth Mac Lady Music and Piano Concerto, and at the Eden Shostakovitch. A few months later, we were ng the joini s, Prom the of t Project for the Last Nigh med gram repro iedly hurr the for Albert Hall live
The Bass Bone Files : TOP SECRET
BASS BONE FILES
BY ROGER ARGENTE
CAN YOU GIVE US AN IDEA OF A “NORMAL”, WEEK OF WORK ? Every week is varied, but during the season we will usually have three operas in repertory. For example, we had Rosenkavalier, Il Tabarro/Suor Angelica and Billy Budd last autumn, plus our concert series in Leeds/ Huddersfield, which this year included Symphonie Fantastique, Belshazzar ’s Feast and the Alpine Symphony. A ‘normal’ week will entail rehearsals and performances of this repertoire around the north of England, plus I will spend a day at the RNCM in Manchester either giving individual lessons or coach ing. DO YOU TEACH AT A REGULAR COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY AND IF SO WHERE ? I took over as RNCM bass trombone tutor in Decem ber 2015 from the late, great Adrian (Benny) Morris, who tragically passed away on the first day of term in September. It’s been daunting to follow one of life’s true ‘swans’ – relaxed above the water, driven and hardworking underneath – but the staff and students have been very supportive as I completed my first academic year there. Also, I really enjoy solo and chamber work: in recen t years I was a soloist and tutor on Dublin Brass Week in 2015 and the Arctic Trombone Festival last year. This June I will join the BBCSSO and Christian Lindberg, at the Conservatoire in Glasgow, as one of the nine trombone soloists (6 tenor, 3 bass) in his work The Waves of Woolongong. Having learned a lot in my time as BTS President, I’ve recently set up a YouTube channel at Christian Jones Bass trombone to try to move with the times a bit! DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVISE FOR BUDDING YOUN G PLAYERS AND THOSE JUST ABOUT TO EMBARK ON A PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN MUSIC ? My advice to aspiring players, of any age, is simply to stay ‘open-minded’: there are countless ways to make music a part of your life, either full or part-time. I have very deliberately listed quite a bit of repertoire in this interview - get online and have a listen.
Also, don’t be afraid to follow your own path. When I was on trial at the Philharmonia I played both an Edwards and a Conn and was really concerned about which the section would prefer. Once I had plucked up the courage to ask, the answer came back that they both sounded like ‘me’. I had learned an important lesson to concentrate on my own technique and musiciansh ip, rather than fretting too much about having the ‘right ’ equipment.
The Bass Bone Files : TOP SECRET
Beethoven 9th and very moving silent tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks earlier that week.
I was lucky enough to be involved in the BBC Philharmonic’s Aiming High schools project in my birthplace of Stoke-on-Trent, so I actually got to play in the section of Paul Reynolds, Rob Holliday, Russe ll Taylor and Chris Evans in January 1997, aged 16! I realised how privileged I was and never looked back from that point. A degree at London’s Royal Academy of Music followed and there was never a lesson with Bob Hughes where I didn’t, albeit briefly, consider an alternative career after hearing his legendary playing. He’d just say something unassuming like, “it’s good, but why don’t you try it like this?” Then followed this unbelievable sound… HOW DO YOU KEEP PLAYING FIT? Like many people, I’ve been inspired by the way Carol Jarvis fought and ultimately defeated her illness over nine long years from 2004. Her infectious optimism was in my mind during an episode of apparent ‘brach ial neuritis’ in 2014: I woke up one day and had suddenly lost most of the power in my left arm, so supporting a trombone was utterly impossible. Unfortunately, I was on tour at the time and flying from Mexico to Peru that morning, so I commandeered a sling and the spare fourth trombone stand to lean on during the concerts! Over the coming weeks the strength gradually return ed and I now attend pilates every Monday, use a suitcase instead of rucksack and have re-learned my breathing technique (utilising ‘accent’ breathing) with an opera singer, all to reduce the upper body tension which I suspect added to the strain of holding a bass trombone for decades. Moral of the story – don’t suffer in silence, don’t give up - and never take your body for granted!
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PRESIDENT’S TOOLKIT I would like to draw your attention to this fantastic resource which can be found on the internet: www.tromboneexcerpts.org
The website detailed above contains excerpts from the orchestral repertoire for both tenor and bass trombone.... “So what” I hear you say. “I have seven crusty old copies of every imaginable trombone excerpt stuffed in drawers and cases as well as in my nightmares already”. Well, this website doesn’t only provide sheet music, but also recordings of the relevant sections of the works - and not only one recording. Ravel’s Bolero for example is demonstrated no less than 99 times, ranging from modern recordings by the LSO and Orchestre de l’Opera National de France, and all the way back to the Lamoureux Orchestra in 1930 with Maurice Ravel himself conducting. It’s an absolute cornucopia of wildly different versions. This is a fantastic resource. Why ? Well, it readily shows something that I am at pains explaining to students:
There is no perfect way to play an orchestral excerpt.
Are they all to my taste? Not at all! Should you listen to all of them? Why not?!
I sometimes meet an innate allencompassing paralysis in people’s minds when they have to approach orchestral excerpts. People suddenly get extremely scared and loose all musical confidence. It is as if they are turned into stone by the amount of respect they have for this mighty and sacred library of western culture. This mighty hulk totally overshadows their own musical instinct as they nervously tip-toe down the aisles, being careful to keep very, very quiet.
Don’t get me wrong. Excerpts are not a free-for-all. One has to demonstrate expert knowledge of styles and acute awareness of context. It can seem like a narrow path, but sometimes this gets taken too far. The fact is that everyone who plays at an audition can play the excerpts. It can be really hard to choose a winner, until, that is, someone comes in who manages to play in a way that transcends all stylistic and contextual considerations and demonstrates a proper, confident, personalised and colourful style, as well as all the other stuff. That shows that they are brave and autonomous and are truly able to colour in the music, instead of presenting a perfect, yet drab, impersonal, overly careful, black and white version.
The recordings on this site give glorious examples of different schools and cultures of playing from great orchestras all around the world. Especially the older ones, which showcase musicians who worked in a less interconnected world where the sometimes oppressive idea of international style did not exist. It is very freeing and informative to listen to the huge variety there is between, orchestras, conductors and eras. Are all the recordings good? No?
The examples are nothing if not colourful. Use these examples to free yourself, inspire you, and guide you down several roads before choosing the right one for you. You need to be brave to do this, but in the long run you will be presenting a more honest version of yourself...... Good luck !!!
GREETINGS, TROMBONISTS! Aubrey Logan talks about the value of social media. I have something to tell you that might come as a shock. Are you ready? Yes? Ok. The trombone is an unfamiliar, odd, unusual thing to MOST of the world. There. I said it. As I write this, I am sitting in a coffee shop in Los Angeles. The tables are all occupied, and each one has an Apple product on it (thank you, Steve Jobs). If I were a betting woman, I’d wager that every single device I am looking at is connected to at least one social media account. I’d also wager that my device is the ONLY one owned by a trombonist. I know I’m right. The fact is, the trombone just isn’t something with which the world is familiar. I didn’t always know this. As a kid, I starred in local musical theatre
A SCHOOL S A W R E H T MY FA TOR AND BAND DIRECAYER AND MY TRUMPET PLSCHOOL CHOIR MOTHER A ND SINGER. DIRECTOR A
productions in the Seattle area. My father was a school band director and trumpet player and my mother a school choir director and singer. When I was 12 years old, I found myself joining the school band because, as any sensibly self-conscious pre-teen would do, all my nerdy smart friends were in the band. I had to pick an instrument. I could already read music as I had learned from some remedial piano lessons, but mostly from on-the-job sight singing at work. But I didn’t play a wind instrument, and I needed to. Guess which instrument I picked! To me, the trombone was normal. And it became increasingly more normal, because it’s a hard instrument to play. And if you don’t normally practice it, well… I don’t have to tell you the rest. #PreachingToTheChoir, #TromboneChoir. #IHeartTromboneChoirs
Fast forward to 6 years ago. It’s February 2012 and I have moved myself from Boston (where I went to Berklee College of Music) to Los Angeles to… “become a big star.” I had previously spent over 4 years in Boston going through music school, singing and playing gigs as often as I could (mostly as a hired gun, NOT as an artist), and of course, practicing my tail off. But in 2012, suddenly and unbeknownst to me, I went through some magical wardrobe
into some upside down parallel universe called the ‘Entertainment Business’. Welcome to Hollywood. You see music, though transcendent, can also be pretty straightforward. If you learn your chords and scales in all 12 keys, though it takes hard work and effort, you’ll at least KNOW them and use them while improvising. In music, and especially with the trombone, your degree of good old hard work has a pretty equal payoff. But in the ‘Entertainment Business’, at least how I first encountered it, it’s not so straightforward. I’d attempt to explain my vision for my career to anyone who’d listen (which I later learned it’s better to SHOW than explain…but more on that later), and was often met with, often well-meaning confusion or concern.
To me, the trombone was normal. And it became increasingly more normal, because it’s a hard instrument to play. And if you don’t normally practice it, well… I don’t have to tell you the rest. #PreachingToTheChoir, #TromboneChoir. #IHeartTromboneChoirs
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For example: • “She sings AND plays the trombone? But wait how does that work?” (had they NEVER heard of Louis Armstrong…?) • “She’s really good, but she’s not famous enough. We can’t sign her to our label unless she has a following first.” • “She’s jazz, AND pop, AND R&B? We can’t market to all three. She’s gotta pick one.” I was deflated. I’d spent hours-uponhours for years and years honing my craft. I’d put so much work into sounding great. I’d written, arranged, and recorded some pretty excellentsounding stuff. I’d spent more money than I had (let’s be real) on my projects. And I made the mistake of taking all this doubtful feedback to heart. I was hearing some discouraging stuff, yet at the same time, something monumental was happening before my very eyes. In 2012 the Entertainment Business and all it delivers was no longer getting to people through their televisions and radios. The content was moving from people’s wall-mounted TVs to the palms of their hands. I opened a Twitter account, because that’s just what people were doing. I began a Fan Page in addition to my regular Facebook profile, invited all my FB friends to “like” it, and got a whopping 212 likes on the first day. Some of my friends were using this superfluous thing called Instagram, which I thought was overthe-top. In the midst of the frustrating conversations I’d have with record labels, I’d constantly hear “Well, we can’t sign you, but why don’t you focus on growing your social media?” 30
Long story short, I began to be myself on the Internet. The very thing that had baffled the marketing executives at record labels started to help me. I populated my small-but-mightily followed YouTube channel with a mixture of homemade videos and low-budget professionally shot ones. I’d take some of Missy Elliot’s music and flip it around to make it a swing tune or something. I was no longer explaining to people that I sing and play the trombone (I was tired of “but how does that WORK?”), or spelling out my vision to mix hip-hop with jazz. Instead, I was showing them. The number of showcases and gigs I was playing slowly increased, almost ALL due to someone finding me on the internet. One day, I got a call from Scott Bradlee. He runs a now world-famous entertainment giant called Postmodern Jukebox. He was taking current pop hits (think Katy Perry) and was arranging them in the style of 1920’s ragtime. He went viral. I had seen some of the videos on Facebook and thought it would be cool to collaborate with him at some point. Well, it was my lucky day! Someone recommended me to Scott. I showed up at his home studio the next day and he had already familiarized himself with, you guessed it, my social media accounts. Not surprisingly, the first question out of his mouth when it was time to play was “hey, did you bring your trombone?”
with a trombone solo in the middle. “It’s SO COOL that you play trombone”, he kept saying. “We got to think of a fun surprising way to introduce this in the middle of the video!” If you watch the video I recorded with Postmodern Jukebox that day, you’ll notice that the trombone was indeed thrown, yes, THROWN to me before the solo section. This was Scott’s idea. I caught it, and began playing a short solo. Sang the head out. End Scene. We finished the video, he slapped that sucker on his then only 600,000-followed YouTube Channel, and, for me, the game changed. The low dull roar of trombonelovers, trombone players, and surprised new trombone-converts I had on the internet came to a loud scream.
True to the Postmodern Jukebox theme, I brought Scott an idea to turn Taylor’s Swift’s then-current hit Bad Blood into a torch-ballad intro followed by burning bebop vocalese. He liked it enough to collaborate on an arrangement, of course
ON THE I BEGAN TO BE MYSELF ING THAT INTERNET. THE VERY TH KETING HAD BAFFLED THE MAR LABELS EXECUTIVES AT RECORD STARTED TO HELP ME.
I’m not an expert at social media. But I will say, I’m a lifelong learner of the ever-changing trends and the exponentially-increasing possibilities it brings. And while much of that big bad ‘Entertainment Business’ still exists on the Big Screen, more people are looking on their Small Screens. As much as social media changes, here are some things I’ve observed that haven’t seemed to change. 1. Trombonists are fiercely loyal to each other on the internet. We trombonists are a vast group. Some of us are slaying the concertos, some of us playing the orchestra pits on the West End, some burning through bebop in the jazz clubs, and some rocking out through billows of smoke and pools of sweat in the rock-androll horn bands. But there IS a group of people that know and understand what you do, and they are on the internet. If you begin to post video (better than audio, but more on that later) of you with your horn in your habitat, your 500, or 1 million, or 10 trombone-loving followers will watch and share. #trombone
2. Non-trombonists (let’s just call them Muggles) think you are a magical creature…once they see video footage. Whether they find you mesmerizing, annoying, funny, or magnificent, they will FIND you, but only when they see you play. As an auditory learner, I don’t sympathize with this, but a lot of folks out there listen with their eyes. Something about that gorgeous sound you’re making mixed with the visual demonstration of ‘that slide-y thing’ piques the Muggles’ curiosity. Also, it shows them what you’re doing! Someone heard my album recently and said “wow, you have a lot of trombone solos in this album! Who’s your trombone player?”. It wasn’t until they saw a video that they realized it was me. Video matters. 3. There are trombonists SLAYING the game on social media, and it helps to observe and take notes. Paul the Trombonist. Christopher Bill. They are being themselves and MAN it’s working. 4. People love a good tutorial. If you are the teaching-type, then social media is the place for you to find those pupils. The more you populate your social channels with tutorials, the more demand you’ll get for them! If you have any other questions or want to talk about this further, just tweet me. We can learn about social media together. In the meantime, go shock the world with that instrument of yours that you spent your whole life mastering. #Trombone
One day, I got a call from Scott Bradlee. He runs a now world-famous entertainment giant called Postmodern Jukebox. He was taking current pop hits (think Katy Perry) and was arranging them in the style of 1920’s ragtime. He went viral. I had seen some of the videos on Facebook and thought it would be cool to collaborate with him at some point. Well, it was my lucky day! Someone recommended me to Scott. I showed up at his home studio the next day and he had already familiarized himself with, you guessed it, my social media accounts. Not surprisingly, the first question out of his mouth when it was time to play was “hey, did you bring your trombone?”
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WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
GEAR REVIEWS desire to own one! Perhaps, now you will no longer need to trawl through eBay listings in order to find one of these vintage Elkhart’s as the 88H is once again being built in Elkhart, Indiana.
EASTMAN BASS TROMBONE
REVIEWED BY SIMON MINSHALL
Last year, Conn purchased the first Conn 88 prototype which was offered to them at a trade fair by its previous owner. Their low brass design engineer and the production manager examined the instrument to determine what changes had occurred over the decades of manufacturing under different ownership and management of the Conn brand and returned their tooling and manufacturing back towards the original model.
Instruments are becoming increasingly expensive and with shopping for a Bass Trombone from the usual contenders requiring upwards of £5000 it can be easy to see why players and manufacturers are looking down different avenues. The need for mid range bass trombones has been a long time coming. Most aspiring Bass trombonists, due to financial reasons, often end up buying much older models past their best. In the last two or so years there has been a real growth in this market, with brands such as Getzen, Rath, Yamaha and now Eastman bringing out reasonably priced instruments. Playing the Eastman for the first time, I’m struck by the quality feel it has. First notes don’t disappoint either. 32
The trombone features rotax style valves, which I am a personal fan of. They provide just the right amount of residence down the bottom end without being stuffy. The throw on the F trigger is quite long, but that is personal preference. The slide quality could be a little bit better, but it is important to remind yourself of the £2100 price tag at this point. It features interchangeable bell stays, and the model I tested had a red bell. It complemented the rest of the instrument nicely. Another fine addition is the ability to change lead pipes (comes with three) giving an option of customising the trombone to individual taste and playing feel. I’m impressed with the standard of instrument available at just over £2000. This is certainly an instrument for those wanting to try out the bass trombone, get involved in doubling or who are looking for an affordable option to the other instruments in the market. It come with a really lovely case as well. Go down to Phil Parkers and try it for yourself.
CONN 88H
REVIEWED BY ROSS LEARMONTH
When one thinks of the Conn 88H, one often straight away thinks of the 88H Elkhart model and that burning
From the first note I blew, I was impressed with the quality of the instrument. The slide action is lovely and smooth and throughout all registers, the sound remains wonderfully warm with the trigger range being very open and easyblowing. On the instrument I used, the trigger felt a little uncomfortable due to the lever’s position but thankfully the lever is easily adjusted! The instrument also responds very well over the whole dynamic range. Quiet playing feels very easy and the response from the instrument is excellent. Once I started opening up and playing some loud stuff the quality of sound from the trombone remained and didn’t get too edgy like it would with some other instruments. I’m highly impressed with this new line of 88Hs and feel that Conn have really improved on the quality of their instruments. For £2800 they remain not only one of the best but one of the most affordable instruments on the market! They have long been one of the most popular orchestral trombones and I only expect their popularity to increase after these changes! Phil Parkers have a wide range of these instruments to try so head down there and check them out! 33
REVIEWS JAM EXPERIMENT – RORY INGHAM REVIEWED BY MARK HARRISON
When the phrase “Jam Session” crops up in conversation, the vast majority of musicians know exactly what to visualise in their minds. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that most of the general public wouldn’t automatically start picturing a dimly lit cocktail bar or lounge, coupled with a beverage cradling audience, gazing at a slightly elevated stage, upon which a group of musicians stand, ready to dazzle them with an evening’s entertainment. Not only are you transported to that picturesque place when you listen to this CD, Rory Ingham and his aptly named “Jam Experiment” do so with such virtuosic ability that it leaves you wishing the night could go on forever. From the opening track, the flawless groove of the rhythm section grips you firmly by the ear, not letting go until it ends. The use of stops and silences, constructed in between effortless melodic passages, shows the intelligence and musicianship of this eclectic ensemble. Showing that they cannot only do the fast and furious side of things, the album contains some gems in Chorale and Last Decade. The simplistic beauty that these five can create is wondrous, and an absolute pleasure to indulge in. Never becoming dull, always with meaning, all whilst creating the perfect atmosphere. Throughout the whole album, solo interjections from the up and coming trombonist display an effortless ability to weave around the instrument, crafting his way through the harmony with such maturity that you would be forgiven for forgetting his age. That isn’t to forget Alexander Bone whose contribution to the jam is unforgettably mesmerising. These two front men complement each other’s sound so well, bringing out the best in each other as they react to all the musical ideas on display. Behind them, Joe Lee and Jonny Mansfield are a heck of an engine room duo, executing complex underlying pulses to drive the music forward. Enough for me is particularly enjoyable in that respect. Toby Comeau is last but by no means least to mention, as he shows some unparalleled ability with his voicing, comp work, harmonic structure,
rhythmic prowess, and soloistic talent - don’t miss You are the vibe to my hang. With the award winning Jam Experiment, the young Rath artist Rory Ingham has the world at his fingertips. Be it a platform to show his virtuosic jazz trombone playing, or to demonstrate his vast knowledge and understanding of this crazy thing we call Music. With this irresistible, feel-good album, there is no question why he is getting the attention he deserves. Needless to say, if his name appears on a billboard near you, you won’t regret buying that front row seat.
CMRU LECTURE SERIES: JON ROSKILLY REVIEWED BY ADAM CRIGHTON
23 Oct 2017, 6:00pm -7:30pm Council Chambers, Deptford Town Hall Building Basel-based Jon Roskilly is one of the world’s leading trombonists for contemporary music, and a main catalyst for new trombone repertoire. His recent lecture-recital in Goldsmith’s Contemporary Music Research Centre was both enjoyable and illuminating, a relaxed evening which included no fewer than 4 world premieres. Jon’s playing is exciting and focussed yet always sensitive to the music, with the extremely quiet moments a particular highlight. In addition to the music Jon gave a lot of information to the audience about the music and the different extended techniques used, with a view to giving guidance to potential composers in the audience. The musical highlights for me were the pieces Daily Routine by Alexander F. Müller (*1987), and Poet Mechanic III by Cameron Michael Graham (*1989). Daily Routine depicted someone’s typical morning of looking through Facebook and all the variety of things which you come across, before leaving your laptop and being back in the ‘real world’. Alexander had a Q&A with Jon afterwards talking about the piece which was very insightful as you could see all the thought behind the music. Cameron Michael Graham’s Poet Mechanic III was an interesting exploration on past (pre-recorded trombone), present static (a spinning record player with different lengths of pole attached, hitting different percussion objects repetitively), and present free (halfway through the piece Jon left the room and played outside the room). Presented in this way the point of ending became ambiguous, and with Jon setting up the record player at the start the beginning was equally vague. Overall this was a thoroughly enjoyable and insightful evening. Jon’s playing, speaking, and programme kept the audience entertained and interested throughout. 33
T’S WHA ON
WINTER 2017 THE TROMBONIST
WHAT’S ON 0PM SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 7.3
SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 7.30PM
RISTMAS’ TOUR FODENS ‘MEMORIES OF CH WITH MATT FORD nham Heath, Clonter Opera Theatre, Swette . £16.00 2LR 12 Trap Rd, Congleton CW
CHRISTMAS WITH SEPTURA St John the Baptist Church, Church Green, Burford, OX18 4RY. £5-£15
SUNDAY 17 D ECEMBER 7.00 PM
MONDAY 18 D ECEMBER 7.30 PM
FODENS ‘MEM ORIES OF CHR ISTMAS’ TOUR WITH MATT FO RD The Esplanade , Fleetwood, L ancashire, FY7 £16.00 6HF
CHRISTMAS W ITH SEPTURA Kings Place, L ondon. £16.50 -£34.50
M FRIDAY 22 DECEMBER 8.00P OLD DIRTY BRASSTARDS -146 Curtain Rd, Shoreditch Blues Kitchen, 134 R Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3A £6.00 Free before 8pm
MONDAY 22 JA NUARY 2.00P M
ONYX BRASS Birmingham C onservertoire, B4 7XR Masterclass, pe rformance and adjucating the Bernard Brown Brass Ensembl e Prize
WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY
1.10PM
A4 BRASS Manchester M id-day Concert s Society The Bridgewat er Hall, Manch ester. £5-£11.5 0
SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY 7.30PM CARDIFF SINFONIETTA: LIVERPOOL LULLABIES WITH DAME EVELYN GLENNIE + MATT GEE Dora Stoutzker Hall, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, North Rd, Cardiff CF10 3ER £13.50 - £18.50
FRIDAY 9 MARCH 7.30PM ITY PRESENTS, THE ROYAL MARINES CHAR MUSICRAH OF MOUNTBATTEN FESTIVAL RAH, London
SATURDAY 10 MARCH 2.00PM
& 7.30PM
THE ROYAL MARINES CH ARITY PRESENTS, MOUNTBATTEN FESTIV AL OF MUSICRAH RAH, London
Follow the BTS on Twitter: @britishtrombone and Like us on Facebook to receive regular dates for your diary. Putting on your own event? Let us know events@britishtrombonesociety.org. 34
THE
BRITISH TROMBONE SOCIETY
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Each of these membership options include exclusive access to bonus online content, free copies of our magazine The Trombonist, free or discounted access to our events plus access to fantastic offers with the organisations listed below. To register and for full details please visit our website; www.britishtrombonesociety.org/membership. Some of the exclusive offers currently available to our members include;
ers Insur
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10% OFF any new design. TAILSHOP 5% OFF your first order
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s Memberslihcip ons ti and pub a
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Health ainngd well-be HEARING RESOLUTION 10% DISCOUNT
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INTERNATIONAL TROMBONE ASSOCIATION a special reduced MEMBERSHIP RATE OF £21.00.
on RRP’s for protection products
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