The Music is Bach

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The Music Is

Summer 2010

The Ins and Outs of Music

Plus: iTunes vs. Amazon? & Does listening to your iPod really help your focus ?

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CONTENTS

Get to know your authors Music in their lives

CONTENTS - FEATURE STORIES - THE AVANT GRAND A short review on a new revolutionary piano

- THE CACTUS CAFE

QUESTIONNAIRE

An Austin institution is being axed

- HOW TO BETTER YOUR PLAYING ‘Nuff said ...

- FRESHMAN TO ALL STATE The only person who makes it to all-state is a freshman?

OPINION PIECES - iTUNES VS. AMAZON The debate between the biggest music downloading sites

QUESTION: What’s your favorite type of music and why?

Do you listen to the same type of music in your spare time?

- ... MUSIC Are teachrs for or against music in class?

- APPLE iPAD

A review of apple latest product

- MAYNARD FERGUSON

An exclusive interview with one of Maynards players

Noé Mina My favorite type of music is jazz but I enjoy listening to classical, jazz and latin music. I love jazz so much because I enjoy playing it and listening to the originality of each piece.

Nate Hattersley EVERYTHING ELSE

My favorite type of music is classical, but I listen to pretty much any type of music. I think classical is so amazing because it expresses emotion unlike any other type of music I have encountered

- ARE YOU A BAND NERD?

Take the test to see if you are what everyone calls a “band nerd.” Do you have what it takes?

- MUSIC ACCESORIES Anything and everything you need for maintenance

- MGMT Concert Notice! MGMT Playing at Stubbs on...

- IMPROVING RANGE PARTS I and II Different techniques for how to improve your range.

Jules Ochoa My favorite type of music is hard swing jazz, but I like almost every type of music. Yes I do listen to some swing jazz in my spare time, but I also love listening to R&B.

Ryan Rash My favorite type of music is rock, but I listen to just about every style of music including rap. I think that rock is such a cool style of music because there are awesome guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and punk rock drummers like Travis Barker.

THE MUSIC IS BACH 3

From left to right: Ryan R., Nate H., NoĂŠ M., and Jules O.

NoĂŠ M. is a freshman who goes to LASA. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano, trumpet and soccer and riding his bike. He got into music when he was seven when he started playing piano. In 6th grade, he started learning the trumpet, and he still plays both. He plays trumpet in the LBJ symphonic band

Nate H. is a freshman who goes to LASA. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends, playing ultimate and practicing tuba or guitar.

He got into music when he was seven when he started learning to play guitar. He still plays, along with tuba and bass, and plays tuba in the LBJ wind ensemble.

Ryan R. is a freshman who goes to LASA. In his free time, he enjoys watching TV, playing basketball and going to car shows. He got into music when he was five by way of the piano.

He quit that for the trumpet, and he still plays trumpet today, in the LBJ concert band.

Jules O. is a freshman who goes to LASA. In his free time, he enjoys playing computer games and practicing trumpet. He got into music when he was six when he played piano for four years. In 6th grade he started playing trumpet, and he still plays in the LBJ symphonic band today.

Are You A Band Nerd?

By: Jules O.

3

? s r u

o H

Practice:

3 hours a week of practice can mean you are a band nerd. If you practice more than 3 hours a week you will easily get into Wind Ensemble, but if you practice less, it will be hard to be at the top of your game.

The

Characteristics

♪♫ ♪♫ ♪

A few things that can classify a band nerd

♫

♪♫

Classical Music:

Do you have classical music in your iTunes library? If you have more then 20 classical songs in your library. Then you could easily fit in to the band scene!

Instrument:

Playing more then one instrument is definately a quality of a band nerd. Most people in band also play piano along with what they play in the concert band.

Others play about 3 or 4 instruments along with their normal instrument.

Region Band:

Trying out for Region Band every year and getting past the District compotition to move on to Region Band. If you try to do this evey year, you would fit in the the band

THE MUSIC IS BACH 5

Playing High Notes Playing high notes is not all in what mouth piece you have. You have to have the right tecnique and a strong diafam to get out that Double C you have been longing for.

By: Jules Ochoa

Firm Muscles Around Mouthpiece To play high notes accurately, you have to have a strong emboucher along with not pinching so that the fast air that you are blowing does not blow out your lips for the rest of the day.

Relaxed Embouchure Instead of tensing up your lips to squeek out high notes, try keeping your lips in one place and pushing more air with your abdomen to get higher, more in-tune notes.

Pushing Air To get high notes, you need a strong and controlled diaphragm to be able to push the right amount of air to hit the note you are trying to hit with an accurate and clean sound.

The G

By: Jule

Maynard

T

he entire room is silent when the lights slowly come on and shine a heat wave over the band.

An announcer’s voice comes on and introduces the band, the audience is still silent, but the second he says “Maynard Ferguson� the crowd goes wild! Maynard comes running out of the side of the stage with his trumpet in hand and points at the band for them to start. A few measures into the piece, Maynard starts his signature solos that rallies the crowd of thousands even more.

With his fun and joking character Maynard Ferguson touched the lives of many people around the world with his swing jazz and bebop. With his death in 2006 it left many people wondering who Maynard actually was and what his character was really like, not just on stage.

Great

es Ochoa

Ferguson

Picture of Maynard F.

“I played with him in 2004, I got hired in March of 2004 stayed with him for the entire year until the tour actually disbanded for Christmas break” Keith Fiala said, who was 3rd chair in Maynard’s band a few years before he died of kidney and liver failure. Maynard always had a quirky kind of character on stage and off.

“Maynard was a great guy he was very child like…he was real jovial and he loved to joke around, loved to kid, and just a real nice guy.” Maynard’s joking and kidding around would sometimes get him in trouble through out his life. Like when Maynard was playing with the Dorsey Brothers and one of the brothers was flirting with a drunken person’s wife, the drunk came up to Maynard and asked to get the guy away from his wife. With Maynard being his joking self he said “Well maybe you should get a tighter leash on your wife.” The drunk didn’t like this comment, so when Maynard was walking away the drunk pushed him down 4 flights of stairs, where he broke his ankle. Up until the day he died that ankle was

10 THE MUSIC IS BACH

still giving him problems even though he had broken it back in the ‘50s.

The style of music that Maynard and his band played also reflected on what kind of person he was. Since he was a very fun, loving, and child like person, the fast bebop and straight ahead swing jazz fit the band quite well. “ The types of charts were pretty much straight ahead swing jazz…and just extremely fast bebop,” Keith said.

“Really he wouldn’t even count it off, he would drop a rag and the drummer would just go. I think we clocked it at fastest at about 260-280”

There can only be a limited number of people Maynard would allow in the band at one time. They had 12 people in the band at the time when Keith played with Maynard. There were 3 trumpets, 2 saxes (one tenor, one alto), a trombone, and a full rhythm section (piano, bass, drums, but no guitar), also a sound guy, the road manager, and

Picture of Keith Fiala

“Really he wouldn’t even count it off, he would drop a rag and the drummer would just go. I think we clocked it at fastest at about 260-280” then Maynard would do solos and sometimes play with the band. Since Maynard’s band would have so many gigs to play (they would play about 5 a week, more or less) they would do what they called “hit and runs.”

“Hit and runs were where would play in a place, say Cincinnati, one night, we would load up on the bus and would drive to some place in Penn-

sylvania, get up the next morning, have a hotel that we could check in to, to shower, change and hang out, and get ready for the next gig that night.”

The band would never really do any formal practices with Maynard, they would always do “sound checks” which would mean they would just run through the piece to see how it was sounding and see if the music director, Reggie Watkins (they called him T-Bone), would need to do more work with them to clean it up. Since Maynard never practiced with the band, it was up to T-Bone to have them rehearse.

Maynard has left a hug wake of music and inspiration behind him for the public and fellow musicians to use. It is our job as his fans to use his work to its full potential and learn from it as much as we can! ♪♫ THE MUSIC IS BACH 11

The Apple iPad

A

By: Jules Ochoa

Apple is one if the largest corporations in the world and yet they make some of the most useless things. Yes, their technology is convenient, but do most people really need something that has 200Gb of memory? Almost all of the products that they have created have already been made in some sort of form. Take the MP3 player for example; these devices had already been developed like the Zune, before the iPod came out. All that Apple does with them is make them smaller and user-friendly.

The Apple iPad is essentially the oversized iPod touch that Apple released on January 27. They suited it to run faster, have more and better applications, such as the iBook feature, and just as an added feature, they went ahead and made it have a 9.7’’ screen (hint the “oversized”). The sad part about all of this is that these features are the only features that are different from the iPod Touch. By Apple creating a tablet device like this that has almost all the same features as one of there other devices, it makes me think that Apple is moving into a different direction than what they have previously pursued which was making personal devices such as the iPhone and the iPod.

The iPad could end up being useful to a lot of people, especially if someone buys one for the whole family. Everyone would be able to buy books to read on it, upload their music, and use all of the different applications that will be available for people to buy on the Apps store. All of these features are useful, and would be convenient to have around the house, but the only thing that is different from the

Picture courtesy of Apple

iPod touch is the “iBook” feature and the bigger screen.

Another reason that it would be better for a family setting is because it does not have any new features that would benefit you when you are away from the house, that an iPod Touch or iPhone doses not do already.

This device had a high hope of being a mix between a smart phone and a laptop, but the only feature that a laptop has that is related to this is the Internet capability. The iPad cannot do multiple functions at a time like a laptop can; it does not have any USB ports or any other ports other then the dock connector to hook it up to iTunes, and it does not have Flash Player like a laptop does even though was highly expected for Apple to release this feature.

People also expected this device to be more like a mini laptop that could compete with the Netbook that is a PC product. But when it was released many bloggers and critics such as Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, were disappointed with the produce along with the majority of the media at the release of the iPad.

The only way that Apple is going to compete with the NetBooks and make the media (like the Los Angeles Times) and consumers think that it is not just a “big iPhone” is to make it have more computer-like qualities. If they do this, I think that they will find that a lot more people will be much happier with the product and will stop calling it an oversized iPod Touch.

THE MUSIC IS BACH 13

MGMT!!!

Stubbs BBQ in Austin, TX, Sunday, June 6, 2010 MGMT is Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyndgarden, two psychic pilgrims who first met at Weslayen University in 2002. Their pairing has paid great dividends, as their funky electronica has become extremely popular. They have been recognized in such media outlets as Rolling Stone, Spin, and the BBC. Catch them in all their glory playing at Stubb’s on a long hot summer night in the heart of Texas!

Photo by Bertrand Delgoff. Photo teken from Wikimedia Commons.

L.B.J., meet your band directors!

BAND DIRECTORS: A QUICK BIO Don Haynes, affedctionately known as “Papa Haynes,” is the head director

of the LBJ band program. He has been director since the school’s inception in 1975. He has traveled with the band to places as far away as London, Paris, and China. His principle instrument is the clarinet. He was taught by Phi Beta Mu hall of fame inductee Verda Herrington at the University of Texas Austin.

Ponder East is the director of the LBJ jazz band, and has been since 2003.

He holds a degree in jazz and music education from North Texas University, and plays the saxophone. He leads the AISD all-city jazz band. He is a founder of the Austin Jazz Project, a jazz improvisation clinic that happens over the summer, and is a clinician for the Texas Bandmaster Association.

Brian Burks, affectionately known as “Mama Burks,” is the assistant

head band director of the LBJ band. He graduated from Northwestern State University in Louisiana, and his prinicple instrument is trombone. He directs the marching band on the marching field, and because of the nature of the band program has become very close to many band students, and thus his nickname as mother of the band, and the band students being his little ducklings.

Tyler Dempsey is the head of percussion at LBJ high school. He is an

acclaimed persussionist, and in 1996 he won the Percussive Arts Society’s PASIC individual snare competition. He has marched with three drum corps, and was the percussion arranger for San Jose State University before that.

He has performed at the openings of numerous famous Las Vegas hotels, and he has endorsements from a multitude of drum companies.

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A photo of the University of Texas tower. Photo by author.

Up against the BIG BOYS

How UT students and Austin residents are fighting against the university and getting their cafĂŠ back

By Nate H. THE MUSIC IS BACH 17

The front of the Cactus Café. Photo by author.

B

Bookmark this date: August 2010.

As of this date, the Cactus Café will be closed. No longer will Alison Krauss’ sweet violin melodies grace this dusky hall, nor will the Dixie Chicks be ranting about women’s rights. The University of Texas, the manager of this venue, is strapped for cash. And in order to get rich quick, it is shutting down a great place to hang out, and a great place to see live music in Austin. Even if you don’t like music, your friends and family who do and who want to try to make it as artists are going to suffer; the Cactus Café is an important jumping-off point for these small-time acts.

This is a huge mistake. The university is running other programs that are less integral to an industry than this. The public outcry after only a few weeks has been tremendous, and the university should heed this and appease the public’s want. Rather than closing 18 THE MUSIC IS BACH

the Cactus Café, there are umpteen other things that they could possibly do to help recover their precious money.

The very first sentence of the UT mission statement is “the mission of The University of Texas at Austin is to achieve excellence in the interrelated areas of undergraduate education, graduate education, research, and public service.” In the press release, Andrew Smith Jr., university unions executive director, said “ … these programs … do not fit within the core student mission of the Texas Union and Student Affairs.” He gives the university’s reason for closing: the Cactus Café just does not fit into its mission statement. It is costing more money than the university has left after making sure that their sports team have plenty of lobster for pregame meals.

Ahem … WHAT? What stands out is their mission to be excellent in public service. How can the Cactus Café not be considered a public service? The café is catered to the public, rather than being an exclusive spot for the rich and famous. You would have to have a distorted sense of public service to not believe that the Cactus Café is a public service.

The Café is special to many people in the Austin area. It is so special that Zachary Bidner, a writer for the Burnt Orange Reporter, said that during a town hall meeting with university students and Austin residents, UT President William Powers was overwhelmed with offers of donations to help the upkeep of the café. This shows the dedication that many people have to the café, and how much they want to keep it open.

Recently, there has been a softening in the hard-headedness of the UT board of directors. UT Student President Liam O’Rouke said in a press release “we’d try to attract new acts and larger demographics of students,” speaking about possibly forming an SEC committee to maintain the Cactus Café. This committee-in-works would be funded both by the university and from student fees.

If this committee were to be formed, it would help save the Cactus

Café. The next step is to go to UT with your ideas to get them money.

If they do form the committee and commit to keeping the café open, they still need revenue to meet their budget shortfall. This is where they need ideas. Submit any ideas you have to them. Some ideas include charging admissions for movies at the Student Events Center and host more shows with cover charges there.

These ideas need to be

put forth, for the sake of Austin’s fabulous music scene ♪♫

“You would have to have a distorted sense of public service to not believe that the Cactus Café is a public service.”

Photo of the Lissa Hattersley Jazz Band playing at the Cactus.

Another picture of the Lissa Hattersley Jazz Band. Photos courtesy of Lissa Hattersley

THE MUSIC IS BACH 19

L

ASA freshman May Selcraig sits at her desk entertaining herself with her iPod whilst the teacher, Ms. Brandi Richey, gives a lecture to a student right next to her. Ms. Richey looks at May and says, “May, what are you doing? Whatever it is, please stop.” May stops, and she looks almost quizzical. She was merely listening to music, but Richey does not allow such activities in the classroom.

Music can affect productivity positively, but there is still a debate between teachers and students about the right to listen to music while working.

Students believe that they can be trusted with the responsibility of being honest. Teachers, however, believe that students might exploit the privilege and use their mp3 players to cheat on assignments.

Work and Music Music usually makes work go faster, but many teachers don’t allow it during school. Why? By: Nate H.

20 THE MUSIC IS BACH

“I do not [let students listen to music during class] because it is against school rules,” math teacher Celeste Shelton says.

District policy dictates that electronic devices may only be used before and after school and during lunch, but not during class. Though it is against school rules, some teaches believe that listening to music during class is helpful, and they do allow it sometimes during non-important assignments.

“Some teachers do allow students to listen to music, which is nice. Mr. Sharp (sophomore English teacher) even has music

on when we’re working, which is really cool,” LASA sophomore Aaren Weiner says.

Many students, teachers and music professionals believe that music is helpful when one is trying to be productive, and this is the reason why teachers may allow music in the classroom. “[Music] gets me motivated and energized,” Sumner Erickson, a professional tuba player who has played with the likes of the Pittsburgh Symphony, says. “This is good.”

“Music makes tasks seem less daunting and easier to complete,” Weiner says.

listening to music while working has become habitual.

“I always open Pandora or iTunes when I start working at home out of habit,” freshman Caleb Gross says. Gross also believes that if students are working on class work or reading during class, they should be allowed to listen to music.

But the argument always comes back to whether teachers allow it or not. For the most part, students like listening to music while they are working, and teachers don’t allow it. But, there are always exceptions to the rule, especially so on so-called “sensitive

because they feel that it poses distraction issues.

“I have 23 years of experience with students and policies in the past that have allowed students to listen to music while they work,” Shelton says. “It does make a [negative] difference if the student has distraction issues.”

This sentiment is dittoed by some students who feel that they are distracted by music and don’t listen to it while they work.

“I don’t particularly like listening to music while I’m working because oftentimes it can be distracting,” LASA freshman Emily Johanning says. “When I listen to songs with lyrics I tend to want to sing along and not do my work.”

“Music makes tasks seem less daunting and easier to complete.”

Despite the positive feelings about music and how it can affect productivity, there has been study after study done to try to determine what effect there is concerning this correlation, and almost every study has turned up little to no evidence either way; music does not affect productivity. One study from the Journal of Applied Psychology testing the effects on productivity of music in a factory setting found that, “while employees had a highly favorable attitude toward music and thought they did more work with it, there was no change in measured productivity.”

Even if science has shown the positive productive effect of music to be a myth, people will not stop listening to music. To many,

Whatever side one may stand on in this issue, a common sentiment is that music is just good for you, overall.

Even if someone is not able to work subjects.” (This might as well while listening, it is still enjoyable be called a sensitive subject.) to listen to and can cheer people Spanish teacher Ariana Piñero up even though they possibly plays music in Spanish off of the should do their homework instead.

Internet radio service Pandora Teachers even get into music while during her classes. they’re grading papers.

“I don’t put music on because I think it helps with productivity.

Music is about … music. Good music is better than silence,” Piñero says.

“Sometimes [I listen to music while I grade], but I have to be careful,” LASA mat h teacher Ruth D eholton says. “If I put on Congolese music, it makes my toes tap and I want to get up and dance rather than This is a sentiment that not many grade!”♪♫ teachers share. Most teachers are against listening to music THE MUSIC IS BACH 21

AVANT GRAND

NEW GRAND PiANO

COMPLETE WITH... SPEAKERS?

E

Yamaha reinvents the digital piano

Each year, Bosendorfer, Steinway sleek electric keyboard. The deand Sons and Yamaha look for bate on whether or not it’s better then a regular grand piano is easnew ways to improve the sound ily settled as your fingertips touch quality and performance levels of their pianos. And each year, the keys. The Avant Grand is the they make little to no progress new revolutionary grand piano on them, but somehow Yamaha which overall is of the highest quality and is the best-sounding pulled through and took a leap instrument when compared to forward in front of this pack.

The Avant Grand is its name, an any others. This keyboard uses elegant hybrid piano with a nuan innovative tactile response 22 THE MUSIC IS BACH anced touch of a standard grand system, which actually communipiano and the simplicity of a cates the string vibrations to the

By: NoĂŠ M.

PIANO INTERIOR

Opening the lid of the AvantGrand reveals 4 speakers in an impressive and attractive layout.

S

player’s hands. Similarly, the response from the foot pedals provides pressure and sensation that is eerily similar to the pedals found on concert Grands. Yamaha has also taken special care in placing speakers within the cabinet of the AvantGrand piano to replicate the acoustical sound vibrations that emanate from a concert grand. But the real question that is weighing on all pianists’ minds is: Is this piano really worth 20,000 dollars?

Normal Grands cost a minimum of 100,000 dollars and this beautiful piece of work barely reaches a fifth of that very price. So due to its stunning sound quality, the price of the instrument hardly compares. However, another factor that goes hand in hand with all of this is the brand name. Yamaha has a reputation for making pianos that are of lesser quality when in comparison to Steinway and Bosendorfer because they

ID N IO

Station identification playing at St. Martins

T A T S

are known more for their keyboards than concert pianos. So is it possible that the creators of this piano built it while leaning more towards the technological side of the instrument? The answer lies in the design.

Buzz Worthy says that the action of the piano is configured much like the action of an acoustic grand piano, in that the hammer’s striking action provides feedback to the pianist and that has been rendered to perfection and authenticity on the AvantGrand. So it was built as close as possible to a professional grand piano and priced closer to a standard upright. This instrument is perfect for a pianist who is pursuing a music career but is also stripped for cash. All in all, the Avant Grand is a beautifully built piano, with lustrous features that easily match the price of its sleek appearance and sound ♪♫

RECORDING IN JULY With new bassist and guitarist, Nate Hattersley!

COMING SOON...

YOUNG MUSICIANS

CLARINET

Freshmen Hannah Bangs, the only one to make it to state band

By: Noe M. Hannah’s hands are trembling, fingers are quivering and as she sits in a small chair with 90 pairs of eyes staring blankly at her just waiting for a wrong note to be played she starts reconsidering being at the area competition. She wraps her lips around the wooden reed… at this point any squeak made by that flimsy piece of bamboo could shoot down all of her chances of making it to State. This is what a young Hannah Bangs a 14-year-old clarinetist had to go through several times before reaching a proud title: ranking as one of the top 25 clarinetists in the state of Texas.

To get there, she had to pass through three different stages prior to the state competition, each one growing more difficult as it advances. The first step is for region, all of the clarinetists in the state (around 1300) compete for their particular region and from there, whoever places in the top 4 for their region advance to area. For the area competition they take the top four players from each area in Texas and they go to chair tests for State. After the excessive amount of play24 THE MUSIC IS BACH

ing the finalists compete one last time to see who is the top clarinetists in the entire state of Texas.

Hannah wasn’t the only one to make it to area in this school however. Seven other young musicians at LASA placed in region and district to make it to area, but Hannah was the only one to proceed to the chair tests for state. The only one out of the 200 people here in the LBJ Band.

“I just psyche myself out. I tell myself that this is just one little concert or audition of my life, and I probably wont even remember it later. That usually works,” she says.

This is her secret, the way she calms herself is the key. As a musician, nerves are the biggest cause of mistakes in playing. When you listen to her play no matter whether it’s in front of friends, or a solo recital, she appears to play with such grace and ease. Practice and being constantly involved with music is how she’s so consistent in playing.

Nate Hattersley, a fellow area member says “She’s consistently really good or near perfect … She rarely messes up

Barrel Joint Even though most orchestral players use different clarinets (between A and Bb) they often use the same barrel.

Upper Joint The group of keys found at the bottom of the upper joint are known as the tril keys. They are normally used for alternate fingerings and for ornaments and trills

Lower Joint On every clarinet there is a small piece found on the back of the lower joint called the thumb-rest. This is where a clarinetist holds their instrument.

Bell Contrary to popular belief, the bell does not amplify the sound; rather, it improves the uniformity of the instrument’s tone for the lowest notes in each register.

and can play everything that’s put in front of her. Practice makes perfect.”

It’s clear to all of her listeners that a great deal of practice and involvement is mixed with her raw talent since she has only been playing her instrument for four years now.

However, when she describes how long she practices she says she doesn’t practice as much as she should. Still, she participates in Chamber music, private lessons, school band, and is starting Austin Youth, a program to enhance orchestral music education to young musicians. Nonetheless, she continues to believe she doesn’t practice enough. So the amount of practice is what steadies her talent so that it can be easily accessed and shown off at all times. But then, what is the source? Is talent really her only asset?

“I get really frustrated with myself when I’m practicing and something just doesn’t sound good,” she says, “that’s the worst, sounding bad, it makes me feel like I’m just beginning again. I normally focus on just sounding my best, what I practice influences the way I play ” From this you learn that it’s not how long she practices but how she practices. This is an example of quality vs. quantity, a saying that has been uttered over and over again between musicians. So with her short focused practices and her wondrous music gift, she becomes a calm, experienced musician with much more ahead of her.

Hannah Bangs put down her clarinet and slowly stood from the cold, hard, plastic chair. Knees shaking and eyes blinking repeatedly she looked at her young audience.

She takes one step toward the seat within the crowd of her fellow clarinetists and lets go of the immense pocket of air she was holding in her chest. She knew that it wasn’t her best performance, but somehow she also had a feeling that possibly, this could’ve been exactly what she needed to make it to State ♪♫

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IMPROVING RANGE ALL BRASS PLAYERS

FREE LIP BUZZING FOR BRASS INSTRUMENTS If Arturo did it in jail, you can do it at home THE FIRST STEP IS TO STAY RELAXED

1

PICK YOUR NOTE

2

SET YOUR LIPS

Play a note on any instrument or just hum it out loud. Keep the note in your head and make sure you don’t forget exactly what it sounds like.

Position your lips in the way you think they need to be set for that particular note.

But remember to always relax.

If you clench up too much the note won’t come out at all.

3

BUZZ FREELY

4

TRY TRY AGAIN

5

KEEP GOING

Buzz like you normally do on a mouthpiece but this time with nothing over your lips. Try to mimic the sound you made on the instrument by playing the exact note without your own instrument.

If you didn’t hit the note you were shooting for, it probably meant that you were trying too hard. Your lips were most likely too tense for the sound to pop out so all you need to do is loosen them. Try just blowing air through your mouth, pushing your lips outward.

After you finally get the hang of things you can try to play notes a little higher by buzzing up chromatically, or playing a specific scale. Be patient, this takes a lot of practice, but for Arturo it definitely paid off and it will for you too!

ARTURO SANDOVAL When the famous trumpet player Arturo Sandoval was thrown in a Cuban jail in 1970 he was left with no trumpet. But he still believed he could find a way to better his playing. He came up with the free buzzing technique where you hum a particular note and try to free lip buzz the same not you hummed.

After his year long sentence ended he picked up his trumpet and learned that his range had grown a full ocatve. Thank you Arturo

Hey The Music is Bach fans, we have a website! Czech it out at www.themusicisbach.blogspot.com, and www.themusicisbach.podbean.com

BACH

24 THE MUSIC IS BACH

CROSSWORD

MUSIC TRIVIA DO YOU KNOW YOUR MUSIC FACTS? PLAY AND FIND OUT

MORE MUSIC FACTS

1.) Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.

2.) 40 billion songs are downloaded illegally every year, that’s some 90% of all music downloads.

3.) About onethird of recorded CDs ever sold were pirated.

4.) The Ocarina, a musical wind instrument, is also known as the Sweet Potato.

ACROSS: 3 6 8 9 11 13 16 17 19 21 24 26 27 28 29 30 31

The four seasonsw 9 Symphonies Is this the real life, is this just fantasy A conductors stick Biggest brass instrument The singer that started Seattle grunge music Electrical Currents If you have one, take a breath since no one’s playing Tumbling pebbles The Who: _____ O’Riley Great burritos... and a great song Shared between the staffs A guitars best friend Band member who made it to state To cut, to slice, to PLAY GUITAR Without these, music is nothing...

The Nutcracker composer

DOWN: 1 2 4 5 7 10 12 14 15 18 20 22 23 25

Not Beethoven but...

A heavy blimp A type of rock When trumpets sound like ducks they’re...

Louis Armstrong’s best friend The first piano Play it again Almost as good as band...

The hills are alive Thank you, thank you very much Want to hold your hand Have you ever seen the rain?

Clarinetists: don’t crack this in a concert!

Puff Daddy

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Photos By. Ryan R.

These are different types of instrumental embouchures.(from left to right) Zach Krebs, LASA freshman (french horn); Albert Nam, LASA freshman (trombone); Nathan Calzada, LASA junior (trumpet); Katie Jolet, LASA junior (piccolo, flute); Prasaad Milner, LASA freshman (alto saxophone)

How to Better Many wish to play an instrument, but do they have what it takes?

Your Playing By. Ryan R. Photographs By Ryan R.

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Trumpet master Zach Buie lifts his trumpet to his lips and begins to buzz. All you can hear is a soothing melody that you tell has a large amount of practice behind it. Buie is playing for one of his students who is wiping sweat off their brow, getting ready to try and replicate what they are hearing. The student puts their lips to the horn and begins to play, suddenly a startling blare comes out and the student cringes and stops his playing. Buie’s constructive criticism helps the student to gain confidence and try again. The second try is a charm and a sweet melody comes out of the trumpet. Buie congratulates the student on a good lesson and the student goes back to class.

After the student leaves Buie continues to practice as he does every day.

good, the bad, and there are also the ones that need a little work. Zach Buie (trumpet teacher) and Don Haynes (LBJ Head Band Director) would be put in the good category. These two have been in music nearly their whole life; Haynes has been playing music 52 years starting at the age of 6, so he definitely knows what he is talking about when it comes to music. One thing that is crucial in the bettering of a person’s musical ability is the embouchure.

Embouchure ,which means mouthpiece in French, is how the lips are applied to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument.

Haynes says that the one word to describe the importance of embouchure in music is, “critical.” Haynes goes on to say, “[Embouchure] is the connection between the person and the horn. If the

More and more people are thriving to learn shape and focus of the embouchure is weak, the an instrument whether to make a few bucks or “sound” is weak and non-impressive. The emboufor their own personal pleasure. Even those who chure also has to support the fast air it takes to accan already play an instrument want to get betquire a good sound (no matter what wind instrument ter. There are a few things that musicians need to one plays).” know in order to better their playing.

Warming up with some scales or long tones

“Applying what I know about a good starting in the lower register of the instrument ususound, beautiful phrasing, and a rich tone is some- ally helps musicians to get ready to play higher thing I try to think about whenever I play... no notes. If musicians start playing right away in their matter what I’m playing (or singing),” says Don higher register it can actually cause them to stop Haynes, LBJ Head Band Director.” playing music for weeks if not months.

In the world of musicians there are the

Zach Buie uses this analogy to stress the THE MUSIC IS BACH 29

importance of playing warm ups, “ If you were to run the 400m without stretching you would most likely tear a muscle. It’s the same when playing an instrument like trumpet, because if you go straight in to playing really high without warming up then you can tear muscles in your lips and be out of playing for a while.” Haynes thinks that there is another part of the musician that needs to be warmed up other than the lips, he says “For me, it’s very important to get a good warm-up in, especially my lips, my diaphragm/breathing, also have to warm-up my mind.”

Some people may say that an older person or just a person that has had more experience will always be the better musician, but is that always the case? Some may say that there are those select few that are prodigies, but then again there are others that say after enough experience the musician will automatically be good.

you’re teaching, the student is just sitting there sweating bullets.”

When learning a new instrument or teaching someone to learn an instrument it is always important to keep the fundamentals in mind, and to learn or teach scales and warm ups. Even though Haynes and Buie are professionals they still have to practice like all of the other musicians out there and if they don’t they won’t get any better♪♫

“Well, experience is just wisdom but I think that practice makes the player,” says Buie. Haynes doesn’t seem to agree with Buie’s logic by stating, “Like everything else, the brain and body work together very well when both have experienced something before. The more one performs - live, he attains experiences-- to learn from. Sometimes, there are negative experiences for which we “learn what NOT to do”.”

There is one thing that musicians have a harder time with other than learning an instrument and that is teaching a student to learn an instrument.

Musicians often find it easier to play their instrument with nobody else around so that they don’t have to impress anybody. So it’s especially hard for students because they just want to impress their teacher but since they’re playing in front of someone the sound that comes out of the horn is either loud and obnoxious, or soft and nervous.

Haynes sums it up from the point-of-view of the teacher by saying, “There is a variable when teaching kids (or an adult) to play a new horn, called discipline. A person HAS TO HAVE selfdiscipline to do all the right things to properly learn a new instrument.” Buie agrees with Haynes by saying, “It is harder to learn yourself, because when 30 THE MUSIC IS BACH

“A person HAS TO HAVE self-discipline to do all the right things to properly learn a new instrument.”

iTunes vs. Amazon The controversy between the biggest music downloading sites

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“Along with its library of 2 million songs, Amazon. com is bringing something else to the online music marketplace: competition,” USA Today writer Mike Snider reports in the Oct. 22, 2007 publication. Higher quality of sound, lower prices for music … Amazon has got everything going for them, although iTunes does have a few artists that Amazon does not. In this competition, I suspect that Amazon will come out on top. iTunes might surprise me with drastically lower prices.

In the controversy of the competition between iTunes and Amazon I personally use iTunes, but I think that Amazon is better because of all of the options that they have, better prices and better quality of sound.

Many pro Apple people prefer iTunes to Amazon just to stay true to their company.

Apple did create iTunes and

By Ryan R. they also created the iPod so they should be kept together, and if someone owns an iPod that person should purchase songs from iTunes. iTunes has Amazon beat on the amount of songs in their library 6,000,000 for iTunes to the mere 2,000,000 for Amazon. iTunes also has a few record labels that only let iTunes sell their songs, such as Sony BMG and Warner, USA Today reporter Mike Snider reports in the Oct. 22, 2007 issue.

These recording companies have produced artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys, as well as R.E.M. and Linkin Park, which would help iTunes because of the popularity of these artists. These record labels have refused to offer DRM-free music, which is all that Amazon sells. DRM (Digital Rights Management)-free means that there are no restrictions

on songs which means that it’s possible to burn songs on to CD’s multiple times, and it’s also possible to download songs on to any MP3. Although iTunes has started a program comparable to Amazon called iTunes Plus which does offer DRM-free music as stated under the FAQ’s section of the Apple website.

The difference between the costs of songs on Amazon vs. iTunes is significant. Amazon sells songs for 10-30 cents less than iTunes does. Amazon songs cost between 89 and 99 cents compared to the cost of iTunes songs, which are between 99 cents and $1.29. This price differential has given Amazon a strong advantage against iTunes, even though iTunes has reached their 10 billionth song download. iTunes may be more successful thus far, but I think THE MUSIC IS BACH 31

that Amazon will take over once they’ve been around as long as iTunes has. Loyal iTunes customers soon may be switching to Amazon for the prices that can’t be beat.

The quality of Amazon songs is much higher than that of iTunes (256 kilobits per second to 128 kbps), which has coaxed some of iTunes’s customers to switch.

Amazon sells songs that are DRM-free which has no restrictions. However, most of iTunes songs have DRM, which has made some people switch to Amazon. The only difference between songs that are DRM-free and those that are not, is that with DRM- free you can download onto different kinds of MP3 players and burn music onto discs. If a person had to burn 32 THE MUSIC IS BACH

a CD of music that they had, if they bought the songs off of Amazon they could burn as many discs as they want.

Amazon is easier to transport songs to MP3s other than iPods such as Zunes because of their DRM- free policy. iPod owners may find it easier to download off iTunes, although it is possible to download off of Amazon.

Whatever site you use for purchase of music and downloading of music, take into account the things that I have told you so that you might change your mind. Nowadays people always have their ear buds in listening to music, but many are paying too much for lower quality. Take the alternate route through Amazon.

More Crazy Instuments

Odd Instruments Many people can play normal instruments, but do have what it takes to play the unique Guitar makers have been making double necked and even quadruple necked guitars.

Guitars are beginning to get even wilder with the Airscreamer guitar which looks like an airstream trailer. There are also guitars made to look like guns like the AK-47 guitar.

The Serpent The Serpent is a distant relative to the tuba yet it has side holes like a woodwind. It was thought to have been first made in 1590 to strengthen the sounds of choirs.

Photos by Eric Totman (www.horncollector.com)

In the music world one of the most widely recognized rock instrument is the electric guitar. Throughout the life of the elecrtric guitar which began in the 1930s there have been many great guitars. One of the the most popular electric guitars was introduced

by Gibson in the 1950s and it was called the Gibson Les Paul. Then came the Fender Stratocaster which most electric guitars body shape is based off of. Since the creation of the classics there have been many unorthodox shapes of electric and even acoustic guitars.

Normaphone Due to a lack of good saxophone players in the 1920s, Richard Oscar Heber created the normaphone. The normophone is a hybrid between a saxophone and a trumpet.

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Musical Accessories FIVE ESSENTIALS FOR BRASS INSTRUMENTS

METRONOME

Keeping the beat is most important to musicians. With this KORG TM-40 metronome and tuner a musician can keep the beat and make sure they’re in tune.

This metronome also features a headphone jack and an input for an instrument, such as a guitar that you plug into the metronome in order to tune.

KORG TM-40 $40

MUTE

A mute is used in all brass instruments to soften the sound of the instrument.

Certain mutes can also be used to make sound effects if they are needed.

Shown here is a trumpet mute.

Tom Crown Trumpet Mute $55

SLIDE GREASE

Slide grease is used to lubricate the slides of brass instruments. Slide grease is most important to the trombone, because if the trombone’s slide can’t move freely the musician could not play very quickly.

Venture Premium Slide Grease $2 34 THE MUSIC IS BACH

MOUTHPIECE

The mouthpiece is the most important accessory shown here.

The mouthpiece makes the airy sound of the horn itself change to the beautiful sound that you would normally hear from a brass instrument.

Vincent Bach 5c $54

VALVE OIL

Valve oil is used in all brass instruments except for most trombones. Valve oil is used in lubricating the valves so that they don’t stick.

Yamaha Valve Oil $7.95

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(The music is)

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