The Trombonist - Spring 2015

#BTS30 spring 2015 ÂŁ5.00

the

trombonist Focal Dystonia leading expert

Joaquin Fabra shares his expertise

The London Philharmonic Trombone Section take us on the road YouTube sensation,

Christopher Bill reveals his secrets to success

Ian Bousfield and Trombone Quartet brand new competitions announced

youngblood brass band Roof-tearing shows and no-smirks honesty

WIN A Zo

ltan iss MouthpK iece

contents Regulars 6

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38

Trombonist’s Handbook

Presidents Column

fast talk

Christian’s happy new year.

Tips of where to park, eat and drink in Leeds.

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36

features 18

News, Event Reviews & Previews

2015’s National Trombone Day is announced and the BTS keep you up to date on orchestral appointments.

21

Jazz by Jeremy

How to construct and improve your melodies.

G&T

Matt and Mark’s highlights for the next three months orchestral events.

profiles 11

Orchestral Section Feature

Dave Whitehouse tells us of the London Philharmonic’s travels.

Up and coming ‘not-to-be-missed’ events for your diary.

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Resources 15 - 16 excerpt Focus

Blair Sinclair’s top tips on some of the Alto Trombone repertoire.

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cover story Playing with guts with Youngblood.

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Rising Star

37

What’s On

A minute with… Adrian Fry.

The Bass Bone Files

Roger Argente profiles the world’s top Bass Trombonists.

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Trombonist’s Island Discs

All eyes on Hannah Stell.

22

Spotlight

In depth interview with Focal Dystonia expert, Joaquin Fabra.

33

play-a-long

Learn to play some Urbie Green.

35

Reviews

CD’s from Guillaume Varupene, Michael Dease and Zoltan Kiss.

Mike Buchanan’s choice of listening.

Cover photography courtesy of: Tim Collins

happy new year!

We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year? We’re going to kickstart 2015 by letting you know that we’re going to keep your magazine a few pages bigger!

We’re getting so many wonderful ideas sent in, that we need more space, so we hope you’ll enjoy even more for your membership fee.

The winner of the Christmas crossword competition, and the prize of a red pBone, was Dave Hankin. Congratulations Dave for sending in the first correct entry!

If you’d like to check your answers, head over to the BTS Facebook page.

We certainly had a lot of very quick entries, so well done everyone.

This issue you could win a Zoltan Kiss signature mouthpiece worth over £260! Turn to page 17 to find out more - the first correct entry wins, so you’d better be quick.

As we’re finding we have more and more interesting items to include in the magazine, we’re going to start introducing QR codes, which you can scan with your smartphone, to take you to extra content either on the BTS website, or YouTube, or other areas of the internet, to continue to learn more. So we highly recommend downloading a QR code reader from the app store that you use, and whenever you see a QR code, give it a go!

With best wishes, Carol & Simon drop us a line: editor@britishtrombonesociety.org

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The Trombonist Magazine Editors: Carol Jarvis & Simon Minshall editor@britishtrombonesociety.org Sub-Editor: Peter Chester Publishing and Distribution: HMCA Reviews Editor: Ross Learmonth reviews@britishtrombonesociety.org Advertising: Wesley Tatton advertising@britishtrombonesociety.org Design: Sian Nowley sian@hmca.co.uk The Trombonist is published quarterly Any views expressed in ‘The Trombonist’ are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the British Trombone Society.

Contributors in this issue: Roger Argente Christopher Bill Mike Buchanan Peter Chester Stewart Drummond Rob Egerton Adrian Fry Matt Gee Kieran McLeod Simon Minshall

Jeremy Price Jane Salmon Blair Sinclair Jon Stokes Mark Templeton Richard Walker Rupert Whitehead Dave Whitehouse Stephen Wick

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spring 2015 the trombonist

president’s column

A belated happy new year to you all and happy 30th birthday to the BTS! To celebrate this remarkable milestone, 2015 will see numerous events including two national days located to reach as many trombonists as possible: London’s Royal Academy of Music plays host to a packed day on Sunday 7th June featuring our inaugural tenor trombone and quartet competitions (see page 28), plus solo appearances from Mark Templeton and Ian Bousfield; on Friday 2nd October, the Opera North trombone section will perform in the University of Leeds lunchtime recital series, as a precursor to the BTS day on Sunday 4th at the superb music department.

More artists and details will be announced in the Summer issue of the magazine.

Looking back over thirty years, Peter Gane and other BTS founders should be proud of the continual improvement in U.K. trombone performance and teaching: the standard at our recent competitions in Oundle was staggering. However, the gradual decline in formative and lasting instrumental opportunities since the 1980s concern us all.

In a universally acknowledged ‘age of austerity’, I want to hear your experiences and ideas about promoting and celebrating the trombone. Many laudable schemes already exist, so how can the BTS best complement these to boost player numbers? I’m thinking aloud because I want your input to accompany our discussions at Committee level.

Here at BTS HQ, after months of detailed consultations, we have appointed web design firm Devmac to redevelop the BTS website. Our profound thanks go to Ed and Lisa Solomon of PennInk who have worked tirelessly on our behalf for over seventeen years. We will pay full tribute to their dedication and update you once the handover is complete.

As many of you will know, January saw the passing of two legendary British trombonists: Derek James and Kevin Thomson. Please see pages 8 and 9 for tributes to these hugely influential craftsmen, whose playing brought joy to generations of students and audiences alike.

In staff news, we are delighted that our former young persons representative James Howard has moved to the new post of Military Music rep: many thanks to James for continuing to work on our behalf. Also, we will soon begin shortlisting candidates to replace Geoff Wolmark as BTS secretary at our AGM this November. If you may be interested please contact me before the end of March (and not on April 1st, as I won’t believe you!). For anyone undecided I am happy to provide any further information and clarification about this vital and rewarding role.

With best wishes to all,

British Trombone Society www.britishtrombonesociety.org

The British Trombone Society is a Registered Charity. Reg No. 1158011 Honorary Patron: Gordon Campbell Board of Trustees President: Christian Jones president@britishtrombonesociety.org Vice-President: Liam Kirkman vicepresident@britishtrombonesociety.org Past-President: Carol Jarvis pastpresident@britishtrombonesociety.org Chair: Matt Gee chair@britishtrombonesociety.org Vice Chair: Alison Keep alisonkeep@britishtrombonesociety.org Secretary: Geoff Wolmark 01377 202209 1-3 Church Street, Hutton, Driffield, Yorks, YO25 9PR secretary@britishtrombonesociety.org Treasurer: Simon Minshall treasurer@britishtrombonesociety.org Development Officer: Stewart Drummond stewartdrummond@britishtrombonesociety.org staff Membership Manager & Bookkeeper Chris Sowerby 01924 437359 membership@britishtrombonesociety.org 1 Ullswater Road, Dewsbury, WF12 7PH Please submit news and events items for the website to: Ross Learmonth news@britishtrombonesociety.org Representatives Scotland: Chris Stearn 01360 860220 scotland@britishtrombonesociety.org Wales: Jo Hirst 07729 144690 wales@britishtrombonesociety.org North East & Yorkshire: Simon Mansfield 01484 602401 northeast@britishtrombonesociety.org North West: Kerry Baldwin 07920 022395 northwest@britishtrombonesociety.org East Midlands: Paul Emmett 07974 137693 midlands@britishtrombonesociety.org West Midlands: Martha-Ann Brookes 07966 416198 westmidlands@britishtrombonesociety.org Northern Ireland: Stephen Cairns 02892 602646 northernireland@britishtrombonesociety.org

Christian president@britishtrombonesociety.org Christian Jones BTS on Facebook @CJones_BTS on Twitter

South: Matt Lewis 07849 774777 south@britishtrombonesociety.org South West: Pete Smith southwest@britishtrombonesociety.org East Anglia: Ben Bouzan 07970 502509 eastanglia@britishtrombonesociety.org Wessex: Robb Tooley wessex@britishtrombonesociety.org

ERRATUM:

Brass Band: Paul Woodward 01924 823840 brassband@britishtrombonesociety.org

In my previous address (Winter 2014), I incorrectly named our retiring Wessex rep as Bruce Fraser, instead of Bruce Harding. My apologies for this error and thanks to Bruce Harding for all his hard work on behalf of the BTS!

Jazz: Jeremy Price jazz@britishtrombonesociety.org

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Military Music: James Howard 07906 392992

event news

ews reviviews pre

& previews

preview ITF in valencia

London’s Royal Academy of Music

preview BTS day at royal academy

On the 7th of June 2015, it will be our first #BTS30 National Trombone Day, held at the Royal Academy of Music.

The day promises to display some of the finest talent the UK has to offer as we hear solo recitals from Mark Templeton and a joint concert between Ian Bousfield and the Royal Academy of Music’s very own trombone department.

Players will also have a chance to experience some of the finest teaching in the country as Matthew Gee takes a public masterclass.

As if this wasn’t enough, you can sit back and listen to the up and coming stars of the future as we introduce not one but two brand new competitions, the BTS Quartet Competition and the Ian Bousfield Solo Competition (see page 28 for more details). To round off the day there will be an early evening concert, celebrating the works of Eric Crees as we feature the music from the high acclaimed London Trombone Sound. For those of you who wish to stay a bit later, the electrifying new collective ‘Soul Tubes’ will be performing in the Royal Academy of Music’s bar. We hope to see as many of you there as possible – it is a day not to be missed!

Every three years, the International Trombone Festival is hosted outside the USA. This year the festival comes to Europe - Valencia on Spain’s sunny Mediterranean coast, in fact. The line-up is huge, the venue is stunning, the weather is bound to be great - so why not plan part of your summer to be in Spain, and have the chance to see and meet trombone stars from around the world. Just some of the artists present at the Festival include: Carol Jarvis, Jörgen van Rijen, Mark Nightingale, Michel Becquet, Wycliffe Gordon and Zoltan Kiss. The Festival will also be welcoming the highly acclaimed Soul Tubes.

Jörgen van Rijen Wycliffe Gordon

Zoltan Kiss

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new RPO appointment

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Lätzsch Trombone new scottish principal Mouthpieces - Zoltán Kiss Edition

International trombone soloist and member of leading ensemble Mnozil Brass, Zoltan Kiss releases his own signature mouthpiece. “What an exciting moment it was to finally hold my own signature mouthpieces, the ‘Zoltán Kiss Edition’ in my hands.

The BTS are delighted to announce that Matthew Knight has been appointed the sub-principal trombone of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Matthew Knight studied the trombone with Ian Moffat, James Wortley, Dudley Bright, Denis Wick and Ian Bousfield.

A music scholar at Eton College, and choral scholar at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with a distinction in the post-graduate diploma, and a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital. One of two Artistic Directors of Septura, he has trialled or freelanced with almost all of the UK’s professional orchestras, “I’m delighted to be joining the fantastic low brass section of the RPO. I’m very excited about the prospect of being part of a section not just of very talented brass players, but also good friends, and I’m looking forward to what I’m sure will be a steep learning curve, both on and off the concert platform.”

Congratulations Matt

another goodbye

Two years in the making- hours upon hours of dedicated and skillful master craftsmanship by Hans Mook- this collaboration was my greatest pleasure since developing my first trombone, the ‘Kissbone’ in 2007.

The BTS would like to extend their congratulations to Michael Buchanan who has recently been appointed Principal Trombone of the Orchestra of the Scottish Opera.

Together, we created a perfect fusion of brass and ebony into one light but powerful mouthpiece. The mouthpieces were developed with a vision of giving me the versatility required in Mnozil Brass, virtuosic performances as a soloist, or within chamber and larger symphonic groups as well.

The phenomenal and unique thing about the mouthpiece is that it works well in any room acoustic, something I have never experienced before. Thank you Hans!” Turn to page 17 for your chance to win a Zoltan Kiss mouthpiece.

The BTS are saddened to hear of the death of Kevin Thomson, who sadly passed away in early January. Kevin won his first job in 1952 with the Scottish National Orchestra, (now the RSNO) and went on to play principal with both the SNO and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. As well as their principal trombone, he appeared as a soloist with both of these orchestras. He then moved to the orchestra of the Scottish Opera, a position he held until he retired a few years ago. We would like to pass on our sympathies to Kevin’s family and friends. To read obituary by Chris Stearn, please visit the BTS website.

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Michael Buchanan, 21, is currently studying for an MA in Specialised Music Performance with Ian Bousfield at the Hochschule der Künst in Bern, Switzerland. Prior to this, he read music at the University of Cambridge (Clare College), where he graduated in June 2014 with first class honours. As an orchestral musician, he has recently performed as solo-trombone with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Stavanger Symfonie Orkester and Orchestra of Scottish Opera, as well as within the sections of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dmitri Ensemble and the Wiener Hofkapelleorchester. As part of his studies in Bern, future projects include recording and releasing a CD of solo works, as well as a professional concerto debut with the Berner Symphoniker.

“Each time I have played in the orchestra it has been fantastic fun and a great experience: the playing is very rewarding and the orchestra filled with lovely people. I’m so excited for when I join full-time and it all kicks off in March!”

Turn to page 30 to learn more about Michael.

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derek james - memories and tips The BTS are saddened to announce that death of Derek James, who sadly passed away on New Year’s Eve. Trombonists are well known for leaving behind them a wealth of knowledge and Derek James is no exception. Born in Llandybie near Ammanford, South Wales, in 1929. He began playing the trombone in the Ammanford Brass Band at the age of thirteen, and won the Trombone Solo Competition at the Welsh National Eisteddfod three years in succession. He joined the Regimental Band of HM Welsh Guards in 1952, whilst studying at the Royal College of Music. In 1955, he became a member of Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House Orchestra, where he stayed for eight years. In 1964 he joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1981, became a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

start a tun book

Derek’s fantastic ‘Tips from the Top’ can be found here on the BTS website: www.britishtrombonesociety.org/index.php/tipsfrom-the-top/tip-from-the-top-derek-james.html or by scanning the QR code adjacent.

the History of our sections

Over the past 20 years, Tom Winthorpe, past trombonist with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, has been collating the history of the UK’s trombone sections. The BTS feels very privileged to have access to this immense history, some of which details names as far back at 1858!

The history of our orchestral tradition is something which we all hold dear, and later this year, members will have the opportunity to view the information on the website. All at the BTS would like to take this opportunity to thank Tom and other contributors for their time and effort in collecting this huge amount of data.

new Sub - Principal for the ROH

busking success for save the children

Every year, the LPO Brass and Chorus raise money for Save the Children through some light-hearted and fun busking at Waterloo Station. Led by the BTS’s very own Mark Templeton, and helped by some of the city’s top freelancers and students, this massed brass ensemble managed to raise a whopping £2,367.92.

Congratulations to everybody involved and see you next year!

The BTS are delighted to announce that Robert Holliday has been appointed as Sub-principal trombone with the Orchestra of the ROH. Robert graduated from the RNCM in 1992 and went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

He toured with the European Community Youth Orchestra, before being appointed Sub-Principal trombone with the BBC Philharmonic in 1994 where he stayed until 2007, leaving there to become Principal Trombone with the RLPO. In 2008 he left the RLPO to pursue a busy period freelancing throughout the UK. In November 2010 he took up the position of Sub-Principal Trombone with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Robert has worked with most of the UK’s symphony orchestras including as guest principal with the LSO, RLPO, Philharmonia, CBSO, RPO, BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, Opera North, BBCNOW, BBCSSO and the Hallé. In Europe he has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Germany’s Ensemble Modern.

Robert Holliday

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SKILLS FOCUS

A year in the life of the LPO Trombones

BY Dave Whitehouse

conductors, in 28 days. A short tour to Germany with Yannick Nézet-Séguin was followed later by a longer German tour with our principal conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, then on to Iceland with Osmo Vänskä. Many orchestras tour to Germany on a regular basis, and the LPO is no exception. The best part about going in December is the abundance of Christmas markets, selling fresh fish, sausages, Christmas gifts, and, of course, glühwein.

One of the questions I am most often asked is “What’s it like being in the London Philharmonic Orchestra?”

The variety of repertoire, venues, countries, conductors, soloists and instruments all bring their own qualities to the job. In one recent week, in addition to our “normal” instruments, we were required to play alto trombone, valve trombone, bass trumpet, contrabass trombone and cimbasso. And the variety doesn’t stop at the instruments we play; before the 2014 Royal Festival Hall season had even started, the LPO was taken on a short UK tour with musical comedy duo Igudesman & Joo. This was a new collaboration, which at times took some members out of their comfort zone, with the orchestra at one point being asked to get up and dance.

Once the season was under way, the logistical know-how of Damian and Chris, the LPO’s relatively new transport crew, was immediately put to the test. Truck 1 was being loaded with the instruments for Brighton, Germany, London and the USA, whilst truck 2 contained the instruments for the Madrid section of the tour. Carrying your own instrument is always an option, but it’s quite handy that trombones are relatively cheap (compared with, say, a £150,000 cello), and having a spare one to use in such eventualities isn’t going to break the bank. Getting the players to, from and around faraway places

is the job of Jenny, our amazing tour manager. We are frequently at the mercy of scheduled airlines and it is Jenny’s job to see that the orchestra turns up in the right place at the right time, which can often mean splitting the orchestra into two or three flight groups and hotels. Touring can be some of the most fun work we do (day off on Santa Barbara beach), but it can also involve some pretty crazy days. There can’t be many jobs where you’d have breakfast in Toronto, lunch in New York and a rehearsal and concert (and bed) in Chicago.

Two days off, then back into the swing of our RFH and UK work performing 10 different concerts with 7 different

One new venue for us was Reykjavik, and the magnificent facility they have at their new concert hall, The Harpa. Anne McAneney is usually keen to visit new places on tour, and on this occasion, she organised a bus tour to go in search of the northern lights after our first concert. You would think that we spend enough time on tour buses, but the post-concert buzz made this trip very different. Iceland is a place that many members said they would like to return to on holiday. The lack of multinational conglomerate retailers certainly made this a very individual and interesting place to visit.

An emerging market for western classical music is China, which would seem to be making an appearance in the touring calendar every few years. It is such a privilege to be able to visit places that many people can’t normally go to, and to have, for example, Peking Duck in Peking (ok, Beijing now, but you get my drift). The food doesn’t agree with everyone though, and whilst the lack of McDonald’s in Iceland wasn’t a problem, it may have proved too much for some had it been the case in China.

Continues on the following page.

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spring 2015 the trombonist

a year in the life of the LPO trombones continued...

Back to the RFH season, and Vladimir continues to explore new music, and new ways to perform old music.

He edited Wagner’s Das Rheingold down to 50 minutes, to be performed alongside Rachmaninoff’s rarely-heard opera, The Miserly Knight, both of which were semi-staged by Annabel Arden, who excelled in making the best use of the awkward space that was left once a full symphony orchestra has been placed on the stage.

This was soon followed by Verdi‘s Requiem, for which we used valve

trombones and cimbasso. The use of valves makes a huge difference to the sound. Before the concert, it was impossible to be backstage without the sound of an F chromatic scale being practised somewhere. But in the words of Mark Templeton, “Once you’ve done Verdi Requiem on valve trombones, there’s no going back”.

Education and community outreach is an important part of the LPO’s work.

This year has seen members of the orchestra visiting Leonard Cheshire homes, the Thomas Tallis School Deaf

Support Centre, as well as supporting INSET sessions for teachers who come to learn about the schools concerts that we do, and how best to prepare their classes for these concerts.

By the end of the season at Glyndebourne, we will have done in excess of 160 performances. When this is put together with rehearsals, recordings and outreach work, that answers the other question I am most often asked, “So is the LPO a full-time job?”

ic Orchestra London Philharmon

J = Joined L = Left/resigned R = Retired

Disclaimer-This information is correct to the knowledge of the BTS.

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thirty years on Excerpt from ‘The Trombonist’ 20 years ago: by Tony Parsons

Peter Harvey (for it was he) was bass trombonist in the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985, and the orchestra was doing some recording sessions at CTS Studios, Wembley which required a jazz specialist on some of the numbers.

Who else but Don Lusher, of course.

Don brought a distinguished foreign guest along to the sessions, Irvin Wagner, at that time President of the International Trombone Association.

Not unnaturally, Irv got round to a spot of evangelising, and suggested that British trombonists should be the next to set up their own society. The boys were fairly discouraging assuring him that we were all too disorganised at least, and probably too disinterested at most.

But Irv was not one for letting a good idea fall at the first hurdle, and enquired where he might find some sympathetic ears. Peter pointed him in the direcetion of Peter Gane at the Guildhall School of Music, and took to the hills.

In a sense, that was the easy part.

Transforming ideas into reality would cost money. Membership fees would eventually bring in funds, and it was hoped that advertising revenue would offset magazine production costs. It was quite obvious that amateur members would heavily outnumber professionals, but with performance as the number one interest for all members, everything depended on the willingness of professionals to perform at BTS events for nothing. Not one has refused, and a number have turned out for us countless times.

Expenses are refunded of course, and these guidelines apply to home grown players, but visiting star performers have always been willing to pare things down to the minimum for us.

This generous attitude is a major factor in keeping down membership fees, and it is hoped that by helping the BTS, performers are in turn helped by the publicity, sales of CDs and music, attendance at concerts, and so on.

Regional activities have had their ups and downs and one of our original areas in effect disappeared when the North East and North West region blended into simply North. Scotland took off like a rocket and has thrived under the guiding hands of several successive reps. Our first front cover photo was of the inaugural Glasgow Trombonerama held on January 19th 1986.

London still had to get going, and Tom Winthorpe (then Royal Opera House Orchestra) organised a massed blow at Covent Garden Piazza, midday Sunday July 13th, with a proper run-through beforehand in the Opera House ballet rehearsal room.

The sun shone, the 156 trombonists played wonderfully, and the neighbours complained so vociferously that we were never allowed back. The trumpeter, John Wilbraham, wrote up the event for The Trombonist, and said: “It brought home to me as never before how entirely self-sufficient the trombone family can be.”

Peter Gane did indeed take the matter seriously and phoned some London colleagues who first met in the late summer of 1985 for an exploratory exchange of ideas. The meeting was chaired by Denis Wick, and by the end of it we had a name, the British Trombone Society, with a president, Peter Gane; treasurer, Nigel Barr; membership secretary, Simon Wills; editor; Harold Nash and two assistant editors, John Edney and myself (Tony Parsons); an archivist - but that turned out to be a bit premature; a draft constitution, proposals to establish regional representatives, and within weeks trombone gatherings were happening everywhere.

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tips m froe top th

excerpt focus - alto trombone BY blair sinclair

Schumann: Symphony No.3

The Rhenish is one of those amazing symphonies like Brahms 1 and Beethoven 5 where, as a trombone player, you get to sit and listen to some incredibly beautiful music for three movements, and then as an added bonus you get to join in.

Above all, to take a little pressure off, try to remind yourself that this chorale is also played in the horns and bassoons and just try to enjoy this amazing bit of trombone writing.

Favourite recording: Staatskapelle Berlin/Daniel Barenboim.

Continues on the following page.

The most important thing to remember about the opening phrase of the fourth movement is that it’s a beautiful chorale.

It’s easy (especially when your heart rate is a little quick) to get overly concerned about the written dynamic, but having a rich full sound, perfect intonation and a long flowing musical line should come first. I try not to think about the top Eb too much and instead try to breathe as calmly as possible, and use James Watson’s rule of ‘Lower, Louder’ where in each ascending interval you look after the lower note more with a full supply of air so the upper note can be backed off and simply ‘float’ out. I really find this helps with making the line flow evenly and musically, but also helps to make everything feel more secure.

The marking of Feierlich means solemnly so it’s a good idea to practice this at different speeds just in case you are asked for a slower tempo than you’d expected.

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spring 2015 the trombonist

excerpt focus - alto trombone continued...

Mozart Requiem: Benedictus, Bars 10-19 This is my favourite moment of the Requiem! There are some incredibly fun and technical passages throughout the piece such as the Kyrie and Domine Jesu, but this nice little trombone duet accompanying the soloists is something I always look forward to. It requires very delicate articulation, and to match the singers it needs to sound as clean as possible. This being said however, you can feel free to really make a beautiful

phrase out of this. Take notice of what the soloists are doing, where they are phrasing to or coming away from and also communicate with the 2nd trombone in matching note lengths, articulations and balance.

The whole Requiem is fantastic for Alto practice, it has everything. A large range, big dynamic contrasts and lots of tricky passages. Just beware that there are many

different editions and some of them are a huge blow. If possible, try to find out which edition the orchestra is playing before the first rehearsal and keep your fingers crossed that it’s one of the busy versions- they really are so much fun to play.

Favourite recording: (the first recording of this I owned!) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Herbert Von Karajan

Berg: Wozzeck- Act 2 Bars 470-481 I thought I should include a little bit of opera in this list. I often think during opera performances how the orchestra is used to help paint a picture for the audience. The music so often has to resemble what is being sung on stage and this is one of the best examples I can think of involving the alto.

While Berg doesn’t actually specify for this to be played on anything other than tenor, the opera features a number of very demanding and high passages which work really well on an alto. This muted section in the second act happens when two very drunk soldiers are angrily describing to each other how 16

their immortal souls are wounded. As they get more agitated, the trombone gets higher and louder before the soldiers start to tire and they seem to start falling into a drunken slumber.

This is incredibly fun to play and really has to sound as wild as possible. This solo is difficult to pitch and the intervals are not particularly easy to tune, especially playing with a mute at ff, so work on this slowly and at a moderate dynamic to really cement the pitches in your head.

Favourite recording: Philharmonia Orchestra/Paul Daniel (In English)

EASTER EGG HUNT There are lots of Easter Eggs hidden amongst all the articles and interviews throughout this magazine issue. Your job is to count them

(include any on this page), and the first person to send us an email with the correct number of eggs, wins one of the latest and coolest mouthpieces around - a Zoltan Kiss signature mouthpiece worth over ÂŁ260!

Email your answer to editor@britishtrombonesociety.org Closing date 1st May The winner will be notified shortly after 1st May, but probably before! Eligible to BTS members only.

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spring 2015 the trombonist

by Kieran McLeod

Youngblood Brass Band

It may include tear gas, dirty toilet plungers and almost taking up the trumpet but Joe Goltz and Matt Hanzelka still dare to take us on the Youngblood Brass Band journey.

From school bands to touring the world’s best festivals and clubs, they learn life’s lessons (and musical ones too) to form a band that is tighter than most.

Matt and Joe come from different parts of America and although taking different routes to joining Youngblood, music education was key for both. When offered, young Matt and Joe both wanted to take up the trumpet. Fortunately this isn’t how things panned out. As Matt gladly says, “In retrospect, I’m relieved that I was turned away from the darkside at a young age”. Matt first cut his teeth with the Irondale High School marching band and progressed to the world of competitive marching with the Blue Devils Drum Corps. Joe, however, was trained in a classical setting; his introduction to music was through wind bands. Although not taking it too seriously to start with, in his own words he was being forced to play harder music. Joe found himself compelled to practice, 18

and “That tuned me in to making music a more serious thing.

That’s when I discovered it could be fun to challenge yourself”.

Youngblood Brass Band was on the verge of creation. At this time, trumpeter Charley Wagner was a bandmate of Joe’s.

He was the link between Joe, Nat McIntosh (sousaphone) and Dave Skogen (drums/vocals). This laid the framework for Youngblood and by the time Joe was graduating from college, the band had an agent onboard poised to book a US tour. Joe had to choose whether to print his resumés or go with the band. As he recalled, “That was my fork in the road and I chose the music career. As for how things worked out with that agent ... well, I seriously think he might have contacted the wrong band. When we first met him, he asked which one of us was the guitarist on the recording. Oops”.

A few years down the line Joe found himself as the lone trombonist doing all the ‘heavy lifting’. Joe knew of Matt’s playing and had shared the stage with him a couple of times.

“Sometimes you hear that person that can do all the stuff you can’t do and you know it would be a more inspiring experience to work next to them. That’s how it was and the other YB guys were all on the same page”. Matt joined the band in 2004 and can certainly be said to exemplify Joe’s tip of the day, “make sure you can play with some guts”.

For Matt, his travels took him many times to New Orleans where he could experience the tradition and great bands down there. When that happened he says, “The light bulb finally turned on in terms of how this instrument can be played”.

The most important thing for an improvising trombonist to know, according to Joe, is that they can have a ‘bag of licks’.

He says, “Learn that hot run you heard that trumpeter play over that five chord, memorise that Fred Wesley funk solo and play it the next time a band asks you to sit in. Build a back catalogue of solid ideas and from those will be seeds that grow with your DNA all over it. Eventually you have a sound that is directly evolved from our influences. And when you are in your, twentieth solo of the night, you’re on your sixth gin and tonic, you are mentally exhausted, BUT you’ve still got a couple of arrows in the quiver.

Touring across the world has presented Youngblood with situations that would push anyone to their limits. You couldn’t make it up! During their first tour of Europe, Youngblood crossed paths with G8 protesters in Bern, Switzerland and their venue was filled with tear gas. Perhaps Joe had to utilise his ‘bag of licks’ when the show went on about five hours late, “It was cool, but having to blow trombone with a terrible sore throat was hell”.

Matt points out that preparation for each tour is key, in order for this to be successful.

The success of Youngblood Brass Band is not solely down to the band’s musical expertise. Behind the scenes, the band has delivered incredible achievements by learning and building on what they know. “Through our 20 years as a band we’ve been duped, lied to, cheated and burgled. There are SO many mistakes to be made. You learn from them, but they all set you back. We’re still learning but with all the struggles, we’ve been through them together and we’re the only guys that know how hard we’ve worked, what we’ve dealt with and how it felt when things got really low. We were all there too when big breaks and positive moments happened, so all that has defined us”. No doubt many can relate to these life lessons.

Perhaps less so to being hit in the face with a dirty toilet plunger, as was the case involving the two drummers during an unfortunate toilet encounter. As Matt said, “Space vanishes quickly with a ten person band”. There is reportedly a ‘Vine’, online video, of this event.

‘Do it if you love it, but not to get rich or famous…’

This may or may not have been the type of thing Matt is talking about when he says, “The smaller and the sweatier the club, the better!” It is certainly proof of Joe’s conviction when he says, “Do it if you love it, but not to get rich or famous. Anything with the potential for wealth or fame will already have at least seven other players before they add a trombone into the mix.”

Both Matt and Joe agree that the Youngblood Brass Band can be one of the hardest blows and that the pad demands respect whilst touring. The tours are packed full of gigs to ensure they are financially viable therefore practice time is at a premium.

Despite this, keeping the horn away from the face between shows can be what is required to keep things from being “100% intense, face-inflating Youngblood blowing”.

Joe’s final thought, “Substance over technicality. The trombone is so similar to a human voice, I can’t stand this whispery indie rock stuff and I also hate to hear doodley, apologetic trombone jazz. I’m not saying, “Play loud!” because I know I play way too loud with Youngblood, but embrace the beauty of the instrument’s tone quality. Behold how it can speak to an audience. Convey a feeling. Scare a child… Whatever, haha.”

Equipment: Both Joe Goltz and Matt Hanzelka use Jupiter XO series 1032R with Bach 7C mouthpiece For more information on the band and to purchase their CDs and merchandise please go to: www.youngbloodbrassband.com or scan the QR code.

‘Make sure you can play with some guts’ 19

spring 2015 the trombonist

Maniacal 4 Stephen Wick meets this sensational group.

I first heard of Maniacal 4 a year or so ago, when I was told that I should look at their recordings on YouTube. I did check them out and was blown away by this original and versatile group of trombone players. They originally got together at in Denton at the University of North Texas, home of the famous Grammy Award – winning One O’ Clock Lab Band.

Maniacal 4 are an insanely talented group of players who can move effortlessly through different genres from classical to jazz, Latin and rock. M4 performs its concerts exclusively from memory, projecting, in their words, a “clear, unified, uplifting and committed musical vision on a par with great CHAMBER ensembles” (their emphasis!).

I was thrilled when we were able to sign them up as Denis Wick Artists. Three of them (Nick Laufer, Carl Lundgren and Matt Jefferson) play Denis Wick Heritage mouthpieces, and Alex Dubrov plays a Denis Wick Classic.

on Wayward Son’ featuring amazing solos from Alex, using a distortion pedal in an uncanny imitation of a wailing lead guitar, and pounding bass trombone lines from Matt. Nick, in his own words, takes on the ‘heavy lifting’ of most of the lead parts. Carl contributes some beautifully-phrased, lyrical lines and is responsible for the brilliant arrangements.

They are a very modern group, totally at ease with all the modern gadgets such as Go-Pros and Zooms and extremely able at social media, which has enabled them to create a very wide audience for their work in a very short time.

As well as being Denis Wick Artists they have been taken up

by Besson, and all play Courtois trombones. They are doing much to promote these instruments around the USA.

I had a chance to meet them at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago this winter (a great show for hearing outstanding brass playing), and I have to report that they sound even better live than they do in recordings! It was great to meet the guys: they are all very modest and quietly funny, and obviously enjoy each other’s company and the success of the group.

One surprise was that I was expecting them to be American, and, in fact, Nick is the only one actually born in the USA. Matt is Canadian, as is Carl, who was brought up speaking both Swedish (his family is from Sweden) and English. Alex is from the Ukraine, but moved to Texas at the age of ten.

Maniacal 4 are a phenomenon! They have become a YouTube sensation with millions of hits including over 1,142,000 for their inspirational version of the 1974 prog rock hit ‘Carry 20

Their playing and arranging are distinctive and original, and they have the knack of communicating music in the most natural way. Audiences love their shows. They have a CD out entitled ‘Carry On’ and I urge you to hear it!

jazz by jeremy

Rhyme what you play!

By Jeremy Price

“Rhyme what you play!” I’m quoting Joe Lovano, the jazz tenor saxophone colossus of our time. Last year he came into the Jazz Department at Birmingham Conservatoire for his third masterclass visit. I love having Joe as a guest as he always comes out with these sorts of memorable gems. It’s the sort of thing you can tell yourself on gigs or while practicing. It can be the voice in your head reminding you, “Come on! Rhyme what you play!” If you can focus on it, you can move away from playing all your old licks again, stop you playing from habit and make you really listen to what you are doing and compose melody in the moment.

I think as improvisers we are all trying to get into a space where you are playing in the most melodic way you can. Melody is King! (or is it cash is King, I forget sometimes?) How do you turn your scale resources, guide tones, learned licks and your harmonic solutions into actual music? How do you stop the barrage of meaningless notes all strung together in a noise that resembles jazz but actually communicates very little? The answer? - Rhyme what you play!

Try this: Play a phrase. Make it coherent with a good beginning, middle and end. Not too long so you can remember every note of what you just did. Now take a fragment of it as your starting

point for the next phrase. There will be a nice connection between the two phrases, so now keep the same concept for your third phrase. By now you’ve played three phrases of a similar length, probably in the same register, so you’ll need to change something. Just do something different. If your phrase mainly went up, go down and vice versa of course. If you played something with a hard articulation, play something soft.

If it was a string of quavers, play some crotchets and minims. You must be towards the end of a chorus by now.

So now what are you going to do?

Rumble on in the same vain for a second chorus?! Keep the narrative going.

Change the gear of the energy, use dynamics and contrasting range.

Play around with variety of phrase lengths. Link the phrases in some way.

If you like a piece of music, regardless of style or genre, I bet it has the above qualities to the melody. There will be a type of repetition that draws you in and makes you wait for a change and when that change arrives it will satisfy, intrigue and delight. You’ll want to hear it again.

Speech patterns work very closely with jazz language. The natural rise and fall of the human voice with a patter of varying consonants and vowels makes a kind music in its own right.

to me! zz a j e k li Sounds

Writers of poetry and plays tend to emphasise this music in spoken language and it is interesting to start to listen to the likes of Keats, Laurie Lee, Martin Luther King, Seamus Heaney in terms of just musical shape rather than the meaning. They sound like jazz to me!

Now, if you are going to stay in this zone while improvising you need a lot of poise and control. You need a continued presence of mind and extreme grace under pressure. It needs certain conditions; a listening audience, a certain level of rhythm section. The masters of jazz can do it, and spend a life pursuing it. So where does that leave us mere mortals? Well, I think it’s a percentage game. Do it as much as you can, and try and increase the amount of time you can stay this focused. Be satisfied with improvement and direction. If you can muster one chorus of this intensity, that’s a small personal victory.

Then aim for one solo per gig that you were totally focused on and before you know it, that’s the way that you play.

You’ve all seen the “jazz face”, the contorted grimace of an artist in deep concentration, that possessed look as if you’re never going to come up for air again. Now you know why it’s done: to get deep down into a meditative state in order to “Rhyme what you play!”.

Thank you Joe. 21

autumn2015 2014the thetrombonist trombonist spring

afraid to turn the page...

by Peter M Chester

Imagine you are a professional player at the top of your game: you are playing with the best, you have a full diary, a happy, secure and growing family - life is good. One day, you begin to notice that your playing is not quite how you want it to be.

Your sound is not as it was, parts of your range seem to be disappearing, your embouchure is not as secure as it should be.

Quite naturally perhaps, you get anxious, afraid of turning the page, in case there’s something there you can’t play. All very unnerving; to reveal your problems could cost you the job you love. Yet the more you try to put it right, the more you force your muscles to work, the worse it gets.

This was the experience of Ashley Horton, a freelance trombone player with the BBC Big Band since 2007. Ashley has played with a variety of ensembles over the past ten years, with the John Wilson Orchestra, the RLPO, the CBSO, the Hallé, and had lots of session Ashley Horton and show work as well. But whilst on a 2010 tour of Strictly Come Dancing’s “The Professionals”, the symptoms outlined above became so bad he had to make the difficult decision to stop working, and he very quickly slipped into clinical depression. He even considered giving up playing altogether, but as he realised, “the trombonist within” wanted to keep playing, so he had to find a way out of the dilemma.

Without at first appreciating it, Ashley was experiencing what some call ‘focal dystonia’. ‘Dystonia’ is the term used 22

to describe uncontrollable muscle spasms caused by faulty signals from the brain, resulting in muscles being incapable of functioning as one might expect. There are in fact different types of dystonia, the term ‘focal’ referring to a condition affecting a precise area of the body, such as the hand.

Indeed there are professional pianists and guitarists who have experienced this condition. Although the condition is not fatal, even the Dystonia Society in Britain says there is not yet a cure and some formal medical literature refers to botox and other aggressive treatments for the malfunctioning muscles.

All somewhat alarming to the sufferer no doubt, but the question still remained for Ashley - how to fight this debilitating and frightening condition?

Ashley found the answer in the guidance of Professor Joaquin Fabra. There are a number of individuals who have a variety of approaches to treating this condition, but Professor Fabra is significant for at least two reasons – he is a trombone player and he has experienced the condition himself. Furthermore, crucially for Ashley and the other players across the world who have followed his guidance, Professor Fabra has led them back to playing again without any recourse to invasive medical procedures.

Professor Fabra told the BTS more about his approach in a recent interview: How did you come to work in this field of focal dystonia?

Please, I do not call it focal dystonia. I prefer to call this condition dystonic syndrome. I don’t accept it is a neurological disorder, as some areas of the medical community do.

When I was 21, I had just joined the Madrid Symphonic Band, and a colleague suggested that I could perfect my technique by taking lessons with a particular highly-acclaimed trombone player. I worked with him, trying what he wanted me to do, but very soon I was experiencing severe difficulties in

‘There are in fact different types of dystonia…’ configuring my embouchure, releasing the air flow, and even producing the sound. It was not working at all so I decided to quit those ‘classes’, hoping to rediscover my natural way of playing.

I talked to several renowned trombone players, all distinguished teachers in Spain, but unfortunately none had experience concerning my problem. So, I had to find my own way forward if I wanted to continue in music.

What is your own musical background?

I studied euphonium at the Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Valencia under the guidance of D. Joaquin Vidal Pedrós, obtaining the highest qualifications and the prize awarded to the best student. Later, I also took classes with my good friend D. Benjamin Esparza Gil, a great trombone player and soloist of the RTVE Symphony.

I joined the Madrid Symphonic Band in 1982, but I had also been playing trombone with the Orquesta Nacional, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, and other Orchestras in Madrid, Valladolid and Oviedo, so my professional career was taking off.

Can we generalize about the causes of the condition?

As far as this condition affects musicians, the causes are crystal clear to me. When I talk with a musician, in the first recovery session, I almost always see a strong, obsessive and deep-rooted emotional involvement with the ‘problem’.

It is that emotional condition which after time gives rise to the manifestation of the symptoms.

How does the condition manifest itself?

It manifests physiologically in many ways, mostly to do with tension, depending on how the musician has tried to neutralize it or fight against it.

Such manifestations include: involuntary contractions, spasms around the embouchure, general instability or collapse in the embouchure, difficulty in sustaining long notes, difficulty when tonguing, delayed attacks on notes, tension in the corners of the mouth and leaks of air, abnormal and exaggerated tension in the diaphragm leading to closure of the epiglottis.

On the emotional side, there is deep worry, anxiety, fear, desperation, even depression. All these can be evident.

What are the key features of your approach to the treatment?

The dystonic syndrome is not something that one ‘suffers’.

It is not an illness or malady, but the consequence of a mismanagement of a musician’s playing, one that involves both technique and the psychological aspects of playing.

Understanding this is essential and makes it possible to dispel many prejudices or false assumptions.

The musician has to learn the true meaning of tension.

Tension is something that impedes natural or voluntary motor control. Tension must not be seen as something to control or repress movement but it should be interpreted as a warning, more or less severe, to the player that something is not working properly.

What do ‘sufferers’ have to do?

They must learn to be aware of what they were doing before they had experienced any difficulty, in order to ‘reset the system’. It is not easy and some find it very difficult to recognise this, but if that goal is made the real priority they will succeed.

Technically speaking, they must stop interfering with tension, stop forcing muscles affected by tension to ‘obey’, because that is virtually impossible. It makes no sense to look for relaxation while fighting against tension.

Continues on the following page.

‘It manifests physiologically in many ways, mostly to do with tension…’

Professor Joaquin Fabra

23

afraid to turn the page... continued...

Can it re-occur after treatment and if so how can the ‘sufferer’ deal with it?

Yes, it can return. The sensitivity of these musicians to the condition is high for sometime after recovery and they may be caught unawares, but there is no need to panic. They know that there is a way back, so the second time should be much easier than the first.

Can players who have not experienced it approach their playing and their work in such a way as to prevent it happening to them?

Sure, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

In fact this is my dream - to prevent musicians from unnecessary suffering. If only they were always really aware of enjoying what they do above all, playing, almost child-like if you like, then 90% of the problems would disappear in no time at all.

When an experienced musician starts coming across unusual difficulties they should reflect on why their knowledge is not helping them find a solution. In other words, think about it what information am I missing or ignoring?

After almost three decades working on this, I think all the musicians I’ve met show a variety of fears that they have been gathering, not natural fears but psychological ones, just below the level of consciousness.

When an unacceptable level of these fears has been accumulated, problems concerning muscular tensions arise and start making performance more difficult.

This aggravates the situation, giving the musician even more to worry about and reinforcing the psychological pattern, creating a loop from which it is difficult to escape.

Crucially, however, we must not to fall into the trap of applying artificial procedures that have nothing to do with the disorder, such as botox or some sort of medication concerning Parkinson’s Disease. These will ruin the musician’s career.

Without breaking any confidences, have you had any cases that have been especially satisfying or especially difficult?

Yes, both in fact. I could write a book about them. Sometimes unexpected results happen in both directions and the player and I need to do a good deal of searching to find the causes.

But there is almost always an answer from a psychological standpoint, something in the player’s background, sometimes something very light, other times extremely heavy.

There isn’t any rule about how the progress will happen because it depends on many elements. But most problems disappear as we retrace our steps. We have to undo what we have done wrong, but do it consciously and logically, without emotion. We need to reset our natural way of playing. Players who come to me already have the skills they need and must remember that they can do it, and control those anxieties and emotions which might be telling them they can’t.

So what of Ashley Horton? He is playing again, as he was before that dreadful summer of 2010 and he acknowledges a huge debt of gratitude to Professor Fabra for the help he received. Alongside that of course Ashley acknowledges unwavering support from his wife and family, friends in the profession, and organisations such as the Musicians Benevolent Fund who helped him through the pressing problem of being unable to work for 18 months.

In his own recovery Ashley found himself practicing for long hours, but approaching his playing with a new mindset, one that did not dwell on errors and refused to attach negative emotions to what he was hearing. In his words, he learned the technique of ‘dis-association’ – stepping back from a technical problem – but using his undoubted skills to deal with problems calmly, rationally and without fear. Professor Fabra had helped him realize he was paying more attention to his anxiety than to his playing. By not dwelling on the negative he has been able to return to doing what he always wanted to do – play the trombone.

Perhaps it is in that phrase ‘PLAYING the trombone’ that we can all learn something and remind ourselves of what we need to remember when we pick up the instrument? After all, who wants to WORK the trombone?!

More information on the work of Professor Joaquin Fabra can be found on websites such as www.focaldystonia.co.uk/#/joaquin-fabra and www.musiciandystonia.com . To watch interviews with him about his work on YouTube, scan the QR code.

25

sprng 2015 the trombonist

by Roger Argente

d?

Can we start with your backgroun of 10.

I started playing the trombone at the age a At 13-14 I decided that I wanted to become ing semiplay ed start I 16 at and professional musician doubling professional gigs, mainly playing tenor but ed to mov and 19 at ge bass trombone. I went to colle later , bone trom r teno Malmö, majoring in classical ical work as switching to bass trombone. Still doing class classical the ed well as big band and pop, I finally ditch I jazz. on world after graduating and focused more d of soun and found it was too hard to achieve the kind and jazz response I was looking for in my big band s, so I let chop ical class my ning playing whilst still retai ted. wan I it go in order to get it the way Tell us where you work? n Rundfunks I work at the Big Band des Westdeutsche public (WDR) Big Band, one of the few remaining any. service radio big bands in Cologne, Germ in your Any particular events stand out career? t on tour with One absolute highpoint was when we wen a fantastic just and Joe Zawinul, an amazing musician I’ve gotten ers guy too. I also cherish the great bass play Christian to play with here, our own John Goldsby, Curtis, Steve McBride, Will Lee, Linley Marthe, Skeet t drummers Swallow, Mark Egan to name a few. Grea Adam , bers Cham nis Den as well: Peter Erskine, e Weckl.

Dav d, Ziya m Kari Nussbaum, Marcio Bahia, by and, s drum and The relationship between bass to how I rtant impo extension, the bass trombone is very perceive the music.

A “normal” working week? rehearsing A typical production consists of running and copying the new charts, making sure there are no the last day of On . rded reco mistakes. Everything is then ramme, prog the of gh rehearsals we do a full run-throu cally Typi erts. conc also recorded, and then we play 2-3 es etim Som er. the writer/arranger is also the bandlead rd reco we re we’ll do a straight studio production whe ga bein is on for broadcasting purposes only. The focus performing jazz orchestra.

26

Mattis Cederberg ?

What about doubling instruments o, Tuba I double on Tuba, Euphonium and Cimbass I mainly ed start I being the most common one. When F Tuba. to ch played Bb Tuba but it felt natural to swit the big I also find the Bb Tuba to be a bit heavy in out the Haag band setting. I had the opportunity to try It’s a cimbasso by Franz Monschau and loved it. and hear it on y rentl diffe e different voice. I improvis most that is gle strug things differently. My biggest re it’s whe and like ds writers don’t know what it soun it ds, dwin woo strengths lie. I love it as a link to the bass ra blends great with bass, contra alto and cont the bass clarinets and it also sounds beautiful with d what the flute. It’s a mission of mine, to show the worl asso videos possibilities are. That’s why I post my cimb m/user/ on my YouTube channel! (www.youtube.co cimbassonista) Trombone heroes? ach. J.J. has J.J. Johnson, Eje Thelin and Bill Reichenb zing timing, the greatest, funkiest sound and such ama ct mix between always swinging so hard. Eje is the perfe a direction freedom and control, taking the music in s work in Bill’ . have ers play that very few trombone a teenager, as mind my Jerry Hey’s horn section blew & Fire and d Win h, Eart all those great recordings with I was me. on Michael Jackson made a strong mark years few a and lucky enough to do a workshop in Holl on, Vern lie back, together with Czaba Wagner and Char truly was hearing Charlie play and talk about music inspiring.

What do you like listening to? funk. I love I’m fairly eclectic with a core in jazz and is, James Harr e Stevie Wonder, Pharoah Sanders, Eddi s, Sun Jone Brown, Esquivel, Tito Puente, Elvis, Tom on me with Ra, Herb Alpert, music that reverberates ical class the some level, the genre is less important. On side it’s Bach, Satie or Steve Reich.

The Bass Bone Files : TOP SECRET

Bass Bone Files

Two inspirations: One musical. One non-musical?

Musical inspiration: Eddie Harris, such a great mix of the jazz language paired with the impeccable funk groove.

Non-Musical: Mohammad Ali, unafraid, smart and at the very top of his field. It takes courage to risk everything for what you believe in.

How do you relax?

I spend a lot of time with my wife and kids, I love to read books and I love comics. This is a great time for comic books with so many great artists and writers out there. I also really enjoy cooking.

Your view of the diverse nature of the bass trombone today?

I think that there’s been a tendency to focus on the concrete side of the instrument, both in ways of hardware as well as playing. Things are changing though, there are amazing soloists on the classical side, playing incredibly difficult repertoire. There’s been an incredible development on the tenor trombone side in jazz, but the bass trombone is still lagging behind.

For all those Boneheads out there that just need to know, what type of mouthpieces and instruments do you use?

My main axe is a veritable “frankenbone”. A silver plated Edwards 987 bell section with Hagmann valve s, a Haag carbon fibre slide. I love it dearly and named it “Ginsberg”. On the bass I play a Monette BT-1, on the tuba a custom G&W. Pet hates?

I hate ignorance, stupidity and ineptitude; it drives me nuts when people don’t think!

Favourite composers?

The Bass Bone Files : TOP SECRET

Photograph courtesy of Lieve Boussauw

Keeping your chops in shape?

At home I mostly play cimbasso, I always come back to the Bach Cello suites, Bordogni and playing along with jazz records. On work days I get to the studio at 8 or so starting by sitting at the piano, playing chords and buzzing along in the mouthpiece. After buzzing, I go through the range on the trombone and the parts of the day.

Website? www.quesonegro.com Any new CD releases?

Not new, but there’s two CD’s with my band Sonic Mechatronic Arkestra, called Mechatronycon and Overunity.

Your playlist?

James Brown: In a Jungle Groove Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On Eddie Harris: Come On Down Joao Donato: A Bad Donato Hermeto Pascoal: Slaves Mass Stevie Wonder: Talking Book Elvis Presley: In Person at the International Hotel Max Siegel: Siphonophore Thanks so much for taking part in this interview Matti s and for sharing your world with us, I’m just sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk about Raul Batista Romero … maybe next time :)) Please visit the website or scan the qr code for a fuller version of this interview.

It’s always great to work with Maria Schneider and Vince Mendoza.

27

Ian Bousfield Tenor Trombone Competition First prize: A brand new Getzen 4147 Ian Bousfield model Tenor Trombone two runner up prizes: Ian Bousfield mouthpiece

Win a GETZEN 4147IB

Open to all Tenor Trombone players aged 30 and under.

All details of the competition can be found on the BTS website: www.britishtrombonesociety.org

t e s a n Wi s e t u m of each!

trombone quartet Competition First prize: A full set of 16 mutes for the winning quartet.

Open to all ages and abilities.

All details of the competition can be found on the BTS website: www.britishtrombonesociety.org 28

g risin s star

Rising stars: hannah stell How old were you when you started playing the trombone, and why did you choose it?

I was eight when I began playing the tenor trombone. My cousin used to play trombone too; I heard him play a solo at a band concert and this inspired me to take up the trombone.

Who are your teachers?

My current teacher is Katy Jones, Principal Trombone, HallĂŠ Orchestra.

What music do you like to play and listen to?

I like all different styles of music, especially improvisation. I also enjoy listening to pieces with a good melody.

What make of instrument to you play?

Rath R4 Bb F Tenor Trombone.

Would you like a career in music?

At the moment I am undecided but I think I would like to study to become an architect. I am still keeping my options open and want to continue to develop with my trombone and music.

Hopefully this may give me a chance to travel the world playing a variety of styles of music, either within groups or as a soloist.

What are your other hobbies?

I enjoy hockey and athletics and represent my school at sports.

Also I love to read and play the piano. I am currently working towards my ABRSM Grade 7 piano.

Hannah Stell

What is the single best thing for you about playing the trombone?

Name/Age/Current School/Grade

The diversity of the instrument. One minute I am playing brass band music, the next quartet music, then jazz and now a little orchestral.

My name is Hannah Stell.

I am 15 years old. I am currently studying at Shelley College, West Yorkshire. I achieved ABRSM Grade 8 at the age of 13 with a distinction

Which orchestras or bands do you play with at the moment?

Skelmanthorpe Brass Band (solo trombone) championship section.

Black Dyke Youth Trombone Quartet.

I am a member of the 2015 National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain.

Recently been invited to join the NYO inspire programme.

Kirklees Youth Jazz Orchestra .

Shelley College Jazz Band.

Yorkshire Youth Brass Band.

Camping and Caravanning Club Brass Band.

29

spring 2015 the trombonist

Mike Buchanan

TROMBONISTS

ISLAND DIScS

Choosing a list of top CDs was always going to be tricky since there’s so much awesome stuff out there that makes me think each time, “Wow, everyone has GOT to hear this!”

So rather than settling for a specific list across records and genres, I thought, sticking with Classical, I’d do each album as representative of an artist that I really love and admire.

Here we go: David Oistrakh - Brahms: Concerto and 3rd Violin Sonata (with George Szell/Vladimir Yampolsky) My favourite (and, it seems, everyone else’s) violinist.

The 2nd movement of the 3rd sonata is the most breathtakingly expressive and moving playing I’ve ever heard, probably on any instrument. It’s on Youtube as a video, go watch!

Julia Fischer - Bach: Partitas and Sonatas for Solo Violin I love the way she approaches all her playing, but especially Bach.

It’s obviously very informed historically, which is wonderful, but without her seeming to feel the need to pretend she’s got a wig on at the same time (if you follow…).

Her Chaconne in the 2nd Partita is the best demonstration of allowing a structure to be expressive in itself that I’ve ever heard…and apparently she managed to record the whole 16 minute movement in one take without any splices!

Maria Callas - Puccini: Madama Butterfly (with Herbert von Karajan/Orchestra of La Scala I think Maria Callas is one of the very greatest artists (not just musicians) of the 20th Century, and this is one of her greatest recordings. While everyone has to admit that her sound suits some tastes and not others, her acting abilities, vocal flexibility and above all, her musicianship is, for me, totally unmatched… just imagine if we could all go and watch her at the cinema!

Waltraud Meier - Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (with Siegfried Jerusalem/Daniel Barenboim/Berlin Philharmonic) Waltraud Meier was the singer that made me love whole Wagner operas and not just the bits when the singers aren’t barking. I love her approach to making a sound that can carry over a huge bawling orchestra without seeming to be declaring it a ‘Big’ voice, which can often be unwieldy. Her vibrato isn’t wide enough to boot an elephant through (I hate that!) but is fast and totally flexible: at times gentle, at others completely ‘Wagner-end-of-the-world-style’ electric. There’s a recording of her doing the Liebestod from Tristan in Munich (in 1997) – I’d never seen anything like it before!

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Martha Argerich - Beethoven: 2nd and 3rd Piano Concertos (with Claudio Abbado/Mahler Chamber Orchestra) Argerich’s musical creativity and flexibility is just crazy.

I once read on the back of a CD of hers, where she said something like “whenever I perform, I take the piece I’m playing right out onto a limb, just to make sure I never play it the same”.

I’d probably not believe most people if they said that – whether amazing or not – but when you hear her you just know it’s true. The Beethoven disc reflects this so well: it’s free and wild, with every note just packed to the brim with life. It’s so exciting to hear.

Mahler: 6th Symphony (by Mariss Jansons/London Symphony Orchestra) This one doesn’t quite fit in with the whole artist-scheme going on, but I love the recording because it was the first Mahler I ever properly listened to.

Everyone seems to have that Mahlermoment of discovering how awesome the pieces are, and mine happened listening to this recording.

I remember the slow movement ending and thinking “What.

WHAT.” I was so lost for words, it was great. It is such an amazing recording of it too, so a lucky one to pick as the first Mahler…

how to multitrack

by Christopher Bill

In a two-part article, we talk to Christopher Bill, American trombonist who has over 65,000 subscribers and over 7.5 millions views on YouTube, to give us his top tips about using tech.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, I’m Christopher Bill. In 2012 I started creating YouTube videos of my trombone quartet arrangements, though they wouldn’t be noticed for another two years. In lieu of three other trombonists with the same goals in mind, I started down the path of using technology to create music that would otherwise be an impossibility. If this interests you, I started with very little money, resources, or knowledge.

All you need is the desire and dedication of time. You’ll save some money and regrets if you make sure the musical idea decides the purchase, and not the other way around. When I began, I used Audacity (free recording software), an SM58 (standard studio microphone), and a USB interface (a way to connect the two) I found used on ebay.

First, decide what your goal is.

Do you want to experiment with looping yourself and playing in real time?

Do you want to record yourself practicing for reference and a boost in efficiency? Maybe you have ambitions more like my own and you want to produce high quality listening experiences without having to rent out studio time. Whatever the case, we live in the age of information and everything I’ve needed to learn is accessible on specialized forums, tutorial videos, and communities on social media.

Some recommendations, accessible items useful for beginners, yet powerful tools: Loopy for iPhone/iPad and LoopStack for Android are apps that allow you to instantly record in real time and loop it over yourself, as well as manipulate the recorded samples.

To take this simple setup to the next level, you can invest in an XLR adapter for your device. This will allow you to record through your phone/tablet using a quality microphone. Although you can always use the internal microphone to record your practice, rehearsals, and lessons, I do recommend getting the upgrade. It will sound much more realistic and dynamic, which is worth the expense.

Finally, multitracking. Multitracking refers to the technique of recording the parts to a piece that was meant to be performed by an ensemble, but just because you can record yourself and layer it doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Multitracking can be an amazing learning tool. It will teach you about your intonation tendencies and timing inconsistencies, and many other undesirable qualities will become (painfully) evident. It also allows you to get into a professional “performance mode” mentality while in the practice room. It is valuable practice for recording sessions, sight reading, and helps with performance anxiety.

take of interpretation, and even just the drive to perform at a high level of excellence with your peers. If you’re concerned I’m going to suddenly stop the multitracking that I’m known for, I’m not. I’m able to have my creativity come to fruition exactly how it is in my head, and all of the musicians have the same goals! At the end of the day, I love multitracking and technology for allowing me to share my music with the world, but none of it could ever replace the experience of performing with other musicians. Enjoy it, use it to your advantage, but don’t take the joy of performing with others for granted!

To be continued…

To watch clips of Christopher, scan this QR code. Or visit his website: www.classicaltrombone.com

the desire is d e e n u o y ‘All ion of time’ and dedicat

‘First, decide what your goal is’ As an artform, however, it is lacking.

It’s fun and exciting that I can create and produce arrangements without needing other musicians, but playing with other musicians is what makes music jump from a series of tones to something that means a lot more. Blatantly missing from the experience are the interpersonal unspoken connections made through performing, the give and 31

Learn to play some Urbie!

transcribed

by Rob Egerton

The ‘x’s are ghost notes that are implied more than played. The semiquaver triplets towards the end were probably played in the alternate positions 5-4-3 (Bb-A-Ab) in order for the break in harmonics to provide the articulation.

To view Rob’s YouTube Channel and a whole host of transcribed solos, scan this QR Code with any QR code reader app on your smartphone:

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spring 2015 the trombonist

TROMBONISTS HANDBOOK Top tips from travelling trombonists.

City/Town: LEEDS Gig venues:

Places to park:

Leeds Town Hall (TH) The Headrow, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 3AD

TH:

Lots of on-street parking in the area, but car park recommendations include: The Light Car Park (accessible via Great George Street). 5.30pm - midnight £6.50 or Woodhouse Lane Car Park: 24/7 £2 for 2hrs, £3 for 3hrs, £4 for 4hrs, £5.50 for 12hrs

GT:

Trafalgar Street Car Park, Trafalgar Street, Leeds, LS2 7BF Mon-Fri 24/7 All Day £7.00 Saturday 24/7 All Day £5.00 Sunday 24/7 All Day £3.00

Restaurants: TH: Grand Theatre (GT) 46 New Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 6NZ

Da Mario’s, 105 The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 5JW Speed: 15-30mins Price: ££ Tel No. 0113 246 0390 Cuisine: Italian

GT:

Akbar’s,15 Eastgate, Leeds, LS2 7LY Speed: 30-50mins Price: ££ Tel No. 0113 245 6566 Cuisine: Indian

Good pubs: TH:

Veritas Ale & Wine Bar, 43-47 Great George Street Leeds LS1 3BB (Market Town Taverns Pub) BTS Beer Recommendations: Regular: Mary Jane

GT:

The White Swan, Leeds, LS1 6LG (Leeds Brewery Pub) BTS Beer Recommendations: Leeds Pale/Leeds Best

Little known fact:

In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a major centre for the production and trading of wool.

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reviews michael dease relentless

Non-Stop Zoltan Kiss

The latest offering from Michael Dease not only showcases his talent as a world-class trombone player and composer but also as an accomplished big band arranger, MD and vocalist.

‘Non-Stop’ is the second solo album from the Hungarian trombonist Zoltan Kiss. Kiss says:

Reviewed by Jon Stokes

The band features some New York heavies, including Tom ‘Bones’ Malone, Seneca Black, Greg Gisbert and Diego Riviera to name a few. This makes for a storming band with tight ensemble as well as imaginative soloists.

This experience is represented in the sound of the album, which is clean, polished and produced with surgical precision.

With a selection of sublime Dease originals alongside choice standards such as the Dorsey’s I’m Glad There Is You and Duke Pearson’s Is That So, there is something for everyone. Expect effortless lines punctuated with roaring shout choruses exemplified in Webster Grooves as well as taxing soli passages, for the trombones in particular in The Takeover.

Autumn Leaves features the instantly recognisable talents of Wycliffe Gordon on trombone. His refreshing exuberance is a great addition to the album, along with his scat vocal contributions on the Lewis/Gillespie tune Two Bass Hit. Although this album offers nothing challenging for the listener, it is a great example of a roaring, contemporary big band album with some epic writing, classy ensemble playing and fierce soloists, including the virtuosic stylings of Dease himself.

Reviewed by Rupert Whitehead

“My goal for the album was to present some daring repertoire not originally intended for trombone...” This is certainly achieved. The album opens with Carl Oestrich’s Concertino for Horn. In this piece there are many challenges presented for the player, each of which is skillfully navigated by Kiss.

The Carnival of Venice shows off some mind-boggling pyrotechnics which will leave you wondering if that really is a trombone that you’re hearing, especially in the final variation.

In An die Musik, Kiss shows a different side of his playing. Here he plays with beauty and warmth in this tribute to the great art of music. There is real style and energy in Corrado Maria Saglietti’s El Tanguero, and Jacek Obstarczyk’s rhythmic and driving piano is a treat throughout this tango.

The album’s finale is the thoroughly entertaining Figaro del trombone.

Here we have Rossini with interruptions from Beethoven (featuring an excellent horn impression), David, Mozart, Williams, Ravel (this is getting rather silly…) a trip to South America and back via France and Liverpool, not to mention some singing and trumpet playing!

In this piece Kiss’s personality and humour shine through!

ews i v e r

Beyond The Trombone Guillaume Varupenne

Reviewed by Simon Minshall After becoming Principal Bass Trombone of the Orchestra of Paris Opera National de Paris at the age of 20, Guillaume Varupenne has gone on to become one of the most established players of his generation.

His debut album ‘Beyond the Trombone’ heavily features the music of Daniel Schnyder, including his superb work Worlds Beyond.

Guillaume is in fact the first French Bass Trombonist to record any of Schnyder’s works.

Throughout the album Guillaume’s powerful and dark tone can be heard in abundance, but it is in his delicate approach to the Fauré that shows his real musicianship.

The CD sees collaborations with fellow members of his orchestra and this adds a refreshingly different sound world to the album.

To buy and read more about Guillaume please go to guillaumevarupennebasstrombone.com.

Scan the QR code to watch the promotional video for Zoltan’s album.

35

Photography courtesy of Betina Skovbro

G&T

Matthew Gee from the RPO and Mark Templeton from the LPO share with us their selection of orchestral highlights for the trombone this spring.

by Matthew Gee & Mark Templeton Hello and welcome back to another round up of what’s happening in the orchestral world over the next few months. You’ll find a few old favourites and some newcomers to G&T this season, but as ever, we’ve tried to select concerts that will appeal to all those who like beef on the bone. So go and get your diary, and see if you can make it along to any of these concerts.

MT

LPO: April 15th, 7.30pm, Royal Festival Hall, London Robin Ticciati makes his LPO London debut conducting Bruckner’s 4th Symphony. As you’d expect with Bruckner, we’ll have some chorale work to do and some big melodies thrown in with some massive climaxes and moments of real beauty.

Philharmonia: April 16th, 7.30pm, Royal Festival Hall, London A real treat this one. Respighi’s tone poems Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome on the same bill. A good display of power in both these works; A good test for the whole brass section.

LSO: April 30th, 7.30pm, Barbican, London Tugan Sokhiev, another great young conductor, makes his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra doing Tchaikovski’s 4th Symphony.

Quite a dark symphony this one. One of the trickiest bits is the simple sounding march; a good test of ensemble playing this movement.

RPO: May 6th, 7.30pm, Royal Festival Hall, London Elgar’s Cockaigne overture and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast bring a glorious bit of England to the concert diary here. There are several ways of interpreting Elgars portamento markings in Cockaigne depending on taste but anyone whose studied the excerpt will know

36

how tricky this little bit is. Belshazzar’s Feast is worthy of the title with 6 extra trombones in 2 stage bands, you’ll be spoilt for sound here.

That’s my bit done. Over to you Matt...

Thanks Mark, here is how the rest of the country looks:

CBSO: May 17th, 3pm, Symphony Hall, Birmingham Nelsons takes the CBSO through a staged performance of Wagner’s Parsifal. This extraordinary work requires the trombones to play with the lightest of touches throughout the entire work.

Hallé: April 16th, 7:30pm, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and BBC NOW: April 17th, 7:30pm, Brangwyn Hall, Swansea April 18th, 7:30pm, St. David’s Hall, Cardiff Both these orchestras perform Holst’s powerful work The Planets; the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder and the BBC under former trombone player Martyn Brabbins. Solid technique and a huge dynamic range are the core demands of the section, which also includes a Tenor Tuba...someone to keep the tuba player out of trouble!

RLPO: April 15th, 7:30pm, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool Just up the road Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel) will showcase yet more Tenor Tuba action, while the top trom. lays into some blood-curdling top C-naturals, before the section showcase their sonorous chorale playing.

BBC SSO: May 7th, 7:30pm, City Halls, Glasgow May 8th, 7:30pm, Music Hall, Aberdeen My star pick, Donald Runnicles conducts the huge brass forces in Janácek’s Sinfonietta and follows this with Shostakovich’s Symphony No.15. A great solo for Simon Johnson in a symphony that requires you to forget everything you thought you knew about the composer!

Follow Matt by visiting www.matthewgee.info or on Twitter @Geetrombone Follow Mark on Twitter @mbonetempleton

MT

MG

t’s a h w on

what’s on 18 March 20:1 5

17 March 10:00

Soul Tubes Rich Mix, Bethn al Green, London Funk, Soul & M otown played by 5 trombones! www.richmix.org .uk

nis Wick Masterclass with De on College of Music, Lond yal Ro , East Parry Room uired Free entry, but tickets req www.rcm.ac.uk

22 March 15:00

23 - 28 March

Gordon Campbell Big Band The Hawth, Crawley www.gordoncampbellmusic.co.uk

Christian Lindberg conducts the Ulster Orchestra Belfast, Northern Ireland www.tarrodi.se

24 March 13:00 Trinity Laban Symphon ic Brass Ensemble The Chapel, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich Free entry www.trinitylaban.ac.uk 28

27 March 20:00

March 10:00

Bromley Trombone Wo rkshop Bromley Temple Salvation Arm y Hall, BR1 1HU www.bromleytrombonework shop.org.uk

Young Brass Final of the BBC Radio 2 Award sic, Manchester Royal Northern College of Mu www.rncm.ac.uk

29 March 19:30

Gordon Campbell Big Band Birmingham Town Hall www.gordoncampbellmusic.co.uk

Bones Apart recital Market Hall, Appleby, Cumbria www.bonesapart.com

12 - 19 April

19 April National Youth Brass Band Championships Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester www.rncm.ac.uk

International Trombon e Week Got a trombone event runnin g during ITW? Submit it to ITW, and downlo ad music here: www.trombone.net/itw

:00 - 5:00 0 1 il r p A 6 25 & 2 7 June 10:00 16+) ourse (ages Weekend C s s a r B zz Ja e of Music Leeds Colleg ort-Courses /whats-on/Sh k u c. .a cm .l www

29 March 15:00

National Trombone Day Royal Academy of Music, London see page 7 for more details

7-11 July

International Trombone Festiv al Valenica, Spain www.itfvalencia20 15.com see page 7 for mor e details

Follow the BTS on Twitter: @britishtrombone and Like us on Facebook to receive regular dates for your diary. .Submit your own events on the BTS website www.britishtrombonesociety.org and they will be included on social media, the BTS website and right here in the magazine.

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spring 2015 the trombonist

fast talk...

60cond seterview in

Where has been your most favourite place to perform?

Small jazz clubs are always really enjoyable where there’s a great vibe, a decent piano and no need for much amplification.

What are you currently working on work-wise/ repertoire-wise?

I’m just finishing off an arrangement of If I Should Lose You for my five trombone band, ‘The Bone Supremacy’.

What’s your favourite colour?

Blue.

What’s your favourite food?

I like strong flavours, so anything spicy.

I really enjoy cooking.

Give us an interesting fact that people might not know about you…

Although I’m right-handed, I eat left-handed.

What’s your name?

Adrian Fry. What’s your current job?

Freelance trombonist and arranger.

What model of trombone(s) do you play?

Earl Williams Model Six (Donelson era).

What mouthpiece(s) do you play on?

Warburton 10M cup T5* shank.

How old were you when you started playing?

I started playing guitar when I was 6, then took up piano and finally trombone when I was about 11.

What is the best technical advice you could give a student?

Blow down the small end and point the big end at the crowd!

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What was the most amazing gig you’ve ever been involved in?

I really wouldn’t want to single one out.

That’s like asking someone “which of your children do you love the most?”

What was the last record you bought?

Bob Brookmeyer and the New Art Orchestra – ‘Standards’.

What is the best advice you could give someone who is just starting out freelancing?

Get yourself a reliable car, show up on time, play well and be happy.

What was your first pro gig and when?

I was about 15 and I started doing gigs with the Riverside Jazz Band, a respected local dixieland band. They did a lot of private function work so I was unusually well-off as a teenager.