John Hagstrom & Jay Friedman

tenorposaune · New Member Joined: 08 Feb 2005 Posts: 6

John Hagstrom (trumpet, CSO) wrote an article on Jay Friedman's (principal trombone, CSO) web site this month. He discusses various concepts in trumpet playing, and points out several important aspects Adolph Herseth's playing.

http://www.jayfriedman.net/reflections/20050208Trumpeting_Jay_Friedman.php

Derek Reaban · Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:50 am Post subject:

tenorposaune (Jay?),

Thanks so much for posting this article. I enjoy anything reading anything that John Hagstrom has written. The web site is fantastic too! Great pictures.

Thanks again!
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

trumpetgeezer · Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:17 am Post subject:

Thanks so much for posting this, great article....

Derek Reaban · Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:24 am Post subject:

Jay and John,

Thanks for sharing this message with all of us (I just finished reading the article). I remember when I first purchased Charles Vernon’s book entitled "A 'Singing' Approach to the Trombone (and other Brass)" and he touches on this mental imagery that you both describe in your teaching. He encourages the reader to "imagine, in the depths of your mind, what you think the greatest trombone sound in the world would be like" and then to "use the imagery of the `greatest trombone sound' as a goal to aim for."

Those words make sense intellectually, but it takes on real meaning when you hear the sound product live. I heard Charlie Vernon years ago at Orchestra Hall (5th floor balcony area) when my instructor was having a lesson with him. Never in my life had I heard a trombone sound like that (he was warming up on tenor)! It was such a resonant quality, and was literally like glass. His “ideal” sound and his actual sound are so close to each other it was scary.

We heard Mahler 3 the night before at Orchestra Hall and it was spectacular (all of you!)

I’ve had several discussion with John about these ideas (pretty good for an engineer from Arizona to get involved in these pedagogy discussions). He mentions that once a clear image is attained, turning up the volume of this image is a great way to increase the image intensity. Literally drowning out the sound from the bell with this internal image is a requirement to achieve the desired sound. The mind is extremely powerful, and you can will it to do what you want it to. Focused effort in this area will certainly bring you to your desired "ideal" sound.

He also encouraged me to completely IMMERSE myself in daily listening of great music. I have taken his advice, and the images in my mind are very slowly starting to take shape. I hear sounds more clearly in my mind when I’m sitting quietly now (real sounds of the orchestra!). In the past this was extremely hard for me to do.

Jay, I am very sorry to say that I have not looked into any books that you have authored. I would be very interested in hearing your unique slant on this topic, so if you could provide some suggestions I would love to hear about them. I’m not certain if you’ve ever heard a CD recorded by Marcel Tabuteau where he describes his approach to musical phrasing. For those of us that will probably never have a chance to study with you personally, something like this would be an amazing resource to add to our libraries. If you would ever consider doing a CD like this, I would be the first to purchase one.

Again, thank you both for your fantastic contributions to music (in all of the ways that you impact so many of us)!
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

_Don Herman · Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 12:00 pm Post subject:

Thanks! John is much under rated as a player and teacher, in my opinion, albeit based on relatively limited exposure. - Don
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Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

_dcstep · Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:39 pm Post subject:

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Schilke '60 B1 -- 229 Bach-C/19-350 Blackburn -- Lawler TL Cornet -- Conn V1 Flugel -- Stomvi Master Bb/A/G picc -- GR mpcs
[url=http://www.pitpops.com] The PitPops[/url]
Rocky Mountain Trumpet Fest

mattdalton · Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:24 pm Post subject:

tenorposaune -
I'd like to join the others in thanking you for telling us about Jay's site. The articles are wonderful. I've bookmarked the site and look forward to reading more there.

And if you are Benjamin Coy, the designer of Jay's site and man behind www.tenorposaune.net, my congratulations on your excellent display of web design and coding skills. Impressive!
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Matt Dalton

tenorposaune · New Member Joined: 08 Feb 2005 Posts: 6

I'm flattered, Matt. I usually try and stay behind the scenes on Jay's site, so that he receives every bit of the praise that he deserves for his work. It's therefore somewhat unusual, and certainly very heartwarming, to see my name in your post.

I'll send a link to this thread to both John and Jay, so that they can read all of the positive comments posted here.

ljwahl · Regular Member Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 26

I'm wondering if anyone has actually experimented seriously with the exercises Mr Friedman has recommended in his article...any comments?

I played around with the wide vibrato idea and some ideas hit me:

First, it really exposes if you're not using enough air, and through focusing on the musical results (i.e. wide vibrato), your body is forced to respond automatically with more air and stronger breath support.

Second, it also shows you whether your chops are in proper balance, because obviously, if you're too tight in the centre, the wide vibrato won't come; same if you don't use the corners enough. Again, focusing on the musical result helps the body to adjust automatically.

Also, it strikes me that the idea is actually very similar to stamp - finding balance in the chops at any point of the range such that you can bend (or apply wide vibrato to) the notes.

Trumpet Monkey · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 6:10 pm Post subject:

Thanks tenorposaune for posting an article I might never have read! Thanks Jay for the great website, I'll be visiting regularly to absorb as much as I possibly can. And thank you John for taking the time to write such a great article!

I practice using the same concept of imagining the sound you want before you play. I've recently begun to realize that my imagined sound isn't nearly as detailed as it should be and this article has really helped drive this point home. Also, being in the process of wrapping my mind around this idea I find your comments and insights are very helpful as well Derek.

By the way if you haven't listened to the sound clip at the bottom of the article of John playing the Artunian Rhapsody you're missing out! This is the first I've heard John play solo and all I can say is that its simply amazing. That full resonant sound and that kind of crispness and clarity is what I shoot for when I play. Kudos to the DePaul Wind Ensemble as well. Can't wait for the CD. Wow.
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Ben Belton