Lesson with Mark Inouye at Davies Symphony Hall!

Derek Reaban · Last edited by Derek Reaban on Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:10 pm; edited 1 time in total

It was 108F in Phoenix on Monday, and I was able to escape to Northern California where it was at most 68 F in San Francisco. I’m travelling on business and had on open evening on Monday and was in for a real treat in the City.

My Wife and I made it to downtown San Francisco about 5:30 PM and had a nice meal at Caffe Delle Stelle on Hayes Street which is one block away from Davies Symphony Hall. After a relaxing meal we walked back to the car and I warmed up for about 20 minutes (long tones to get centered and just a little articulation work). We walked to the musician’s entrance on Hayes Street a minute or two before 7:30 PM, and Mark Inouye (In-Oh-Way) was waiting for us in the security waiting room.

This was my first time at Davies Symphony Hall and Mark walked us down the stairs to the giant rehearsal room where we would be having my lesson. Mark had spent the weekend with his family and was just getting back into town, so the timing for my trip was perfect. While I was getting set up, my Wife set up the video camera so that I could get to hear the lesson from the “hall” perspective when I got home.

Mark made me and my Wife feel right at home and it was good to have a shared interest in engineering, trumpet, and the symphonic repertoire. I was also excited to learn that Mark and David Krauss had been students at Juilliard at the same time. Hearing Mark talk about his lessons with Ray Mase as a new student was a nice segue into what I would be playing.

Mark had asked me to bring something simple and melodic so that we could address many of the fundamentals to start our lesson. I took out my Rochut book and Mark told me that this was one of the first books that he was asked to get when he got to Juilliard. I chose No. 23 which I had played in Church several weeks ago with piano accompaniment.

I would have thought that playing in this very large, unfamiliar rehearsal room with the Principal Trumpet Player of the San Francisco Symphony sitting beside me, I would have had some jitters, but I knew that I was well prepared, and I played just as I well as I knew I could. The opening dynamic is piano and there is no further guidance until just after the first fermata where there is a printed forte. At this point Mark made a gesture for more dynamic contrast as I continued to play. He turned the page for me and I played the tempo change through the cadenza section at which point he stopped me.

He was very complementary of my sound and then we got down to business to find a way to get more music out of this wonderful etude. Mark told me that when he was a student at Juilliard, he would pencil in a triangle above the strong point in each phrase to make sure that he was shaping the music and holding himself accountable for his musical product. While I was making music with this etude, Mark clearly identified that I needed to exaggerate what I was doing so that I didn’t fall into a reserved “static” piano dynamic.

I began the etude again with more direction, especially leading to downbeats, and Mark was encouraging that I was starting to capture his attention. When we got to the subito forte, Mark picked up his horn and modeled what he wanted to hear. He said that I needed to make the contrast as dramatic as possible between the piano fermata and the next entrance. His sound was brilliant and his forte was absolutely glorious. I tried again and found that even at my top dynamic I was at best about a mezzo forte compared to the dynamic that he modeled for me. Wow! I certainly have some work to do.

Mark is clearly a problem solver, and I told him that I typically spend about an hour a day practicing during the week and maybe two hours a day on the weekends. He told me that I need to find a way to explore my extremes in the time that I have so that I can start pushing my overall dynamic range up. I shared with him how I do my long tone and articulation studies in the “spider web” fashion. He said I need to move through my comfort zone of getting centered more quickly, and possibly move outward in whole steps instead of half steps to start exploring these “edges”. Occasionally I need to start in the center and then jump out a fourth to spend more time where I need the work. His modeling made me a believer that I’ve been very deficient in this aspect of my playing.

We talked a great deal about musical phrasing and he said that I need to spend some time each day on simple musical phrases (like in the back of the Arban book). At this point I asked him if he would mind sight reading another Rochut etude, swapping phrases, so that I could immediately apply what I heard from him and keep the musical ideas going forward. I picked number 27 and started it off. When I hear where a musical line is going, I can step up and go with the flow. We had a really good time with this! (I’m looking forward to hearing the video)!

As we continued to talk about the extremes of making music, Mark offered some “tricks” about tackling very challenging fast passages. He said he played the fast articulated line in Pines of Rome for Phil Smith, and Phil stopped him and said, “How did you do that?” The “troubleshooting” that Mark applied to this phrase (and demonstrated for me) blew my mind. It was so simple and so effective! And worth a lesson to hear Mark do this in person if you happen to be in the Bay area!

We looked at Mahler 2 (the offstage fanfares – Der Grosse Appel with me playing 2nd trumpet) and Mark stepped me back to a slow slurred approach to make sure there was good connection for all notes in the line. Then we added the articulation, some speed, and more dynamic range. Wow! I have some very tangible ways to make improvements.

We briefly looked at the Urlich chorale, and then played the chorale from Bartok CFO. I have so much to internalize from what we talked about! I will certainly go back through my video when I return from my trip and add any additional ideas that I’ve missed in my summary.

On the walk out, Mark told us that his first rehearsal for the upcoming season (later this week) would have Mahler 1, 7 and 9 on the first half, and then all of Mahler 5, the post horn movement from Mahler 3 and one other Mahler symphony on the second half! I can’t even imagine trying to pack all of that into a single rehearsal, but they have a great deal to cover for this year.

Thanks for a great lesson Mark! It was simply awesome!
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

trumpetdon · Veteran Member Joined: 28 Sep 2003 Posts: 361

Fantastic report Derek. Thank you, as always, for your generosity!

I would enjoy hearing more about the practice techniques on the fast articulated parts of Pines, if you have a chance.

Thanks again.
Don

Oncewasaplayer · Heavyweight Member Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 974

Thanks for this Derek. I always enjoy your posts on your lessons. Quick question. I'm not sure what you mean here:

"Mark clearly identified that I needed to exaggerate what I was doing so that I didn’t fall into a reserved “static” piano dynamic."

What is a reserved "static" piano dynamic? Does it mean a soft note that is out of context of the musical line? Thanks!
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con brio · Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 10:33 am Post subject:

Great job, Derek. I'm looking forward to being in SFO for Mahler 1 even more now.

laser170323 · Veteran Member Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 201

Wow! Derek, another great post. Thanks.

highbrassplayer · Veteran Member Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 332 Location: TN

Thanks for posting this! If you happen to have time could you tell us more about his tricks. Thanks.

trumpetart

kramergfy · Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:52 pm Post subject:

Awesome stuff as usual, Derek!

I'm going to try really hard to get my butt over to Davies this season to hear Mahler 5...

EDIT: got my tickets: Second Tier a bit to left looking at the stage. My hope is that sitting so high up will get the best sound in the hall.
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gtromble · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:53 am Post subject:

Thanks Derek - your lesson report is a lesson in itself - gave me some things to check out today in practice.

Galen
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Silver Spring, Maryland

Derek Reaban · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:37 pm Post subject:

I’ve had a chance to watch through my video several times and take some notes. While I was there experiencing everything Mark was hearing in my playing from the “bell side”, it’s very revealing to get to see and hear things from a different vantage point, and in the future I will certainly be taping my lessons. Also, from a practical perspective, it’s hard to absorb everything that’s being said while trying to immediately apply it to the horn, and when looking back on the tape, I got to experience the bigger picture that Mark was guiding me through to arrive at tangible improvements.

Musical Phrasing

In musical phrasing, you should always be going toward a high point (climax) or coming back from the high point or observing a sudden change (subito) – one or the other. There is always motion and dynamic change occurring. “The guy that plays more musically is the one you’re going to listen to”.

When we reached the subito forte in Rochut etude 23, Mark said, “one little trick I like to do when I see a subito change, I always try to do the opposite just before. So when I see a subito forte coming up, I always like to decrescendo right before to make that change even more shocking or dramatic (i.e. no telegraphing).

Marking the high point of the phrase (with a triangle for instance), gives a visual reminder and it also forces you to commit (i.e. where is the biggest note). It’s not necessarily the highest note. Once you write it in, now you have to sell it. That’s when it forces you to say, “Is this the best musical decision?” and requires personal accountability. Nobody knows what you’ve written on the page. They just want to hear the most musical playing possible, and that should always be your goal. Mark said he used this approach all the time when he was in school with lyrical pieces. It’s what you do before the triangle that sells the high point of the phrase.

When I was playing Rochut etude Number 23, I was very careful to observe the dotted eighth sixteenth rhythms as printed. Mark said, “playing the rhythms accurately gives the music more character (i.e. dotted eighth sixteenths versus tripletizing).

When we played Rochut Number 27, Mark said, “Anytime you have chromatics or half steps, it helps to lean on the “wrong” notes. These are the things to bring out (ie. Lower or upper neighbors)” which gives the music direction and provides interest.

Mark told me that he’d “rather I offend him with an idea (musically) than bore him”. He said that with etudes you need to arrange them with your own musical ideas. The creative process is what’s important. Anytime you have a V-I cadence, you have to choose whether it will be V > I or V < I. Is it a feminine cadence or a masculine cadence? Pick one!

This was a nice segue, and I told him my David Krauss Don Pasquale story when David told me that it needed to have a feminine ending. Mark said, “I won’t tell you which one to play, you pick one. You’ll figure out which one is right or you’ll make it right. You play a masculine ending, I play a feminine ending. You sell it, I sell it!”

Der Grosse Appel from Mahler 2 (Trumpet 2)

This fast triplet line tripped me up when I played it for Mark. It proved to be a great entrance for Mark to systematically take this phrase apart and put it back together using a method that is extremely effective.

Slurred
Mark had me play the line at a slow comfortable tempo with everything slurred (taking the tongue out of the equation). He said that “the biggest issue with players that have articulation problems has nothing to do with the tongue…it’s the airflow. Until you can play a line slurred, you don’t have the right balance of air to embouchure.” I was able to connect everything very easily at this tempo and Mark shook his head indicating that the foundation was clearly in place.

Slurred, Faster
Next he had me play the line again, still slurred, but faster than before. I immediately had two small cracks in the first 4 notes. Mark stopped me and said, “When you miss a note, the note you miss is never the problem. It’s the note just before (typically off centered)!” I took a deep breath and started again at the same faster tempo, and again found my center and everything sound good.

Slurred, Louder
Next he upped the ante, and said “now I want you to play it louder – you need to be the Fanfare Guy”. At this point things started to come off the tracks for me. He said, “Often when players start to use more air, more support, the embouchure gets tighter and now the balance is off. This is a great thing about slurring because you instantly find out. That’s why lyrical etudes are so important!” He continued by saying, “You need to figure out a way (when the balance starts to get off) due to more volume (quantity) we’re tighter or we’re moving too much, so we need to relax more at the embouchure. The lungs are working harder (big deal). The lungs will never get tired (it’s the embouchure that gets tired).”

Slurred, Louder, Crescendo

Now he asked me to slur the line again beginning at a loud dynamic but with a crescendo over the two bars that we were working on. He said that whatever loud dynamic you choose, that’s the starting point (then phrasing at forte goes up from there). This was clearly the most difficult for me to do and things started to fall apart. He said, “Notice when you continue to give more air how things get out of kilter (out of balance). Why is that? All of a sudden when air comes up the embouchure goes out of balance. When you get louder as it goes lower, the embouchure must relax!”

Putting it back together

I finally added the articulation back into the equation. While I still had a fingering glitch at the fast tempo, the line was much improved than where I had started. Mark said that it’s the support that makes this work. All of the work that we did slurring at different tempos and volumes, helped me to “inform” my embouchure, prior adding the tongue back into the equation.

I will be using this technique frequently in my preparation in the future to put everything together for my ensembles!

Improvement Suggestions

Mark is a fantastic troubleshooter! After we worked on the fanfare line from Mahler 2, he said, “If you don’t improve within two minutes, you’re not practicing right! If you don’t hear or feel improvement almost immediately, you’re not practicing right!”

“First you have to be able to hear a problem, and that’s such a huge hurdle for so many people. We get used to our imperfections. The areas where we brush them off as being OK. Or we speed things up and rush through them. That’s the first hurdle.”

“The second thing is, you hear it, but what do you do to troubleshoot the issue. That’s were many people get stuck.”

Mark had exposed an issue in my playing. Years ago I had an issue with “spreading” in my sound and I went the other direction to find more center in my sound, looking for purity at a soft dynamic. Apparently I’ve fixed some of my problems while introducing new problems! Mark said that he would suggest practicing arpeggio studios in Arban or Clark 3 really fff with a relaxed good sound. He said that he practices extreme opposites; dynamics, range, tempo. It’s when you pair one extreme with its extreme opposite that you really learn how to do it!

I now have a clear direction on what has become an issue with my playing. I can hear it. I know how to fix it. Now it’s up to me!

Other Important Topics

When we looked at the chorale from Mahler 2 and from Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Mark said that he writes in chord progressions in his parts, especially for chorales to know his position in the chord. Both for pitch and balance. With so much music to cover in a given season (and limited rehearsal time), this immediately reminds him where he needs to put each note with no guesswork. I’ve done this same exercise for these two chorales, and it was very helpful for me too.

Mark says that he has all of his students keep a log book. There is no substitute for organization!

And the quote that I really liked...

“We make our greatest gains in the first 10 minutes through the use of lip slurs (air slurs) to help solidify fundamentals and air”.

As for that trick, a false valve will articulate the note! And when it’s done as effectively as Mark does it, no one can tell!
_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

Derek Reaban · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:45 pm Post subject:

mrtrpt · Regular Member Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 45

Derek,

while it's probably been said many times before, your posts are what make me sift through the "rest of the posts" every day. I've been following your posts for years, thanks!

MR

laser170323 · Veteran Member Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 201

Derek, I agree whole heartedly with mrtrpt. He wrote it best:
"while it's probably been said many times before, your posts are what make me sift through the "rest of the posts" every day. I've been following your posts for years, thanks! "

Kind regards,

Laser170323

hankinsmd · Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:19 pm Post subject:

It is great to hear what the great players are thinking about. It feels so good to hear that the things I work on most are so fundamental to so many other players.

What a solid thread!
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richardwy

Derek,

Thank-you so much! I get so much from your summaries.

I've some questions:

jhatpro · Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:42 am Post subject:

Terrific posts, Derek, and so well written! Can you expand on the "tricks" he uses to perfect rapid, notey passages?
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alexwill · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:02 pm Post subject:

This is an incredible post. I'm active on quite a few bulletin boards, and I don't think I've ever seen so much great info in one post! Thanks again!

Derek Reaban · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:32 am Post subject:

I always enjoy seeing the posts that I’ve written related to lessons or masterclasses float to the top! They bring back fond memories and after reading through them I’m immediately transported back to sitting in the chair beside these fantastic players.

Richard,

I have a digital camcorder (Sony I believe) that I’ve had for a number of years (the High 8 finally broke). I just mount it on an adjustable camera stand, push the record button, and I’m ready to go.

The comment about being "discouraged" is the last thing on my mind when sitting beside these great players! I typically will get into a rut in my practicing and this is my opportunity to break free from the mundane. In fact, as I look back, the series of lessons that I’ve have with David Krauss, Mark Inouye, Fernando Dissenha, and Jim Wilt have really shaken up the way that I practice. They’ve each given me important pieces of the puzzle, and when I practice, I have specific goals in mind. In fact, I have fewer days of discouragement now, than I've every had in the past because I can always find things to work on these days to move toward my goals.

Specifically related to my dynamic range being significantly less than Mark’s, I have no problem with that. While I play at a fairly high level, I don’t have to worry about my sound getting out to a hall that holds several thousand people on a weekly basis. I’ve been told that the venues where I play, my sound gets out fine. Clearly though, an expanded palate of dynamics is something that I value as important (here) and I modified my routine after meeting with Mark to fit more into my daily practice time.

The comment related to the "edges" was related to the "spiderweb" work that I was doing at the time that I had my lesson. My routine was such that I very rarely could work on articulation higher in my range because I was trying to be too thorough, and the patterns that I had set up kept me in the center of the spiderweb for too long. By getting to the edges, Mark wanted me to skip some of the exercises in the middle of the spiderweb so that I could get to the areas that needed more work in both the higher and lower range. Rich Willey’s FocalPoint exercises fixed that problem for me!

Jim,

The "tricks" that Mark showed me involved applying alternate fingerings for rapid articulation passages. The opening articulation to Pines can be accomplished by moving from the standard fingering to an alternate fingering, and if done quickly enough can sound like the line is being multiple tongued. This is machine gun fast articulation, and no one in the audience would know (it’s just another technique to apply – i.e. troubleshooting). Like anything though, Mark did this so impeccably well that it sounded perfect (best mulitple tonguing you've ever heard), and I’m sure if I’d try it, I would have to practice like crazy to get it to work right. As an orchestral trumpet player, this is a tool that Mark needs in his belt of tricks.

Thanks for the comments and questions!
_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

jhatpro · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:38 am Post subject:

THanks, Derek! I'm going to try some alt fingerings on the Paganini Variations, which I've been grinding on the past couple of weeks.
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.â€ Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

wvtrumpet · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:47 am Post subject:

Great post!!!!!
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