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Turkle Heavyweight Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 2450 Location: New York City
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:49 am Post subject: |
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As trumpet players, we work on technique, technique, technique. All day and night. But it's easy to forget the purpose of technique, which is to develop enough technical facility to be capable of musical expression.
And what is expression? We express the written music, we express the performance situation, we express the sound of our instrument, we express the sound of the ensemble, we express ourselves and our feelings and our interpretation of the music. All of the above are part of the global category of musical expression.
I think that you'll find that what makes a trumpet player stand out isn't their high range (although that can help!), it isn't their Mendez triple-tongue, but rather it is their capacity for magnificent musical expression, the kind that imparts meaning and feeling into music and allows the audience to feel something they'd never feel otherwise, or perhaps reminds them of something they haven't felt in a long time.
That's why we work on technique, and learn all our etudes and music, it's why we shed our bebop licks, it's why we learn all those standards, and it's why we still play our Schlossberg and Clarke every day. It's to be capable of musical expression.
Hope this is helpful - cheers. _________________ Yamaha 8310Z trumpet
Yamaha 8310Z flugel
Curry 3. |
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O00Joe Veteran Member
Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 364 Location: Houston & Austin, Texas
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:25 am Post subject: |
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If I remember correctly, a well known and highly respected trumpet professor said that the equation was "Pitch + Rhythm + Style = Success". "Style" included sound, articulation, direction, musicality, etc.
I think I heard a story that in a lesson with Barbara Butler, she would read the newspaper and if you got her to pay attention, you were doing something right (or seriously wrong).
In a masterclass I remember someone saying that judges will tap along with the person auditioning. If their tapping is disrupted, it's an automatic "NEXT"!
In my own opinion, a good player is always in the moment, makes everything seem easy yet beautiful, and when appropriate, demanding in attention. _________________ 1981 Bb Bach Stradivarius 37/25 ML raw - Laskey 60C
2003 C Bach Stradivarius 239/25A L silver - Stork Vacchiano 4C25C
2006 Bb/A Schilke Piccolo P5-4 silver - Reeves A adaptor - Stork SM SP6
Akai MPC Live II
Roland JD-Xi
Casio MT-68 |
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cheiden Heavyweight Member
Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 8910 Location: Orange County, CA
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:33 am Post subject: |
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Turkle wrote: | As trumpet players, we work on technique, technique, technique. All day and night. But it's easy to forget the purpose of technique, which is to develop enough technical facility to be capable of musical expression.
And what is expression? We express the written music, we express the performance situation, we express the sound of our instrument, we express the sound of the ensemble, we express ourselves and our feelings and our interpretation of the music. All of the above are part of the global category of musical expression.
I think that you'll find that what makes a trumpet player stand out isn't their high range (although that can help!), it isn't their Mendez triple-tongue, but rather it is their capacity for magnificent musical expression, the kind that imparts meaning and feeling into music and allows the audience to feel something they'd never feel otherwise, or perhaps reminds them of something they haven't felt in a long time.
That's why we work on technique, and learn all our etudes and music, it's why we shed our bebop licks, it's why we learn all those standards, and it's why we still play our Schlossberg and Clarke every day. It's to be capable of musical expression.
Hope this is helpful - cheers. |
Great post.
I think that trumpet playing can be so physically demanding that we get caught in the fallacy that competence alone is sufficient. It's not. But often times you have to had a decent level of proficiency before you can start finding your voice. That means you don't just get all the notes and rhythms right, but that you can make nuanced decisions on when to follow and when and how to lead. Good players oftentimes can be transparent which is a good thing. Great players don't just blend in (though they certainly can), but they know how and when to make statements that both follow the written page and simultaneously elevate it into something much greater. Great players routinely bring an element of surprise that transcends expectations. _________________ "I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart |
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area51recording Veteran Member
Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 480
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:46 am Post subject: |
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When everyone in the section is a great player, then I think it comes down to mentality. In the orchestral realm, it was said of Nat Prager that you could write "2nd Trumpet" on the top of a flute part and the guy could play it, but Nat apparently wasn't all that motivated to sit in the hot seat...... |
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Josh_Harris New Member
Joined: 17 Jul 2018 Posts: 5
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:25 am Post subject: |
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Tone quality and musicality. |
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blbaumgarn Heavyweight Member
Joined: 26 Jul 2017 Posts: 705
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:09 pm Post subject: What makes a great player stand out from another? |
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I think this is a fascinating topic and all the additions have been so good. I just want to add that as an athlete I always felt you were a leader if others would follow you down a dark alleyway knowing there was a fight coming.. That was a leader. Music isn't the same. The great trumpeters I have known didn't care one iota about the mantle of playing principle or lead. They looked upon it as a responsibility. There is a subtle but significant difference there I believe. _________________ "There are two sides to a trumpeter's personality,
there is one that lives to lay waste to woodwinds and strings, leaving them lie blue and lifeless along a swath of destruction that is a
trumpeter's fury-then there is the dark side!" Irving Bush |
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Robert P Heavyweight Member
Joined: 28 Feb 2013 Posts: 2579
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 4:24 pm Post subject: Re: What makes a great player stand out from another? |
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CJceltics33 wrote: | But what good does that do if the repertoire is already easy for you and every other fellow trumpeter in the band? |
On this point even if your section can play the notes, the range isn't difficult, do they sound just as good as any section you've ever heard? If not, there's more room for improvement.
You can never have too much facility on the instrument.
On the issue of what makes a great player, part of it might be the perception of the listener. There are players I used to be impressed with that I'm not enthusiastic about now, people labeling them as "great" seems to be mostly predicated on banging out high notes. Thinking of one particular player who shall remain nameless who I can hardly stand to listen to now, their playing sounds like a parody to me - didn't always feel that way. As my awareness evolved my perception of their playing changed.
I've also seen people criticize players I like for reasons I don't find valid. _________________ Getzen Eterna Severinsen
King Silver Flair
Besson 1000
Bundy
Chinese C
Getzen Eterna Bb/A piccolo
Chinese Rotary Bb/A piccolo
Chinese Flugel |
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