This year, pay more attention to what you listen to.
recording
While practicing is necessary to improve, you can only improve what you hear!
You’re Only As Good As Your Ears
In years of working with students on the horn, one of the most difficult concepts to teach (at least for me), has been the idea of musical phrasing. I imagine that this is (at least in part) because getting a strong set of fundamentals took me so long. I don’t […]
Teaching Musical Interpretation: Learn, Listen, Count
If you’re looking for a way to get into recording the horn, Dr. James Boldin has a nice article on his current recording setup on his website. According to his post, he was looking for something a bit more advanced and flexible than a handheld Minidisc or digital recorder (like […]
Basic Gear for Recording
It’s getting pretty close to All-District and All-State auditions here in Kentucky. That means that lots of students are starting to feel the pressure to get their audition music finalized. Of course, these students that are stressing most about the audition are the same students that have been practicing in […]
Practice Strategy: Use Ship Dates to Optimize Practice Time
I’m going to be trying something new over the summer – since I have more time on my hands, and I’ve started getting lots more questions about both gadgets and musical equipment, I’m going to try and have a post once a week or so to highlight some good deals […]
Gadget Deals – Record Yourself, Inexpensive Alexa, Upgrade Your Car
If you’re a fan of John Williams’ movie music (and what brass player isn’t?) then this new release may interest you: John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection Box set This is a 4-disc collection (if you’re old school – also available as MP3s) featuring lots of classic Williams/Spielberg collaborations […]
New John Williams/Steven Spielberg Album Out
One questions that comes up a fair amount in lessons – especially lessons with younger students faced with new or difficult repertoire – is “can you play this so I can hear how it goes”? Most of the time, my answer is something along the lines of “yes, but everything […]