WAMC did a great interview with Boston Symphony principals Thomas Rolfs and James Sommerville on Tanglewood and a few other topics. It makes us feel better hearing guys like this saying even they have some bad days. Check it out
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Sarah Willis interviews Michael Mulcahy as part of her Horn Hangouts series. It's great fun hearing Mulcahy tell his story from his native Sydney. It's hard to think of a better setting for this. Our favorite quote from this:
“Nothing of value happens because you’re a good person, you make it happen”
The Los Angeles Philharmonic 2015-2016 season starts soon. Here's a sample of some things we're looking forward to hearing
Symphony #9-Beethoven
Symphony #3-Beethoven
Symphony #5-Beethoven
Symphony #7-Beethoven
The Rite of Spring-Stravinsky
An Alpine Symphony-Strausss
Symphony #5-Shostakovich
Symphony #4-Tchaikovsky
Symphony #5-Tchaikovsky
Symphony #8-Dvorak
Symphony #1-Mahler
Appalachian Spring-Copland
Symphony #3-Mahler
The Pine of Rome-Respighi
The Fountains of Rome-Respighi
Symphonie Fantastique-Berlioz
What else are you looking for to that we left out? Let us know in the comments.
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Patrick Sheridan and Sam Pilafian are so clearly having a great time with this.
What other performances have you loved from these two?
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YouTube has such a vast number of videos on Trumpet it's hard to wade through everything. One way is to subscribe to channels. Here's a a few we think are worth your time to keep in your feed.
Rex Richardson's channel has some great variety with everything from his performances to some tips on technique.
If you like Wynton, subscribe to his channel. There's lots performances, but some good interviews too.
Terence Blanchard's channel has some great performances and interviews. In particular, check out his commentary around the origins of some of his recordings.
Good stuff from Jens here. His interview with Arturo Sandoval is great.
Michael Cano plays with the US Army Band. He has been involved with the National Trumpet Competition many times. This channel has some amazing stuff with everything from masterclasses to performances. The hundreds of videos on this channel are a treasure trove.
What other channels do you follow that we missed? Let us know in the comments.
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The 47th annual International Horn Symposium starts tomorrow in Los Angeles. This year's event takes place at the The Colburn School and is hosted by Andrew Bain and Annie Bosler. They're streaming a number of events. Check it out at ihs-live.com.
This is not the way Berlioz envisioned Roman Carnival Overture. We think this arrangement might be better. The US Army Field Band Trombone section shows how in this video.
What other Berlioz works would be better for a bunch of Trombones?
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It was the summer of 1996 and something rocked our world. Independence Day came out on July 2 and taught us that Will Smith was our best hope in the face of an alien attack.
This was one of the first scores that got us excited about music. A summer blockbuster with an awesome score is always great and this is one of the most memorable. The main theme has some great soaring horn parts. Toward the end, there's some amazing trumpet fanfares played on piccolo trumpet.
There was amazing hype around this movie and David Arnold felt it. From IMDB:
“Struggling to write the score, David Arnold secluded himself in a Los Angeles hotel room for almost four months to avoid the escalating hype for the film. But from his window he saw helicopters carrying banners with taglines to the film as part of a marketing campaign, which only stressed him out even more.
”
“Leave it up to a Brit to come up with some of the most stirringly patriotic music I’ve ever heard.”
The studio orchestra for Independence Day included lots of familiar faces like Malcolm McNab. They completely nail it and sound like they're having a great time. Go check this one out and you'll be glad you did.
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We're mesmerized by this. We're not sure why, but we're mesmerized.
This brilliant man from Switzerland put a GoPro camera on the end of his slide. It's awesome.
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It's happened to all of us. You show up and nail the gig. Unfortunately, through one circumstance or another you end up getting stiffed.
"If I wanted to deal with money stuff, I would have gone into banking" is what a friend told me one time. I then politely reminded him that eating regularly was something he enjoyed. I understand no one wants to feel like a debt collector. Here are some sensible steps you can take to make sure you get paid. If done right, this can make hiring you an even better experience for the other party as well.
Here's some easy things you can do to this a better experience for you and anyone who hires you.
Set clear expectations up front with your client. Many problems arise from not discussing how and when you expect to be paid. Some gigs need a contract. There are some great free templates you can use for this. For most though, a simple email with clearly spelled out details like expectations for your time, duration of the gig, and payment will do wonders. Remember, the bride who hired you for their wedding has probably never hired a professional musician before. Spelling it out helps make the experience better for them too.
There are great tools that will do the work for you. Let the internet do it for you. There are great solutions that will let you send paperless invoices to your client, let them pay through a web portal, and then deposit the money in your bank account. There are great solutions like Freshbooks and Quickbooks that do this. These are paid solutions, but isn't the cost of a couple cups of coffee worth Freshbooks sending a reminder to pay instead of you calling someone?
You did the legwork up front and leveraged the help of software, but still didn't get paid. Despite your best efforts, you will still have some cases when someone drags their feet to pay you. Be assertive and ask. You work hard on your craft and deserve to be paid. Nobody likes it, but confident in asking to be paid. If someone doesn't pay you then pay it forward to fellow musicians in your community. Let them know so they can avoid the same situation.
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The 2015-2016 season for the NY Phil begins soon. It also begins with continuing uncertainty for who will fill the principal trumpet chair. Time will tell where they land with that but on to the upcoming season and some things we're looking forward to hearing.
On the Waterfront-Leonard Bernstein
The Godfather-Nino Rota
Symphony #7-Beethoven
Ein Heldenleben-Richard Strauss
Symphony #5-Beethoven
Horn Concerto #2-Mozart
Symphony #4-Beethoven
Till Eulenspiegel-Richard Strauss
Finlandia-Sibelius
Symphony #6-Bruckner
Roman Festivals-Respighi
Fountains of Rome-Respighi
Pines of Rome-Respighi
Symphony #6-Mahler
Symphony #6-Beethoven
Symphony #9-Mahler
Symphony #2-Sibelius
John Williams Celebration-John Williams (Duh)
Tuba Concerto-John Williams
The Planets-Holst
Lots of good things to look forward to.
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New York Philharmonic on Amazon
New York Philharmonic on iTunes
Solid performance, enjoy
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