Re: What it takes to perform...


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Posted by SHS Tubamaster on April 05, 2003 at 21:57:18:

In Reply to: What it takes to perform... posted by JW on April 05, 2003 at 18:23:37:

According to Frederic Fennell(this will be a long-winded post,FYI)
1.LISTEN!
2.Learn to listen for everything, and have some idea what the music sounds like before you play.
3.Line up your stand and chair so you look directly at the conductor(not a good thing to do in our band!;>/
4.The conductor must have your eyes before they begin the music, especially if you do not play.
5.Play your whole instrument-learn to listen!
6.Prepare!Be cocked and ready to play.
7.Play with intensity-keep your stomach in it.
8.Resonance is the whole reason for your instrument to exist in the first place.
9.Learn to look at the conductor once every bar, more frequently if the music is fast:>(
10.Music is also a waiting game-wait for one!
11.Vibrate;music is a controlled vibration, so support your sound coonstantly.
12.Pulse is music's lifeblood as well as yours:Learn to feel it, seek to play it.
13.Learn to listen and look for the phrase, as well as the phrase endings.
14.Help stamp out mechanical error-listen!
15.The perfection of ensemble playing is not a matter of acquisition. Rather, it is a matter of elimination-of mechanical error, unnecessary motion, the wandering mind, and all those things that get in the way-Listen!
16.Don't repeat your mistakes-they become a disease!
17.The group that plays together stays together.
18.Get it right the first time-Listen!
19.You can only read a piece of music for the first time once. Make that time memorable.
20.Constantly widen your range of dynamics-avoid mezzo-nothing.
21.At a pianissimo release, let the sound evaporate.
22.When the dynamic is fortissimo, hear only yourself;when the dynamic is pianissimo, hear only your neighbor.
23.Uncontrolled silence is the enemy of music.
24.The group that breathes together plays together.
25.Music is not an art for the chicken-hearted;seek what is right, but don't fear being wrong.
26.Give all your energies to the performance. Avoid fatigue, blow out your chops, shake your hands.
27.The music turns you on, but only you can wind yourself up for it.
28.Legato playing is mostly a thu-thu business.
29.Blow through the whole passage.
30.Beware of practice-room sound-get out of that telephone booth.
31.Good performances are planned that way.
32.Seek the style of the music-and this only you can do by listening to and for everything.
Poignant, aren't they?

SHS"thinking that these are very wise words"Tubamaster


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