Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Magdalena's Quest


‘Magdalena’s Quest’ was written nine years ago as I was in the process of changing my home from Lausanne, Switzerland to Tokyo, Japan. I’ve decided not to modify anything to fit today’s situation, the situation today remains pretty much the same! RB.

My good friend Magdalena is a cellist, a very fine cellist from Romania; for the past year she's been auditioning for orchestral positions. When she started this quest to find an orchestra job she was typical of many of the East European string players, strong on musicality and naïve regarding orchestral repertoire. That's changed. She now knows all the passages beautifully that a cellist should expect in an audition, plus many passages that are particular to the specific countries: Spain, Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, where she has auditioned. She's had an enormous year of traveling and audition experience. She is also broke!
Magda's going to be ok; symphony orchestras have cello sections of between 6 to 10 players, depending on the size of the orchestra, and openings are many and frequent. With her extreme musical ability and her present knowledge of the repertoire, Magdalena is all but assured that at some point in time she will win a position. Of course, once she gets this position she'll have to spend her first year's salary paying back what she's borrowed over the past year to cover her expenses getting to the auditions!
Magda is lucky she doesn't play tuba; there is only one tuba position in a symphony orchestra and as luck would have it, young and very good players hold most of them. A tubist, with the same high level of musicality and orchestral experience as Magda, simply does not have the same assuredness of eventually winning a position. So what's a teacher to do? We know that there are some music schools and some teachers that concentrate exclusively on orchestra passages for the duration of a college education. And there are some students who have no interest at all in studying anything other than these passages. That's crazy! That's crazy while only considering the statistics, not to mention the lack of musical growth and the probable resulting neuroses. But there's still a lot more we have to think about and it's not all good!
It's difficult to take a hard realistic look at the world of symphony orchestra auditions without becoming a cynic. Did you know, for example, that not all symphony orchestra auditions are fair?! How does a teacher tell that to a young idealistic student?
In what ways are symphony auditions unfair (the cynic says this could be a long essay!)? Favoritism is probably the number one problem; it comes in many forms. Nationalism is always a problem; certainly you have a better chance of winning an audition in France if you're French. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing. If two players are equal it's only logical to pick the player from the country of the orchestra, but then, when are two players really equal? And when one is selected is it always because he or she is the better of the two? Prejudice is real and it does exist at auditions. Magdalena knows that some orchestras just don't like East Europeans, but it could just as well be Blacks, Jews, Americans, women and the list could go on and on. Whatever you are, there is probably some musician who doesn't like you or wouldn't want to work with you no matter how well you play!
I once observed an audition in the 60’s where in the finals there was a local favorite, an African-American man from a city thousands of miles away and a woman (a pretty blonde) from a city hundreds of miles away. The drama and dialog that day as the audition took place was something I will never forget. I hope to write a one-act play on it sometime if I can find a way to accurately deal with it and still stay politically correct.
Many auditions are held when the orchestra already clearly knows whom they want to fill the position, but the rules require that an audition take place. They don't consider the time, stress and money it takes for the musicians to prepare and make the trip. And this is frequently a surprise to many musicians: In some countries they hold auditions, frequently for every position in the orchestra, when there are really no openings at all; these orchestras get government money to hold auditions; they use auditions as fundraisers! Unfortunately, neither Musical Chairs (www.musicalchairs.com) nor Das Orchester can supply us the specific conditions and “subtleties” of the announced openings, so if we want the job we have to come up with the expenses, make the trip to the audition and compete.
And, in our indignation regarding the questionable integrity of audition procedures we must not ignore another part of the ambiguous credibility, which seems equally present. In every audition, some people, most people, return home disappointed. Disappointment leads to frustration, which leads to pain, which frequently leads to anger, and that can lead to lack of clarity. The one thing that is clear is that the post audition reporting by those who competed for the position is frequently historically dubious!
That's the way it is. That's the reality we have to face. Music is changing extremely fast, and no one knows for sure the direction that symphony orchestras are going to take; the only thing we do know for sure is that there will be change. We can only guess that there will probably always be some symphony orchestras, albeit probably less. (The cynic might ask now, “why even bother with circumstances like this?”) Because mankind needs music, a musical person needs to play music, and the more music we have in this turbulent world the better off we'll be. There are going to be changes in music and in the business of music, but all we can do is continue our quest, whether it's a cello position for Magdalena or a tuba position for our disproportionately growing tuba community.
And who says that a symphony orchestra job is the only pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? We can explore other possibilities: chamber music, popular music; we can use our imagination; we can become the best and most thorough musicians possible and try to anticipate the musical world that we'll be living in. Need an idea? Start a group that's a fusion of Romanian Gypsy, Irish folk and Balinese Gamelan! In other words, try something new!

The study of music is a noble quest; enjoy it.

Tokyo, Japan, June, 2004.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Living With Time


From the warm sunny beach on a Greek island to the coldest snowy day I’ve experienced in my Tokyo time, I’ve written hundreds of essays and short stories, IE blogs. “Living With Time” was the first. Life was exciting ten years ago in the sunshine and it still is today, snowbound in Tokyo. So much has changed yet remains so much the same. RB


It's after me, it's been after me for a long time, I can't see it but I know it's after me. I can't tell if it's catching up because I can't see it, so I keep running to keep my distance. I don't need to look back; I know where I've been. The problem is to keep in sight where I'm going. It's not easy going this fast and with no end in view.

It's not my enemy, it never has been. Most of my life has been dedicated to it, always being one step ahead or one step behind, but in music I work with it, adjusting to the thousandth of a second. We've worked so well together and we still do, but when we're not working together I try to keep ahead. Strange, some of my jazz friends have a race to see who can get the most behind.

And now, like a good California surfer, I ride it like a perfect ocean wave, perfectly in sync as I balance on its crest. The dream wave; I'm flying on it, with no end it sight. How long can this incredible ride last. I've seen other surfers slip back and have to tread water, hoping in vain that another dream wave will come. It doesn't. I've seen others slip over its crest and fall. I'm lucky. I stay at the crest and fly with it, but where is it taking me, where will it end? Will it gently let me down on a beautiful sandy beach or will it crash me into a rocky cliff? But for now, I just keep in balance and enjoy the ride.

But what a ride, I chose to be here but never expected this.

What a ride!

Island of Lesvos, Greece, Summer 2003

Revised on a very snowy day in Tokyo, January 14, 2013

Friday, January 11, 2013

Firenze ~~ Florence


                Since I write in English, I should really refer to the city as Florence, but Firenze is such a phonically beautiful sounding word, far more befitting of the beautiful Italian city. To me “Florence” brings to mind a smoggy Los Angeles suburb of the same name.

I don’t remember from where or from whom I heard that Italy possesses half the art of the world and Firenze has half of the art of Italy. I’ve always been dubious about the validity of this old adage but it still points out how unbelievably rich Firenze is in it’s inventory of art. A walk through the city can expose one to several museums worth of art in just a few blocks, its abundance is numbing; it’s possible to have a cappuccino on the Piazza della Signoria and see Michelangelo’s David and many other formidable sculptures across the on the other side. And if one goes up to the Piazza Michelangelo and looks down on the city, the view, with its overwhelming profile of historical and beautiful architecture, is beyond description. And that’s just the beginning. Just outside of the city there are rolling green hills rich in olive orchards and grape vineyards; this is the home and inspiration for many of those great Tuscan creators of monumental beauty --- and some of the best olive oil and wine in the world.

Only seven kilometers outside of Firenze in a village called Bagno a Ripoli, Melody, my friend, manager and secretary Emily Harris and I were lucky enough to find a house on an active farm where we became a peripheral part of its micro sociology. In September we would get up very early on the special morning chosen by the farmers and in that morning golden Tuscan mist, begin picking the grapes from the acres of vines. Just after noon the farmer’s wife would bring a cart full of wonderful food into the vineyards; it was lunchtime for the grape pickers. There was pasta with rabbit sauce made from the last hunt of the farmers, Salami made from the farms pigs and wine from the previous years harvest. And in November it was time to pick the olives and the same people were there again to help, all dressed a little warmer. What an honor it was to be a small part of that small farm community. We lived there for three years; Melody would study for her schoolwork in the hayloft where the skyline of Firenze was visible.

One morning in the fall we got up, had breakfast and Melody got on her bicycle to go to the American School, which was not far away. The sun was trying to break through the fog, resulting in a golden haze. Watching her disappear on her bicycle into that magical golden mist was one of my most memorable fragments of fatherhood and it also made very clear where some of the inspiration came from for many of the great Tuscan artists; The golden mist was real!

After three years we left Toscana to move to Amsterdam while I was teaching at the Rotterdams Conservatorium. Two years later we returned to Toscana and lived several more years on another farm in the small town of Impruneta, just 20 minutes outside of Firenze. We stayed there until Melody graduated from the American School of Florence and started her studies at the University of Wales at Aberwrystwyth and I moved to Lausanne, Switzerland.

Firenze was not just another location where we lived during the escape from Los Angeles; it was our home, our real home.

Tonight at 23:00 I will get on the “Euronight” again, that same train that I’ve taken hundreds of times, and will wake up in Lausanne where I will stay just long enough to buy enough chocolate from Blondel’s, the secret best chocolate the world, to take back to Tokyo as gifts for all the important people in my life in my new home. What else could one bring as gifts from Switzerland, kuku clocks, and watches? Too difficult to transport, too expensive! Chocolate is the perfect thing.

And the day after tomorrow I will see Melody in London for three days before flying back to Tokyo.

On the “Euronight” between Firenze and Lausanne in the middle of the night, March 18, 2007

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Vibrato, It's Personal



The fact that brass players around the world can’t agree about vibrato is a good thing, we are all different and we will all play differently. This is, however, a time when many players throughout the world are striving to achieve a sort of computer-readout result in their performance, sounding perfect in every way; that’s not a bad thing certainly, but perfect just isn’t good enough, what makes us special comes after we can play perfectly. How do we discriminate who is best after we have heard ten perfect players? Of course, it’s the individualism, the musicality, and vibrato is an important component in the make up individualism.

Our personal preference for vibrato is unique, more so than any other aspect of our musical personality; it’s as individual as our fingerprints. Ironically, most brass players generally don’t use vibrato most of the time, especially, the lower instruments and more especially, tuba. However, to make a decision simply to use no vibrato at all would be sadly limiting ones complete musicality. Like a beautiful resonant pianissimo, vibrato can be a factor that can separate a great player from a very good player; we hear this clearly at the many competitions that are held through North America, Europe and Asia.

Like many aspects of brass playing, vibrato in the last few decades could be clearly identifiable by nationality; it was not difficult to guess whether a player was French (very fast), British (alla brass band), Italian (quasi vocal), American (secretive and low profile) or German (no vibrato at all). All these tendencies, however, are neither right or wrong, ones vibrato is a matter of choice adjusted to ones individual musical tastes and environments.

There are several ways to make a vibrato: Slide vibrato, which is very beautiful and effective but exclusive only to trombone, Hand vibrato, done moving the whole instrument; this works very well for trumpet but, very frankly, looks obscene when tried with tuba, Breath vibrato, done by oscillating the air pressure while playing is another choice; sometimes this can sound effective but it’s problematic because it interferes with an even stable air supply, which is such an important aspect of lower brass playing. The most successful vibrato for euphonium and tuba is jaw vibrato (sometimes called lip vibrato), this is done by moving the jaw up and down in a ya ya ya ya motion. As well as slightly modifying the intonation in the way finger vibrato does on a string instrument, it also modifies the vowel sound (timbre). The final result with lip vibrato is a combination of both an intonation and timbre vibrato.

Next in the choice of vibrato process is the speed and the width (velocity and amplitude) of the vibrato. There are examples of many types of vibratos that are very interesting but perhaps not good choices for modern brass playing, such as the charming, soulful and very rapid vibrato of the great French chanteuse of the last century Edith Piaf, or the very wide exotic vibrato, sometimes wider that a major third, heard from many of the traditional Japanese singers.

Learning the mechanics of vibrato is not difficult: Choose a mid register note and simply move the jaw in an up and down in the ya ya ya motion. Do it first in quarter notes, then eighth notes, triplets and finally sixteenths. Next, start slowly and accelerate until you discover what seems best for your personal tastes. The most important part of the vibrato learning process is listening, listening to singers, woodwind players and string players and especially listening to singers and instrumentalists who are singing and playing in the same tessitura of your own instrument. Finally, recording and listening to yourself and adjusting until what you hear is the vibrato you want.

There are two interesting observations in this intonation/timbre oscillation process that we call vibrato. First, we find that usually the music will sound more alive if the upper cycle of the vibrato is emphasized a little more than the lower cycle. For example, if one plays around 60% above and 40% below the result will bring more life to the music, especially regarding lower instruments. When vibrato favors the lower cycle the results can become depressing. Secondly, vibrato speed need not be constant, a faster vibrato in the higher register and slower in the low register may bring more musical results.

Finding ones personal vibrato is a major step to becoming a complete musician, however, there can be many variations in a single person’s individual vibrato. I recall a cello recital of the great Mistislav Rostoprovich in 1962, during my days with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, when Maestro Rostoprovich used many varieties of vibrato with seemingly endless variations in both amplitude and velocity throughout his program. I also recall many great singers changing the speed and intensity of their vibratos through one single note; very dramatic when used in the right place in the right way.

Vibrato is a very very personal thing. It’s a wonderful tool; use it well.

January 3, 1913, Tokyo 

Vibrato, It's Personal



The fact that brass players around the world can’t agree about vibrato is a good thing, we are all different and we will all play differently. This is, however, a time when many players throughout the world are striving to achieve a sort of computer-readout result in their performance, sounding perfect in every way; that’s not a bad thing certainly, but perfect just isn’t good enough, what makes us special comes after we can play perfectly. How do we discriminate who is best after we have heard ten perfect players? Of course, it’s the individualism, the musicality, and vibrato is an important component in the make up of that individualism.

Our personal preference for vibrato is unique, more so than any other aspect of our musical personality; it’s as individual as our fingerprints. Ironically, most brass players generally don’t use vibrato most of the time, especially, the lower instruments and more especially, tuba. However, to make a decision simply to use no vibrato at all would be sadly limiting ones complete musicality. Like a beautiful resonant pianissimo, vibrato can be a factor that can separate a great player from a very good player; we hear this clearly at the many competitions that are held through North America, Europe and Asia.

Like many aspects of brass playing, vibrato in the last few decades could be clearly identifiable by nationality; it was not difficult to guess whether a player was French (very fast), British (alla brass band), Italian (quasi vocal), American (secretive and low profile) or German (no vibrato at all). All these tendencies, however, are neither right or wrong, ones vibrato is a matter of choice adjusted to ones individual musical tastes and environments.

There are several ways to make a vibrato: Slide vibrato, which is very beautiful and effective but exclusive only to trombone, Hand vibrato, done moving the whole instrument; this works very well for trumpet but, very frankly, looks obscene when tried with tuba, Breath vibrato, done by oscillating the air pressure while playing is another choice; sometimes this can sound effective but it’s problematic because it interferes with an even stable air supply, which is such an important aspect of lower brass playing. The most successful vibrato for euphonium and tuba is jaw vibrato (sometimes called lip vibrato), this is done by moving the jaw up and down in a ya ya ya ya motion. As well as slightly modifying the intonation in the way finger vibrato does on a string instrument, it also modifies the vowel sound (timbre). The final result with lip vibrato is a combination of both an intonation and timbre vibrato.

Next in the choice of vibrato process is the speed and the width (velocity and amplitude) of the vibrato. There are examples of many types of vibratos that are very interesting but perhaps not good choices for modern brass playing, such as the charming, soulful and very rapid vibrato of the great French chanteuse of the last century Edith Piaf, or the very wide exotic vibrato, sometimes wider that a major third, heard from many of the traditional Japanese singers.

Learning the mechanics of vibrato is not difficult: Choose a mid register note and simply move the jaw in an up and down in the ya ya ya motion. Do it first in quarter notes, then eighth notes, triplets and finally sixteenths. Next, start slowly and accelerate until you discover what seems best for your personal tastes. The most important part of the vibrato learning process is listening, listening to singers, woodwind players and string players and especially listening to singers and instrumentalists who are singing and playing in the same tessitura as your own instrument. Finally, recording and listening to yourself and adjusting until what you hear is the vibrato you want.

There are two interesting observations in this intonation/timbre oscillation process that we call vibrato. First, we find that usually the music will sound more alive if the upper cycle of the vibrato is emphasized a little more than the lower cycle. For example, if one plays around 60% above and 40% below the result will bring more life to the music, especially regarding lower instruments. When vibrato favors the lower cycle the results can become depressing. Secondly, vibrato speed need not be constant, a faster vibrato in the higher register and slower in the low register may bring more musical results.

Finding ones personal vibrato is a major step to becoming a complete musician, however, there can be many variations in a single person’s individual vibrato. I recall a cello recital of the great Mistislav Rostoprovich in 1962, during my days with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, when Maestro Rostoprovich used many varieties of vibrato with seemingly endless variations in both amplitude and velocity throughout his program. I also recall many great singers changing the speed and intensity of their vibratos through one single note; very dramatic when used in the right place in the right way.

Vibrato is a very very personal thing. It’s a wonderful tool; use it well.

January 3, 1913, Tokyo