Best Bio Ever?

Thanks for Harold van Schaik for forwarding this to me. It is the online bio for William Barnewitz, Principal Horn of the Milwaukee Symphony.

http://www.mso.org/main.taf?p=9,8,2,2

Bob McChesney - Unreal

OK, so here's something that almost seems un-humanly fast and clean.

I think it's interesting that the video tacks on some audio of him improvising at the end almost as if to say, "Yeah, he can play that fast."

I noticed this in the comment section below the video:

This recording seemed a bit too fast and too perfect even for the doodle master, so I emailed him, and he graciously responded: "Obviously it's been tweaked, but not for speed. I tracked all the parts in real time (no slowing down or speeding up), punching in and out like crazy, of course, to get it really accurate with no errors. ..The result sounded really good without any tweaking, but I couldn't resist so I proceeded to line up notes timewise (when needed) to see how far I could take it."

What? We're Stylish Now?

I just don't know what to make of this.

The real question is, which did you check out first, the woman (or the guy depending on your point of view) or the slide grip?

Hellboy 2 - goin' PRIMAL

Jeff Budin, David Ridge on bass trombone and Peter Wahrhaftig on tuba

No explanation needed.





Thanks to Justin for sending me this link.

One post bites the dust

You may have noticed a recent post that showed the David Letterman show from this past summer. The musical guest was Dianne Birch and part of her backup band was a trombone quartet including Joe Alessi and Dave Taylor. I embedded a nice YouTube link.

Well, YouTube pulled the video so the post seemed pointless.

So, pfft, it's gone.

BoneSaw?

Hmmm....

An iBone app? Really??

Further proof that some people have way too much time on their hands.

(But I'll confess I'm a little jealous)

(notice the overtone series in the background)
(also, notice that tilting the phone seems to affect volume).

You're not likely to see tubas doing this

OK, first of all, simply assembling this thing must have taken a very long time.

(too much time)

(Silent) Monks Hallelujah

Sorry, I've been out of town for a while.
Here's a good one from YouTube.

Remember these monks have taken a vow of silence.

Big Ol' Smackdown in New York

Dave Finlayson has posted recently on his new blog about Gilbert Kaplan, who recently conducted Mahler's 2nd with NYPO.

I'm not familiar with Kaplan's conducting but I've had to endure too many podium frauds over the years.

Here's the link.

Here's my own cynical rule about conductors

Of every 1000 conductors, 900 are completely useless.
The ensemble would sound better if they walked away.

Of the remaining 100, 90 are mediocre at best.
At least they don't do serious damage and will be bailed out by most ensembles.

Of the remaining 10, 9 are good at their jobs.
They actually make the group sound better.

That last one is excellent.
A pleasure and an inspiration.

So, in your next rehearsal, ask yourself, "What about this one? In the 900, the 90, the 9, or the one."

Realize, you may go your whole life and never have the chance to work with "the one."

My Christmas wish: that you get to work with "the one" in a good orchestra.

Matt Niess on Guitar Hero

Thanks again to Andrew Reich for this one. Someone programmed a Matt Niess solo into Guitar Hero.
enjoy.

Trombone Nightmare

This mp3 file is from a former student, Andrew Reich. He was mixing things in an audio program and, somehow the files got messed up.

Can somebody say, "Audition Warm-Up Room"

Sweet dreams (mu-ha-ha-ha-ha)

Peter Moore...the bar just keeps going up

And now, from the "thank heavens I have a job" department a youtube clip (thanks to Kevin Jones for the heads-up).

Peter Moore, aged 12, recently won the BBC Young Musician competition. His winning piece: Mvt. 3 of the Tomasi Concerto.

Here's the official blurb:

Peter Moore was last night named BBC Young Musician of the Year 2008 at a nail-biting and visually stunning final at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff - the youngest ever winner of the competition.

Organised by BBC Wales, this was the first all-male final and trombonist Peter, aged just 12, took the coveted title against stiff competition from talented young musicians from around the UK.

Belfast-born Peter now lives in Stalybridge and is a pupil at Chetham's School of Music, Manchester. All his family members are brass players and his parents were both French horn players in the Ulster Orchestra. His brother David is studying at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and also entered the competition.

I repeat: age 12 !!!

Hail to Ives

I post this with a mixture of humor and sympathy.

Hail to the Chief at a recent White House arrival ceremony.

Wow, I'm thinking someone got in trouble over this.

U.S. Senator left trombone to get chicks

Here's a segment from a recent article posted on the Washington Post website...

Even Julia Roberts Didn't Love Him Like That

By Dana Milbank

Wednesday, November 14, 2007; Page A02

Fresh from his appearance Monday night at the Birchmere, Lyle Lovett had a gig at the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday -- and the stage proved uncomfortably crowded with performers.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, movie actor and ex-husband of Julia Roberts had come to testify about music copyrights. But the lawmakers, in the presence of a captive celebrity audience, turned the hearing room into an amateur talent show. "My parents forced upon me trombone lessons," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) informed the country music star. "I learned how to play the guitar," he added, because "the opposite sex was not attracted to trombone."

(sigh)

A Scam? Oh, I'm thinking yes

So about two weeks ago I got an odd email from "Albert" in Belgium. He would like his 14-year son, "Paul", to take lessons with me.

Albert wants to know my fee for 6 months of lessons (two lessons per week).

Man this is odd:

• a 14-year old son who is just going to pick up and fly to South Carolina to take lessons?

• the father wants to pre-pay for 6 months of lessons?

But still maybe the son is already here doing exchange study and dad just wants to line up some lessons. Apparently Albert's cousin, "Steve" is in the area.

Then this gets stranger:

• Albert doesn't seem worried about details of scheduling, he just refers to 6 months, not specific dates

• Albert informs me that his son doesn't even own a trombone yet. Would I suggest one?

• When I dial Albert's phone number, there's no voice mail and he never picks up.

Now this gets really strange:

• Albert sends me a check for thousands more than the fee I quoted him

• I email him to inform him and, in a subsequent phone call, he tells me that his wife accidentally included the travel agent's fee in my check. To solve this problem he wants me to (drum roll please, this is where the red warning light starts flashing)...wire the money to the travel agent.

• Apparently all this is very urgent as the son needs to board the plane that very day (now that"s an eager trombone student!)

OK, folks, I may think I'm a pretty decent teacher and all but this is just too much. Time to get off this merry-go-round. That check isn't touching my checking account and no money is getting wired anywhere!

• Oh yeah, the last two emails from Albert give me the contact info for the "travel agent" and a handy-dandy list of places from which I can send a money order (include all the usual E-Z check cashing joints).

• Oh wait, it gets even better. At the end of my last phone call from Albert he informs me that it is necessary that I purchase my money order with cash.

I emailed Albert to say that, since Paul has waited 14 years to begin trombone, he can wait a few weeks longer and that I was going to return his cashier's check and wait for an accurate check that really clears the bank.

Funny, no reply to that email......

By the way, here's a link to a web site dealing with scams and frauds. Read through it and you'll see that recently there has been a big rise in phony cashiers checks.

Happy Fun Time

Here's an addition to the BoneZone website that's just for fun. I've actually been thinking about doing this for years.

Auditions tend to be stressful times for the candidates. Here's some cynical fun to pass the time,
the Happy Fun puzzle page.

It includes a maze, a word search and (my favorite) a crossword puzzle.

(You definitely need to be versed in trombone excerpts to solve the crossword puzzle.)

Aaaahh....I've been pedaled !!!

Another Halloween. Out walking the usual trick-or-treat route with my kids. Of course, there's the usual smattering of older kids who have put in the minimal costume effort in order to score some candy.
Around 8, we shut down our sugar operation..lights off, etc. I'm putting the kids to bed when, around 9 the doorbell rings. Oh great, here we go again with the late trick-or-treaters.

Little did I know.... (insert evil "mu-ha-ha-ha" here).

What possesses some of my students to hop in a car, drive 40 minutes out to my house just so life can imitate art...



Yeah, this is a Peterson Project moment.




I should have figured what was up when one of my students calls to ask me my address "for some college applications."

College applications? On Halloween? Will???

So gullible I am.
I wonder if I can sue mapquest?

A Good Link: The Peterson Project

My students mentioned this website to me. A Houston freelancer who is making some great short films. Fun site ...
Peterson Project