Still, Still, Still - a home recording project

Hi friends,

Well, it's been a while!  I wanted to get this recording posted, since we are OFFICIALLY past Thanksgiving and it is now appropriate to engage in Christmas type activities!  I began working on this multitrack recording last winter, after my most enjoyable interview with my buddy, Jim Nova, about his own amazing trombone ensemble recordings.  My secondary motivation was to use the project to begin to familiarize myself with the features and capabilities of Logic Pro X.  Our audio engineer, Ed Kelly, used Logic to record our Valor Brass album, Inaugural, and I was so taken with what I saw that I knew I had to learn more about it for myself.  This piece is one of my favorite carols, and I chose to give it a little "winterized" effect here.  I hope you enjoy it.  Feel free to download and share from the Soundcloud site.  

Happy Holidays,

Chris

Back Home band

Ahhh, nice long drive today from Lawton, Oklahoma back into Texas.... Great!  I think my colleagues get a little tired from all the Texas-love that all us Texas Natives express on these tours! :) Poor people, they'll just never know the feeling!  We have had (and always have) a great reception in my home state. Friday night, the people of Commerce turned out in force (and skipped Friday night football, no less!) to hear the band at Ferguson Hall on the campus of Texas A&M University - Commerce. We had a fantastic crowd, and it was great to either see old friends, or to know they were in the audience. 

Interestingly, as a child, my grandfather saw John Philip Sousa conduct his world famous Sousa Band in the same hall.  Since Sousa served as the Marine Band's director from 1880-1892, that was a pretty special connection.  Granddad had a funny story about talking to the tuba players in the band, and them showing the kids that they had made fake shirt sleeve cuffs that stuck out of the sleeves of their uniform coats. It kept them from being so hot on stage, and they told the kids they better not tell Mr. Sousa! In addition to my parents, cousin, and aunts and uncles, my good friend Nancy Jo Humfeld drove up for the concert. It was great to see my Humfeld family at the concert, I love them all so much. 

We had a chance to bring a number of musicians out to the music building in the afternoon before the concert to teach some master classes for their students. It's great to see not only excellent playing and teaching going on, and a world class facility, but the PEOPLE are amazing.  I have written in this blog before about the impression you get the moment you arrive at a place of higher learning. TAMU-Commerce has a faculty and student body full of quality people. I was truly impressed, once again. Of course, I'm sure that I'm a tad biased! Our trombone section played and talked to the students about our jobs in the Marine Band, and we then coached some excellent players through music they are currently preparing. 

   Onward to West Texas and home on Friday! Tour has been great, and I am ready to get home to my family!

Cheers,

Chris

Great visit with the Baylor Trombone Studio

  Well, we are rolling out of Waco and had a fantastic time visiting Baylor University and the trombone studio of Brent Phillips. I was joined by my colleagues in the Marine Band,  Sam Barlow, Chris Reaves, and Daniel Brady, for a master class with the Baylor students prior to our concert last night. We got to hear some excellent playing from various sized trombone ensembles and chatted with the students about our work in the Marine Band. Brent is, of course, a former member of the Band, having served 8 years from 1996-2004, and it's always great to catch up with him!  Check out the Baylor Trombone studio site here:

Baylor Trombone Studio We finished up the evening with a large and enthusiastic crowd in Jones Hall at the Baylor campus. 

Thanks for having us!

"Excuse me, sir? What should I do if I want to make it as a trombone player?"

   Blind Boys of Alabama   Moog factory tour

  Playing with fun toys 

 At a concert the other day, a young man approached me at intermission and, literally, asked me the question above.... 

After I said, "practice", I asked him if he listens to a lot of music.  He said, "not really."

Now, I will admit that I wasn't surprised to find a young player that doesn't listen to a lot of trombone recordings. However, I was surprised that someone who doesn't listen much did have the curiosity to ask the question in the first place. 

It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that you, as an aspiring musician, listen to as muc music as your ears and brain can stand. Preferably music that is directly related to the styles in which you want to be fluent. If you play the trombone, and you tell me you've never heard a recording by Joe Alessi, Christian Lindberg, or JJ Johnson, then you have some serious work to do!  I discussed with the young man where he might go to hear great performers: YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc., and most of it for free!  

The fact of the matter is, you will play the sounds you have in your head. If you can hear it, then you can proceed towards reproducing that sound. 

Second, you should be listening to music that you might think doesn't interest you. Over the past two weeks, I did two things that were eye openers for me: I toured the Moog synthesizer factory in Asheville, NC, and I heard the Blind Boys of Alabama while we were in Birmingham. The Moog tour was interesting because our tour guide, besides giving us a great overview of the history of Moog, pointed me towards some fantastic musicians and bands whose work I discovered I really enjoy, such as Deltron 3030 and Dan the Automator. Those are bands and music styles I would have NEVER discovered on my own!  Likewise, the Blind Boys of Alabama do play a style of music that I already enjoy, gospel, but their live show was so much more than that. Backed by an absolutely fantastic 4-piece band, they played gospel, soul, country, rock, and put on a live show that was as entertaining as it was musically amazing!

So, listen, listen, listen. No excuses!  That is, IF you want to improve and broaden your horizons.... :)

Yours virtually,

Chris

Blind Boys of Alabama Bombassic Deltron 3030