As jazz band auditions and rehearsals are starting for middle schools and high school students across the state I get a lot of questions about how to improvise on trombone. Becoming a successful improviser takes time, practice, and creativity. Here are some tips that will get you in the right direction to improve at improvising.
I speak from experience when I say that playing after a long break is tough! If you haven’t picked your instrument up in a few weeks, it can be really difficult to play! Everything feels alien—your chops swell up, you get exhausted after a few notes, you lose your range, and etc. I get it, I get it—hanging out at the pool with your friends is more fun than playing concert F for 30 minutes a day. Here are a few tips to ease you back into playing after summer break:
Every once in a while we will get a call from a customer that is somewhat out of the ordinary. I recently visited a local summer camp that had a few drum sets that were in need of some work. When I arrived to inspect the drums I was able to piece back together two drum sets that needed new heads and cleaned. I was not expecting to find a vintage set of drums. The 1967 Ludwig Club Date that I found had all the original parts except for the cymbal arm and a hoop on the mounted tom. While I knew it would be a challenge, I was determined to make these drums look and sound great again. Below is a basic breakdown of the steps taken to get the drums back into excellent condition.
Marching band is as “Indiana” as the famed pork tenderloin at Nick’s Kitchen (Huntington, IN). We know form Google analytics that the Japanese and Indonesians cannot get enough of the Avon and Carmel marching band performances. Directors from all over the country come to learn from the extraordinary talent that make these programs run like clockwork. Marching band is an absolutely positive addiction. I could cite any number of studies that show correlation between music education and academic achievement, creativity, and etc., I am not going to bore you with that—after all those are usually statistics that can be read in a variety of days. I do want to talk about what are real life benefits outside of the classroom. Here are three that I live every day:
Regina in Encore Orchestral Strings has some great advice for all of the string players out there. Keep reading! We’re approaching the time of year where temperatures are averaging above 75 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity levels in Indiana. We all know that cold winters present it’s own challenges, but the summer heat can create just as many issues. Wood is an organic material that will always react to the temperature, which is why we have to be careful about where the instrument is being stored. We have seen fingerboards come unglued, necks pop out of place, and varnish essentially melt. With the high levels of humidity and scorching temperatures that we endure in Indiana, you want to be careful with how you store your instrument and where it is being stored. One of the most common scenarios that we hear about from our customers involves leaving an instrument in the car on a hot summer day. No matter what the temperature outside is, it is safest to bring the instrument inside with you wherever you are. We recently had a cello come in that suffered quite a bit of cosmetic damage due to it being left in a hot
With so much new content out there it can be difficult to sift through everything. Here are three new albums featuring trombonists that I can’t stop listening to. Read what the artists have to say about the works and follow the links for more information on the performers. Be sure to pick up your copies of these albums with the information listed. Steve Davis – Correlations Steve Davis has been one of my all-time favorite trombonists since I first heard him. His style and sound are heavily influenced by JJ Johnson, and his harmonic sensibilities draw additionally from players like Jackie McLean and Freddie Hubbard. Davis never plays more or less than the music demands. A sensitive and thoughtful player, he consistently bring something fresh to each track while paying homage to the masters.
Richard Dole is an active tenor/bass trombonist and educator in Indianapolis and the surrounding region. He has toured or performed with Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Steve Lawrence/Edie Gormé, Barry Manilow, the Hollywood Concert Orchestra China tour, and in 2008 traveled with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra to Egypt for a US State Department Tour. Whew! This makes him a perfect candidate for teaching a masterclass on how to navigate a career as a freelance musician.
On April 6th, 2018 Ball State University hosted Trombone Day II. This event was a full day of rehearsals, masterclasses, lectures, and performances that showcased all of the fine resources the school has to offer. Chris Van Hof, Assistant Professor of Music Performance (Trombone), led the event, and trombone legend, Jim Pugh, was the featured artist of the day.
As a brass player, there are naturally good days and bad days. Days where the instrument sings effortlessly, and days where you want nothing more than to touchdown spike your instrument into the pavement. What if I said that this issue could partially be within your control without changing the way you play?
Not everyone is going to start off with a full-size instrument. Violin-family instruments are somewhat unique in that people of all sizes and ages play them, and they are sized to fit the stature of the player. You rarely see a 3 year old studying a brass or woodwind instrument because these are larger instruments that require a certain physicality to them to play properly.
Summer vacation is a fantastic way to recharge and prepare yourself for the following year. While you’re spending time outside and taking a break be sure to keep up with your instrument to set yourself up for a strong start to the next year. Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind this summer that will keep your instrument, abilities, and interests in top shape.
We have all either seen, been, or wanted to be the person who has all of those little gadgets and gizmos plastered on to their trumpet. The cool leather valve guard… The hair tie to secure your 3rdvalve slide… The mouthpiece receiver-hugging BERP… All of these items, and many more, have amazing benefits and should be used to their full potential. However, let’s think for a second about how these additions may be affecting the sound of your instrument.
Finding your next instrument can be a daunting task if you don’t have a game plan. The market is filled with a plethora of options, and sometimes it can be difficult to see the forest through the trees.From my time at Paige’s Music and my experience as a player, I can provide my thought process, and hopefully it will help with your future instrument selection. Start by playing on your instrument. Always, always, always limit the variables. Bring your current instrument and mouthpiece as well as familiar music. Warm up on your instrument and take note of how it sounds in the space around you. You need to have a control for the experiment, and your current instrument will provide that. Take out uncertainties like unfamiliar music, unfamiliar mouthpieces, and etc.
Paige’s Music has been the one-stop shop all things band and orchestra in central Indiana since 1871 and we are constantly looking to improve our service and product offerings. The newest addition to our Indianapolis location is a brass mouthpiece display featuring more than 60 mouthpieces specifically chosen by our brass specialists, Ross Werner and Tucker Woerner based on their knowledge and input from local teachers and professionals. Anyone who visits our store will be able to try any and all of these mouthpieces in the pursuit of perfecting their sound.
Tuning an instrument equipped with pegs instead of tuning machines can be a frustrating task when problems are present. First of all the strings must be in good condition. Worn or frayed strings cannot be tuned well. It is essential that the pegs be fitted well, and lightly lubricated if needed. Use peg dope or peg compound when the pegs squeak when turned. No lubrication is preferable to too much. “Peg Drops” is a useful product for a quick, temporary fix to slipping pegs. When the peg is first turned, it is good to feel and/or hear a click. This tells us that the peg will stick correctly after tuning. After the click, the peg should turn smoothly. The peg is fitted on a taper with the thicker end toward the peg head. It is the nature of this tapered peg to push its way out. The string will quickly unwind if this is allowed to happen. It is also essential that the pegs be held in while tuning. If you have to hold the instrument with both hands and push the peg in very hard in order to get them to stick, or if your pegs are constantly slipping,
Choosing a student’s first instrument can be a daunting task. The internet is flooded with all kinds of instruments of varying qualities and prices. I like to think that instruments fit within one of four distinct categories: cheap instrument-shaped objects, viable student model instruments for beginners, intermediate instruments for the advancing player, and professional models for the musician who needs the best instrument available. Set your child (and yourself) up for success.
ISSMA State Solo and Ensemble is this weekend at North Central High School in Indianapolis. Here are some tips to prepare for everything you need to consider beyond your music performance! 1. Be There Early I am quite sure your director and private instructor has told you to be early for rehearsals, concerts, and etc. You definitely want to be early when it comes to Solo and Ensemble. You never know what could happen—the weather might be terrible and it may take twice as long as you planned, the performance order may change, a performance room might change, you might have issues with your instrument…anything can and probably will happen! Being early doesn’t fix these problems, but if definitely gives you the chance to get in the right headspace and deal with any problems effectively.
Last summer we updated the care videos for several of the beginning instruments available on our Debut Rental Program. The original videos were done just before HD became popular, so it was time for a redo. Below is the general care and maintenance video for flute, with instruction given by Erin Nichols of the Indy Flute Shop. Indy Flute Shop is a flute-specialty store owned by Paige’s Music. If you’d like to see the rest of the flute videos, you can view them on our Flute Care & Maintenance page.
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenpete/5522933139 Over the past few weeks central Indiana has experienced dramatic changes in temperatures—in a span of 4 days there was a temperature swing of 75 degrees! These dramatic fluctuations in temperature can wreak havoc on instruments. Cold weather in particular will cause serious issues with your instrument if you are not taking proper care of it.
We’d like to talk about the basics of tuning your woodwind instrument. While this may seem oversimplified there are some important details about the different families and the instruments within that are important to know. All brass and woodwind instruments are designed around the A440/A442 pitch and can be adjusted higher (sharper) or lower (flatter) to a certain extent. Adjusting too far either way will affect the scale of the instrument and can actually cause playing problems. On this blog we will start with the woodwinds.
