22 Quotes From The Brass Player’s Cookbook

In 2006, as part of the Music Cookbook Series, Meredith Music Publications (under Hal Leonard) published The Brass Player’s Cookbook with Kenneth Amis as the editor. This is considered an invaluable resource as some of the finest brass players in the world have contributed articles about anything regarding playing a brass instrument.

Here is a complete list of musicians who have contributed to the book: (Note musician’s bio are from 2006 and may not be current):

• Jeff Adams – Trombone, U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors
• Kenneth Amis – Tuba, Empire Brass
• Roger Bobo – Tuba, Brass Legend
• Lisa O. Bontrager – Horn, Penn State University
• Velvet Brown – Tuba, Penn State University
• John Clark – Horn, SUNY Purchase
• Dale Clevenger – Horn, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Abbie Conant – Trombone, Staatliche Hochschule fuer Musik
• Jeffrey Curnow – Trumpet, Philadelphia Orchestra
• Kurt Dupuis – Trumpet, U.S Marine Band
• Peter Ellefson – Trombone, Indiana University
• Laurie Frink – Trumpet, NYC Freelancer
• Jack Gale – Trombone, Jazz
• Wycliffe Gordon – Trombone, Jazz
• James Gourlay – Tuba, Soloist and Teacher
• Toby Hanks – Tuba, Manhattan School of Music
• Dick Hansen – Repairman, Hansen Brass Restoration
• Kevin Hayward – Bandmaster, Salvation Army Canadian Staff Band
• Leslie Howie – Tenor Horn, Royal Northern College of Music
• Gregory Hustis – Horn, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
• Alex Iles – Trombone, Studio and Long Beach Symphony Orchestra
• Ingrid Jensen – Trumpet, Jazz
• David Kirk – Tuba, Houston Symphony
• Craig Knox – Tuba, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
• Mark H. Lawrence – Trombone, San Francisco Symphony
• John Marcellus – Trombone, Eastman School of Music
• Raymond Mase – Trumpet, American Brass Quintet
• Steven Mead – Euphonium, Soloist
• Brad Michel – Recording Engineer
• Gregory Miller – Horn, University of Maryland
• Bob Montgomery – Jazz Artist
• Jennifer Montone – Horn, Philadelphia Orchestra
• Daniel Perantoni – Tuba, Indiana University
• Marc Reese – Trumpet, Empire Brass
• Ronald Romm – Trumpet, Canadian Brass
• Mike Roylance – Tuba, Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Jon Sass – Tuba, Soloist
• Ralph Sauer – Trombone, Los Angeles Philharmonic
• Susan Slaughter – Trumpet, St. Louis Symphony
• Phyllis Stork – Stork Custom Mouthpieces
• Deanna Swoboda – Tuba, Western Michigan University
• David Taylor – Bass Trombone, Soloist
• Kenneth Thompkins – Trombone, Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Demondrae Thurman – Tuba/Euphonium, University of Alabama
• Richard Todd – Horn, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
• Adam Unsworth – Horn, Philadelphia Orchestra
• Warren Vaché – Cornet, Soloist
• Tom Varner – Horn, Jazz
• William VerMeulen – Horn, Houston Symphony
• Charles Vernon – Bass Trombone, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• John Wallace – Trumpet, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
• Frøydis Ree Wekre – Horn, Norwegian Academy of Music
• David Werden – Euphonium, University of Minnesota
• Jeremy West – Cornetto, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
• Gail Williams – Horn, Northwestern University
• R. Douglas Wright – Trombone, Minnesota Orchestra
• Douglas Yeo – Bass Trombone, Boston Symphony

What is unique about the articles is they are laid out as recipes (ingredients, serves, and directions). While this 148-page resource should be fully read, I wanted to pull some quotes out that I found valuable for my own playing and teaching. The author of the quote and page numbers are included:

Roger Bobo

“Be your own teacher. I’m sure you have a great teacher, but he or she is only your second most important teacher; you are number one! […] The experience you’ll have in pursuing your quest for the next ten years will probably be more important in your life than achieving your goal of becoming the greatest tubist.” (8)

Velvet Brown

“It is imperative that the musician is always present during your entire routine or warm-up. We cannot wait to add the musician until we have a piece of music in front of us with a title or a number on top of an etude. All of the routine ingredients are needed when we play solos, etudes, even scales, and slurs.” (12)

John Clark

“Sit and think about your playing. […] This might sound easy but it’s not. Henry Ford once said, ‘Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.'” (14)

“If you have just been practicing long tones and scales for three hours, you need inspiration. It’s out there; it’s all around you, so go find something that will help you clarify your goals and keep you motivated.” (14)

Dale Clevenger

“We must, particularly in our practice of quality tones (long tones), scales, etudes, and everything musical, make deep breathing a habit. For the sake of our career, we have no choice in this most important physical part of playing a brass or wind instrument but to breathe as if our careers depend on it … and they do!” (16)

Jeffrey Curnow

“If you want to change your playing for the better, make some adjustments to [your] routine. Within a short time – or in some case, immediately – you’re a better player.” (19)

Wycliffe Gordon

“Sing everything, everything, everything! It is the voice that gives way to the development of one’s ‘voice’ on any instrument.” (33)

Toby Hanks

“A warm-up is what we do to prepare ourselves to perform/rehearse/practice, which will vary depending on any number of things[.] A daily routine is basic skills development.” (38)

Kevin Hayward

“The guiding thought when contemplating rehearsal participation is this: ‘What can I do to make a positive, significant, and satisfying contribution?'” (43)

Gregory Hustis

“Many players are technically capable and consistent, but because there is very little room for rhythmic and technical interpretation in an excerpt, musical interpretation is especially important. You should know precisely what you want to express with each excerpt.” (48)

Ingrid Jensen

“Be it train, plane, bus, or boat, there is one consistent element that allows me to play my best when I get to the gig: sleep.” (53)

Craig Knox

“Remember that people do not go to a concert to witness the creation of perfection; they go to be moved. Your job is to express the joy, the excitement, the beauty of the music, and share it with the audience. [T]he sooner you think of an audition committee as an audience with which to connect, the better.” (57)

Mark H. Lawrence

“It’s my strong belief that a composer’s markings are to be taken very loosely and only as guidelines to performance.” (60)

John Marcellus

“Placing a microphone at the other end of the room next to a metronome set at your tempo while recording is very revealing when played back!” (65)

Marc Reese

“The number-one bad habit, bar none, that I observe in most students is that they stick their tongues through their teeth when articulating. These students unconsciously push their tongue through their lips so that when they pull it away the lips bang together ensuring that they will start buzzing. Although startling your lips into buzzing does work, it causes a multitude of problems.” (86-87)

Ronald Romm

“If the music you have selected is famous, be careful to play it really well, so that the audience recognizes its power in its familiarity. If it is not famous, be careful to play it really well, so that the performance can serve to reinforce the audience’s observations about your beginning piece(s). (89)

Mike Roylance

“I’ve always thought of the mouthpiece as the actual instrument and the horn itself as simply an amplifier. Master the mouthpiece and the rest is simply adjusting the dials, sliders, and knobs that are unique to your amplifier (instrument).” (92)

Ralph Sauer

“[D]ynamics indicate a quality of sound rather than a quantity of sound. […] One of the most difficult sounds to produce on a brass instrument is a fortissimo level of sound with a soft quality (Bruckner, for example). Another difficult dynamic is a piano level of sound that projects well to the audience.” (99)

Deanna Swoboda

“We must continually remind our students that we are first singers and then instrumentalists” (108)

David Taylor

“[P]erfection in technique is not necessarily the epitome of a great performance. For me, being in the ‘moment’ of the performance translates to perfection.” (112)

John Wallace

“Remember that success and failure coexist side-by-side and feed off each other. You cannot have one without the other. You can not learn without making mistakes. Learn how to convert mistakes into nearer and nearer misses.” (132)

R. Douglas Wright

“What do I want to say with this music?” (144)

Douglas Yeo

“Play the dynamic that fits the context even if it’s different than what’s written on the page. We must also be keenly aware that we can single-handedly damage a colleague’s hearing by playing too loudly or by pointing our bells at someone’s head. We only reinforce the stereotype of brass players being raw, meat-eating dolts when we use our instrument as a weapon.” (emphasis added) (147)

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