Andrew McCandless, Trumpet

The Tenor and Bass Trombone studios at the Glenn Gould School of Music at the Royal Conservatory had the privilege of playing two master classes in less than a week. These master classes were played for former Principal Trombone of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Per Brevig, and for current Bass Trombone of the New York Philharmonic James Markey. Each of these players and pedagogues has greatly enriched the world of Trombone playing.

The master class with Per Brevig was held on Thursday November 5th, 2009. This was an interesting master class because Per was coaching us in Toronto from New York through video and microphones. We could see him on a TV and he could see us as well. It would be more ideal to have the coaching face to face for obvious reasons such as the sound he heard us play came through a microphone intermediary so it wasn’t exactly our pure sound that he heard. However, he could hear and coach our intonation, rhythmic accuracy etc. There are many positives to this kind of system the biggest of which being that even though it wasn’t possible for Per to come to Toronto, we could still be coached by him. We each played a solo and three excerpts for him. He stressed the importance of proper breathing and did some exercises with us. Another positive about this system is that the next day, our Trombone teacher Gordon Wolfe gave a master class to Per’s students. Gord uses a lot of easy to understand analogies to get his points across and also plays a great deal to demonstrate. Gord coached Per’s students mostly on excerpts and stressed confidence and musicality as very important keys to success. Between the two master classes, we all learned a great deal.

The master class with James Markey took place on Monday November 9th, 2009. This was a more traditional master class in that James made the trek north to Toronto to coach our studios. James started the master class by playing a solo for the audience. James displayed everything involved with great Trombone playing from soft and delicate to the virtuosic. The most impressive aspect was the musicality James relentlessly demonstrated. The energy in the room was great and what a way to inspire the students about to play for him. In the morning session we each played a solo for him. What made his master class great was that he coached each player very specifically to their weaknesses. James made everyone of the performers sing passages from their music and talked about how important singing is for ear training and the overall product. “If you can’t sing it, you can’t play it”. He stressed musicality, perfect intonation, rhythmic accuracy like many coaches do, but his knowledge of the repertoire is so great that he would work on specific passages and correct them. He was even very familiar with the John Williams Tuba Concerto that was performed for him. This made the learning experience so much easier and the master class flew by.

The afternoon master class was spent working on excerpts. Each of us played two excerpts for him. James stressed everything as in the solo master class from breathing to tuning. He mentioned a tool to the performers called the slow downer. It changes the key of the music that you played and you can hear everything from tuning issues to unwanted glisses in slide movement. While correcting issues, James had a way of making the players feel very comfortable which again helped the process move along at very fast rate.
It is very obvious to us why Per and James are so sought after as clinicians. They strive for nothing less than perfection at all times in all categories of playing. They were both very encouraging and helped us all improve a great deal in the time we had together.
Our next Trombone master class is in the New Year with another New York juggernaut and colleague of James Markey, Joseph Alessi of the New York Philharmonic.

Our next trombone master class is February 14th, 2010, with Joseph Alessi, Principal Trombone, New York Philharmonic.

The GGS Low Brass Studios.
Tenor Trombone Studio of Gordon Wolfe:
Nathan Fanning and Nathan O’Neal
Bass Trombone Studio of Jeffrey Hall:
Isabelle Lavoie

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On Monday October 19, 2009, Northwestern University’s celebrated trumpet professor, Barbara Butler gave a master class at The Glenn Gould School of Music. This master class held a special interest for us since Barbara is not only one of the most renowned trumpet pedagogues in North America, but is also the former teacher of Andrew McCandless; our own trumpet professor.

The afternoon class had us each performing a solo work for the group. Barbara helped students to better communicate their musical ideas by inventing characters for each section of the music. For example, in the first movement of the Hummel Concerto she suggested having three characters: fanfare, lyrical and a joker. Barbara also discussed sound projection; comparing our sound to a ball being thrown against the back wall of the concert hall. She told us that we should listen to our sound as it comes back to us, not as it comes out of the bell. That way we will not only be playing out to the audience, but will also have a better understanding of what they are experiencing. Along those same lines, Barbara stated that our ears were our best teacher and to diagnose our problems through hearing the imperfections in our sound.

In the evening, Barbara spent some time talking about Daniel Coyle’s “The Talent Code”; a new book about the brain and learning. She discussed the importance of “deep practicing” or practicing correctly so as not to reinforce bad habits.

The rest of the evening was spent working on excerpts. Barbara spent quite a bit of time working on air and breathing; especially on the topic of connecting the air between notes. She reinforced the idea that air should always be moving forward, no matter what the music is doing. To hold back the air is to create tension. On the subject of auditions she told us there were four elements to a successful trumpet player: work ethic, intelligence of work, perseverance and the least important of the four: talent!

Barbara Butler is a great player and an amazing teacher. There is no doubt in our minds as to why Northwestern University turns out such incredible trumpet players! We were very impressed by not only her ability to diagnose our problems, but also the determination with which she went about trying to solve them. She would not let us get away with anything less than a full understanding of the message she was conveying. We all greatly enjoyed the experience and hope to see Barbara back at The Glenn Gould School in the near future.

Thanks for a great class Barbara!

Our next trumpet master class is on March 1st, 2010, with Robert Sullivan, Principal Trumpet, Cincinnati Symphony.

The GGS trumpet studio.
Lynn Peterson, Rob Weymouth, Isabelle Arseneau-Bruneau and Patrice Boileau
Studio of Andrew McCandless

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A masterclass with Gail Williams, horn professor from Northwestern University was held at Glenn Gould School in Toronto on October 16, 2009. The class started off with Gail discussing and demonstrating warm ups and routines, and a group warm up session. During the warm up, Gail discussed the importance of buzzing in warm up and practice, and the usefulness of mouthpiece buzzing on developing efficient articulation and air usage. She gave us several useful exercises to increase flexibility, improve smoothness, and help clarify articulations. On the topic of breathing and air, Gail demonstrated the need to simply inhale and exhale as much air as possible, and gave several useful analogies, such as that of a bellows! She also explained the need to strengthen the core of the horn range instead of focusing only on the extremities.

For the rest of the class, we worked on excerpts and solo pieces. Gail helped students with technical issues such as lip trills, and gave new approaches to tackling and mastering these common difficulties. She had many interesting and useful approaches to problems, like asking a student to play standing on one foot, or bend over while playing to decrease tension. Her approach was always extremely positive and constructive, and she emphasized that anyone can be successful if the only have (and use) the right tools.

One other topic that Gail talked about was a new book, called “The Talent Code”, which explains the neurological basis for learning – essentially that everything that we do reinforces neural circuits in our brains, whether right or wrong. This makes clear the need for “deep practice” – stopping and solving mistakes right away so that we are not reinforcing the wrong patterns in our brains.

Gail Williams is a superb horn player and a master pedagogue. We all learned so much from her visit, and we look forward to having her back at the Glenn Gould School.

Our next horn masterclass is on January 8th, 2010, with Eric Ruske, Boston hornist, soloist and teacher.

The GGS horn studio.
Julie Rochus, Jonathan Fisher, Jean Poynter and Mikhailo Babiak.
Studio of Christopher Gongos

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