_TrumpeT_

This is probably my first question not so much related to physical aspect of playing. Do you have some kind of imagery in your mind when you play certain pieces? Does this guide you how to approach the piece? For example, when I listen to the triple tonguing part in Grand Russian Fantasia played by Wynton I just naturally picture people walking through the valley shivering.

Manny Laureano

Not so much while I'm playing. Maybe when I'm listening to the piece or before I play it if I'm inspired to a certain mood. I hear the sound of the trumpet playing the very notes I'm going to play a split second before I do and I continue doing that as I play, all the way through, long and short notes alike.

ML

tptshark

Last year i went to a theatre masterclass, during which the student was asked to imagine delivering their lines to various stereotypes. The difference in the manner that a person talks to a child, a friend, or a priest, can be quite pronounced, and this comes accross in the delivery.

I have since been using this as a way to experiment with different ways of delivering a musical line. I have found it is a quick, and easy, way to quickly find new avenues into a musical phrase.

Here is an experiment I have used with great success with some of my students: play a passage that you know well, but deliver it firstly as though you were chatting to a close friend. Then as though you are giving advice to a student. Then as though confessing to a priest. Record your playing and see what you find. It is important that you perform to the persona, not the situation in this excercise.

Hope this works for you as well as it has for me.

Cheers!
-Adrian

Fudleysmith

Wow,

What a cool concept. Put a face on the audience and hear how the end result changes. I can't wait to try this out for those (few) pieces that I feel like I "own". Thanks for the idea .

Greg

trpt2345

Yeah, I have an image of how many notes I'm putting out there into the air and how many dollars I'm getting back.

Michael McLaughlin

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.
Mark Twain

Alex Yates

My imagery revolves more around sound and color. I tend to mimic other instruments in my mind. i.e. a stringed instrument doing pizzicato or a clarinet moving across arpeggios as smooth as velvet. I also think of certain colors in my mind to guide the flavor of my tone on occasion.

oldlou

As an advanced senior citizen who at the age of 69, after a 45 year hiatus, decided to 'come back' to the trumpet about a year ago. I suppose that I am being a bit presumptuous to enter this thread, considering that I will probably never play another solo in my life. I was, once a fairly profficient trumpeter, studying under the best of the best and making my living with my horn. I know those days are gone forever, but, I do remember that I was told by my teacher that when playing in a large auditorium I would do best if I picked out an individual in the very last row of the upper balcony and played specifically to and for that person. Playing in a band or orchestra is much the same. I play to and specifically for my conductor. In the two community bands that play in my conductors have told me privately that I am blending well with my section mates, but, the conductor can hear every note I play, and, all of the various inflections. I guess that I am doing my job properly.


OLDLOU>>

Eclipsehornplayer

I'd say so Lou....

I like Alex, tend to think more in terms of color and blend. Perhaps it's because I'm a student of hers I'd don't know; but I really try to get outside of my section and see the big picture and how I fit into it.

Not to fret though, I still have the jack hammer in my head as sometimes I have such a heavy tongue my section mates have nick named me hammer tongue!

Don't know how proud of that I should be...

I guess you won't hear me performing Mendez tunes anytime soon. I swear he had a very tiny; and pointed tongue!

NickD

Interesting question...

I tend to create imagery when I listen, but not so much when I play. I couldn't describe the images any more than I could describe a dream. I don't tend to remeber them. I dunno... Maybe I'm just dozing off when I listen.

As to PLAYING, I guess I have to wonder why we can't have aural imagery. The sound is the image I'm hearing/seeing. You've got me a little bugged with this question. I've never thought of it before. I'll to ponder it more deeply when I'm playing.

Oh well...

Peace!

ND

trjeam

insteresting you talk about hearing the note a split second before you play because I just posted a thread on TH regarding hearing things before you play it.