nate

Nice masterclass yesterday, especially that last piece you played (what was it called, again?). Seeing a really good player up close in a small room was pretty cool. The full orchestra thing is just too much, at least for my taste. One thing I noticed is that, unlike some players, your face didn't move very much when you moved from the low to high registers.

I'm pretty new to playing the horn, so this might be a dumb question, but how do you do those fast runs from the very low to the very high registers without changing the shape of your mouth? Is there some trick, some special attack, or some vowel you're pronouncing?

thanks,

greenhorn nate

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the peripatetic technocrat

Manny Laureano

dear Nate,

Welcome to the world of recalcitrant brass tubing...

I'm glad you enjoyed the class, they're always fun for me to do. The piece I shared with the audience is called "Leibesfreud" by the great violinist, Fritz Kreisler. It's always been a favorite of mine and I recently learned it for just such occasions.

This business of not moving is something that's always ben there. The first time I noticed it was when I was in school and was playing when my eye caught the end of my bell in a nearby mirror. I kept playing and noticed that the bell really didn't move when I went from register to register. It then became a bit of a game to see how high and low I could arpeggiate without moving the bell. It struck me that many of my schoolmates moved up and down quite a bit so I just figured "Okay, at this point I have the best endurance and high register of any of my colleagues, so, maybe there's a connection." Maybe there isn't but that's what I've gone with all these years. For the last twenty years I've been playing equipment that works best when you don't do a lot of pivoting, so, it's a good match for me.

On a more conscious level, I do my best to pronounce the same consonant/vowel combination (TOOH) everywhere on the horn I can.

There are those that disagree with that notion, so, you'll hear differing opinions to my ideas. No, Nate, no tricks.

Well..., none that I'll admit to!

Welcome aboard. Have fun at TM.

ML