mikeblutman

Andrew,

Thank you for your willingness to share your ideas and experiences with us. We will all benefit your advice.

Can you please address dynamics with respect to lip slurs and flexibility? Mouthpiece buzzing? Do you use a wide dynamic range in these portions of your daily regiment or gravitate toward a more narrow, focused dynamic range?

Thank you,
Mike

amtrpt

Hello Mike,
When I am warming up I usually stay in a very comfortable dynamic range, around mezzo forte or so. This goes for buzzing and flexbilities.
When I practice other dynamics it's during my practice session that involves basics and music that I have coming up. I believe in practicing extreme dynamics. If I have to play FF then I make sure I am comfortable with FFFF and the same for soft dynamics. This was something that Barabara Butler always stressed with me.
I hope that answers your question.
Best,
Andrew

talcito

Hello:

What type of material do you use to practice your FF playing? Also, to what level do you take the FFFF? Do you take it to the point that your sound starts to fall apart or do you take it to the max at which you still sound good?

Thanks!

amtrpt

Talcito,
I like to use the Brandt book for loud practice. Another thing that I often do are slow two octave scales. These are good for endurance as well. Here is an example of how I do them.
Take a G major scale starting on low G. Set you metronome at 60 to the quarter note and play the scale slurred in quarter notes two actaves to the A natural above the top G and back down at fortissimo. Breath when needed. When you get back to the low G start back up again right away this time tounging. Repeat this with as many scales as you feel comfortable with. Be sure to rest in between each scale.
To answer your other question I don't practice my loud playing past what I can do with a good sound. I am always trying to puch the boundaries, but I don't want to develop bad habits by going too far.
I hope that's helpful.
Best,
Andrew

rowuk

Andrew, maybe you can give us an example out of YOUR career where you have really needed a FFFF. I think many TMers see this marking in Tschaikowsky, Mahler, Brückner or Beethoven for instance and don't realize the context.

The loudest I have ever played and gotten away with it was in Saturn in Holsts Planets.

amtrpt

Rowuk,
I think if you read my post again you will see that what I siad was that I practice FFFF in order to feel comfortable with FF. I don't have any specific examples of extreme loud playing. I play as loud as the conductor wants me to play. It's not really up to me to make those decisions. My job is to be prepared to play whatever dynamic the conductor wants and to make sure I can do that I practice the extremes.
Best,
Andrew

rowuk

Andrew,
I just wanted to know when (if) you have ever needed something that extreme........
Has a conductor taken you to your "personal" limit?

amtrpt

Hi rowuk,
I'm very sorry that I misunderstood your post. To answer your question I have been at my limit several times. In particular with Andrew Litton in Dallas and Jukka Pekke Saraste in Toronto. They both liked the brass very heavy. Pieces that stand out are Tchaikovsky 5th symphony with Jukka Pekka and Shostakovich 4th Symphony with Andrew Litton.
Andrew

robertwhite

With this routine, do you usually go in chromatic order (G maj., Ab maj., etc.)?

amtrpt

HI Robert,
I usually go in chromatic order. It sometimes depends on how much time I have. If my time is limited and I want to get to a certain scale then I will go in whole steps. Here is how I do it with no time constraints.

Two scale sets every five minutes except for the first five minutes when I will do three. I play up to Db major or minor. Here is what it looks like broken down into five minute groups.

F-F#-G
Ab-A
Bb-B
C-C#
D-Db

Please let me know if there are any more questions.
Best,
Andrew