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March 3rd, 2013 is the date for Brass Miami‘s return to the Tropical Baroque Festival. This End-of-Festival Gala will take place in the Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, and conclude with live musical accompaniment to fireworks. Under the leadership of Brian Neal, Brass Miami is comprised of many of the finest brass soloists throughout South Florida and includes current and former members of the Dallas Brass, Empire Brass, Florida Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, Miami City Ballet Orchestra and Florida Grand Opera Orchestra. This is a special event for Brass Miami, since the group was formed under the aegis of the Miami Bach Society, sponsors of the festival. Tickets are available at miamibachsociety.org

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c 2012 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved.

This live recording of the Scherzo and Largo from the Cello Sonata by Chopin is provided courtesy of the Univeristy of Miami. The pianist is Linda Byrd and the bass trombonist is David Brubeck.

Excerpts from this wonderful concert with Ray Charles in Miami have just surfaced on YouTube. What a thrill to play for the great Ray Charles in such a beautiful venue as the Knight Center. This date was rehearsed and recorded in one day, and contracted by a superb trombonist who had retired to South Florida from New York-Morty Bullman. For decades Morty was a staple of the New York scene. He told me that he first hit New York as Tommy Dorsey was leaving to take his newly formed band on the road.

In the early days of his band, Tommy had complained to Morty that he was losing money leading his orchestra in comparison to the lucrative New York studio scene he had left behind. As Morty’s reputation in New York grew, he became a valued contractor as well: one of his notable accounts was Frank Sinatra. An active leader in the musician’s union, Morty often refused to take the ‘back’ entrance to jobs. A barrel-chested, 6’3″ (at least), trombone virtuoso in his own right, Morty earned and received respect. Morty was among a handful of trombonists I have ever heard who possessed a truly enormous and beautiful sound.

c. 2012 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved. davidbrubeck.com

The celebrated Ahn Trio coached the Miami Dade College Kendall Campus Trombone Ensemble in an exhilarating hour-and-a-half master class. Cellist Maria Ahn, pianist Lucia Ahn, and violinist Angella Ahn each drew upon more than thirty years of chamber music performances to offer the aspiring musicians insight into the chamber music skills of synchronized ensemble, expressive phrasing, climax and an inspired presentation. The quartet presented a memorized program premiering arrangements by their director, Dr. David William Brubeck.

The Ahn Trio Masterclass was the highlight of a busy summer for the Kendall Campus low brass players who also had the privlege of inaugurating the “Jazz at the Clinic” at The Cleveland Clinic in Florida Concert Series as part of their Arts & Medicine initiative. The brass players also had the privilege of seeing Kendall Campus trombone alumnus Clay Lucovich perform in his new capacity as trombonist and soloist in the world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. Enrolled in the Kendall Campus Summer Trombone Ensemble are trombonist Brandon Bryant, bass trombonist Ernesto Bayola, bass trombonist Michael Nunez, and tubist Anthony Lupo.

Photo credits: Mr. Carlos Bayola, Mrs. Anna Ukleja, Dr. David Brubeck

C. 2012 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved. davidbrubeck.com

To many wind instrumentalists the name Arnold Jacobs is synonymous with the study of breathing. From contact with his students and his student’s students, many have become intrigued by strange devices, marveled at interesting exercises, and thrilled to unusual concepts. Suddenly colleague’s torsos are expanding to voluminous widths as they hear “breathe to expand,” just before they nuzzle their mouths into a breathing bag. Breathing tubes and open syllables abound as these disciples seek maximum suction with minimal friction. One is warned of various misuses of ones breathing apparatus, and told to become “tall and flabby.” One becomes acquainted with resting lung capacity and vacuum gauges only to wonder if perhaps the functional hasn’t overtaken the musical.

“Breathe to expand,” is a common rebuke to students who show all of the outward and visible signs of taking a breathe but, in truth, suck in very modest amounts of air. By protruding their stomachs and raising their chests, these students reverse the axiom and act as though they must first expand in order to breathe. Holding his nose shut and his mouth closed, Mr. Jacobs protrudes his stomach and expands his chest to make the point that these dramatic gesticulations can be accomplished without taking in any air. Explaining that stomach displacement is a product of inspiration (inhalation), he advocates focusing upon the amount of air moved.

With the stated aim of “maximum suction with minimal friction,” Mr. Jacobs helps his students to take in large quantities of air and release it as wind rather than pressure. Returning to his multi-sensory approach, he advocates that students breathe toward the lips, which can sense wind passing over them. A vacuum gauge directed at ones open mouth during the time of inspiration, a breathing bag which expands with every exhalation, or a ping-pong ball held in a tube and suspended by constant wind movement in both directions, serve as visual aids to assist sensing the volume of air as wind. Holding one hand in front of ones mouth while exhaling provides a tactile sense for wind exhaling, while the sides of the mouth and the throat can join the lips in sensing incoming air. This information of sensation allows the body to regulate function while the performer focuses upon music.

While the above-mentioned options are ways of sensing air as freely flowing wind, a pressurized tension causing air stream is most easily sensed internally. To illustrate the distinction between the two, Mr. Jacobs has his students place an index finger at their lips, sealing them and then blow against it. When the finger is released, there is a light pop. This pressure in brass playing is similar to the pressure exerted I when coughing, blowing a particularly stiff balloon, or akin to the pressure in an inner tube. Wind as free flowing air is illustrated quite differently. Mr. Jacobs has students take in a normal breath and then allow air to escape from the lungs through the lips, sealing them only for a second, then remove the finger.

Pressurized air in brass playing is dangerous because any musculature used to regulate the air, and thus pressurize it, is more powerful than the musculature originating the air itself. Actively seal your lips, and then try to blow them apart. It is impossible. The same is true of a closed throat. Similarly, a person’s chest and abdominal muscles are capable of supporting the weight of a one hundred pound person standing on them, while the lungs can generate approximately two to three pounds of pressure. Symptoms of playing with pressurized air are: delayed attacks (pressure takes time to overcome the biological valve that has been placed in its opposition, and the valve grows stronger with use, thus causing greater delays; a harsh tone quality (when the lips serve as a point of resistance rather than as a source of resonance); and excessive effort when playing (isometric tension as muscles resist pressurized air).

The musculature of the respiratory system has at least three distinct functions. Students are often caught up in the process of one or another of the functions of these muscles, thus causing tension and confusion. In addition to breathing, these muscles are used to create internal pressure useful for childbirth, defecation, and the Valsalva maneuver (similar to the Heimlich maneuver). Finally, they are used for the purpose of stabilization, as one is constantly falling to the left and right, forward and backward, and being adjusted back to center by abdominal, intercostal, and back muscles. As brass players incorrectly focus upon and activate these muscles, tension and pressure adversely effect their tone production. To demonstrate the result of muscle tension upon tone quality, Mr. Jacobs might begin by having a student hold a long tone. As the student continues playing, Mr. Jacobs instructs him to tighten his biceps and triceps. This muscle tension typically has an immediate and adverse effect on the tone. By comparing this to muscle tension located elsewhere in the body, and particularly in the muscles used for respiration, Mr. Jacobs makes a case for a relaxed breathing mechanism.

The primary muscle of respiration is the diaphragm, and although the strap muscles are also capable of inspiration (clavicle breathing) for the purpose of wind instrument performance they are relatively insignificant. From its inverted curve shape, just beneath the heart and lungs, the diaphragm flattens as it contacts, thus lowering air pressure in the lungs. This causes an inward rush of external air until pressure is equalized, and increases interthoracic pressure as the diaphragm displaces its contents outward. It is interesting to not that the diaphragm’s range of motion is capable of only this one direction of movement (contracting, thus pulling the lungs downward), and cannot actively be used to aid expiration. The diaphragm’s natural recoil, (relaxation), the settling of the ribcage (due to gravity and it’s natural elasticity) and the active muscles of expiration (the abdominal, the intercostal, and to a lesser extant, the muscles of the back) bring about expiration. In the process of expiration, the diaphragm can only be used to apply the brakes, or offer isometric opposition to the tightening intercostal and stomach muscles.

Mr. Jacobs encourages the maximum flexibility of the diaphragm, comparing it to a piston. Problems arise when the stomach muscles and the diaphragm are pitted against one another in either inspiration or expiration. Mr. Jacobs likens this stiff respiratory musculature of a brass player to the disadvantages of a similarly stiff bow arm of a violinist. The resistance of one impedes the effectiveness and optimal function of the other. Thus, tightened abdominal muscles prior to and during inspiration cause the diaphragm to work harder and limit its motion in much the same way an activated diaphragm impedes the process of expiration. In order to combat this, Mr. Jacobs might actively push in the stomach of a student whom he feels is doing this while exhaling, thus encouraging the flexibility of the diaphragm/stomach muscle pair. Equating these muscles with another set of paired opposites, Mr. Jacobs gives the example of trying to lift something with the bicep as the tricep is tensed in opposition.

Part 5 of Song and Wind: The Pedagogy of Arnold Jacobs, by David William Brubeck

“When David Brubeck’s, ‘The Pedagogy of Arnold Jacobs’,  first came out, I was at Mr. Jacob’s home.  He was very impressed about it and had me read it on the spot.  As usual, Mr. Jacobs was correct, it was an outstanding article that I eventually quoted half a dozen times in ˜Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind”.  David Brubeck did a fantastic job and this is a must-read for anyone interested in the teachings of Arnold Jacobs.”  Brian Frederiksen

Originally published in the TUBA Journal, Fall 1991 Volume 19, Number 1.

Photo of Arnold Jacobs courtesy of windsongpress.com

C. 1991 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved. davidbrubeck.com

Another concern of Arnold Jacobs’ pedagogy is to rid the student of acute self-analysis and concern for machine activity (process) while playing.  Instead, he prefers that students concentrate upon the musical message they wish to convey, or the desired sound of performance (product).  Mr. Jacobs contends that the conscious, analytical faculties of the brain are meant to deal with the challenges of our external environment, or the world around us.  While this rational though process is meant to help us deal with external factors, subconscious thought processes are meant to govern our internal processes, just as they regulate our heart and breathing twenty-four hours a day without conscious control.  This subconscious is equally effective whether used in maintaining balance, speaking, driving, or playing the tuba.  It is when students try to dictate function, rather than simply providing the proper stimulus to achieve the desired result, that they get into trouble.

Mr. Jacobs simplifies this concept by comparing the body to a brand new car with a full tank of gas.  In order to utilize the car, one does not have to get under the hood, fire the pistons, and circulate coolant and lubricants: these are already set up and taken care of by the controls.  One must merely get in and tell the machine where to go. In fact, Mr. Jacobs contends that it is impossible for the conscious mind successfully to control the millions of cells, complex muscle fibers and neurons that set our body in motion. Therefore, one should de-emphasize the mechanics of self-analysis and simply play, using the stimulus of the desired result to elicit the proper response.  “It is a matter of simplicity,” according to Jake, “not complexity.”

An interesting aspect of the early musical experience of Mr. Jacobs is that (to a large extent) he learned to play by ear, and made a study of ‘solfege’ and voice.  He also experienced a protracted hospital stay in his youth, during which time buzzing on the mouthpiece was his only contact with the instrument.  These experiences helped to foster his advocacy of developing ones “inner ear”-the ability to hear music inside ones head-and focus upon sound. The first step to developing this inner ear is “post hearing”-the ability to hear a note after it has ceased vibrating. Mr. Jacobs develops this ability by playing a note on the piano, and allowing silence after it; not requiring the student to match it but merely letting it sink in.

Eventually this leads to the “pre-hearing” of notes before one plays them, as well as the ability to focus upon ones goal of excellence rather than ones own performance.  By combining this with an active, creative imagination and past models of excellence, one is able to project an outstanding goal mentally. Post-hearing complements the effects of hearing a song in your head as you perform.  It allows you to rewind the tape and hear how your rendition matched your musical goal, all while keeping distracting self-analysis from cluttering the mind during performance.  By imagining the best sound, one will be aided in finding the best way of reaching it.  In the words of Mr. Jacobs, “stabilize the music, and the muscle will follow.”

“Bad sound can be made into good sound,” encourages Mr. Jacobs, “no sound cannot.” This comment is typical of professor Jacobs’ encouraging, charming and clever demeanor.  He starts many clinics by complimenting the player and saying how little there is to fix.  Constantly providing them with positive reinforcement, keeping visual contact, and occasionally tapping them to refocus their attention, Mr. Jacobs clearly shows his total absorption with teaching.  His dedication to students and to the process of teaching and learning is enormous.  Mr. Jacobs believes that one should not set limits upon what the wonderful computer of the human brain can do.  As a result, he has successfully transformed many students who were regarded as hopeless by other teachers.  He tells students to be positive when they project their musical message, and to think that it will go right rather than wrong.  Most of his new students were referred by one of his older students, and that powerful endorsement can be attributed as much to this “doctor’s” manners as to his results.

Part 4 of Song and Wind: The Pedagogy of Arnold Jacobs, by David William Brubeck

“When David Brubeck’s ˜The Pedagogy of Arnold Jacobs” first came out, I was at Mr. Jacobs’ home.  He was very impressed about it and had me read it on the spot.  As usual, Mr. Jacobs was correct, it was an outstanding article that I eventually quoted half a dozen times in “Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind”.  David Brubeck did a fantastic job and this is a must-read for anyone interested in the teachings of Arnold Jacobs.”  Brian Frederiksen

Originally published in the TUBA Journal, Fall 1991 Volume 19, Number 1.

Photo of Arnold Jacobs courtesy of windsongpress.com

C. 1991 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved. davidbrubeck.com

The Brubeck-Neal Duo has completed its third season with more than 20 performances throughout South Florida.  Staunch chamber music advocates Brian Neal (formerly solo trumpet of the Dallas Brass), and David Brubeck (bass trombonist), have crafted more than a dozen arrangements for the under-served genre of brass duo.

Highlights of the past season of the Brubeck-Neal Duo include the “Rutter Chamber Music Initiative”, where more than 70 Miami-Dade County High School Students received complimentary duet books.  This joint effort to promote chamber music in the public schools was made possible by a grant from the Cleveland Clinic of Florida and the support of Miami Dade College, Mike Corrigan-The Horn Doctor (bacmusic.com), All-County Music, and the Florida Youth Orchestra.

C. 2012 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved. davidbrubeck.com