{"id":92,"date":"2014-01-29T22:04:44","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T03:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/?p=92"},"modified":"2014-02-05T00:26:52","modified_gmt":"2014-02-05T05:26:52","slug":"looking-back-masterclass-with-robert-spano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/?p=92","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back: Masterclass with Robert Spano"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of our trumpet players, John Thomas, wrote a blog entry about our masterclass with Maetro Robert Spano. \u00a0Check it out below:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the last several weeks, I have been incredibly blessed to experience masterclasses and performances by two of the greatest minds of our time:\u00a0Robert Spano<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jeremy Denk<\/a>. \u00a0During Denk\u2019s lecture at the Bailey Center, he mentioned the importance of writing about\u00a0what we do<\/i>. \u00a0In light of this, I thought it would only be fitting to jot down a few words about both of these visionaries. \u00a0A difficult task to accomplish in few words, but I\u2019ll do my best.<\/p>\n

Robert Spano brings a kind of intensity to a room that is truly unexplainable. \u00a0As part of his residency at Kennesaw State University, he worked in a public masterclass with several chamber groups, including Spectacle Brass. Spano has conducted the world\u2019s greatest orchestras and collaborated with soloists that have changed the face of music today, so perhaps one would expect him to spend time coaching\u00a0perfection. \u00a0<\/i>The answer: yes, but not really. \u00a0Spano approached every ensemble with a pair of metaphoric eyeglasses; melodic lines floating over harmonic planing was discussed for itsrhetoric\u2026to be found in every note. \u00a0<\/i>Conversations were made rather than lectures given. \u00a0The greatness of Bach experienced rather than simply thought. \u00a0The more captivating the tale, the more thrilling the music. \u00a0And the perfection? \u00a0Somehow, the more time spent enjoying the crazy stories in each piece made every group play 10 levels higher.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Denk has worked with Spano on multiple occasions, not to mention they both are accomplished concert pianists. \u00a0But during Denk\u2019s masterclass, that word came up once again:\u00a0rhetoric. \u00a0<\/i>In fact, Denk had quite an interesting discussion on the literature (i.e. Shakespeare) he reads and applies to his music making.<\/p>\n

In many \u201cacademic\u201d settings, some seem to learn certain key phrases designed to help students, but ultimately don\u2019t use their own advice. \u00a0Jeremy Denk\u2019s evening solo performance was without a doubt the polar opposite. \u00a0He often conducted himself, looked around the room and up at the ceiling, and simply couldn\u2019t have been enjoying theexperience<\/i>\u00a0of Mozart more. \u00a0Moments passed where I literally didn\u2019t believe the piano existed as in instrument\u2014 we were just in a room listening to Jeremy sing tales of love and lost, life and death, and wild adventures through time.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0And let\u2019s be honest\u2013 two hours of solo piano music from memory tends to become stale quickly, right? \u00a0Not with Denk. \u00a0Few performances have ever captured my attention more.<\/p>\n

This past week I spent some time listening to a few of my own recent performances. \u00a0After going through some 10 tracks, I begin making a list of my \u201cinconsistencies\u201d \u2014 things I\u00a0hated. \u00a0<\/i>\u00a0But then I realized this was an awful approach, after all, neither Spano or Denk ever expressly spoke of mistakes or inconsistencies. \u00a0I immediately began going back through some of my playing and discovered\u00a0I need to notice \u2018interesting\u2019 playing<\/i>. \u00a0Not perfect, not flawless\u2026.interesting. \u00a0<\/i>You know what? \u00a0More often than not my most interesting playing has far fewer \u201cmissed notes\u201d than the rest. \u00a0Those recordings I cringed at? \u00a0I was cringing at the bad notes, when I should have been cringing at the absence of\u00a0rhetoric.<\/i>
\n
\n<\/i>My teacher Doug Lindsey and I have been working through a 20th century work for unaccompanied trumpet. \u00a0Once again, I discovered I\u2019ve been spending far too much time \u201cperfecting\u201d and not nearly enough time imagining. \u00a0As he will attest, we\u2019ve been coming up with some crazy stories recently\u2013 and my playing continues to become more interesting because of it.<\/p>\n

My recommendation: forget that your instrument constantly tells you that you\u2019re not good enough. \u00a0Show your horn that what\u2019s in your head is what you want your audience to hear. \u00a0Let go. \u00a0That cliff contains centuries of slate from the world\u2019s greatest storytellers.<\/i>
\n
\n<\/i>-JTB
\njohnthomasburson.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Press release on Robert Spano\u2019s KSU residency:
\nhttp:\/\/www.kennesaw.edu\/arts\/COTA_News\/2012\/10-23-13_spano_residency.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of our trumpet players, John Thomas, wrote a blog entry about our masterclass with Maetro Robert Spano. \u00a0Check it out below: Over the last several weeks, I have been incredibly blessed to experience masterclasses and performances by two of the greatest minds of our time:\u00a0Robert Spano\u00a0and\u00a0Jeremy Denk. \u00a0During Denk\u2019s lecture at the Bailey Center, he mentioned the importance of…<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[44,42,43,41],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-event","tag-atlanta-symphony","tag-jeremy-denk","tag-masterclass","tag-robert-spano"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4iG05-1u","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94,"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.spectaclebrass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}