Miraphone Academy - 2010 and 2011
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:21 pm
Now's the time to mark your calendars for the last weekend in June, 2011 for the Miraphone Academy in Greensboro, NC.
This is the third or fourth year for this event which started as Tubas In The Summer and morphed into The Miraphone Academy. To say it is a great experience at a bargain price is a world-class understatement.
We just wrapped up the 2010 edition and I offer the following highlights:
- Participants included recent high school graduates, advanced college-level players, and adult amateurs with both tubers and euphers sharing the enjoyment.
- The faculty (Dennis AsKew and Demondrae Thurman) emphasized musicality, strategies for practicing, and a variety of warm-up routines in lecture/play clinics.
- During the weekend, each participant had four "duo lesson" with either Dennis or Demondrae. In a duo lesson, you are paired with another participant - never the same one twice - and encouraged to bring/play/talk about your weaknesses. Since these sessions were open to observers, they amounted to mini-masterclasses. My head is bursting with motivation to apply what I learned - though I am blessed with an overabundance of weaknesses on which to work.
- Saturday night featured an excursion to hear Demondrae solo with the Triangle Brass Band. After listening to Demondrae, my unworthiness is confirmed. After listening to the Triangle Brass Band, my unworthiness is confirmed. I am just overall unworthy.
- Each participant joined a T/E quartet and each quartet performed on a Sunday afternoon recital. This compressed the task of organizing the group, making musical selections from a large packet provided by Dr. AsKew, rehearsing, polishing, and performing as a group. It was pretty intense but very rewarding.
There are even bigger plans afoot for the 2011 Academy and I'm sure Dr. AsKew will announce them as they become firm.
Big thanks to Dr. AsKew, Maestro Thurman, and Miraphone for a terrific event.
Hope to see even more of you in June, 2011.
This is the third or fourth year for this event which started as Tubas In The Summer and morphed into The Miraphone Academy. To say it is a great experience at a bargain price is a world-class understatement.
We just wrapped up the 2010 edition and I offer the following highlights:
- Participants included recent high school graduates, advanced college-level players, and adult amateurs with both tubers and euphers sharing the enjoyment.
- The faculty (Dennis AsKew and Demondrae Thurman) emphasized musicality, strategies for practicing, and a variety of warm-up routines in lecture/play clinics.
- During the weekend, each participant had four "duo lesson" with either Dennis or Demondrae. In a duo lesson, you are paired with another participant - never the same one twice - and encouraged to bring/play/talk about your weaknesses. Since these sessions were open to observers, they amounted to mini-masterclasses. My head is bursting with motivation to apply what I learned - though I am blessed with an overabundance of weaknesses on which to work.
- Saturday night featured an excursion to hear Demondrae solo with the Triangle Brass Band. After listening to Demondrae, my unworthiness is confirmed. After listening to the Triangle Brass Band, my unworthiness is confirmed. I am just overall unworthy.
- Each participant joined a T/E quartet and each quartet performed on a Sunday afternoon recital. This compressed the task of organizing the group, making musical selections from a large packet provided by Dr. AsKew, rehearsing, polishing, and performing as a group. It was pretty intense but very rewarding.
There are even bigger plans afoot for the 2011 Academy and I'm sure Dr. AsKew will announce them as they become firm.
Big thanks to Dr. AsKew, Maestro Thurman, and Miraphone for a terrific event.
Hope to see even more of you in June, 2011.