Raphael Mendez Brass Institute

[SFAtuba]

Hello Everybody,

I was just curious to see if anybody is going to the Mendez Brass Institute this summer in Denver. For anybody that has been there before, how was the experience??

Cheers,

[CC]

I did RMBI years ago and had a wonderful experience. I made many friends and contacts there that I still have to this day because of it. My advice is to take the lessons from the faculty, if offered, and get to know as many people as possible! Have fun most of all.

-CC

[SRanney]

I did RMBI years ago and had a wonderful experience.

I haven't attended the institute since it was held on the campus of ASU, but if it's similar, it's a phenomenal experience. The faculty are excellent (both in the practice rooms and at the bars!) and it's a great way to play in an ensemble with folks you may not get a chance to play with again for a while.

Have fun!

SR

[LoyalTubist]

I think something should be said about Rafael Mendez. For those of you who don't know anything about him, he was one heck of a trumpet player who was one of the few freelancers in the Hollywood studios when everyone else was working on the studio system (for musicians, that meant a steady schedule at the same place every day).

The first time I knew I was listening to Rafael Mendez was in a Goofy cartoon... it was the one in which Goofy was a "matador." I was in college at the time and I had borrowed the cartoon on a videocassette from the public library, so I could listen to it again and again. Not only was Mr. Mendez's trumpet playing wonderful, so were all the other musicians, especially the tuba player.

Later I found other Mendez recordings and listened to some of his arrangements of traditional Mexican songs as well as some of his recital material.

We tubists sometimes make a lot of fun of trumpeters. And most of the time they deserve it. But Rafael Mendez was a very special musician. Like Doc Severinsen, Tommy Dorsey, Bill Watrous, Dennis Brain, and countless other non-tuba playing brass players, he gave us something to emulate and use in our playing.

[TubaRay]

I've gotta agree with Bill on this. I had the opportunity to hear him solo with a high school band. Even though he was near the end of his life, he played splendidly. So many of those old movie scores provide examples of really clean playing, demonstrating a snake-like tongue.