Pros splitting notes

[sloan]

Play it like you mean it, own it, and don't make the mistake again.

Unless it's jazz - then be sure to make the same mistake every time.

[windshieldbug]

Legend is that when Dizzy Gillespie would play a "wrong" note while flying a kite, he'd play it again, louder, then make up everything else to match so it sounded like he meant it that way, and by the end of the ride he did.

As we used to say, "Once, it's a mistake. Twice, it's a bad night. Three times, then it's a motif!".

[Sally Larsen]

My refrigerator magnet says "Make New Mistakes".
Go for it, every single time, play like you mean it, and don't apologize.
Do the hard work out of the public eye, then let the joy of playing over-ride any momentary mishap.

[kingrob76]

If you play enough notes, you will miss notes. Obviously, you want to try to minimize the number of missed notes. Chipping a note or two on a concert, it happens. It's how you sound on the concert as a whole that determines how you are viewed by your peers and your viability in terms of getting a call back for the next job.

If you have 1,500 notes on the concert, and you didn't miss 1,488 of them, how were those 1,488 you "got right"? In tune? Did they blend properly? Dynamics where they needed to be? Was the type of articulation correct? Was the length of the note correct?

In short, if you chipped 12 notes, so what? It's very unlikely those 12 notes defined the performance, and the performance on whole is what should be evaluated in your own personal post-mortem.

[JCalkin]

Playing a concert is like driving a brand new car.

In the beginning, you play it safe, not wanting to put any dents or blemishes on your new ride. You park miles from where you're going just to avoid other cars, you spend ridiculous amounts of time fretting over who you may be behind on the road (will the truck thrown a stone? MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS) and, most importantly, you don't enjoy just driving the car.

Once you come our of the store and finally see that first dent, you can accept the fact that the car is no longer perfect and you can start enjoying the vehicle the way it was intended... driving pleasure.

A concert works the same way. If we focus on perfection of note accuracy and nothing more, we're missing the point. You can't enjoy driving the car if you are constantly worried about dents, and you can't enjoy a performance if you're constantly worried about fracks.

The practice room is the place to be concerned with perfection. The concert hall is the place to make music, and enjoy it.

Sure, we all chip notes. Each and every one of us on this board has chipped a note or a thousand in our time, including those top-tier pros who just lurk here and giggle at us mortals and our endless debates over finishes, valve configurations, inner rim diameters and when we should get that first bass tuba.

I'd rather hear a musical, heartfelt performance with a kack or two than a mechanical-yet-perfect rendition of anything.

[Dean]

*** Todd says, when you hear a great player make mistakes, you really won't care.

Is that my new TubeNet designation?

Heh

Yes, that was a typo. But, it's so fun I am going to leave it there!!

[TubaRay]

Do the hard work out of the public eye, then let the joy of playing over-ride any momentary mishap.

Oooooo! That's good!

[markaustinhowle]

During one of my few lessons with Arnold Jacobs (December 1997) he said that there was only one person who never missed a note: Bud Herseth. That night I went to hear the CSO and Mr. Herseth cracked one note in a really big way. I am sure this was a very rare thing for him. It taught me that even the very best professional players miss some of the time.

[Wyvern]

I remember hearing a story about the Dennis Braim, the legendary horn player of the Philharmonia back in the 1950's.

Neptune, I believe you just chipped your note.

Obviously a freudian slip

[euphomate]

I was told once that one of the main differences between amateurs & professionals is that the pros know how to cover up their mistakes.

[Tom]

So, (no joke) i think our concert had over 1500 tuba notes

You counted them? I do hope you're not serious.

Just always play the best you can, make music, note what needs improvement, and move forward.

Everyone makes mistakes...it's a matter of working on improving your playing rather than dwelling on the mistakes that will move you forward.

-------------------------

As an aside, a quick note about using recordings as a point of reference:


Very few recordings are representative of live orchestral playing (that isnt' to say they are devoid of anything, just that they aren't "live"). I even know for a fact (I am in the orchestra business, just not as principal tubist) that some of the so called "live" recordings have either not been "one shot" or had some post concert editing work done. Most recordings are made in closed door recording sessions and consist of multiple takes and then "patch sessions" to re-record portions of the program that proved to be problematic. Recording gear is so good and digital editing is so sophisticated these days (check out ProTools, for example) that just about anything can be reworked with simple clicks of a mouse...tempo, rhythm, cracked notes...it all can be fixed and almost without exception is fixed prior to a CD being released.

If you really want to compare apples and apples, buy tickets to a major orchestra concert...then at least you'll have an accurate point of reference. NO recording can replace a concert. In your neck of the woods, head over to Dallas (Matt Good) or Fort Worth (Ed Jones) or take a trip out to Houston (Dave Kirk) to hear some first rate tuba playing.

[Mojo workin']

Haven't read the whole thread but just to say that chipping notes is common for all pros from time to time. If you hear Bud Herseth chip a note, you know that everyone chips notes.

I recall hearing a performance of Mahler 3 with a major orchestra(not the CSO), and noticing that the principal trumpet actually missed more notes on the posthorn solo than did the principal trombone on his first movement solo, but the trumpet solo was so much more confident than the trombone solo, it didn't matter. It was in the end a better performance, because he was "singing" in his head.

[TUBAD83]

Conductors drop beats; string players play off pitch, brass and woodwind players crack notes, percussionists tend to NOT follow the conductor--these are facts of life when comes to playing in a ensemble whether its a grade school band or the New York Philharmonic. The mission is to create music to the best of one's ability...to strive for perfection and NOT fall apart WHEN a mistake happens. Now if you're consistently cracking notes, that needs to be addressed--otherwise RELAX and enjoy creating music!!

[ZNC Dandy]

Mistakes are all part of a live performance. There was an article in Gramophone or BBC Music magazine, i'm not positive which, about Valery Gergiev. During a London Symphony concert performing a Tchaikovsky Symphony. I think it was perhaps the 7th. The Principal Bassoonist made a glaringly incorrect entrance for a solo passage. She apologized to him afterwards and he said it was absolutely no problem, and the beautiful way that she had played it was the most important thing. That speaks volumes to me. Focus on the positive aspect of your playing, not the negative. I guarantee you'll have more fun doing that.

[KevinMadden]

Haven't read the whole thread but just to say that chipping notes is common for all pros from time to time. If you hear Bud Herseth chip a note, you know that everyone chips notes.

Favorite Bud Herseth story (pretty sure its true, can anyone confirm?) One day the CSO was playing one of the Mahler symphonies in NY with Bernstein. At the end of the slow movement there's this little ascending lick that the flute has, than the trumpet follows. there's a brief bit of silence and then a bass pizz to end the mvt. Herseth kacks it hard. in the silence following you can hear Bud, "well ****"

[Whammo]

Despite the very best efforts of the very best performers I have ever had the honor and pleasure to either study with or play beside, they all make mistakes. No one wants to and we certainly don't plan for them to happen. A Jedi learns not to dwell on a chipped note during your performance, but to let go of it and keep the mind in the present. Otherwise that mistake will turn into several more.

To become a Jedi one must learn to control one's fear and keep the mind in the present music making. When you do that all the time, it gets a lot easier.

[Mojo workin']

A Jedi learns not to dwell on a chipped note during your performance, but to let go of it and keep the mind in the present. Otherwise that mistake will turn into several more.

To become a Jedi one must learn to control one's fear and keep the mind in the present music making.

Words of gold.

[iiipopes]

Starting rhetorical question...

With technology getting ever so life-like, it is possible to get note perfect recordings at anytime. So why then do most, if not all, still want that human recording or live performance...for the mistakes?

Insert rhetorical answer here



Ken F.

There is more to music than note-perfection. If it were not that way, when synthesizers and sequencers came out we would have all been out of a job years ago.

[Tubainsauga]

I've always been of the opinion that the missed notes don't matter so much, it's all about how good the rest of them are.

[windshieldbug]

So why then do most, if not all, still want that human recording or live performance...for the mistakes?

No, for the interpretation and communication. Human brains still react more quickly and positively to multiple inputs on this level.

You still need a manager (music director) and collaboration (orchestra) to make this happen. You require and strive for a high level of accuracy, but it is the emotion and communication that makes this a singular experience for both musicians and audience.

The only places digitized music has even been considered are places like Broadway, where the management has expected all of that be provided by the vocal soloist.