Fortune Cookie Music Lessons [Read the Rules, Please]

[Tubaguyry]

Don't go to the practice room...

...because you know you need to go there to improve your skills so that you can get a playing job.

...because your teacher said you need to put in X number of hours per day in the practice room.

...because it's what musicians are supposed to do.

...because you feel guilty for not practicing.

...because you want to pass that jury/win that competition.

Go to the practice room only if there is NOTHING else in the world you would rather be doing than playing your instrument. If that's not the case, don't waste your time.

[windshieldbug]

Do not complain about person with stick. Even when right, you're wrong.

[imperialbari]

if you can not sing it, you can not play it

Who would want to meet a female tubist able to sing her part in the right octave?

K

[USMCTuba]

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not skill, but habit." -Aristotle

"Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong" - unknown

When asked "What is the greatest obstacle to enlightenment?" the Buddha replied, "Laziness,"

"It takes a long time to sound like yourself." -Miles Davis

Use your pencil. Amateurs remember, Professionals take notes.

If you're worried about right and wrong you are not making music.

[imperialbari]

Klaus, octave is not important - it is more an exercise in performance of pitch, attack, dynamics, musicality, and rhythm. If you can't sing it like you want it to sound, how are you going to be able to play it that way?

I've met a few women who just need a few more cigarettes, and they'd have range that low!

Octaves are very important in my evaluation of ladies. I once heard a vocal group of six black ladies out of DC. Their bass was marvellous, but was she a woman? If I were into watching female athletics, then 800m wouldn’t be my first choice currently.

Klaus

[sloan]

'tis a poor workman who blames his tools.

[The Big Ben]

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing..." -Ellington

True in all forms of music....

[windshieldbug]

'tis a poor workman who blames his tools.

'tis a poor tool who blames his workman.

[tubeast]

Most of these are intended for beginning musicians and amateur settings.

- Play marches like a tubist. "Pupp - Pupp" is not YOUR job, it´s the bass drum´s.
- feel "Crescendo!!" when playing a DEscending line.
- Phrasing and sex have one thing in common: You don´t want to stop before the climax.
- exaggerate dynamic changes. Example: coming from mezzoforte, a crescendo starts at piano.
- ALL notes, no matter what rhythmical value, consist of a beginning, a duration (correct word ? Would "length" be better?), and an end. Be aware of all three of them.
- Fast passages should consist of notes with an open end. "TooTooTooToo" will work MUCH faster than "toot toot toot toot"
- most technical problems can be reduced to lack of air.
- You, the drummer, and the conductor form a magic triangle. If the three of You groove well, the others cannot help but play well. Any two out of these three can ...errr... PERSUADE the third to team up with them. Any one of the triangle can spoil it for everybody.
- Don´t insist on 1st chair if You and/or others think You´re the best in the section. Rotate parts where at all possible. People grow with their tasks, and it´s one of your jobs to motivate your buddies.
- You and your section mates should do EVERYTHING together. Except for breathing.

[Rick Denney]

If you don't enjoy listening to good music, you won't enjoy performing it.

Good tuba playing is conspicuous by its absence.

Music is not a sport. Nobody is keeping score.

Playing scales, etc., is the meat; performing great music is the gravy.

Rick "if you want to be a pro, look and act like a pro" Denney

[Gongadin]

Do not try to fix something by running it over and over and hoping that the issues will correct themselves through repetition. Slow it down until you can execute it flawlessly and with zero hesitation in your fingers. Then speed it up. Otherwise you are reinforcing your errors.

Man, that's one long fortune cookie! Maybe that one came in a two-pack?

[MileMarkerZero]

The very best professional tubists in the world don't try to play 4-bar phrases. With the amount of air the instrument takes, it is an exercise in futility. The very best know how to integrate the breath so that it becomes as much a part of the musical line as the notes.

[Tuba Guy]

The very best professional tubists in the world don't try to play 4-bar phrases. With the amount of air the instrument takes, it is an exercise in futility. The very best know how to integrate the breath so that it becomes as much a part of the musical line as the notes.

That is one of the best and most honest pieces of advice I've heard in a while. Thank you