Mock auditions

Always so much to learn from a tuba master class!

Back stage for Mock Auditions

Always something to learn from a tuba player!

Master classes coming up and things I have learned.

There are a collection of fantastic master classes coming up this spring at Pacific, and I am very excited to have my students have the opportunity to go to these. The first one is by a tuba player I have admired for a long time, Gene Pokorny of the Chicago Symphony.   I met him when I was in my 20s, as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.  We would go to talks and presentations by different members of the orchestra, and I remember his particularly well as it landed at a particular time in my development as a musician.   In those days, I was pretty much a nervous wreck about every element of performing.   His talk was about being a “smart” player.  He gave us a 4 or 5 page handout with many, many differences between smart and dumb players listed, but the one I remember the most is this one:  “dumb” players are those that play differently when they know someone in the audience.  This challenged me.  Being on that stage in Civic, you could look up and see your coach in the audience, the kids that were your colleagues at school that hadn’t gotten in (and who you may perceive as gunning for your spot), or faces of relatives who were visiting.   I was able to realize the full extent to which I was really caught up in trying to impress in those days, and I began to break that down, to recognize it and to build the skills to be able to move from “dumb” to “smart.”  Pokorny’s talk really helped me learn to play the music for the music, and not to play to impress or prove something.