I sat down and did some thinking about inspiration. Where do we get it from and what do we listen to get our inspiration. I realise I do listen mostly to other trombone players. Mostly the top players we all know. Ian Bousfield, Peter Steiner, Håkan Björkman because their excellent phrasing. George Roberts, Ray Premru, Charles Vernon, Jeff Reynolds,.... many more bass trombone players because of their tone and technique. J.J. Johnson, Urbie Green, Bill Watrous, Frank Rosolino.....because of their creativity. Many more.
I found out I'm a little one track and should listen a lot of other things in addition to great trombone players. I do listen other instruments and singers, symphonies, Big Bands etc. But my main inspiration is still this famous trombone players.
Maybe I should listen more clarinet and how soft they can play, Violin because how elegant they can play, Cello because of their excellent legato. Singers because of their wide range of expressions. Flute because of their virtuosity....list goes on. I realise I should. Really go in to deepth of all instruments secret's. Also try to understand music....so much to explore.
Happy Christmas Leif - I always enjoy your contributions... heres to 2022... Doug
Re: Inspiration!
Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:03 pm
by Crazy4Tbone86
I am little late to this thread, so I missed out on the Christmas buzz. I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!
I think inspiration is a very important topic because inspiration leads to motivation and that usually leads to improvement. I am probably just like Leif and like to go outside of my "comfort zone" to find inspiration. A few years back, I was completely enamored by highly skilled yodelers........it made me want to practice a lot of parallel 6th patterns rapidly! Before that I was fascinated by legendary lead vocalists from rock bands that could sing higher than most females.......that led me to play along with an assortment of Aerosmith songs and helped keep my upper register in good shape. Of course, there was some orchestral, jazz and folk music mixed in there as well.
I don't think it matters where a musician finds inspiration. I don't think that a musician must necessarily go on a journey outside of their comfort zone to find inspiration. But I do believe that inspiration and motivation are very important for musicians....it is the fuel that keeps us going!
Re: Inspiration!
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:00 am
by GabrielRice
Yes to all of this.
I am very lucky to be married to a brilliant flutist whose passion is chamber music. She is Artistic Director of a chamber music series she founded, and she does all of the programming, for strings, winds, piano, percussion, singer, and very occasionally brass players. Until all the pianists switched over to reading from tablets, I was the page turner for the concerts, which was in some ways real-time score study of great chamber music.
Seeing and hearing the way first-class string players and pianists play their repertoire has been a huge source of inspiration for me. Notes and rhythms are all there, but they are secondary to motion and shape. We trombonists would do well to spend much more time prioritizing great phrases over perfect notes.
Re: Inspiration!
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:41 am
by Arvopart17
Couldn’t agree more Gabe, whenever I want to get inspired about phrasing and how you can make a musical line flow I listen to this recording of the Bach Partita in A minor:
To my ear it’s pretty amazing.
Re: Inspiration!
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:54 pm
by Posaunus
GabrielRice wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:00 am
We trombonists would do well to spend much more time prioritizing great phrases over perfect notes.
Re: Inspiration!
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:59 pm
by Savio
I'm glad the response in this thread. I think inspiration is very important to take up our instrument and practice every day. What we listen to get inspirasjon can change from day to day, month to month. It changes with age.
Listening is one of the keys to understand and learn. Listening alone is not enough, but if it makes us pick up the horn everyday, we have a chance to enjoy, learn and have fun with our trombone! Happy new year all and enjoy all kinds of music!
