Jan 4, 2010

Brevig and Markey Master Classes at Royal Conservatory in Toronto

The tenor and bass Trombone studios at the Glenn Gould School of Music at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Canada had the privilege of playing two master classes in less than a week. These master classes were played for former Principal Trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Per Brevig, and for current Bass Trombonist of the New York Philharmonic James Markey. Each of these musicians and pedagogues has greatly enriched the world of trombone playing.

The master class with Per Brevig was held on Thursday, November 5, 2009. This was an interesting class because Mr. Brevig was coaching us in Toronto from New York through video and microphones. We could see him on a TV and he could see us as well. We each played a solo and three excerpts for him. He stressed the importance of proper breathing and did some exercises with us. The next day, our trombone teacher, Gordon Wolfe, gave a master class to Mr. Brevig's students. Mr. Wolfe uses a lot of easy-to-understand analogies to get his points across and also plays a great deal to demonstrate. He coached the students mostly on excerpts and stressed confidence and musicality as very important keys to success. Between the two master classes, we all learned a great deal.

The master class with James Markey took place on Monday, November 9, 2009. This was a more traditional master class in that Mr. Markey made the trek north to Toronto to coach our studios. He started the master class by playing a solo for the audience, displaying everything involved with great trombone playing: from soft and delicate to the virtuosic. The most impressive aspect was the musicality Mr. Markey relentlessly demonstrated. The energy in the room was great and what a way to inspire the students about to play for him. In the morning session, we each played a solo for him. What made Mr. Markey's master class great was that he coached each player very specifically to his/her weaknesses. He made each of the performers sing passages from their music and talked about how important singing is for ear training and the overall product. "If you can't sing it, you can't play it." He stressed musicality, perfect intonation, and rhythmic accuracy like many coaches do; but his knowledge of the repertoire is so great that he would work on specific passages and correct them. He was even very familiar with the John Williams Tuba Concerto that was performed for him. This made the learning experience so much easier and the master class flew by.

The afternoon class was spent working on excerpts. Each of us played two excerpts for him. Mr. Markey stressed everything from breathing to tuning. He mentioned a tool to the performers called the slow downer, which slows down music that you played and recorded without changing the pitch; so you can hear everything from tuning issues to unwanted glisses in slide movement. While correcting issues, he had a way of making the players feel very comfortable which again helped the process move along at a very fast rate. It is very obvious to us why Mr. Brevig and Mr. Markey are such sought after clinicians. They strive for nothing less than perfection at all times in all categories of playing. They were both very encouraging and helped us all improve a great deal in the time we had together.

Our next trombone master class is on February 14, 2010 with Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic.

The GGS Low Brass Studios:
Tenor Trombone Studio of Gordon Wolfe: Nathan Fanning and Nathan O'Neal
Bass Trombone Studio of Jeffrey Hall: Isabelle Lavoie