Getting Down To Brass Summary

“Getting Down to Brass Facts: A Roundtable” is an article from the the National Association for Music Education. It is written by Betty Glover, Vincent Cichowicz, Philip Farkas, Abe Torchinsky, Michael Hatfield, Tom Ervin, and John Marcellus. The article is structured by asking a pedagogical question about the instruction of brass instruments, followed by responses from each of the seven brass teachers. These teachers include Michael Hatfield (Horn), Abe Torchinsky (Tuba/Euphonium), Tom Ervin (Trombone), Vincent Cichowicz (Trumpet), Betty Glover (Bass Trombone/Tenor Tuba), Philip Farkas (Horn), and John Marcellus (Trombone). The first question posed to the teachers was, “How do you teach breathing to a beginning brass player?”. As we discussed in class, there seemed to be two schools of thought represented on this matter, yet both ended up with the same goal. The first school advises to teach breathing carefully and detail, lest bad habits are formed. The second school advises that the teacher should begin
How do you get students to expand overall musicianship in addition to technical proficiency?”. Most of the teachers make the excellent point that learning to be sensitive and expressive can be, and should be, taught at all levels of technical ability, but grows as technical ability increases. As far as balance, the overarching theme was listening to yourself in light of the ensemble; this includes knowing who has dominant lines, and what tone colors and dynamics are needed. The teachers were also asked, “What vocal techniques are applicable to the teaching of brass instruments?”. Several points were brought up, including but not limited to: the quick but copious inhale (it was pointed out that the exhale is too different to be used as a similarity), phrasing (including where to breath), a singing, Bel Canto tone, and the syllabic vowel sounds for mouth