by Ilir Kodhima

Albania is a country in southeastern Europe located on the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. Due to its strategic geographic location, Albania has often been part of great wars and tragic historical events; this has adversely affected artistic growth and development.

Classical music in Albania was introduced via wind orchestras. Much evidence for this can be seen in photographs from the city of Shkodra dating to 1878. The ensemble was first directed by the Italian conductor, Maestro Giovanni Canale. Three years later, the group was directed by the well-known Albanian Palok Kurti.

In the early 1900’s, wind orchestras were very popular throughout the country, becoming part of political and cultural events. The first city closely associated with wind orchestras was Shkodra. Almost every neighborhood or school in the city had its own wind orchestra made up almost exclusively of amateurs and students. One of the most popular wind orchestras was in the city of Skopje. The ensemble was supported by many nationalists, including Hasan Prishtina, Kolë Bojaxhi (St. Mother Teresa’s father), and others. This ensemble played a very important role in the inspiration and entertainment of the citizens during the fight for liberation from the Ottoman Empire.

Wind orchestras from two other cities played a similar role in this era:

Freedom Wind Orchestra of Korçë

Afërdita Wind Orchestra of...

by Hannah Culbreth and Jack Bryant 

(l-r) Sarah Boxmeyer, Hannah Culbreth, Jack Bryant, Etienne Kambara, Christine Ott, Martina Adams, Andrew Stump, Jennifer Montone, Jeff Lang, John Clark

After a long hiatus from live concerts due to the pandemic, we were excited to return to Verizon Hall on February 20th for our first orchestra concert for a live audience. We played a rather horn-heavy program, including Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Barber’s Toccata Festiva for organ and orchestra, and Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra.

The historic Curtis Institute building at 1726 Locust closed for renovations while school was held online and just recently reopened. We now enjoy practicing in the large comfortable rooms while looking out over Rittenhouse Square and watching for people walking their dogs.

Curtis has an extensive collection of instruments available to the students for rental, either donated to the school or purchased for our studio, including alphorns, Wagner tubas, and period instruments. We especially enjoy practicing classical repertoire on the Seraphinoff natural horns and Kopprasch on a Wiener horn made by Robert Engel. The school also owns many vintage Conn 8Ds and a variety of descant horns, some of which were owned by former principal players in the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Our teachers, Jen Montone and Jeff Lang, often invite well-known players to give masterclasses. Recent guests have included Fergus McWillliam, Radovan Vlatkovic, Julie Landsman, Nury Guarnaschelli, Randy Gardner, David Cooper,...

em português

in English

por Christian Morabito

¿Cómo influyó el maestro Arnold Jacobs en mí, sin siquiera llegar conocerlo?

En diciembre del año 2018 comencé a ver videos del maestro Charles Vernon (trombón bajo de la CSO) en YouTube, ya que siempre me gustó su manera de tocar, su sonido y su musicalidad. En ese momento me pareció super interesante su enfoque pedagógico desde sus explicaciones simples y también su sentido del humor. Me concentré tanto en ese enfoque que pensé… “por qué no subtitular sus videos?”. Llegué inclusive a enviarle un email porque necesitaba su permiso para hacer el trabajo, pero nunca recibí respuesta. Sé que es una persona muy ocupada. Comencé a buscar información relacionada porque sentía que mis conceptos respecto a sonido, respiraciones y demás cosas que había aprendido con mi maestro Jorge Ramírez Álvarez (ex trombón bajo de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, donde actualmente trabajo como corno grave), eran similares.

Un día, buscando información similar a la del maestro Vernon, descubrí una página de Arnold Jacobs: TUBAPEOPLETV!. Ex alumnos del maestro contaban sus experiencias propias en clases privadas en el sótano de su estudio de la calle South Normal -el famoso sótano!- y también en el edificio de Bellas artes, ambos en Chicago, entrevistados por un señor llamado Michael Grose. En ese momento se me ocurrió la idea de enviarle un email directamente a la página de Arnold Jacobs ya que no había recibido respuesta del señor Vernon y no quería quedarme sin conocer más del tema. Luego de escribir el email y enviarlo, pidiendo permiso para subtitular los videos de las entrevistas en mi idioma natal el español- que por cierto, son super interesantes...

by William Stowman

- a mantra to build consistency in brass performance -

In an effort to create a repeatable set of reminders for consistent brass playing, I developed a simple mantra that has proven effective in my own playing as well as in the performance of my students. Body, Center, Breathe, and Flow has become part of the pedagogical lexicon here in the brass studios at Messiah University and anywhere else I have visited, taught, conducted, or presented a clinic. I find this simple four-word phrase helpful in addressing the most fundamental issues associated with great brass (and wind) playing.

As teachers, we often provide corrections to specific problems. We warn of things not to do and sometimes use “don’t do this” or “be sure to not do that” in our instructions. The fact is that even a mention of a negative habit or action creates focus on that very thing. I have found that it is much more effective and productive to state things in the positive. Asking someone to “try this” or “do that” always yields a better result.

To that end, I settled on the words Body, Center, Breathe, and Flow to capture the four areas I feel are crucial to strong fundamental playing. The terms are introduced in this very specific order to ensure an additive process, one during which we build on positive repetitions of good habits. The following information is used to evoke certain specific responses:

Body

Stand tall with your feet at shoulder width
Be sure hips are aligned over heels and shoulders are over hips
Shoulders should be relaxed
Chest can feel high and full
Collar bones should feel open and relaxed
Head should be in a comfortable position
Eyes looking straight ahead

Center

With the...