February 2010

February 21, 2010

A Stylistic Analysis of Jazz Trombone Through Transcribed Solos

The trombone has been an important instrumental voice in jazz since jazz’s origins. Throughout its history many jazz trombonists have made contributions that have had an influence on other performers, including many non-trombonists. This article traces a timeline of stylistic influence from the early styles of jazz to the present day through the analyses of… Continue reading

History, Jazz, Transcription, Trombone

February 17, 2010

Acoustics of Vibration: Brass and Strings

A common analogy that even I often use is to compare the bow of a string instrument to the air on the brass. Just as the bow moves across the string to create vibration, the air must move past the lips on a brass instrument. Usually I hear this comparison to make a point about… Continue reading

Acoustics, Brass, Embouchure

February 16, 2010

Embouchure Dysfunction: An examination of brass embouchure troubleshooting

In the above 2 part video I discuss five unique case studies. Each of these five brass players has some issues in their embouchure which correlate with some noticeable embouchure features. I try to show how making corrections in their embouchure form, using basic embouchure types as a guide, may lead to improvements in their… Continue reading

Brass, Embouchure, Euphonium, Horn, Pedagogy, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba

February 7, 2010

Easy=True: How ‘cognitive fluency’ shapes what we believe

On the surface, ‘cognitive fluency’ seems obvious. Simply put, people prefer things that are easy to think about than ones that are hard. What I found surprising, however, is the extent to which cognitive fluency seems to shape our beliefs. In his article for the Boston Globe, Drake Bennett writes: “Because it shapes our thinking… Continue reading

Pedagogy, Science/Technology

February 2, 2010

An Examination of “Paralysis By Analysis”

There is an old story about a frog who sees a centipede moving his 100 legs so elegantly. Being mystified at how anyone could be able to move so many body parts at once with such grace, the frog asked the centipede how he did it. The centipede wondered at this question and started… Continue reading

Pedagogy, Practice