December 6, 2023 • 33 mins
Can a beard and bow tie truly alter the landscape of a performance? In today's episode, we tackle these questions head-on. We commence on a somber note, sharing news and sending love to our dear friend Lance LaDuke after his scary accejent. We urge you to send your prayers and positive energy his way. Amidst this hardship, we underscore the beauty in finding joy in the smallest of things.
Bolo ties, beards, weird gig offers, art deserts, chubby cheeks FUNdamentals, merch ideas, and gratitude in this wee 's Fifth Position.
Also introducing special features with Patreon: www.patreon.com/tromboneretreat
Learn more about the Trombone Retreat and upcoming festival here: linktr.ee/tromboneretreat
Hosted by Sebastian Vera - @js.vera (insta) and Nick Schwartz - @basstrombone444 (insta)
Produced and edited by Sebastian Vera
Music: Firehorse: Mvt 1 - Trot by Steven Verhelst performed live by Brian Santero, Sebastian Vera and Nick Schwartz
Thank you to our season sponsor Houghton Horns: www.houghtonhorns.com
Support the show
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
After this I'm going to go down to the theater and
get a nice fun session going.
Yeah, yeah, that's nice beforeyour opera.
Yeah, I'm going to.
I'm going to practice at theballet and then walk across the
street or the plaza and go playfour and a half hours of Tom
Huesa.
Have you practiced bum bum inall 12 keys?
(00:21):
You know, I've done it in mostof the keys.
It is an E major, of course, atthe beginning, and the opera
ends with a restatement of it inE flat major, which is very
interesting idea.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
You said you're kind of bored.
Maybe try swapping them.
Spice things up a little bit,see what happens.
It is the fifth positionpodcast, part of the Trombone
(00:57):
Retreat podcast, which is partof the third coast Trombone
Retreat.
Should we just do that Threelayers?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Oh, it's a conception .
Is the top still spinning?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah, just make it like really slow.
Yeah, well, you know we startthis off with some, some tough
news.
Many of you are aware, and, ifyou're not aware, our good
friend, lancelot Duke, who manyof you know from the Brass
Junkies podcast.
He's worked with the TromboneRetreat for many years now being
(01:27):
a guest speaker.
I've known him for a while herein Pittsburgh Anyone that knows
him knows how amazing he is andI don't need to wax poetic
about that because you alreadyknow that.
But he's dealing with a reallyhim and his family are dealing
with a really tough time rightnow.
He had a really bad fall andhe's he's been in intensive care
for a while now at least over aweek and yeah, it's just scary.
(01:49):
You know we talked about how Ihad my fall, like you know, a
year or so ago and it wasn'teven it was really scary, but
not even half as severe as this.
From what?
From what I heard, he felt kindof a good distance at his house
onto a hard surface and yeah, Ididn't know how to really talk
about it, but I just wanted tolet people know in case they
(02:10):
didn't know.
And there's a good way tofollow everything going on with
Lance and, of course, we wantyou to send all of your vibes
prayers, whatever you can, tothe situation.
The most recent update,yesterday on the fifth, was just
a short one, but it was a toughone.
I wanted to give you an updateon Lance.
He has had a couple of harddays recently.
(02:31):
He's been unresponsive for thelast two days, has a feeding
tube and is on a breathingmachine.
Please send extra prayers forhim.
So if you want to followprogress, I'm subscribed to his
Caring Bridge, which is a greatwebsite.
If anyone's ever had someonegoing through a tough time where
you can, it's an easy way foreveryone to communicate and his
(02:53):
website is wwwcaringbridgeorg.
Slash visit, slash Lance Leducand you can subscribe and keep
updated.
I don't think there's any wayto visit or donate anything as
of yet, but I'm sure if there isand you guys want to support
them in any way, I'm sure thatcan.
But we'll stay tuned to it andwe just wanted to send out great
(03:15):
energy into the world for ourfriend Lance.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I mean definitely related to that.
The just one thought thatpopped my head is you know, like
you mentioned, if you've, ifyou've known someone who's going
through an illness or an injuryor something like that, caring
Bridge is very common platformto use and, hey, sometimes the
internet has some wonderfulthings and that's an absolutely
(03:39):
wonderful resource and theydon't charge anything and you
know, it's just one of thosethings that helps the people who
are going through the difficulttime not have to reach out to a
bunch of individual people sothey can post, post in one spot
and reach out to everybody.
And yeah, that's a wonderfulthing.
But also, it's just it's verysad to hear this about Lance.
(04:01):
I mean, you know he madeliterally one bad step and fell
and everything change, changesinstantly.
And, yeah, live every day likeit might be the last one.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Absolutely, and it's a great place where you can also
leave messages.
I doubt he's going to be seeingthese right away or anything,
but you can leave messages tothe people closest with them and
send support.
So we're thinking about you,lance, one thing I was thinking
about I forgot to mention to youwe were talking about.
(04:36):
You asked me how Thanksgivingwent and I totally forgot after
you recorded.
But so my dad is.
You know, I've talked about himmaybe a little bit on here,
probably not much, but you knowhe's, he's older, he's in his
early 80s now and we have him ina care home Because he just,
you know he needs to be Takingcare of 24-7 and but when I'm
(04:59):
home I I'll pick him up, takehim out to lunch or, and right
now you know he's dealing with alot of things.
So he's, he's just very quiet,he's very peaceful, he's
incredibly sweet, but it doesn'tsay much and you know he'll sit
there, you pop him on the couchfor the TV and he'll watch
football for hours.
But I, I thought like when Ipicked him up, I play him like
(05:21):
the latest episode of thepodcast, because he says he
always wants to listen.
He can't really quite figureout how to listen on his own.
So we're listening in the caron the drive to Thanksgiving.
He's super quiet.
I don't even know if he'sreally, if it's registering or
if he's really paying attention.
You know I play the episodebefore the Thanksgiving episode
(05:42):
and it goes on for, yeah, Idon't know eight minutes and
he's not really saying anything.
But you know, he seemspeacefully, seems comfortable,
and then Nick makes a joke aboutsausage fingers, about not
being able to type on thekeyboard, and my dad just bust
out laughing.
He's like sausage fingers.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I have an audience.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And it really made my day and he was listening in
that.
Just I just wanted to sharethat with you.
I hadn't told you that yet.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, I forgot about that.
I'm glad you told me that funny.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
There's a couple other moments.
He laughed at you too, and Iremember, but it's night.
I mean, we're not professionalcomedians, but if we can make
anybody have a good day or laughabout anything for a second,
it's, it's worth it.
So, moving on to our trombone,google alerts oh, yes.
Just a couple little things.
There's an article about AndyGriffith.
(06:39):
Do you remember Andy Griffith?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Like the Andy Griffith show.
Yeah, yeah, back in the day.
This is something for our olderlisteners.
I for some reason I was reallyinto that show growing up, even
though it was decades anddecades before my time is all in
black and white.
Young Ron Howard in it, mm-hmm.
But there's this articlerandomly about how he, his first
love in the arts was thetrombone and that's how you like
he first he got a trombone andgot lessons with his preacher
(07:07):
and it is a nice little storyand it got him, gave him the bug
for performing.
But it really made me thinkabout.
That is the first, because Iwatched that show so much.
That is the first tune I everlearned on the trombone.
In sixth grade I taught myselfthe dumb, but I'm dumb.
Dun dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, d dun dun dun
dun and it's like a whistlething.
(07:27):
Yeah, I don't know why.
I just made me think about thatand everyone was like I still
remember being in the band home,like I figured out a song by
myself and like people walked inlike wow, you're not even using
music, he's a sorcerer.
Gotta get back to that naturalstuff.
Also, david Gibson, the veryaccomplished jazz trombonus is
(07:49):
coming out with a new albumcalled fellowship, to be
released January 15th.
You can check out more info atjazzboneorg, which I'm very
jealous.
That's a very good.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
A website website yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
He is the one jazz trombonist.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, I like it.
Well, hey, we we snag tromboneretreat.
Yeah, cuz so many people weregoing for that.
Just under the wire we got it.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I have a.
I actually have a question fromour audience for my friend
Nicholas.
Oh, go for it.
So this question was submittedfrom Simon Jansen.
I believe he's a basstrombonist as well.
Nicholas, what inspired the rattail mullet combo that Nick
used to sport a couple years ago?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I mean what?
Inspired Monet.
What inspired Van Gogh?
I view my head as a blankcanvas and I let God paint his
beautiful painting upon it.
(08:58):
No more seriously.
First of all, there was no rattail.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I mean it got braided .
Sometimes it got braided.
Okay, there's that famous photoof Lexus.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yes, it has been braided.
I do stay corrected.
I guess I would turn it that'sa mullet to rat tail transformer
and rarely seen in the wild.
But well, first of all, I hadreally long hair.
I didn't cut my hair, the wholepandemic.
So all my hair was long, Well,almost all the top's a little
(09:31):
thin.
But we were going down toArkansas for the Trumbo Festival
.
Trumbo.
Festival.
God, my brain doesn't work andI thought I really want to do
this, method like method acting,and I'm going to fit into
Arkansas by being like anArkansas-ian, arkansan, arkansan
(09:54):
and why isn't it Arkansis?
Okay, whatever, I'm moving onArkansison, arkansison,
arkansison.
So I thought what better to fitin than sporting a mullet?
And so I cut the party off thetop and left it in the back and
had an old Little Rock waterfallgoing on there.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Little Rock waterfall .
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Hot springs.
And then, of course, my wifehated it a lot, she hated it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
That's usually the prerequisite for you doing
anything right.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, you know I don't know how she puts up with
me.
I'm pretty impossible.
But I kept it for a year beforeI cut it off.
Why did you cut it off?
It got insane, it was soridiculous.
How often in?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
public.
Did people say something to youabout it?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
It happened a couple of times where people were like
that's an awesome mullet, orlike whoa, they'd say something
like that, but I once want wewere getting new headshots for
the ballet website.
It looks great in a tux, I'msure and so I did a Google
search for barbers thatspecialize in mullets and of
(11:12):
course there was one in the EastVillage and I referred to him
as my mulletologist.
And it was a cold like Februaryday and I'm all bundled up, I
have like a beanie on and I comein.
He's like so you want to trimup your mullet a little bit?
Huh, and I took off my hat andhe goes holy shit, that's a
serious mullet.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Whoa, you impressed the mulletologist.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, he was like he made other barbers like come
look at it, that's awesome, yeah.
And a fun story about that guy.
I asked him how he got intocutting hair, just making small
talk in the barber's chair, andhe said, well, I learned in
prison.
Whoa, yeah.
And he said he said there'svery few jobs in prison that
(12:03):
they won't.
You're basically protected in away from the other inmates and
one of them is being a barber,because everybody needs a
haircut, so you're not going tomess with the barber.
Wow, and so you know there'smore than one in a prison
because there's so many people.
You know he learned from abarber that learned from someone
else and learned the trade, andhe said that's how he kind of
(12:26):
protected himself and madefriends on the inside to have
like a safe stay in prison, asit were.
He's also got access toscissors.
That's true, yes, so apparentlyI mean it makes sense.
No one screws with a barber inprison Kind of a necessary
service.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
And if you give a guy a mullet cut you know that's
intimidating.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Give a guy a mullet, you'll Dance for a year.
Teach a guy a mullet dance fora lifetime.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
How do you teach someone a mullet?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You know honestly, you can't.
It comes from an inner quietude, an inner peace.
I know Sebastian particularlyhated the mullet.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
That is not true.
I remember specifically youthought I would hate it,
especially because we had a live.
I think that's when we wereinterviewing Christian Lindbergh
live.
Yes, we did.
I think you sent pictures orsomething and you showed up or
something and you were just likereally scared I was going to
freak out or something and belike no, you can't do that.
I thought it was awesome andyou were surprised.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It looks great with a blazer on man.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Well, maybe it'll come back.
I mean it's still.
I mean I like the look now thethick beard help you.
You don't need a scarf inwinter now, no.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And not that I wear bow ties anymore.
That's kind of gone away withmodern dress.
I don't think I'd need a bowtie.
It's kind of covered up underall this beard.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Oh yeah, you just forget it and no one will say
anything.
No, have you ever done the mybase remos in the Pittsburgh
Opera as a similar coverage inthat area, but there's times
he's forgotten ties.
And have you ever done thething, or seen someone do the
thing, where they use black tapeand create a bow tie?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Well, I've seen them do I don't know what they call
it.
There's like a type of bow tiethat's acceptable in dress codes
, where it's like it buttonstogether in the middle and it's
like a little cross.
Oh, those look cool, yeah, andI've seen them do it like that
style.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
It's like I think it's technically a bow tie but
it has a name and it's like adifferent style, it's not a Bolo
but it's like, yeah, I would ifthere's a Bolo company
listening, and I'm sure they are, sebastian Vera would like to
be your spokesperson and bringBolo ties to classical music
wear.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I love, I love a good Bolo tie with a crisp pair of
cowboy boots.
There's nothing better.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Are we technically allowed to wear a Bolo tie with
performance, where I guess itdepends on the contract?
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, I guess it depends.
Yeah, in the ballet we don'thave to wear a tie at all, it's
optional.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh, then I would never wear one.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah.
So it is come time to pick atthat bone.
Sebi Got a bone, I got a boneto pick.
It's.
It's.
It's, I guess, unfortunatelyrelated to my last bone to pick
about sending out likecontractors sending out an email
to like a bunch of people atonce.
(15:26):
This is also a hiring contractemail thing.
Why do some contractors thinkit's OK to write you and say,
hey, can you play this gig, andthen not give you any details
about what the gig is, where thegig is, how much it pays, how
(15:49):
long the rehearsals are?
It's like, well, then you haveto like respond back and say, OK
, well, maybe.
And then they like this lastexchange.
I wrote back and said, well,what's the gig and when are the
rehearsals?
You just gave me the date ofthe performance and how much
does it pay?
And then they wrote back andgave me all that but didn't tell
(16:11):
me where it was.
So then I had to write backagain and say, OK, well, where
is this gig?
And turns out I couldn't havedone it, but I was just like
that's such a waste ofeverybody's time.
Why?
You know, I'm thankful forgetting offered work I really am
but like it's just such, it'slike it took three back and
forths to determine if I wasavailable.
(16:33):
That should be a one back andforth situation.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
That sounds like someone either who is incredibly
inexperienced, incrediblydisorganized or used to everyone
jumping at it at anything theyoffer and saying yes immediately
all the time.
But it's sometimes I hearthere's a stigma about like
asking how much something pays,like you can't be entitled or
(16:57):
whatever, but I don't think it'sever.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Well, why should I be the one asking how much it pays
?
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, tell me how much it pays, and then you feel
like a jerk for having to ask,but I'm sorry that's that should
not be.
Anything we ever feel bad aboutis getting clarity about
compensation.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well, yeah, and along along those lines.
I've had people offer me gigsthat aren't the best gigs and
then apologize for offering itto me.
Like, oh, like, I'm sorry ifthis is like offensive and then
I'll respond.
I'll be like I'm offended thatyou think it'd be a friend
offensive, like you're offeringme work.
Yeah, it's up to me to say yesor no, but I'm always going to
(17:38):
be grateful that you're offering.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah, and you never know, it's not only about money.
Sometimes there's anotherreason.
You might want to do it, likeit's in a city you like, or it's
it's with some friends you have, that you haven't seen a while,
or something like that.
So I mean never heard.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I mean, yeah, I've done plenty of gigs where it's
like it's more about theexperience.
Either it's a piece I reallywant to play or, like you know,
oh, sebastian Vera is going tobe on first from on.
All right, that sounds like fun, let's do it.
And so like, even if I, like Ihave to travel and like lose
some money with travel, to go dosomething that's going to be
fun, that might be a goodexperience to have.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
And that's way better than if Sebastian Vera was on
second tripple, because that'sthat means I would be sitting
next to you, and the last timethat happened I swear we almost
got fired.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Was that in Huntsville?
Was it no, no, no, we said DCNY.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
No, it was at the Kennedy Center.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Oh right City.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Ballet.
Yeah, and that's like the most.
You made me laugh, more thanI've ever laughed in a live
performance, and I was just likefuck, I can't, I can't stop
laughing, I can't stop Stoplaughing, stop laughing, breathe
, breathe, breathe.
Don't look.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
That's the story.
That's basically me and thetuba player every show just
making each other laugh all thetime.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Which is important.
It's great to laugh, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, it's like.
It's like soup for the soul.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Well, I have a.
I have a new fresh, fresh, hotout of the oven quora question
from the internets for you today.
Yeah, bring it on.
I found this this was deep,deep in the Quora archives as
two years ago.
I'm playing the trombone inschool, I tend to puff my cheeks
(19:23):
out.
How can I continue playing thetrombone Without making my face
become chubbier?
I think there's a fear of More.
You puff your cheeks out thatthe cheeks will eventually give
in and you'll have like a littlebulldog.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Oh, it's like when, it's like the old, old timey
thing, like if you, if you keepmaking that face.
It's gonna stay that way.
Yep, yeah, well, yeah, I thinkthat someone someone needs a
like a medical or an anatomybook for Christmas, and Wowzers,
that is a, that's a doozy.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I think it is gonna happen.
It is gonna happen, so stoppuffing your cheeks.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, stop puffing.
We have a student I'll tell youoff air it was who started
intentionally puffing his cheeksbecause he said a lot of his
idols puffed their cheeks and Itold them straight away I was
like that's crazy.
You sound great, luckily, butthat's crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, there are some very famous people that have
done that.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
My teacher, my teacher Don Harwood, famously
puffed his cheeks and but hewould tell you if you started
doing it like all the time, likehim.
He like don't do that, don't dothat, yeah, cuz he it was
something I just developed forhim and he didn't.
It's like there's a lot ofthings.
We all have those things inourselves.
So it's like do as I say, notas I do.
You know, like I tended tongueeverything through my lips,
(20:48):
really, yep but, and so we justlost so many listeners.
But I have when I, when I'vetried to tongue like where
you're supposed to it, I can'tdo it, and so you know, when
students ask me where does mytongue hit, yeah, and I'm like,
well, we're supposed to hit,this is where I do it.
(21:09):
Don't do that.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
When I get when I get that question, that that
triggers the alarms, the teacheralarms in me of like my student
is thinking too much right,exactly, exactly yeah let's
focus on what we want to soundlike right now.
Yeah, we can't forget that youcan't spell fundamentals without
fun.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Boy, oh boy, don't I know it.
Yeah, I'm after this.
I'm gonna go down to thetheater.
Oh.
And get a nice fun thesesession going, yeah, yeah before
your opera.
Yeah, I'm gonna.
I'm gonna practice at theballet and then walk across the
street or the plaza and go play.
Four and a half hours of Tomwas a.
(21:47):
Have you practiced?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
In all 12 keys.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You know I've done it in most the keys.
It is an e major, of course atthe beginning and the opera ends
with a restatement of it ine-flat major, which is very
interesting idea hmm, you saidyou're kind of bored.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Maybe try swapping them.
Spice things up a little bit,see what happens.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Well, in the last performance in the third, in the
third act, it's about maybehalfway through the third act,
everything kind of Goes downsoft, soft, soft and then, with
the baritone rolling stage,there's a low brass chorale.
That's very beautiful and it'sjust one of those moments that
(22:37):
everything's placid and it's youknow what I think non brass
players Don't understand aboutthose moments, how terrifying
they can be, you know, becauseit's just it's so hard to keep
everything pristine and in tuneand move all four parts together
and I get it goes on for likemaybe a minute, maybe shy of a
(22:59):
minute.
So about three quarters awaythrough the chorale I moved my
notes, I moved from a D to ane-flat and I moved one half note
too early.
Oh, it sounded and these halfnotes are slow, and it sounded
rough because it was a G minorchord moving to a C minor chord
and a G minor chord does nothave an E Flatnet.
(23:20):
I don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Well, I I can't quite empathize because that's never
happened to me.
I've never played a wrong notein the wrong spot in the last 24
hours.
Yeah, that's real.
Did everyone just immediatelyget up and run back to the box
office to get their refund?
I?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Do have to credit to, I mean amazing conductor Donald
runicles.
Oh yes, the Scottish dream, theSouthpaw.
He connects left-handed, whichis is that weird?
You know, you don't notice itreally.
Okay, there's another.
There's an Italian conductorwho switches he's a switch
hitter, he, in the middle of theopera.
(24:00):
I think it has to do with hisshoulder problems.
So in the middle of opera he'llswitch the baton from his right
hand to his left hand and kindof give his right arm a rest.
Carlo Ritzi, smart, butrunicles, being the season pro
that he is, he looked over at meand, right when I was supposed
to be, gave a big Right there.
He didn't freak out nothing,and you know Live art folks.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
He's up happens.
I mean, I think you were justintroducing early chromaticism,
like Wagner did exactly Crosschromatic Modulations.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Augmented German six.
Hmm, there's a beautifulaugmented German six right at
the end of opera and the in thecoral line.
Oh, it's really nice.
Yeah, I'm getting more.
And I mean, at first I wasreally not into it.
I'm really getting into it,sebi, it's.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
There's some beautiful stuff in that opera
when you're forced to listen tosomething for like 40 hours.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, you're gonna find some things you like.
It's like, ooh, there's a partwhere they that same the bomb,
be Boom, that that's called thepilgrims chorus and they start
way off stage super soft andthey're almost like like the
level of a hum, that volume, andthen they walk on stage and
then they walk off the otherside.
(25:12):
So it's like you get this wholechorus and it builds up to
being really loud and then goesoff in the distance again.
It's, it's really beautiful,stunning, actually that's really
cool.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, I am curious now.
I really would like to hearboth of those major trombone
choruses played at the same time, just to hear what it sounds
like.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I Could if, if there's anyone out there that
would be into that, I she'splaying tonight.
Romero Sasha would be intodoing that for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Make a quick video and we'll post it.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Okay, I'll add, If she gets there early enough.
She usually kind of comes inlate, but if she gets there
early enough, I'll ask her ifshe wants to do that.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That would be awesome you like during all the long
tosses.
You're just going to be offdoing it in another room and
you'll be able to hear it fromthe stage like what the fuck?
Speaker 1 (25:59):
is going on in fact.
Yeah, deb, I have a questionfor you.
Yes, what are you grateful forthese days?
Oh, man.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
That's what we call a segue in the biz, ever at
Seamless Ooh In the podcastbusiness.
Well, I was thinking about ittoday and you know this is a
easy time to remember things tobe grateful for Not that it's
ever easy to remember thesethings, but it's important to
try, in my opinion.
But there's a few positions Ihave that enable me to perform
(26:32):
in non-conventional places,especially during the holidays,
where a lot of people arewanting to experience the arts,
and we get to go to a lot ofsmaller communities, smaller
towns in the middle ofPennsylvania, ohio, west
Virginia, new York, and you know, perform for these people.
(26:52):
And yet it can be a grind,you're driving a lot more, but
once you get there, I meanpeople are so excited and it's
such an opportunity and I'm sucha big believer and it doesn't
matter what audience you'replaying for, how big or small,
or what venue.
It can all be valid because, atthe end of the day, art is a
service and you're bringing joyto people, you're bringing
beauty to people and it's I'mexcited.
(27:16):
I'm about to travel a bunch inthe next couple of weeks.
I think one interesting one Ihave coming up in I think it's
like Friday is, you'd be superjealous because we're performing
in an Amish community in Ohioand they invited us to.
If we come there a couple hoursearly, they have this giant
Amish buffet in that they'regoing to give us free admission
(27:39):
to.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Oh, that food is going to be so freaking good.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I know and I'm nervous too, because it's only
they said it only opens up atlike an hour before like six
o'clock in our performances atseven and I've really gotten in
a habit of not eating too muchlike too soon before performance
because it really affectsthings.
So we're like me and the guyI'm carpooling with, we're like,
okay, we got to get there rightat six, yep, first of all,
(28:06):
there's going to be a line andsecondly, we got to start
digesting right away.
And you know the second, we seea buffet.
We're just going to go to town.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, get some unsweetened tea.
The tannins in it will helphelp you with digestion.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
That's why.
That's why, like in China and alot of Asia, they drink tea.
It helps digestion.
That is good advice.
That's good advice.
Well, if a fat person knowsanything, it's how to tackle
buffet.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, so I don't know .
I'm excited about all theselittle trips.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
That sounds like fun.
It's going to be great.
Yeah, I've been in thecommunity in Ohio.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I have no idea.
I imagine the audience will bea little more reserved.
We're kind of crazy and a lotof people are wearing costumes.
A lot of the members of theband will sing.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Well, the Amish won't be there.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
At all.
You don't think so.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I mean music isn't really allowed in the Amish
community, depending on howstrict the specific community is
.
Yeah, I'm curious, we're noteven wanting to have dolls with
faces.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I thought they were the ones bringing us out.
But yeah, I guess we'll see.
I guess I'll let you know.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, I mean because, like, for example, my mom grew
up in an like what would beconsidered an Amish community in
Michigan, but you know it wasthe Amish live there, but also
you know also what they wouldcall the English also live there
, us.
So my grandpa, who was anauctioneer, I would he went to
(29:27):
auctioneer school.
Believe it or not.
That's a school you go andlearn yeah yeah, and he would
sell livestock and stuff.
I got a lot of his clients wereAmish so I'd go with him and
he'd have to settle the billwith the Amish.
And I tried taking a picture ofa young boy.
Once he caught me and it wasnot very in his dad got very mad
(29:50):
at me.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Yeah, yeah.
In general that was verydisrespectful, but I was just so
curious.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
It was my first time at that point, my first time
seeing an Amish person.
And yeah, yeah, you know wherethey have a huge Amish community
is Sarasota, florida.
Oh yeah, and there's an amazingAmish restaurant there called
Yoder's.
Yoder is like the Smith ofAmish, last name I have been to.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yoder's.
You've been to Yoder's.
Yes, I spent Christmas there.
So good, it was very good.
Yeah, I'm sure they all listento this podcast so yeah exactly
Let us know.
Yeah, I know, when you see themin airports I feel like they're
more used to being stared at,like you can tell there's like
kind of over being looked at.
They know they stand out.
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I mean what's crazy to me is like you go to a
farmer's market anywhere,basically, but in New York
they'll be Amish vendors.
It's just not unusual forfarmers market, but you got to
wonder what they see when theydrive into New York City.
I'm sure they're used to it now, but it's got to be crazy to
them.
You know and imagine theopposite lifestyle.
But I mean I understand whythey're coming in there.
(30:55):
They're just trying to make abuck, like anybody else.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
You kind of, with your haircut you kind of look
Amish.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
We could slap on a little hat and suspenders and
no-transcript.
Hey, suspenders are agentleman's accessory.
I would like to own somesuspenders If you really want to
get fancy with them.
A good pair of suspenders.
They call them braces.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Trombone tip I learned from Dave Taylor.
Dave Taylor prefers to wearsuspenders with suits because
you can wear like a size biggerin your pants, be able to
breathe as comfortably as youwant, but they won't fall down.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Back when I was taking auditions, I used to wear
a suit if I got past theprelims.
And I had a suit that the pantswere really big and I wore
suspenders with them and it feltlike I could sit or stand and
breathe as big as I want, notfeel restricted.
It was perfect.
So I kind of find it byaccident, but it worked.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Trombone retreat suspenders coming to a store
near you.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Oh, now, that is a good idea.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Can I tease that?
We do have merch in the works.
We're like five years behindthis, but we do have some stuff
that will be happening and thatwill be awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Drop us a line on what you think would be good
merch for us to get, like anysort of specific thing that you
think would be fun.
We're always looking for ideas,but we obviously have some, but
we'd love to hear from you guystoo.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Absolutely.
Send us in to tromboneretreatat gmailcom.
Any ideas about merch?
Any questions for the podcast?
Any general comments about thepodcast?
We always love hearing from you.
We always take the time to tryto respond to everyone.
We can Follow us on the socialmedias at trombone retreat and
Nick at base from bone 444 andmyself at JS dot.
(32:46):
Vera, did I cover all the bases?
Remember to subscribe to thepodcast.
Do a rating review on Spotifyand Apple podcast helps us out a
ton and smash that like.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Button.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
That's it, and yeah, we, we.
We just did an interviewthat'll be coming out soon, and
we have a lot more coming up, soI will only have to say make it
a great day, love y'all.
You.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Southern.
All of a sudden Love y'all.
Love y'all.
After this I'm going to go down to the theater and
get a nice fun session going.
Yeah, yeah, that's nice beforeyour opera.
Yeah, I'm going to.
I'm going to practice at theballet and then walk across the
street or the plaza and go playfour and a half hours of Tom
Huesa.
Have you practiced bum bum inall 12 keys?
(00:21):
You know, I've done it in mostof the keys.
It is an E major, of course, atthe beginning, and the opera
ends with a restatement of it inE flat major, which is very
interesting idea.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
You said you're kind of bored.
Maybe try swapping them.
Spice things up a little bit,see what happens.
It is the fifth positionpodcast, part of the Trombone
(00:57):
Retreat podcast, which is partof the third coast Trombone
Retreat.
Should we just do that Threelayers?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Oh, it's a conception .
Is the top still spinning?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah, just make it like really slow.
Yeah, well, you know we startthis off with some, some tough
news.
Many of you are aware, and, ifyou're not aware, our good
friend, lancelot Duke, who manyof you know from the Brass
Junkies podcast.
He's worked with the TromboneRetreat for many years now being
(01:27):
a guest speaker.
I've known him for a while herein Pittsburgh Anyone that knows
him knows how amazing he is andI don't need to wax poetic
about that because you alreadyknow that.
But he's dealing with a reallyhim and his family are dealing
with a really tough time rightnow.
He had a really bad fall andhe's he's been in intensive care
for a while now at least over aweek and yeah, it's just scary.
(01:49):
You know we talked about how Ihad my fall, like you know, a
year or so ago and it wasn'teven it was really scary, but
not even half as severe as this.
From what?
From what I heard, he felt kindof a good distance at his house
onto a hard surface and yeah, Ididn't know how to really talk
about it, but I just wanted tolet people know in case they
(02:10):
didn't know.
And there's a good way tofollow everything going on with
Lance and, of course, we wantyou to send all of your vibes
prayers, whatever you can, tothe situation.
The most recent update,yesterday on the fifth, was just
a short one, but it was a toughone.
I wanted to give you an updateon Lance.
He has had a couple of harddays recently.
(02:31):
He's been unresponsive for thelast two days, has a feeding
tube and is on a breathingmachine.
Please send extra prayers forhim.
So if you want to followprogress, I'm subscribed to his
Caring Bridge, which is a greatwebsite.
If anyone's ever had someonegoing through a tough time where
you can, it's an easy way foreveryone to communicate and his
(02:53):
website is wwwcaringbridgeorg.
Slash visit, slash Lance Leducand you can subscribe and keep
updated.
I don't think there's any wayto visit or donate anything as
of yet, but I'm sure if there isand you guys want to support
them in any way, I'm sure thatcan.
But we'll stay tuned to it andwe just wanted to send out great
(03:15):
energy into the world for ourfriend Lance.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I mean definitely related to that.
The just one thought thatpopped my head is you know, like
you mentioned, if you've, ifyou've known someone who's going
through an illness or an injuryor something like that, caring
Bridge is very common platformto use and, hey, sometimes the
internet has some wonderfulthings and that's an absolutely
(03:39):
wonderful resource and theydon't charge anything and you
know, it's just one of thosethings that helps the people who
are going through the difficulttime not have to reach out to a
bunch of individual people sothey can post, post in one spot
and reach out to everybody.
And yeah, that's a wonderfulthing.
But also, it's just it's verysad to hear this about Lance.
(04:01):
I mean, you know he madeliterally one bad step and fell
and everything change, changesinstantly.
And, yeah, live every day likeit might be the last one.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Absolutely, and it's a great place where you can also
leave messages.
I doubt he's going to be seeingthese right away or anything,
but you can leave messages tothe people closest with them and
send support.
So we're thinking about you,lance, one thing I was thinking
about I forgot to mention to youwe were talking about.
(04:36):
You asked me how Thanksgivingwent and I totally forgot after
you recorded.
But so my dad is.
You know, I've talked about himmaybe a little bit on here,
probably not much, but you knowhe's, he's older, he's in his
early 80s now and we have him ina care home Because he just,
you know he needs to be Takingcare of 24-7 and but when I'm
(04:59):
home I I'll pick him up, takehim out to lunch or, and right
now you know he's dealing with alot of things.
So he's, he's just very quiet,he's very peaceful, he's
incredibly sweet, but it doesn'tsay much and you know he'll sit
there, you pop him on the couchfor the TV and he'll watch
football for hours.
But I, I thought like when Ipicked him up, I play him like
(05:21):
the latest episode of thepodcast, because he says he
always wants to listen.
He can't really quite figureout how to listen on his own.
So we're listening in the caron the drive to Thanksgiving.
He's super quiet.
I don't even know if he'sreally, if it's registering or
if he's really paying attention.
You know I play the episodebefore the Thanksgiving episode
(05:42):
and it goes on for, yeah, Idon't know eight minutes and
he's not really saying anything.
But you know, he seemspeacefully, seems comfortable,
and then Nick makes a joke aboutsausage fingers, about not
being able to type on thekeyboard, and my dad just bust
out laughing.
He's like sausage fingers.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I have an audience.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And it really made my day and he was listening in
that.
Just I just wanted to sharethat with you.
I hadn't told you that yet.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, I forgot about that.
I'm glad you told me that funny.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
There's a couple other moments.
He laughed at you too, and Iremember, but it's night.
I mean, we're not professionalcomedians, but if we can make
anybody have a good day or laughabout anything for a second,
it's, it's worth it.
So, moving on to our trombone,google alerts oh, yes.
Just a couple little things.
There's an article about AndyGriffith.
(06:39):
Do you remember Andy Griffith?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Like the Andy Griffith show.
Yeah, yeah, back in the day.
This is something for our olderlisteners.
I for some reason I was reallyinto that show growing up, even
though it was decades anddecades before my time is all in
black and white.
Young Ron Howard in it, mm-hmm.
But there's this articlerandomly about how he, his first
love in the arts was thetrombone and that's how you like
he first he got a trombone andgot lessons with his preacher
(07:07):
and it is a nice little storyand it got him, gave him the bug
for performing.
But it really made me thinkabout.
That is the first, because Iwatched that show so much.
That is the first tune I everlearned on the trombone.
In sixth grade I taught myselfthe dumb, but I'm dumb.
Dun dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, d dun dun dun
dun and it's like a whistlething.
(07:27):
Yeah, I don't know why.
I just made me think about thatand everyone was like I still
remember being in the band home,like I figured out a song by
myself and like people walked inlike wow, you're not even using
music, he's a sorcerer.
Gotta get back to that naturalstuff.
Also, david Gibson, the veryaccomplished jazz trombonus is
(07:49):
coming out with a new albumcalled fellowship, to be
released January 15th.
You can check out more info atjazzboneorg, which I'm very
jealous.
That's a very good.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
A website website yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
He is the one jazz trombonist.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, I like it.
Well, hey, we we snag tromboneretreat.
Yeah, cuz so many people weregoing for that.
Just under the wire we got it.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I have a.
I actually have a question fromour audience for my friend
Nicholas.
Oh, go for it.
So this question was submittedfrom Simon Jansen.
I believe he's a basstrombonist as well.
Nicholas, what inspired the rattail mullet combo that Nick
used to sport a couple years ago?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I mean what?
Inspired Monet.
What inspired Van Gogh?
I view my head as a blankcanvas and I let God paint his
beautiful painting upon it.
(08:58):
No more seriously.
First of all, there was no rattail.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I mean it got braided .
Sometimes it got braided.
Okay, there's that famous photoof Lexus.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yes, it has been braided.
I do stay corrected.
I guess I would turn it that'sa mullet to rat tail transformer
and rarely seen in the wild.
But well, first of all, I hadreally long hair.
I didn't cut my hair, the wholepandemic.
So all my hair was long, Well,almost all the top's a little
(09:31):
thin.
But we were going down toArkansas for the Trumbo Festival
.
Trumbo.
Festival.
God, my brain doesn't work andI thought I really want to do
this, method like method acting,and I'm going to fit into
Arkansas by being like anArkansas-ian, arkansan, arkansan
(09:54):
and why isn't it Arkansis?
Okay, whatever, I'm moving onArkansison, arkansison,
arkansison.
So I thought what better to fitin than sporting a mullet?
And so I cut the party off thetop and left it in the back and
had an old Little Rock waterfallgoing on there.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Little Rock waterfall .
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Hot springs.
And then, of course, my wifehated it a lot, she hated it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
That's usually the prerequisite for you doing
anything right.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, you know I don't know how she puts up with
me.
I'm pretty impossible.
But I kept it for a year beforeI cut it off.
Why did you cut it off?
It got insane, it was soridiculous.
How often in?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
public.
Did people say something to youabout it?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
It happened a couple of times where people were like
that's an awesome mullet, orlike whoa, they'd say something
like that, but I once want wewere getting new headshots for
the ballet website.
It looks great in a tux, I'msure and so I did a Google
search for barbers thatspecialize in mullets and of
(11:12):
course there was one in the EastVillage and I referred to him
as my mulletologist.
And it was a cold like Februaryday and I'm all bundled up, I
have like a beanie on and I comein.
He's like so you want to trimup your mullet a little bit?
Huh, and I took off my hat andhe goes holy shit, that's a
serious mullet.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Whoa, you impressed the mulletologist.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, he was like he made other barbers like come
look at it, that's awesome, yeah.
And a fun story about that guy.
I asked him how he got intocutting hair, just making small
talk in the barber's chair, andhe said, well, I learned in
prison.
Whoa, yeah.
And he said he said there'svery few jobs in prison that
(12:03):
they won't.
You're basically protected in away from the other inmates and
one of them is being a barber,because everybody needs a
haircut, so you're not going tomess with the barber.
Wow, and so you know there'smore than one in a prison
because there's so many people.
You know he learned from abarber that learned from someone
else and learned the trade, andhe said that's how he kind of
(12:26):
protected himself and madefriends on the inside to have
like a safe stay in prison, asit were.
He's also got access toscissors.
That's true, yes, so apparentlyI mean it makes sense.
No one screws with a barber inprison Kind of a necessary
service.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
And if you give a guy a mullet cut you know that's
intimidating.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Give a guy a mullet, you'll Dance for a year.
Teach a guy a mullet dance fora lifetime.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
How do you teach someone a mullet?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You know honestly, you can't.
It comes from an inner quietude, an inner peace.
I know Sebastian particularlyhated the mullet.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
That is not true.
I remember specifically youthought I would hate it,
especially because we had a live.
I think that's when we wereinterviewing Christian Lindbergh
live.
Yes, we did.
I think you sent pictures orsomething and you showed up or
something and you were just likereally scared I was going to
freak out or something and belike no, you can't do that.
I thought it was awesome andyou were surprised.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It looks great with a blazer on man.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Well, maybe it'll come back.
I mean it's still.
I mean I like the look now thethick beard help you.
You don't need a scarf inwinter now, no.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And not that I wear bow ties anymore.
That's kind of gone away withmodern dress.
I don't think I'd need a bowtie.
It's kind of covered up underall this beard.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Oh yeah, you just forget it and no one will say
anything.
No, have you ever done the mybase remos in the Pittsburgh
Opera as a similar coverage inthat area, but there's times
he's forgotten ties.
And have you ever done thething, or seen someone do the
thing, where they use black tapeand create a bow tie?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Well, I've seen them do I don't know what they call
it.
There's like a type of bow tiethat's acceptable in dress codes
, where it's like it buttonstogether in the middle and it's
like a little cross.
Oh, those look cool, yeah, andI've seen them do it like that
style.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
It's like I think it's technically a bow tie but
it has a name and it's like adifferent style, it's not a Bolo
but it's like, yeah, I would ifthere's a Bolo company
listening, and I'm sure they are, sebastian Vera would like to
be your spokesperson and bringBolo ties to classical music
wear.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I love, I love a good Bolo tie with a crisp pair of
cowboy boots.
There's nothing better.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Are we technically allowed to wear a Bolo tie with
performance, where I guess itdepends on the contract?
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, I guess it depends.
Yeah, in the ballet we don'thave to wear a tie at all, it's
optional.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh, then I would never wear one.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah.
So it is come time to pick atthat bone.
Sebi Got a bone, I got a boneto pick.
It's.
It's.
It's, I guess, unfortunatelyrelated to my last bone to pick
about sending out likecontractors sending out an email
to like a bunch of people atonce.
(15:26):
This is also a hiring contractemail thing.
Why do some contractors thinkit's OK to write you and say,
hey, can you play this gig, andthen not give you any details
about what the gig is, where thegig is, how much it pays, how
(15:49):
long the rehearsals are?
It's like, well, then you haveto like respond back and say, OK
, well, maybe.
And then they like this lastexchange.
I wrote back and said, well,what's the gig and when are the
rehearsals?
You just gave me the date ofthe performance and how much
does it pay?
And then they wrote back andgave me all that but didn't tell
(16:11):
me where it was.
So then I had to write backagain and say, OK, well, where
is this gig?
And turns out I couldn't havedone it, but I was just like
that's such a waste ofeverybody's time.
Why?
You know, I'm thankful forgetting offered work I really am
but like it's just such, it'slike it took three back and
forths to determine if I wasavailable.
(16:33):
That should be a one back andforth situation.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
That sounds like someone either who is incredibly
inexperienced, incrediblydisorganized or used to everyone
jumping at it at anything theyoffer and saying yes immediately
all the time.
But it's sometimes I hearthere's a stigma about like
asking how much something pays,like you can't be entitled or
(16:57):
whatever, but I don't think it'sever.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Well, why should I be the one asking how much it pays
?
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, tell me how much it pays, and then you feel
like a jerk for having to ask,but I'm sorry that's that should
not be.
Anything we ever feel bad aboutis getting clarity about
compensation.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well, yeah, and along along those lines.
I've had people offer me gigsthat aren't the best gigs and
then apologize for offering itto me.
Like, oh, like, I'm sorry ifthis is like offensive and then
I'll respond.
I'll be like I'm offended thatyou think it'd be a friend
offensive, like you're offeringme work.
Yeah, it's up to me to say yesor no, but I'm always going to
(17:38):
be grateful that you're offering.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah, and you never know, it's not only about money.
Sometimes there's anotherreason.
You might want to do it, likeit's in a city you like, or it's
it's with some friends you have, that you haven't seen a while,
or something like that.
So I mean never heard.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I mean, yeah, I've done plenty of gigs where it's
like it's more about theexperience.
Either it's a piece I reallywant to play or, like you know,
oh, sebastian Vera is going tobe on first from on.
All right, that sounds like fun, let's do it.
And so like, even if I, like Ihave to travel and like lose
some money with travel, to go dosomething that's going to be
fun, that might be a goodexperience to have.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
And that's way better than if Sebastian Vera was on
second tripple, because that'sthat means I would be sitting
next to you, and the last timethat happened I swear we almost
got fired.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Was that in Huntsville?
Was it no, no, no, we said DCNY.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
No, it was at the Kennedy Center.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Oh right City.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Ballet.
Yeah, and that's like the most.
You made me laugh, more thanI've ever laughed in a live
performance, and I was just likefuck, I can't, I can't stop
laughing, I can't stop Stoplaughing, stop laughing, breathe
, breathe, breathe.
Don't look.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
That's the story.
That's basically me and thetuba player every show just
making each other laugh all thetime.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Which is important.
It's great to laugh, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, it's like.
It's like soup for the soul.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Well, I have a.
I have a new fresh, fresh, hotout of the oven quora question
from the internets for you today.
Yeah, bring it on.
I found this this was deep,deep in the Quora archives as
two years ago.
I'm playing the trombone inschool, I tend to puff my cheeks
(19:23):
out.
How can I continue playing thetrombone Without making my face
become chubbier?
I think there's a fear of More.
You puff your cheeks out thatthe cheeks will eventually give
in and you'll have like a littlebulldog.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Oh, it's like when, it's like the old, old timey
thing, like if you, if you keepmaking that face.
It's gonna stay that way.
Yep, yeah, well, yeah, I thinkthat someone someone needs a
like a medical or an anatomybook for Christmas, and Wowzers,
that is a, that's a doozy.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I think it is gonna happen.
It is gonna happen, so stoppuffing your cheeks.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, stop puffing.
We have a student I'll tell youoff air it was who started
intentionally puffing his cheeksbecause he said a lot of his
idols puffed their cheeks and Itold them straight away I was
like that's crazy.
You sound great, luckily, butthat's crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, there are some very famous people that have
done that.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
My teacher, my teacher Don Harwood, famously
puffed his cheeks and but hewould tell you if you started
doing it like all the time, likehim.
He like don't do that, don't dothat, yeah, cuz he it was
something I just developed forhim and he didn't.
It's like there's a lot ofthings.
We all have those things inourselves.
So it's like do as I say, notas I do.
You know, like I tended tongueeverything through my lips,
(20:48):
really, yep but, and so we justlost so many listeners.
But I have when I, when I'vetried to tongue like where
you're supposed to it, I can'tdo it, and so you know, when
students ask me where does mytongue hit, yeah, and I'm like,
well, we're supposed to hit,this is where I do it.
(21:09):
Don't do that.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
When I get when I get that question, that that
triggers the alarms, the teacheralarms in me of like my student
is thinking too much right,exactly, exactly yeah let's
focus on what we want to soundlike right now.
Yeah, we can't forget that youcan't spell fundamentals without
fun.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Boy, oh boy, don't I know it.
Yeah, I'm after this.
I'm gonna go down to thetheater.
Oh.
And get a nice fun thesesession going, yeah, yeah before
your opera.
Yeah, I'm gonna.
I'm gonna practice at theballet and then walk across the
street or the plaza and go play.
Four and a half hours of Tomwas a.
(21:47):
Have you practiced?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
In all 12 keys.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You know I've done it in most the keys.
It is an e major, of course atthe beginning and the opera ends
with a restatement of it ine-flat major, which is very
interesting idea hmm, you saidyou're kind of bored.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Maybe try swapping them.
Spice things up a little bit,see what happens.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Well, in the last performance in the third, in the
third act, it's about maybehalfway through the third act,
everything kind of Goes downsoft, soft, soft and then, with
the baritone rolling stage,there's a low brass chorale.
That's very beautiful and it'sjust one of those moments that
(22:37):
everything's placid and it's youknow what I think non brass
players Don't understand aboutthose moments, how terrifying
they can be, you know, becauseit's just it's so hard to keep
everything pristine and in tuneand move all four parts together
and I get it goes on for likemaybe a minute, maybe shy of a
(22:59):
minute.
So about three quarters awaythrough the chorale I moved my
notes, I moved from a D to ane-flat and I moved one half note
too early.
Oh, it sounded and these halfnotes are slow, and it sounded
rough because it was a G minorchord moving to a C minor chord
and a G minor chord does nothave an E Flatnet.
(23:20):
I don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Well, I I can't quite empathize because that's never
happened to me.
I've never played a wrong notein the wrong spot in the last 24
hours.
Yeah, that's real.
Did everyone just immediatelyget up and run back to the box
office to get their refund?
I?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Do have to credit to, I mean amazing conductor Donald
runicles.
Oh yes, the Scottish dream, theSouthpaw.
He connects left-handed, whichis is that weird?
You know, you don't notice itreally.
Okay, there's another.
There's an Italian conductorwho switches he's a switch
hitter, he, in the middle of theopera.
(24:00):
I think it has to do with hisshoulder problems.
So in the middle of opera he'llswitch the baton from his right
hand to his left hand and kindof give his right arm a rest.
Carlo Ritzi, smart, butrunicles, being the season pro
that he is, he looked over at meand, right when I was supposed
to be, gave a big Right there.
He didn't freak out nothing,and you know Live art folks.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
He's up happens.
I mean, I think you were justintroducing early chromaticism,
like Wagner did exactly Crosschromatic Modulations.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Augmented German six.
Hmm, there's a beautifulaugmented German six right at
the end of opera and the in thecoral line.
Oh, it's really nice.
Yeah, I'm getting more.
And I mean, at first I wasreally not into it.
I'm really getting into it,sebi, it's.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
There's some beautiful stuff in that opera
when you're forced to listen tosomething for like 40 hours.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, you're gonna find some things you like.
It's like, ooh, there's a partwhere they that same the bomb,
be Boom, that that's called thepilgrims chorus and they start
way off stage super soft andthey're almost like like the
level of a hum, that volume, andthen they walk on stage and
then they walk off the otherside.
(25:12):
So it's like you get this wholechorus and it builds up to
being really loud and then goesoff in the distance again.
It's, it's really beautiful,stunning, actually that's really
cool.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, I am curious now.
I really would like to hearboth of those major trombone
choruses played at the same time, just to hear what it sounds
like.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I Could if, if there's anyone out there that
would be into that, I she'splaying tonight.
Romero Sasha would be intodoing that for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Make a quick video and we'll post it.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Okay, I'll add, If she gets there early enough.
She usually kind of comes inlate, but if she gets there
early enough, I'll ask her ifshe wants to do that.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That would be awesome you like during all the long
tosses.
You're just going to be offdoing it in another room and
you'll be able to hear it fromthe stage like what the fuck?
Speaker 1 (25:59):
is going on in fact.
Yeah, deb, I have a questionfor you.
Yes, what are you grateful forthese days?
Oh, man.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
That's what we call a segue in the biz, ever at
Seamless Ooh In the podcastbusiness.
Well, I was thinking about ittoday and you know this is a
easy time to remember things tobe grateful for Not that it's
ever easy to remember thesethings, but it's important to
try, in my opinion.
But there's a few positions Ihave that enable me to perform
(26:32):
in non-conventional places,especially during the holidays,
where a lot of people arewanting to experience the arts,
and we get to go to a lot ofsmaller communities, smaller
towns in the middle ofPennsylvania, ohio, west
Virginia, new York, and you know, perform for these people.
(26:52):
And yet it can be a grind,you're driving a lot more, but
once you get there, I meanpeople are so excited and it's
such an opportunity and I'm sucha big believer and it doesn't
matter what audience you'replaying for, how big or small,
or what venue.
It can all be valid because, atthe end of the day, art is a
service and you're bringing joyto people, you're bringing
beauty to people and it's I'mexcited.
(27:16):
I'm about to travel a bunch inthe next couple of weeks.
I think one interesting one Ihave coming up in I think it's
like Friday is, you'd be superjealous because we're performing
in an Amish community in Ohioand they invited us to.
If we come there a couple hoursearly, they have this giant
Amish buffet in that they'regoing to give us free admission
(27:39):
to.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Oh, that food is going to be so freaking good.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I know and I'm nervous too, because it's only
they said it only opens up atlike an hour before like six
o'clock in our performances atseven and I've really gotten in
a habit of not eating too muchlike too soon before performance
because it really affectsthings.
So we're like me and the guyI'm carpooling with, we're like,
okay, we got to get there rightat six, yep, first of all,
(28:06):
there's going to be a line andsecondly, we got to start
digesting right away.
And you know the second, we seea buffet.
We're just going to go to town.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, get some unsweetened tea.
The tannins in it will helphelp you with digestion.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
That's why.
That's why, like in China and alot of Asia, they drink tea.
It helps digestion.
That is good advice.
That's good advice.
Well, if a fat person knowsanything, it's how to tackle
buffet.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, so I don't know .
I'm excited about all theselittle trips.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
That sounds like fun.
It's going to be great.
Yeah, I've been in thecommunity in Ohio.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I have no idea.
I imagine the audience will bea little more reserved.
We're kind of crazy and a lotof people are wearing costumes.
A lot of the members of theband will sing.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Well, the Amish won't be there.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
At all.
You don't think so.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I mean music isn't really allowed in the Amish
community, depending on howstrict the specific community is
.
Yeah, I'm curious, we're noteven wanting to have dolls with
faces.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I thought they were the ones bringing us out.
But yeah, I guess we'll see.
I guess I'll let you know.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, I mean because, like, for example, my mom grew
up in an like what would beconsidered an Amish community in
Michigan, but you know it wasthe Amish live there, but also
you know also what they wouldcall the English also live there
, us.
So my grandpa, who was anauctioneer, I would he went to
(29:27):
auctioneer school.
Believe it or not.
That's a school you go andlearn yeah yeah, and he would
sell livestock and stuff.
I got a lot of his clients wereAmish so I'd go with him and
he'd have to settle the billwith the Amish.
And I tried taking a picture ofa young boy.
Once he caught me and it wasnot very in his dad got very mad
(29:50):
at me.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Yeah, yeah.
In general that was verydisrespectful, but I was just so
curious.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
It was my first time at that point, my first time
seeing an Amish person.
And yeah, yeah, you know wherethey have a huge Amish community
is Sarasota, florida.
Oh yeah, and there's an amazingAmish restaurant there called
Yoder's.
Yoder is like the Smith ofAmish, last name I have been to.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yoder's.
You've been to Yoder's.
Yes, I spent Christmas there.
So good, it was very good.
Yeah, I'm sure they all listento this podcast so yeah exactly
Let us know.
Yeah, I know, when you see themin airports I feel like they're
more used to being stared at,like you can tell there's like
kind of over being looked at.
They know they stand out.
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I mean what's crazy to me is like you go to a
farmer's market anywhere,basically, but in New York
they'll be Amish vendors.
It's just not unusual forfarmers market, but you got to
wonder what they see when theydrive into New York City.
I'm sure they're used to it now, but it's got to be crazy to
them.
You know and imagine theopposite lifestyle.
But I mean I understand whythey're coming in there.
(30:55):
They're just trying to make abuck, like anybody else.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
You kind of, with your haircut you kind of look
Amish.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
We could slap on a little hat and suspenders and
no-transcript.
Hey, suspenders are agentleman's accessory.
I would like to own somesuspenders If you really want to
get fancy with them.
A good pair of suspenders.
They call them braces.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Trombone tip I learned from Dave Taylor.
Dave Taylor prefers to wearsuspenders with suits because
you can wear like a size biggerin your pants, be able to
breathe as comfortably as youwant, but they won't fall down.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Back when I was taking auditions, I used to wear
a suit if I got past theprelims.
And I had a suit that the pantswere really big and I wore
suspenders with them and it feltlike I could sit or stand and
breathe as big as I want, notfeel restricted.
It was perfect.
So I kind of find it byaccident, but it worked.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Trombone retreat suspenders coming to a store
near you.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Oh, now, that is a good idea.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Can I tease that?
We do have merch in the works.
We're like five years behindthis, but we do have some stuff
that will be happening and thatwill be awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Drop us a line on what you think would be good
merch for us to get, like anysort of specific thing that you
think would be fun.
We're always looking for ideas,but we obviously have some, but
we'd love to hear from you guystoo.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Absolutely.
Send us in to tromboneretreatat gmailcom.
Any ideas about merch?
Any questions for the podcast?
Any general comments about thepodcast?
We always love hearing from you.
We always take the time to tryto respond to everyone.
We can Follow us on the socialmedias at trombone retreat and
Nick at base from bone 444 andmyself at JS dot.
(32:46):
Vera, did I cover all the bases?
Remember to subscribe to thepodcast.
Do a rating review on Spotifyand Apple podcast helps us out a
ton and smash that like.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Button.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
That's it, and yeah, we, we.
We just did an interviewthat'll be coming out soon, and
we have a lot more coming up, soI will only have to say make it
a great day, love y'all.
You.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Southern.
All of a sudden Love y'all.
Love y'all.
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