John Ellis » Blog

Summer is here!

John — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 15:08:51 +0000

Summer is finally here! That means warm weather, local veggies, long walks with the dogs, playing long tones on my deck. It also means some exciting summer events are happening.

June 20-24th I will be teaching at the Music For All summer symposium on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie Indiana, sponsored by Yamaha. It should prove to be an exciting week of fun and learning.

June 27-July 8 will be Crane Youth Music at the Crane School of Music. Always a fun camp, it will include performances by the Potsdam Brass Quintet, and the Orchestra of Northern New York.

July 16 Capital BrassWorks will present a concert at the Westben Arts Festival in Ontario Canada. As always, it should be a fantastic concert!

August 5th I will again be performing with the wonderful orchestra Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle du Quebec at the the Festival de Lanaudiere in Quebec. We will be presenting one of my favorite works, the Mozart Requiem.

I hope all of you have a restful and productive summer!

CYM 2010

John — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:02:19 +0000

Well, another year of Crane Youth Music is over. Every year I am amazed how much fun I have. It is so great to work with young, bright, and talented students. And this year was no exception. Thirty wonderful trumpet players from all over New York. We had a great trumpet ensemble, fantastic concerts, enthusiastic lessons. It was a great pleasure to work with each and every student. I can’t wait until next year! (I promise not to fall off my chair!).

Witches, Murderers, and a Cimbasso

John — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:33:21 +0000

Once again I am enjoying playing with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in Opera Lyra’s production of Verdi’s “Macbeth”, Verdi’s first staging of a work of Shakespeare written in 1847. I love playing opera! And there is actually quite a bit of playing in this one. Brass chords are prominent throughout the work, as is typical of the writing of Verdi. It is so much fun is working with this orchestra’s great brass section. And one of the things that is so unique about the sound is the use of the Cimbasso as the bass instrument, played by tubist Nick Atkinson. The Cimbasso is basically a large valved bass trombone, and was the bass brass instrument of choice for Verdi operas. It’s closeness in sonority to the rest of the brass creates a chordal sound that literally resonates through your bones! Ten brass playing perfectly in tune can sound like an organ.

This is a great opera for the brass. You’re always playing, and there are many sweet moments for the trumpets. The down-side, of course, is that because I am in the pit I have absolutely no idea what is going on above me…

The “Geek” corner

John — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:51:31 +0000

It’s time for the “geek” corner, our monthly look at trumpet and trumpet-related equipment. Today we will examine the stainless steel and titanium mouthpieces from Giddings and Webster. According to their website:

Our mouthpieces are made from the finest surgical Stainless steel and Titanium. These Materials are unique, and in our experience superior to brass. Stainless steel and Titanium will never have to be silver-plated. Brass mouthpieces however can be very harmful when their thin silver plating wears through. This can lead to brass infection, and possible brass poisoning. Surgical stainless steel and titanium are proven materials that are safe for humans from medical applications to food preparation, and now instrument mouthpieces. Both of these materials create a unique sound and response that surpasses that of brass. Brass is a very soft material, and absorbs vibrations resulting in a tone that can often get muddy, be difficult to project, and make articulations seem non-existent. Stainless steel and titanium project vibrations into the instrument giving the player more control. This makes it easier to produce the sound you desire, and make great music.

A good friend, Colin Traquair, told me about these mouthpieces. He said “You too can play a mouthpiece that was once part of the landing gear of a Russian MIG.” Ha! We are certainly becoming more aware of chemicals and other impurities that we come into contact with on a daily basis. The thought of a mouthpiece made from something as pure as surgical-quality stainless steel peeked my interest. So I purchased a “Dave Hickman” model, with a .673 inner rim, deep cup and #24 throat in brushed stainless steel. (Unfortunately not available in Titanium…) It is a beautiful mouthpiece. My first impressions were that the stainless steel felt colder on the lips than the delrin or gold-plated brass that I’m used to. But the mouthpiece warmed up quickly, and had great response. Their “Helios radius” rim is very comfortable. Though it seems at first impression to be smaller than my Bach 1c, it still felt very comfortable and offered good response in both the high and low registers. I’m planning on using this for the next few weeks to get a better opinion of it.

Remember, whenever you try a new mouthpiece, it can often take several weeks to get a full estimate of it’s characteristics. Don’t base your decision solely on initial perceptions. I’ll write more in the coming months about my opinion of this mouthpiece, but my initial reaction is quite good. I might have to pick up the piccolo trumpet version.

The joy of music making

John — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:13:58 +0000

Anna Hendrickson

This weekend I had the good fortune to perform Telemann’s Tafelmusik with the Orchestra of Northern New York in Tupper Lake and Potsdam New York. This is part of a great suite of music that was composed in 1733 as background music for feasts and banquets. Telemann scored this particular suite for strings and continuo with trumpet and oboe. It’s a workout for the trumpet and oboe, but the beautiful intertwining lines make it some of the most joyful music I’ve had the opportunity to perform. And probably the best part of the weekend was having the chance to play with Anna Hendrickson, principal oboe of the orchestra. Rarely does one have the chance to work with such a consummate musician. Her phrasing and shaping of the musical line was sublime artistry. She challenged me to play each phrase more beautifully. Every time she plays a note she puts her whole soul into it. (I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with reeds!)

This is what keeps me doing what I do. Having the opportunity to share great music with an appreciative audience, and to work with wonderful colleagues. I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Ken Andrews, John Lindsey, and all the members of the orchestra for so many years. They have made music-making a joy.

This weekend concludes a busy three weeks for me. It started with the Ottawa Symphony performing the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. What a profound piece of music! Then the National Arts Centre Orchestra performed a series of concerts with the Boston Ballet. Their rendition of the 1911 Nijinsky-choreographed “L’apriés-midi d’un faune” was absolutely stunning. I still can’t believe I had the opportunity to see that. At the same time we’ve begun a new semester at Crane. I’m looking forward to an outstanding semester for our trumpet students. I’ll write more about that later. Just remember to keep the joy in your music-making.