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Master Class: Ivano Ascar
Saturday 11:30am
Jon Burgess, Reviewer
Ivano Ascari began his master class with a brief discussion of his background in orchestral and brass ensemble playing. His primary positions have been with the Haydn Symphony Orchestra of Bolzano and with the Verona Brass. In 1992, he accepted the professor of trumpet position at Riva del Garda State Conservatory of Music. Because state laws prohibited him from maintaining a full-time orchestral position and a full-time teaching position, he was forced to choose between the two. His main focus currently is commissioning of new works for trumpet. He feels it is important for the future of trumpet performance to encourage composers to write new works for trumpet.
Instead of having participants play prepared pieces for him, he asked for three volunteers to each play a movement of a new work by Stefano Melloni entitled Three Preludes. He wanted to encourage performers to not be afraid to prepare unknown compositions. Joseph Blaze of Casa Grande, Arizona, Keith Geimer, a student at Towson University, and Paul Simmons of Sacramento, California, each played a movement of the composition by Melloni. Ascari demonstrated how he approaches teaching new works to his students. Much of his teaching technique is done by imitation; first playing the line of music, and then having the student repeat the line. On difficult passages, he would trade two bar phrases back and forth with the students. He feels the student grasps the style of the music quicker this way rather than trying to verbalize musical concepts.
He ended his master class by discussing how important it is to communicate emotions through the music. He encouraged performers to imagine a story with every piece that they play, even making up lyrics to the music if it aids in bringing emotion to the music. Those who attended his recital know Ascari leads by example, performing with great emotion in the works he performed. (Jon Burgess, assistant professor of music, Texas Christian University) |
