ITG 2005

Gary Mortenson, reporter

Pierre Dutot, professor of trumpet at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, opened the class by playing for the audience as a way of introducing the master class. Dutot began his remarks by saying that it is easy to teach players like David Guerrier, but his true job is teaching students who are not as gifted. “Music is the art of sound as a means of expression and communication.” He went on to state that the trumpet is only an amplifier, a loud speaker, and that we have to work to find the true resonance of the instrument. This is the first thing that you have to understand. Having a background in sports, Dutot made many parallels between sports and trumpet. Just as the tennis player cannot blame the racket when he misses the ball, the trumpet player cannot blame the instrument when he misses a pitch. “You have to discover all the acoustic possibilities of your body. You have to respect your body.” Dutot had the student participants do breathing exercises where he made them breathe in, in stages, and then let that air out all at once, so students took the breath in one stage, then two…up to six stages and then let it out all out. This was followed by reversing the process with the air coming in all at once, and then going out from one to six stages progressively, the point being that we need to be able to control both our intake and our release of the air stream in a consistent, controlled fashion.

Dutot continued with an extensive discussion of a series of steps that are necessary to create resonant sounds. These steps include singing in a fashion that allows the sound to circulate in the body in an imitation of Gregorian Chant or Tibetan music, and then bringing the trumpet nearer, eventually letting the vibrating lips touch the mouthpiece, and allowing them to amplify the sound that the body is making. All of the student’s mental energy must be concentrated on the resonance that is being created inside the body. Through this type of study, intonation, stamina, resistance, and sound quality are greatly improved. He went on to say that flexibility is VERY important in trumpet playing. Along these lines Dutot used the Arban lip slur studies on page 22 to make his point. He recommended that the musician use a mirror to continually check the embouchure for efficiency.

Dutot made many philosophical statements such as, “The aim musical study is to render your body intelligent…this liberates your mental energy so that it can devote itself to artistic expression leading in turn to musical emotion. With much love, tolerance, and humility, you can obtain a sense of satisfaction in music, the one true universal language.” He went on to use a Bach chorale Entrust Thy Ways to teach phrasing, balance, projection, and resonance.

The three students played briefly for Dutot, who was up against the time constraints of the session. The repertoire included a study from the Bitsch Vingt Études (suggested that the student work on the ear training required for accuracy), a superbly played excerpt from the Bitsch Fantasietta (commented that when you play music from various countries you need to “enjoy the ride” and pace the music in a way that does not sound hurried), and excerpts from the Enescu Legende (worked on the pacing and phrasing of the opening remarking that it was too slow).