2009 Festival Participants

The 2009 Frankenwald Brass Festival was held in Lichtenberg, Germany from August 4-8. James Thompson joined Rekkenze Brass for the five-day course as the featured artist. Since 2001, the festival has offered local and international brass students a chance to work with Rekkenze Brass and a guest soloist in coaching sessions, concerts, and master classes. This year’s US participants included the Sting Brass from Delaware State University and the Emerald Brass from Eastman School of Music. Participants from Germany included the Frankenbrass, another student quintet, and the Lichtenberg Brass, a local brass ensemble.

The ensembles enjoyed daily morning rehearsals in which James Thompson and the Rekkenze Brass members (Peter Knudsvig and Benjamin Sebald-trumpets, Debra Luttrell-horn, René Jampen-trombone, and Rainer Streit-tuba) provided coachings. All groups were fortunate to have feedback from multiple coaches, and received suggestions ranging from dynamics, balance, blend, articulation, and taking musical chances. They also took part in mass ensemble rehearsals each afternoon, and another bonus was the opportunity to sit in and observe the open rehearsals with James Thompson and Rekkenze Brass.

James Thompson in master class

Each day concluded with a master class where a multitude of topics was covered. Tuesday’s class by Rekkenze Brass was a lesson in the formation and continuation of a professional brass quintet. They performed several musical selections, and members cited specific events that were pivotal in the careers with the group. Two essential points of their presentation were to gain performance experience in any manner possible and to equally distribute non-playing responsibilities to each member of the quintet. Wednesday’s master class was standing room only for James Thompson’s presentation. He discussed a broad range of topics, including breathing, upper register, buzzing, and tone quality preferences among brass players. One interesting point clarified a statement from his Buzzing Book, as he explained that most young players easily notice when they are fatigued because their embouchure muscles ache, but many seasoned players do not recognize fatigue as quickly, due to years of continuous playing and strengthening of the embouchure. Thursday evening’s master class included demonstrations from both Dr. Patrick Hoffman from Delaware State University, and freelance trumpeter Louise Baranger. Hoffman’s session began with a segment on utilizing lip bends to aid in finding the center of pitch. He also stressed the importance of establishing fluent knowledge of all scales and their corresponding modes. This topic provided a perfect transition to Baranger’s portion of the master class. After demonstrating various Clarke Studies in several modes, she administered a very informative lecture on the importance of being versatile in today’s music scene. Her portion of the class tied together the different practice techniques that were covered, and their real world application in a variety of genres.

Festival participants performed in various settings in and around Lichtenberg. On Friday afternoon, the student quintets travelled to Hof to present short, outdoor programs in the center of the town’s shopping district. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the enthusiastic audience clearly appreciated the music. Each group presented between 20-30 minutes of music, and the program was a fine precursor for the festival’s final concert. The last concert was held in Lichtenberg and featured the student quintets, the Rekkenze Brass with James Thompson, and finally a mass ensemble performance that featured all participants. Particular works of note included Peter Knudsvig’s arrangement of Vassily Brandt’s Concert Etude No. 1 for solo trumpet and brass quintet featuring James Thompson’s precision and control throughout the work. Allegro and Funky Fugue was commissioned for the festival and written by American composer Russ Peterson, and this work also featured Rekkenze and Thompson. Perhaps the greatest crowd-pleaser was Knudsvig’s arrangement of C-Jam Blues for brass ensemble; the performance included solos from numerous players and concluded with a massive shout chorus.

The Frankenwald Brass Festival was an excellent opportunity for brass enthusiasts to experience chamber music with a variety of international participants, and the cultural exchange that emerged as a result was a true bonus. Everyone was delighted to share their thoughts and conversations throughout the week, and doing so in both German and English certainly kept everyone on their toes! The event surely made an impression on the young players involved, and more established groups benefited from beautiful performance venues and suggestions from professionals.