Glenn Fischthal

Intense and high-energy from start to finish, the inaugural session of the Summer Brass Institute, from July 14-18 in Menlo Park, California, showed the power of musical influence as Bay Brass members coached, taught and performed with participants. The weeklong institute provided five quintets and six large groups with plenty of rehearsal and coaching from 9 to 5 each day on the campus of Menlo School, a private school located on the Peninsula of the Bay Area, about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. The Bay Brass, a 13-member ensemble including leading players from five Bay Area orchestras, supplied seven faculty members including trumpeter and ITG member David Burkhart, professor of trumpet at the San Francisco Conservatory; James Dooley, principal trumpet, San Jose Symphony; and Glenn Fischthal, principal trumpet, San Francisco Symphony.

Bay Brass members launched the week with a master class, "The Art of Rehearsal" in which they demonstrated effective rehearsal practices; they also performed with participants in Strauss' Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by institute director Vicky Greenbaum. Comments by Bay Brass emphasized the need to move air, to breathe deeply-David Burkhart awarded trumpeters a 3-inch length of PVC pipe to facilitate practice of open breathing-and to focus on the quality of sound. Jim Dooley also demonstrated his specialties: constant thoughtfulness about attacks, starting and stopping the breath, use of hard and soft air, and moving air through the horn.

Fischthal works with student Michael Joiner

Trumpeters reveled in Monday night's master class with San Francisco Symphony principal trumpet Glenn Fischthal who described and demonstrated his concept of sound. He began with solo Bach, commenting on "the use of the lyrical phrase" which helps because "as a performer we try to communicate to the audience, something almost spiritual." Performing various excerpts from the standard repertoire by memory, Mr. Fischthal traversed the expressive range of sound, in Strauss' Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben, Wagner's Parsifal, Debussy's La Mer, Tschaikovsky's Fourth and Beethoven's Ninth. He discussed the art of sound as a state of mind as well as an approach; he showed that the ideal trumpet sound makes the listener wish the sound would never stop. Participants performed orchestral excerpts, enjoying Mr. Fischthal's coaching of solos from Mahler 5 and Bach Cantata 51 (Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landern). Mr. Fischthal showed how his G piccolo trumpet gave certain advantages in performing the work; then he entered into a discussion with audience members about interpretive matters and orchestral playing. Finally, participants were invited to try Mr. Fischthal's assortment of trumpets.

Plentiful demonstrations, extra lessons, and a trip to the San Francisco Symphony to hear faculty members Burkhart, Dooley, Fischthal, Ring and Engelkes in action formed part of the fabric of daily life for visiting brassplayers, including Californians and musicians from as far away as Alaska and Canada. After a week spent rehearsing specific works selected in rehearsal, participants were ready to perform music for brass by Dahl, Ewald, Brahms, Gabrieli, Topff, Biber, Mozart, Strauss and Wagner in the final concert.

(For information about summer 2004, please contact vgreenbaum@menloschool.org or see the website below.)

Website:
Summer Brass Institute 2004