Guy Touvron

The French trumpet virtuoso Guy Touvron gave masterclasses in Oslo in March 2003. M. Touvron was on the trumpet faculty at the annual seminar of the Norwegian Trumpet Forum, which hosted the event, supported by Oslo music shop Schlagerforlaget and the Norwegian State Academy of Music.

LECTURE:

According to Touvron, a trumpeter should focus primarily on four issues:
1. Attack
2. Sound
3. Intonation
4. Homogeneity (vertically and horizontally)

1. ATTACK. "Listen for the tone before you play it!"
Preparation:
Let your metronome give you 4 beats in.
On the two first beats you inhale (using the stomach).
On the 3rd beat the mouthpiece is placed on the lips.
On the 4th beat imagine the note.
Then start playing - without hesitation.

If you miss a note, Touvron's advice is: "Just smile and relax." He also said: "Do not change your embouchure going from one part of the register to another. Just change the speed of the air." He explained that the reason for counting before attacking the tone is to combat nervousness by focusing on the rhythm. This method is described in Merri Franquin's book "Methode Complete de la Trompette Moderne"

2. SOUND. The quality of your sound is a very important part of your playing, because it constitutes your personal musical signature. Search for the beauty of your own sound by playing long notes.

3. INTONATION. You develop your ear for good intonation by playing together with others. You really need accompanying, always, by a rhythmic or chord instrument - but if you don't have one, then imagine it. In this way you can become your own accompanist.

4. HOMOGENEITY. Keep the same embouchure in the entire register (just change the tongue and lips). This ability can be developed using the Stamp exercises.

Touvron recommended seeking advice from different schools and trumpet methods. In this way each player can create his own, tailor-made program consisting of his personal selection of exercises.

When Touvron was asked about his opinion of the French school, he said that the typical French school, advocated in earlier years by teachers like Arban and Franquin, is disappearing nowadays due to increased globalization.

Touvron's conviction is that the role of the musician is to disseminate the intentions of the composer. Since the composer received the music from a higher power or God (not necessarily bound to a certain religion), it is the musician's responsibility to research the intentions of the composer. It can help to find out who the composer was, and also when, where, and how he lived.

Touvron thinks that the ultimate mission of a musician is to pass on feelings. The musician's technique is of less importance. He compared the musician's technical abilities to a writer's vocabulary: a rich vocabulary offers the writer a more detailed mode of expression, and a musician's high technical skills can be seen from the same angle.

MASTERCLASS:

• Play long notes lightly when you are in the orchestra - when your part of the score is long notes, someone else has a more important part to play.
• Push the air when you play staccato. Don't think about the tongue, just focus on the air and it will work.
• Don't play a crescendo on a single note, but rather on a musical phrase. On a single note you can utilize a little vibrato instead, but only at the end of the note. Your vibrato can be compared to the blinking of car lights to indicate the change of direction of the car. In the same way, a little vibrato can indicate the changing of pitch.
• Always use your imagination and "see" a story or a picture with "the eyes of your heart" when you perform the music.
• When you perform contemporary music, study the score carefully regarding the markings of the composer. In historical pieces by Haydn and Hummel, the performer is allowed much greater freedom to interpret the music.
• Vibrato is not needed all the time. To illustrate this Touvron applied an analogy: A really beautiful woman does not need make-up to appear attractive, but she may choose to apply make-up sometimes to enhance the beautiful curves and colors of her face.
• It's important to focus on each and every note, or else you are going to miss one!
• Trumpeters love to practice loud and high notes. But in the orchestra we are often asked to play softer. This is what you should practice

It is really important to feel your own aura. Touvron called it the "bubble". Its mission is to protect you against intrusion: when you are inside your bubble, you are capable of being undisturbed and focusing only on the music in your performing situation in the concert.

Touvron further emphasized the importance of "grounding" - standing in perfect balance on your feet. He compared it to a tree with deep roots. The deeper and more widespread the roots, the larger and heavier the crown of the tree can be. The musician must be grounded so that the music can move freely. Chinese tradition perceives humans consisting of a lower and upper part. The lower part stands for "labor", while the upper part represents "freedom and vacation". The harder you work, the freer you can be!

Touvron also told the audience to perceive themselves as "musicians" rather than instrumentalists. He recommends musicians to engage in "sports", but nothing terribly demanding - just enough to keep the body in good shape. Touvron also talked a lot about "love". To love oneself ("accept ones own feelings and fulfill one's own needs" - translator's comment) is a condition that must be fulfilled before one can be able to love others. A musician's very mission is to be a giver who expresses and awakens emotions within the listener. Therefore every musician should be a loving person.

Touvron also thinks it is important to take risks as an artist. It is OK to fail, but it is not OK not to have tried to give the best.

CONCERT PREPARATION:

1. Press 2 fingers against your forehead. Then you move focus from your cerebellum, where your nervousness resides, to the frontal part of the brain where you can focus and find peace.
2. Prepare a ritual which you do before every concert: it gives security.
3. Think of a positive experience, and then lift your trumpet. In this way you create positive associations to your instrument.
4. Our way of thinking creates limitations for what we can accomplish. In the same way that we create our own limitations, we can expand them. Imagine that your abilities in the higher register are better than what you experience on a daily basis. You can do it like this: Point with your hand as far backwards as you can, and play towards that point. Then imagine that you move the point even further back, play your high notes again. The result is that you will be able to extend your register by doing this mental exercise.

As part of concert preparation Touvron also suggested the use of hypnosis. This way of relaxation needs less time than sleep to give the person a deep rest. In hypnosis one listens to positive thoughts and replenishes one's strength.

THE HISTORY OF HONEGGER'S INTRADA:

Touvron told the story of how he as a 20-year-old struggled with endurance. Honegger's Intrada was especially challenging. On an extensive concert tour covering different regions of France through 20-30 concerts, he decided to include the piece anyhow. The strategy that helped him to combat his endurance problems was as follows:

"What happens in the beginning of the piece?" he asked himself. "Aha, a person is strolling around and suddenly discovers a monumental gate. He walks through it" (now Touvron plays the opening of Intrada). "Where is he now? He is inside a great castle! Here he meets marching soldiers" (Touvron plays a new motive.) "And who is coming there? Oh! The queen herself!" In this way the performance goes on.

This story and the characters of the people he met helped Touvron to create his own interpretation of the musical piece. But it also helped him to create energy sufficient to play all the notes up to the last one. Engaging in this imaginative activity also reduced nervousness.

(The archive photo of M. Touvron by Vera Hørven was taken at the 2002 ITG conference.)

Websites:
About the Norwegian Trumpet Forum in English
Norwegian State Academy of Music in English
Norges Musikkhøgskole in Norwegian
Schlagerforlaget in Norwegian

Sources: Verena Barth, trans. Ole Jørgen Utnes, Vera Hørven