| Amsterdam to Munich teacher exchange program: Damrow and Guggenberger |
May
29, 2004  |
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Frits Damrow (Amsterdam Conservatory) and Wolfgang Guggenberger (Richard Strauss Conservatory, Munich) first met each other during the 2003 Sauerland Herbst festival, where they both presented trumpet masterclasses. Although they come from different schools – Damrow had lessons with James Stamp, Thomas Stevens and Pierre Thibaud; Guggenberger with Vincent Cichowicz, Adolph Herseth and Arnold Jacobs – they found their teaching methods compatible and complementary. They decided that they would like to do a teacher exchange program, where Damrow would go to the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich to teach for a few days and Guggenberger would go to the Amsterdam Conservatory. Frits Damrow was in Munich from May 3 to 5 where he worked with the students in masterclasses, trumpet ensembles and orchestra sections, finishing the project with a recital by Damrow. Guggenberger was in Amsterdam from May 12 to 14, where he also worked with the students in masterclasses, trumpet ensembles and orchestra sections. This project was closed with a lecture and demonstration by Guggenberger about his new book, Basics Plus. The students really enjoyed this project - although the basic teaching ideas are the same for the two teachers, the students experienced this project as very refreshing and instructive. Damrow and Guggenberger are both active as authors of trumpet methods, and presented their books to the trumpet students of both conservatories.
Damrow’s book Fitness for Brass is published by De Haske in several different languages. It contains technical studies for trumpet. Although the studies are all written by Damrow himself, they bear the influence of famous books like Stamp, Clarke, Collins and others. Most of the exercises are divided in a number of different well-balanced warming-up sessions. Guggenberger’s book Basics Plus is published by Rundel Verlag in an English/German edition. Like Fitness for Brass, this very beautiful book also contains technical studies for trumpet. All of the exercises (from the works of Cichowicz, Clarke, Stamp and Collins) are presented as duets for two trumpets, where the second voice helps the student to focus on the horizontal line in the exercises (James Stamp: “keep thinking down going up and thinking up going down”). Both Frits Damrow and Wolfgang Guggenberger found this project pleasant and very valuable. They are already thinking about continuing and maybe even expanding the project in the future. Websites: Sauerland Herbst festival De Haske publications Basics Plus - more information about Wolfgang Guggenberger and his book
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