[Hornlist] In defense of Jeff Smiley
matthew scheffelman wrote: You cannot codify, if you do, your doing the work of get rich schemes, witch doctors ... Practicing the extremes is nothing new. Is there something new there? ... ANYONE can write a quasi Book/manual/plagiarist spiral-bound journal, call themselves gods gift to pedagogue and bash all naysayers. I would be embarrassed to defend this charlatan trumpet teacher. Matthew, your every criticism of Smiley is subjective and loaded with personal attacks, name calling, inuendo, and even crass vulgarity (in a previous message). You have not leveled one single criticism of Smiley that's technically based, objective or measurable. You've accused him of claiming things he hasn't, and you've ascribed motives to him that I see no evidence of. You have obviously not read his book nor ever tried the techniques it contains for yourself or your students. If Smiley's humorous stereotyping of music teachers offends you, I think you need to lighten up. It's funny, and a shame you weren't able to appreciate it! I used to teach piano, and found it very amusing to identify my stereotype. When I start teaching horn to grade school kids someday, I'm sure I'll find even more in myself to laugh at! Smiley has never claimed to invent the concept of practicing in extremes, roll in, roll out, lip slurs, etc. And he does credit other specific trumpeters for their contributions to his program. He wrote this book for an audience that knows that these techniques have been around for a long, long time, probably since the first Neanderthal blew on an animal horn! It's just like Farkas's first book which contains a warm up routine that is remarkably similar to that of Dufrasne and is no doubt loaded with ideas Farkas learned from him and his other teachers. Does that also make Farkas a plagarist, a charleton with a get rich quick scheme? I believe this puts Smiley and Farkas into the same category -- brass teachers with a sincere desire to reach out help the greatest number of students possible. (Having to credit the brass teacher who first invented the idea of rolling in or doing lip slurs is like having to credit the person who first used water to clean their hands.) The only thing Smiley claims as HIS own is to have gathered a few universally effective techniques incorporated these into a single, user friendly format that gives EVERY student a leg up on range development. His work product is his development system, not it's various component parts. If one reads his book with an interest in learning improving, rather than tearing down the author, this fact is evident. I have read studied Smiley's book applied his program systematically. It has resulted in measurable improvements in my range and endurance; and noticable improvements in my tone. I challenge any developing horn player to try Jeff Smiley's program consistently for two months see if it doesn't improve at least one aspect of their playing. (I feel the need to repeat here, that I have NO financial interest in or connection to promoting Jeff Smiley's book or ideas. Nada! Zip!) I'm PROUD, and not in the least embarrassed to defend this trumpet teacher, because his development system WORKS! It keeps my embouchure stong flexible. I can slur from high C to double pedal C, back up to high C, back down, then up to high C in one breath w/o having to stop reset. I accomplished this in a few short months doing Smiley's exercises. And, BTW, this exercise is demonstrated by a young student on the CD that comes with Jeff's book. In fact, all the exercises on the CD are played by his young students (one is a 13 year old girl). It's remarkable. I believe I am laying the foundation for some excellent horn playing in my future and I'm grateful to Jeff Smiley for his contribution to my progress. I recommend everyone set aside personal prejudices, emotional reactions, injured egos, etc. and judge Jeff Smiley by the fruits of his work, not by whether you are offended by something he has said. Valerie ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Announcement of Broadcast
Hello fellow hornplayers! Please excuse the double post. I'd like to announce the broadcast premiere of my recently-composed Octet for Horns. It's to be played live-to-air on 3MBS Fine Music (in Melbourne, Australia) and will be available as a stream on the internet. Go to http://www.3mbs.org.au and look for listen now. The performers will be the Horn Choir of the University of Melbourne, led by Geoff Collinson, the head of brass. Times, in various zones: Australia (Melbourne, Sydney) 13 March at 1.30 pm US, Eastern 12 March at 9.30pm US, Central 12 March at 8.30pm UK, GMT 13 March at 2.30am (sorry folks) David Keeffe -- Systemsolve Pty Ltd phone: 03 9833 4421 mobile: 0413 043 586 http://www.systemsolve.net http://music.systemsolve.net ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Hornlist] Announcement of Broadcast
If I'm not mistaken, the US times should be one hour LATER due to our annual farce of DST (earlier date this year). Paul in NJ - Original Message - From: David Keeffe [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; horn@music.memphis.edu Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 8:01 AM Subject: [Hornlist] Announcement of Broadcast Hello fellow hornplayers! Please excuse the double post. I'd like to announce the broadcast premiere of my recently-composed Octet for Horns. It's to be played live-to-air on 3MBS Fine Music (in Melbourne, Australia) and will be available as a stream on the internet. Go to http://www.3mbs.org.au and look for listen now. The performers will be the Horn Choir of the University of Melbourne, led by Geoff Collinson, the head of brass. Times, in various zones: Australia (Melbourne, Sydney) 13 March at 1.30 pm US, Eastern 12 March at 9.30pm US, Central 12 March at 8.30pm UK, GMT 13 March at 2.30am (sorry folks) David Keeffe -- Systemsolve Pty Ltd phone: 03 9833 4421 mobile: 0413 043 586 http://www.systemsolve.net http://music.systemsolve.net ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/lotp%40comcast.net ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Hornlist] In defense of Jeff Smiley
Valerie, Double-High-C-in-37-Weeks, Wells wrote: since the first Neanderthal blew on an animal horn! Now, I have been having the mostestest of watchings and readings of this thread and I must say that I had the mostestest of strongest of feelings either way for all the various viewpoints, especially near my nether throat, BUT, NOW, I am having, without exceptions, to be joining the fray, as the above mentioned quote is completely, to the fullest extent without exception or limitation, as much as possible, from stem to stern, at full tilt, by every inch and millimeter, whole hog, to the max, 100 percent, absolutely, altogether, categorically, entirely, exhaustively, from A to Z, from start to finish, fully, hook, line, and sinker, in full, in toto, lock, stock, and barrel, from alpha to omega, from soup to nuts, perfectly, purely, thoroughly, through and through, totally, utterly, wholly, without exception, globally, comprehensively, inclusively, generically, and universally WRONG as it is common knowledge, by most of the community, at least, that the CRO MAGNON was the first to blow an animal horn and that when the NEANDERTHAL saw this, he picked up his stick and started to wave it as he still does to this very day, as it is so easy, even a cave-man can do it Kindestest of Greetonings and Mostestest of Archeologicals and Anthropologicals as well as Koppraschilogicals (up two octaves), Prof. I. M. Gestopftmitscheist Principal 8th horn and Principal 4th Wagner Tuber, Schplittenotendorf am Oedland Staatsoper und Philharmoniker, (ret.) Solo Horn, Bad Corner Brass Quintet Hornist, Broken Winds WW Quintet Solo 4th Horn (Leader, call me for bookings), Smirnoff Horn Quartet Assistant Associate Principal Mellophone, NJ Turnpike Authority Drum and Bugle Corps, The Phantom Lane Changers (summer only) Hornist as Needed, L'Ensemble du Chambre des Palourdes Principal Natural Horn, I Soloisti di Feces Principal Baroque and Hunting Horn, Camarata Vongoleforte World's Leading Unnatural Horn Soloist (buy my CD of the Hindemith Sonata and the Davies Sea Eagle on the F crook) Adjunct, Part-time, Arms-length Professor of Horn and Pest Control, Exit 2 Community College, Exit 2, NJ (Ret.) Adjunct, Part-time, Arms-length Professor of Horn, Pest Control and Home Petroleum Studies, Northern New Hampshire Technical Institute, Bad Corner, NH Author, The Kopprasch Connection, Kopprasch for Fun and Profit, Kopprasch for the New Millenium: Where Do you Fit In? Hooked on Hornonics, What If Saddam Had Given Ouday and Qusay Olds Ambassador or Conn Pan American Single F Horns and a Kopprasch Book Instead of AK 47's, Booze and Porn? and The DaVinci Clam: What if the Neanderthals Had Known Kopprasch and the Other Gods as Well? Founder, Director and CEO, Universal Institute for the Study, Preservation and Dissemination of Kopprasch Throughout the Solar System Founder and Guru Extraordinaire, Hornaholics Anonymous Grand Poobah of the Koppraschian Kult Director and Program Manager, The All Kopprasch Channel (AKC), Kopprasch Public Radio (KPR) Host of The Kopprasch Factor on AKC and All Kopprasch Considered on KPR Founder of Kopprasch Depot, your one stop shop for all you need! Owner-Operator, Bad Corner Petroleum Laboratory, The Worlds Largest Valve Oil Factory Founder and Disseminator of CLAMSAA, the Universal Holiday for Horn Players Interplanetarily Known Soloist and Artist of Record Exclusive Amborg, Bundy, Carl Fischer, Olds Ambassador, Sansone and Conn Artist Who Does Not Get His Horns For Free Phone: yes Fax: yes Web Site: sort of E-mail: yes Daylight Savings Time begins tonight but this does not mean you can start practicing tomorrow with Kopprasch No. 2, even if you bought the Smiley book! BRBRBR**BR AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Wow!
In a message dated 3/10/2007 12:01:14 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I'm PROUD, and not in the least embarrassed to defend this trumpet teacher, because his development system WORKS! It keeps my embouchure stong flexible. I can slur from high C to double pedal C, back up to high C, back down, then up to high C in one breath w/o having to stop reset. I accomplished this in a few short months doing Smiley's exercises. What major Symphony do you play for? High C's are nice, but what about playing a seamless, gorgeous and full sounding Brahms 2? As far as the smiley thing goes, different strokes for different folks; If may work for you, but there's a slim chance it will work for me. All people are trying to point out is a lineage of a correct way to form a reliable embochure. Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of Claude Gordon studies, but reading something by Farkas, Rider, Gardner etc. provides far more reliable and insightful information relevant to what I want to do, and it does it for me. Maybe next year I'll make spring break plans, for now anyways, I'm back on the hornlist! Hoss Johnson From the melting glacier Icecap that is IOWA BRBRBR**BR AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Re: Teachers who don't play? Great Players cannot be great teachers? Methodology
Greetings Professor Scheffelman, In regards to your misgivings, I hope to address a few of them in a satisfactory manner. I am (and will forever be) a student of brass embouchure and have been a believer in the Balanced Embouchure method by Jeff Smiley for many years. Before that I was a student of the various Callet methods which were expounded by Jerome Callet who teaches out of New York. Let us address your first concern. The biggest problem that I had with the Smiley trumpet book is the accusation that he uses over and over most great players can't teach. Since you are, by title, a professor and are thus an academic, I can only assume that as an informed academic that you have read the text in question and are thus making a statement based on observation and fact. Thus it should stand to reason that this statement should stand up to a simply verification process. I have in front of me the Balanced Embouchure method book, which in its entirely is composed of approximately 150 pages. The pages on which Jeff explores the idea of Those who do, can't teach are pages 24 to 25; 2 pages out of 150 which constitutes about 1.3% of the book. This casts doubt on your above statement, implying that your statement may not be based on fact at all. However, since you are no doubt a man familiar with academic discourse, there must be a valid reason for which you have made the above statement so any clarification that can be made on your part would be greatly appreciated to clearing this matter up. He then goes on to systematically show how his system is far superior to most of the great trumpet teachers that he obviously stole from for his book. Practicing the extremes is nothing new. Is there something new there? Not at all. Maybe band directors teaching all the instruments in their Little town, having all practice scales might the be pedagogy fault? Going to see a qualified teacher on your particular instrument seems just as good. This is the basis for the Smiliy book. The above paragraph seems full of valuable ideas and interesting points of discussion so I hope I will do justice to them by listing them to better address them in a serial fashion. 1) Jeff Smiley systematically shows how his system is superior to those of great trumpet teachers, though he has stolen the ideas from them. 2) The idea of practising extremes is not new. Maybe band directors teaching all the instruments in their Little town, having all practice scales might the be pedagogy fault? Going to see a qualified teacher on your particular instrument seems just as good. This is the basis for the Smiliy book. I'm afraid that this bit is beyond my understanding so please clarify in a later posting. 1) It is true that Jeff systematically displays the strength of his method in comparison to others which I believe is what all teachers have always done. It seems unlikely that any teacher would considering teaching material that they consider to be inferior or outdated and thus often set out to do their best in proving that their approach is most beneficial. Did Jeff steal his material? I'm afraid I do not have expertise to judge him on this matter. Although I've studied the material of many of the authors that Jeff credits in his acknowledgements section separately, I am by no means an expert. On the other hand, I can pose the question of whether Aristotle stole his ideas from Plato who was his teacher. Or whether Plato stole his ideas from Socrates. These 3 names represent a few of the greatest thinkers to have ever existed and none would ever question their prowess as philosophers and scientists. The style of rhetoric we see in Jeff's book mirrors that of Aristotle and of almost all modern day academics. It is common (and often required) practise to properly represent the current ideas on a topic before one explores and affirms one's own ideas on the subject. Aristotle would frequently examine the ideas of Plato, Pythagoras, Democritus and others, highlighting the strength and weakness of each before putting forth his own idea which was often a synthesis of the strengths of all the previous ideas. Such is the way of scholarly debate, as I'm sure, you a professor will know better than I. 2) I most wholeheartedly agree with your evaluation of the idea of extremes. Before the Jeff Smileys and Jerome Callets of the brass world, in the days of the natural horn, there existed musicians who specialized in a certain range of the brass instrument and thus had embouchure settings tailored toward these demands. As I am no expert on music history, I will move on to what I believe to be more important point that needs to be addressed. Though some of the material may not be novel, the approach itself is and (if you forgive the presumptuous nature of my upcoming statement) that is what I believe Jeff takes credit for. On the cover of his book he writes that the
[Hornlist] Acknowledgement of my error ...
Prof. I. M. Gestopftmitscheist wrote to me, Valerie, Double-High-C-in-37-Weeks, Wells: the CRO MAGNON was the first to blow an animal horn and that when the NEANDERTHAL saw this, he picked up his stick and started to wave it as he still does to this very day, as it is so easy, even a cave-man can do it Ok, Ok, I know when I've been licked. I hang my head, not in shame, but in humble reverancial deference to a superior intellect and hereby acknowledge: I STAND CORRECTED. (Noble little me.) Valerie, burnt out nurse meekest come back horn player on the planet since the ideas of Grunt, the Cro Magnon who invented the roll-in maneuver, got ripped off by his Neanderthal cousin, Bam Bam, who plagerized Grunt's ideas in the landmark publication, Home on The Range Development and 101 Uses for Mammoth Dung. The world is cruel place for the sensitive artist. ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Hornlist] Wow!
Well said, I think... Haven't read Smiley (except for Le Carre's version), but am assuming from all the back and forth that he does not deal with brass instruments from an overall, soup-to-nuts point of view, meaning you probably cannot study Smiley exclusively and end up ready for that big audition. That said, his study might well have value for specific aspects of playing - the danger lies in relying too much on one method of teaching with the intention or hope of mastery of the entire instrument. We need to be intelligent about where we obtain our knowledge and who we, more or less, blindly follow. Personally, if I were still a student who read these things (and had no access to private lessons), I would be inclined to base my study on someone like Farkas, who provides a general, well-proven guide to the horn from beginning stages up thru advanced topics. However, if I were having problems with my high range and knew about Smiley, I might buy the book, but only as a possible guide to the specifics with which I needed specific help...where I found Smiley to be in conflict with Farkas, I would have a decison to make, and am pretty sure I would stick with the acknowledged and time-tested master. I think the key is to believe in the possibility of anything helping, but to act on that belief only while the brain is fully engaged (and if you lack the experience and maturity to do this, talk about it with someone you trust, i.e., your private instructor). Fred From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ...snip... High C's are nice, but what about playing a seamless, gorgeous and full sounding Brahms 2? As far as the smiley thing goes, different strokes for different folks; If may work for you, but there's a slim chance it will work for me. All people are trying to point out is a lineage of a correct way to form a reliable embochure. Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of Claude Gordon studies, but reading something by Farkas, Rider, Gardner etc. provides far more reliable and insightful information relevant to what I want to do, and it does it for me. ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
RE: [Hornlist] Re: Announcment of Broadcast (times again!)
David, if it matters to you at all, not all areas of the US participate in Daylight Savings Time. I know some places in the Mountain time zone do not, and therefore the time in those areas, during what is DST in most place, becomes the same in Mountain as in the Western Time zone. I'm pretty sure Phoenix, Arizona, or maybe even the whole state of Arizona, doesn't do Daylight Savings Time. And, we should point out, that EST and CST should be called EDT and CDT during DST. Those of us who work with computers need to know more about this than we otherwise might because it's important that clock maintained by the computer gets adjusted properly (and, hopefully, automatically). -S- -Original Message- From: David Keeffe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 3:18 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: [Hornlist] Re: Announcment of Broadcast (times again!) Sorry listers This time I think I have the global times right! 13 March 1.30 pm: 13/03 15:30:00 NZDT - NZ 13/03 10:30:00 CST - PRC 13/03 02:30:00 GMT - GB 12/03 21:30:00 EST - America/New_York 12/03 20:30:00 CST - America/Chicago 13/03 10:30:00 MYT - Asia/Kuala_Lumpur 13/03 10:30:00 HKT - Hongkong It would help if I had typed the right date in my date converter! DK -- Systemsolve Pty Ltd phone: 03 9833 4421 mobile: 0413 043 586 http://www.systemsolve.net http://music.systemsolve.net ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/steve%40fridays computer.com ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
RE: [Hornlist] Wow!
Yes, Hoss, I agree with you, for what use is all the up down slurring ? I know some players, very tough players, who do that exercises. But how about their tone quality ? Horrible. Let them play Oberon they are lost. They would not know what to make with these simple notes. And, playing all these slur exercises in the dress room is dangerous. I will just quote Richard Strauss, what he responded, when a horn player protested against difficult too strong passages: I do not understand your complain, as I have heard all this in the dressing room or from your practising on stage ! Instead of cultivating our strength (tone, big power, softest cantabile, etc.), so many players out there look for extreme high multi-note pieces. Many are crazy about the baroque pieces. Did they forget, that the baroque horn did not allow more than very very basic cantilenas, so they had to go up to the stratosphere where the pitches are in halfsteps. But a cantilena was not possible there - guess why -, so they did what the trumpeters did: takataccatooccota. This is a similar issue to the up down slurs. = -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 7:22 PM To: horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: [Hornlist] Wow! In a message dated 3/10/2007 12:01:14 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I'm PROUD, and not in the least embarrassed to defend this trumpet teacher, because his development system WORKS! It keeps my embouchure stong flexible. I can slur from high C to double pedal C, back up to high C, back down, then up to high C in one breath w/o having to stop reset. I accomplished this in a few short months doing Smiley's exercises. What major Symphony do you play for? High C's are nice, but what about playing a seamless, gorgeous and full sounding Brahms 2? As far as the smiley thing goes, different strokes for different folks; If may work for you, but there's a slim chance it will work for me. All people are trying to point out is a lineage of a correct way to form a reliable embochure. Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of Claude Gordon studies, but reading something by Farkas, Rider, Gardner etc. provides far more reliable and insightful information relevant to what I want to do, and it does it for me. Maybe next year I'll make spring break plans, for now anyways, I'm back on the hornlist! Hoss Johnson From the melting glacier Icecap that is IOWA BRBRBR**BR AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka. de ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
