Emily Lescatre

Mr. Boden
Brass Methods, 10am Class
February 12, 2019

Atlantic Brass Quintet Master Class

In the Atlantic Brass Quintet Master Class, held at the University of Southern Maine on

February 9th, there were a few things that I found very interesting and potentially useful for my

career as a music teacher. After the saxophone quartet performed, the members of the Atlantic

Brass Quintet asked the players to sing their parts. After a couple of measures of singing, the

quartet was told to “sing it how they want to sing it”; meaning to perform the dynamics and

articulations they would use when playing the piece with their instruments. Next, the sax players

were asked to quickly “bop” their part, no matter how long the duration of the note was. This

was meant to have the players emphasize their entrances and make sure they are all playing at

the same tempo. The clinicians explained that when people play music in a chamber group, the

musicians can communicate by making eye contact with the other musicians and by breathing in

at the same time as the other ensemble members. Next, after the Brass Quintet performed, the

clinicians took out two of the USM students, and played with the remaining three. This method

helps teachers hear what their individual students’ playing sounds like, and it will give the

students an example of what they should sound like. Something that I learned from the trumpet

ensembles performance is that sometimes it’s preferred to have trumpet players facing each other

rather than all of the musicians in a straight line facing the audience. This way, can make better

eye contact with the other members of the ensemble, and the audience won’t be hit with a “wall

of sound” from all of the trumpets. I really enjoyed this master class, and I feel that I learned a

lot that I can apply to my teaching, even though I’m not a brass player!