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The Brass Junkies

The Brass Junkies, hosted by former Boston Brass tuba player Andrew Hitz and a rotating cast of characters, features interviews with the best and brightest brass players in the world. Subject matter includes everything from the serious to the ridiculous, just like the music business.
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Now displaying: June, 2019
Jun 25, 2019

From John's Marine Band bio:

Trumpeter/cornetist Master Gunnery Sergeant John Abbracciamento joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in November 1992. Master Gunnery Sgt. Abbracciamento began his musical instruction at age 8. After graduating from Valley Stream South High School in 1978, he attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He completed his bachelor’s degree in music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1983 and also earned a master’s degree from Mannes College of Music in New York in 1985. He studied trumpet with Armando Ghitalla of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and John Ware and Vincent Penzarella of the New York Philharmonic.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” Master Gunnery Sgt. Abbracciamento was a substitute with the New York Philharmonic and toured Europe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

In this fun and lively discussion, we cover:

  • John retiring from "The President's Own" United States Marine Band after 27 years
  • Be prepared and know that the system is in place to support you
  • The importance of realizing that you are joining a section
  • The diversity of demands in The Marine Band
  • Us math am smart like
  • What John will miss most
  • Why he decided to retire now
  • Change is hard
  • Going back to school to becomes a physical therapist
  • The impact of standing at attention for long periods of time
  • Helping musicians deal with pain
  • John's retirement remarks
  • Hiram Diaz
  • Tom Hooten
  • Studying with Armando Ghitalla
  • Distinctive players and styles
  • What happens at a Marine Band retirement ceremony
  • The Italian Store chicken parmesan on a hard roll
  • Baseball rule changes
  • Freelancing, listening and adapting to a variety of situations
  • Learning to blend
  • Overcoming doubt
  • Rich Kelley Central Park story
  • Putting other players at ease within a section
  • Trial and error and the importance of experience as a teacher
  • Playing the appropriate musical role
  • Mallory Thompson
  • Andrew and the silk shirt

LINKS:

Want to help the show? Here are some ways:

  • Help others find the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes.
  • Show us some love on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
  • Help us pay the bills (and get regular bonus episodes!) by becoming a Patreon patron.
  • Show some love to our sponsors: The brass program at The Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University and Parker Mouthpieces (including the Andrew Hitz and Lance LaDuke models.)
  • Tell your friends!

Expertly produced by Will Houchin with love, care, and enthusiasm.

Jun 11, 2019

TBJ113: Rebecca Cherian on encouraging young women players, the importance of allies and the Bernstein Bounce. Rebecca Cherian is Co-Principal Trombone of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

From her bio:

Rebecca Cherian was awarded the position of co-principal trombone of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by Lorin Maazel in 1989. She has been trombone instructor at Carnegie Mellon University since 1993. Cherian was a founding member of the International Women’s Brass Conference in 1994 and served as the IWBC Newsletter Editor for five years. 

As a California native, Cherian began her professional career at the age of 16 as trombonist with the San Jose Symphony under the direction of George Cleve. At the age of 17, she appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony as a result of winning First Prize in their Young Musicians’ Awards. Cherian earned her Bachelor of Music Degree from the California Institute of the Arts and her Master of Music Degree from the Yale School of Music. While in school she was awarded First Place in the Atwater Kent Brass Competition and Outstanding Chamber Music Performer at Yale. She studied with Miles Anderson, Robert Szabo, and John Swallow.

Before becoming a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cherian held positions of principal trombone with the Springfield Symphony in Massachusetts and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. She was trombone instructor at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, the Hartt School of Music and Wesleyan University. As a freelance artist, she toured with the Israel Philharmonic under the Direction of Leonard Bernstein, performed with the Boston Opera, New York City Ballet, Hartford, New Haven, and Vermont Symphonies and Goodspeed Opera House.

In September 1993, Cherian enjoyed the honor of performing at the White House in Washington, D.C. as part of a 15-woman ensemble of brass and percussion players for the opening reception of the Annual International Women’s Forum. The group performed the world premiere of Joan Tower’s fanfare, Celebration, which was dedicated to Hillary Clinton. Cherian appears regularly as a soloist and master class Clinician at the IWBC.

Cherian released her second solo CD, “L’Invitation au Voyage,” in 2015. Both her first CD, “Water Awakening,” and “L’Invitation au Voyage.” are available through cdbaby.com or amazon.com. She can also be heard on “From the Back Row,” a recording on Albany Records of the Low Brass Section of the Pittsburgh Symphony and numerous recordings of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons and Manfred Honeck.

In this fun and lively discussion, we cover:
  • The dramatic Rebecca/Becky controversy
  • Playing with the PSO
  • The recent PSO concert at Lincoln Center in NYC
  • Technical difficulties
  • Becky still has a home phone (thankfully!)!
  • The state of the PSO
  • How social media played a part in getting the word out about the PSO player's positions
  • Her first gig was in San Antonio Symphony at 16 years of age
  • Losing her slide story
  • Women in the career field, how things have changed and what work there still is to do
  • The importance of building allies in a group
  • How to coach and encourage young women players (and the men too!)
  • Diversity issues in general
  • Picking the instrument in school, despite trombone not being a "girl's" instrument
  • Soloing with the San Francisco Symphony at 17
  • Lance's monumental frack 
  • Playing under Bernstein with the Isreal Philharmonic on tour in Mexico and Texas (and learning Rite of Spring and bass trumpet in one day)
  • Meeting Bernstein
  • Bernstein falling off the podium (and bouncing back), AKA the "Bernstein Bounce"
  • Herp Alpert
  • Playing at the White House

Links:

Want to help the show? Here are some ways:

  • Help others find the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes.
  • Show us some love on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
  • Help us pay the bills (and get regular bonus episodes!) by becoming a Patreon patron.
  • Show some love to our sponsors: The brass program at The Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University and Parker Mouthpieces (including the Andrew Hitz and Lance LaDuke models.)
  • Tell your friends!

Expertly produced by Will Houchin with love, care, and enthusiasm.

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