View RSS Feed

davewerden

  1. Using Vibrato to Its Best Effect

    Many, many, many years ago I received a compliment from Harvey Phillips after a played a recital at Indiana University. Among other things, he mentioned that he liked how I used vibrato. He said it was not just the ever-present part of my tone, but it was something I used more effectively as part of my phrasing. That was very pleasing to me to hear because I have thought a lot about vibrato and how to use it. My use/views are still changing year by year, but the core philosophy is the same: vibrato ...
  2. Listen to the Angel and Devil on Your Shoulders

    When I was growing up I used to love Looney Toons cartoons. One of the visual themes that was used in various ways was a person with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. The two mini characters would try to convince the main character to do something bad or something good. That was an effective tool for the stories, and its use dates back millennia (in somewhat different forms!). An early Disney Pluto cartoon used it as well. It continues to be useful to today's audiences, as shown ...
  3. Video: When Is an Easy Piece Hard?

    One would ordinarily think a piece in 4/4, named "Romance," marked "Moderato," where the quickest rhythm is in a few dotted-eighth/sixteenth figures would be pretty easy, right? Well, OK, it's in A concert, but that is one of the standard scales taught in school and used in high school band pieces (sometimes, anyway).

    There are two harder things about this piece. One is the upper range, which goes to a high C# concert (D# treble). That's a bit tough. But I find the hardest facet by ...