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**cochranme** · 07-25-2015, 11:15 AM

Hi Tom,

Very well done. Your love for the piece really comes across in the performance. You do a lot of things very well. I especially like the quality of the sound that you're getting across the register. It's difficult to make a lot of comments based on a video recording as it always changes the sound a bit, but there are 3 things that stick out to me. First is intonation, mostly on the dreaded 6th partial pitches. (Eb, E, and F concert) I noticed that you play a horn without a main tuning slide trigger, so you're going to have to learn to buzz these notes in tune even when the horn doesn't want to. 2nd, take a look at your posture. You are really hunched over from the shoulders up when you play. That's going to create tension and add to your pitch issues. Make sure that you're bringing the horn all the way to you. Don't bring yourself to the horn. 3rd, have you explored adding some vibrato to your playing? With the great sound that you have I think that this would make your performance even better. Hope this helps and keep up the fine playing!

Martin

p.s. I don't know if you ever get the chance to work with Matt Van Emmerik, but if so please tell him I said hello!

**RickF** · 07-25-2015, 01:36 PM

Hi Tom,

Sounded good! I can tell you really enjoy playing that piece as I see your eyes close at times (really into the music). Martin gave you excellent feedback above.

"Myfanwy" has been a favorite of mine ever since I heard Riki McDonnell play this on his CD, "Euphonium Songbook".

**Fondles97** · 07-26-2015, 07:05 AM

Originally posted by cochranme View Post

Hi Tom,

Very well done. Your love for the piece really comes across in the performance. You do a lot of things very well. I especially like the quality of the sound that you're getting across the register. It's difficult to make a lot of comments based on a video recording as it always changes the sound a bit, but there are 3 things that stick out to me. First is intonation, mostly on the dreaded 6th partial pitches. (Eb, E, and F concert) I noticed that you play a horn without a main tuning slide trigger, so you're going to have to learn to buzz these notes in tune even when the horn doesn't want to. 2nd, take a look at your posture. You are really hunched over from the shoulders up when you play. That's going to create tension and add to your pitch issues. Make sure that you're bringing the horn all the way to you. Don't bring yourself to the horn. 3rd, have you explored adding some vibrato to your playing? With the great sound that you have I think that this would make your performance even better. Hope this helps and keep up the fine playing!

Martin

p.s. I don't know if you ever get the chance to work with Matt Van Emmerik, but if so please tell him I said hello!

Hey thanks heaps for the advice! I'll take that all into consideration and apply it in my practice! On the vibrato point though- I used to use too much vibrato, it got to the point where it was just a constant warble and not a good effect so in the last 3 months I've completely taken it away from my playing and I'm going to bring it back slowly to make sure that I only use it as a decoration rather than overusing it

Some advice on good vibrato workouts would be greatly appreciated though!

**Euphearted** · 07-27-2015, 10:58 AM

When I saw the word "Myfanwy" the first thing it brought to mind was the British poet Edward Thomas, who named his youngest daughter that (Thomas gave all three of his children Welsh names). And then I immediately fell into the trap of thinking the composer was Sir Hubert Parry. Wikipedia not only set me straight on who is the composer but also clued me in that there are a LOT of Myfanwys scattered across history.

**John Lebens** · 07-27-2015, 02:54 PM

6th partial (Eb, E, and F)

Martin,
When you talk about the dreaded 6th partial pitches. ( Eb, E, and F) are you referring to concert
( Eb - 311.127 hz, E - 329.6 hz, and F - 349.2 hz ) ? Unfortunately I play Treble Clef so I am totally unfamiliar with the Bass clef notes. My Eb, E, & F are written as F, F#, & G. And since I am playing nine notes below what I am reading it is easy to get confused when people talk about certain notes. I wish that everyone, when they refer to a specific note, would also refer to it's respective frequency. This might be asking too much but it would certainly eliminate any confusion.

By the way Tom, you did a fantastic job on this piece!

John
Very well done. Your love for the piece really comes across in the performance. You do a lot of things very well. I especially like the quality of the sound that you're getting across the register. It's difficult to make a lot of comments based on a video recording as it always changes the sound a bit, but there are 3 things that stick out to me. First is intonation, mostly on the dreaded 6th partial pitches. (Eb, E, and F concert) I noticed that you play a horn without a main tuning slide trigger, so you're going to have to learn to buzz these notes in tune even when the horn doesn't want to. 2nd, take a look at your posture. You are really hunched over from the shoulders up when you play. That's going to create tension and add to your pitch issues. Make sure that you're bringing the horn all the way to you. Don't bring yourself to the horn. 3rd, have you explored adding some vibrato to your playing? With the great sound that you have I think that this would make your performance even better. Hope this helps and keep up the fine playing!

Martin

p.s. I don't know if you ever get the chance to work with Matt Van Emmerik, but if so please tell him I said hello!

**RickF** · 07-27-2015, 03:46 PM

Hi John,

I'm not Martin, but the notes Martin is referring to are the notes at the top of the transposed treble clef staff. Your 'F', 'F#' and 'G'. Yes, I think that's the right freq you listed. To keep from confusing people most folks refer to concert pitch... which is one note lower than transposed treble clef PLUS an octave - or sounds a 9th lower.

Hope this helps.

**adrian_quince** · 07-31-2015, 12:59 AM

Hi Tom,

First off, beautiful job! Echoing Martin, your passion for the piece really comes through. In addition, I love the energy you bring into the louder section.

A couple of thoughts, though:

1. Your repeated notes sound static to me in a few spots because they're the same volume and articulation. As a general rule, I like to make sure I'm either slightly increasing or decreasing the intensity of repeated notes to give shape to the phrase.
2. For clarity's sake, you might want to give just a bit of a break between the dotted eighths and the sixteenths following. (Daah DaDaaa... vs. DaaaaDaDaaa...)

Hope this helps.

Best,

**Fondles97** · 08-01-2015, 08:15 AM

Originally posted by adrian_quince View Post

Hi Tom,

First off, beautiful job! Echoing Martin, your passion for the piece really comes through. In addition, I love the energy you bring into the louder section.

A couple of thoughts, though:

1. Your repeated notes sound static to me in a few spots because they're the same volume and articulation. As a general rule, I like to make sure I'm either slightly increasing or decreasing the intensity of repeated notes to give shape to the phrase.
2. For clarity's sake, you might want to give just a bit of a break between the dotted eighths and the sixteenths following. (Daah DaDaaa... vs. DaaaaDaDaaa...)

Hope this helps.

Best,

Hey thanks heaps! I'll definitely use that first point!
This is such a dumb question but I'm pretty sure a 16th is a quaver right? Sorry haha us Aussies don't have your American swagger in regards to the naming of note values :P

**Mederlock** · 08-01-2015, 05:05 PM

A 1/16th note is a semiquaver, actually, and an 1/8th note is a quaver

**RickF** · 08-01-2015, 08:14 PM

Here's a chart that can help:

British nomenclature of musical note lengths:

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