The Brass Players Stutter
(2017)
author(s): Nick Prince
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Nicholas Prince
Main Subject: Classical Bass Trombone
Research Supervisor: Pete Saunders
Title of Research: The brass player’s stutter
Research Question:
The brass players stutter, what is it, what are the causes and how can it be alleviated?
Summary of Results:
This paper deals with what is known as the brass player’s stutter, a very common but under researched issue. It occurs as the player inhales a breath to play but cannot exhale and produce the note on demand. The breath is just held in, thus giving a stutter effect. Many well-known professional brass musicians have suffered with these problems at some point in their careers. The author himself is one of the trombonists who has had to deal with this issue. Research was done through a series of interviews with different professional trombonists who have dealt with this problem to get their own opinions on this unusual issue and what they did to alleviate the problems. A questionnaire was also sent to trombone students in The Netherlands to find out if younger students are aware of such issues and if it can be avoided in the future. The results will provide a greater understanding of this problem and how I and others can find a solution to this obscure technical issue.
Biography:
Nick Prince is a Bass Trombonist from the UK. After finishing his Bachelor degree with Roger Argente and Graham Lee at Trinity College of Music London, he moved to the Netherlands to do his master degree with Brandt Attema. His keen interest in orchestral music has led to playing with many orchestras including the RPO and Southbank Sinfonia. He also has a keen interest in brass chamber music, being a founding member of the Gianni Brass ensemble, which still performs numerous concerts per year and takes part in many education projects in the London area.
Divergent voices – Different dialogues in the artistic research project Wikiphonium
(2015)
author(s): Hilde Blix, Geir Davidsen
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
In this exposition we present the outlines of the artistic research project Wikiphonium, and discuss how the Bakhtinian concept of dialogue can function as a theoretical, practical and methodological approach in artistic research projects.
The Wikiphonium project was an investigation into new ways of playing the euphonium and creating new music for the instrument, in close dialogue with various composers and musicians. The work contributed to the expansion of the sonic possibilities, expressions, and repertoire for brass instruments in general. Three interrelated parts together constituted the practice as artistic research: thirteen concerts and performances consisting of new works for euphonium based on experimental collaborations with composers and musicians, experimentation with the instrument's possibilities, and development of different tools enabling these developments, including a wiki with a library of sounds and notations.
The exposition contributes to the general methodological discussion in the field of artistic research, illustrated through examples and experiences from the dialogic approach in the Wikiphonium project. A genuine dialogic attitude in artistic research processes enriches critical reflections embedded in the practice. Documentations of process and results together with the multimedia tool wikiphonium.org constitute a transparent and open communication of artistic practice as research.