Colin Oldberg: Principal Trumpet, Hong Kong Phil.

I have the confidence I’ll eventually get it. It’s something I really had to work on, and still do.
~Colin Oldberg

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Some of the best musicians in the world spoke with me long and deeply about music practice, including Colin. That information and much more are in my next book, The Practice of Practice. A Kickstarter campaign is LIVE for The Practice of Practice until April 11, 2014. Learn more about the book, and how it’s different from any other practice book, get the best deal, and help bring the book into the world. It’ll be fun. I promise. Watch the short video.

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Interview: Colin Oldberg, Principal Trumpet, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Colin Oldberg is an excellent player who has played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and earned a spot on the first YouTube Orchestra and has played Carnegie hall twice. He’s also part of a fantastic brass quintet, Axiom Brass. There’s a link to the full length mp3 of the excerpt from the beginning of the show.

The Axiom Brass Quintet is: Colin Oldberg, trumpet; Dorival Puccini, Jr., trumpet; Matthew Oliphant, horn; Kevin Harrison, tuba; Brett Johnson, trombone.

here’s the mp3 of Wapango, one third of Pacquito D’Rivera’s Three Pieces for Brass Quintet, courtesy of Axiom Brass Quintet.

CSO principal Chris Martin said Axiom Brass has …beauty and fullness of tone, precise intonation, virtuosic technique, expressive dynamic range, and stylistic flexibility. Axiom commands a repertoire ranging from Early Music and Renaissance to the most challenging contemporary compositions of today not to mention a fluency in the jazz idiom that puts most ensembles to shame. I have been consistently moved by their interpretations and inspired by their expressive maturity. …It is rare to find an ensemble possessing such artistic qualities also so devoted to education and outreach in its community, but this quintet is such an ensemble. They have performed over 100 educational concerts throughout the Chicago area as well as a summer brass seminar. Education is not just a side project for these men; it is one of their driving forces and a cornerstone of their mission.

Go check out Axiom on YouTube: excerpts of Carmen With Salsa is a good one.
Here they perform the D’Riveria movement Wapango and Puccini explains part of Axiom’s educational mission and community engagement.

You can buy Axiom’s recordings here.

Thanks, guys!

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:

Books:

Warm-ups and Studies, by James Stamp
Flow Studies, by Vince Cichowicz (difficult to find, but try here, andhere). What you really-really-really should do is find someone who learned from Mr. Cichowicz and take lessons with him or her until you understand and can play the concepts. A book is a dead thing and little feedback. Find a live teacher.
Musical Calisthenics for Brass, by Carmine Caruso
Daily Fundamentals by Michael Sachs
100 Studies by Ernst Sachse
Characteristic Studies for the Cornet by Herbert L. Clarke
Haydn Concerto for Trumpet (sheet music (Bb version), recordings)
My review of Outliers
My review of Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner
Complete Conservatory Method by J.B. Arban (excellent article on himhere)

People

Yikes. I both misattributed and misquoted violinist Jascha Heifetz, whose words were: If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.
Professors Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer teach classical trumpet atNorthwestern University and play trumpet internationally.
Chris Martin, principal trumpet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (interview in TimeOut Chicago)

The Usual Resources:

Education is more important than Capitalism: I’ve given away well over 1 million free music book PDFs worldwide. Get your own free digital copy of