MacArthur Park January 31, 2010

Chicago Grandstand Big Band at Fitzgerald's

February 1, 2010

Recently, Dr. Mike Stewart and Glen Bengry paid me some great compliments on TPIN. I was touched and wanted to address them here.  

First and foremost, this is a post of sheer gratitude! As Mike said, I got to play with the Grandstand Band last night and I got to play MacArthur Park at the end of the night. I had a long day.  When I got to the Grandstand gig, I had no idea Bill Gillardon (the leader) had gotten his mitts on the original MacArthur Park. I also had no idea it was going to be the last tune. So, I'm grateful I got through it!

I haven't played Mac Park in quite a few years. I used to dread it! Everyone expected so much from me and yet I was so inconsistent I never knew if I could stand up and hold the horn at the end of the tune, much less play the notes. However, a lot of water has passed under the bridge and I've been learning and figuring out so much. I was just looking forward to playing the tune. It was just sheer joy to have at it and get the symbiotic vibe from the audience. What a privilege to get to do this.

My day went something like this: up at 7:00 to clean up the kitchen, fix breakfast for my daughter and me (my son's at college and my wife was out of town on business), practice bass trumpet and flugelhorn and get down to NU for the rehearsal. I left for NU at 10:15 AM. We finished up at 11:30 and then I hung with Charlie Geyer to listen to Don Cagen run the Haydn. Don sounded great, btw!!! Then I loaded my daughter up in the car and we needed over to Northeastern for the small ensemble competition. She plays tenor in the Merit sax quartet. I got another hour of practice while they were getting warmed up. After they performed, I took my daughter out for a late lunch. After we got home, I was feeling a little sleepy, so I slept for an hour before I left for Fitzgerald’s. And so it went…

Reading Glen’s post makes me tired just thinking about it. Truth be told, it is tough. However, it is all a labor of love. As long as I have to have a day gig, I love the one I have. This makes it a lot easier to tough it out. It goes without saying I love playing trumpet, so it is no contest. No matter how out of gas I am when I get home, I’ll bust the horn out and have at it. I do it all incrementally so that I can be a decent husband and father. That gets tough – time management.

So, to quote Jon’s thoughts, ‘life’ does get in the way and offers some huge challenges to my playing. It offers HUGE challenges to my sense of where I fit in with all of this. My personal life goal is to rebuild my music career so that I can do it full time again (no day gig) as soon as I can, for some practical human reasons. However, due to mortgage and college tuition and taxes, I need to have a day gig, so I have the honor of teaching physics to some of the nicest kids I’ve ever know with some of the finest peers in teaching I could possibly have. As exhausting as it is, it is a blessing while I sort things out.  For the time being, I am so grateful to get to do both!

So, getting to more to the angst expressed by Jon. I have lost gigs due to my messing up and inconsistencies in my playing. I have had good days and days when I couldn’t play – COULDN’T PLAY!  There were times I thought I’d never be able to realize the goals I had for my trumpet playing. The responsibilities of parent-hood made it even tougher. I felt pressure from a sense of competition with other trumpeters in the area for a dwindling amount of work. In short, life was busy getting in the way.

Then over a long period of time, the mists started to lift. No matter how bad it got, I kept my quest on trumpet positive. Every snag I hit I would solve by loving my way out of it. This is how I work today. I have completely changed my performance mode of operation.  Where I used to feel a competitive vibe on gigs, now I’m just grateful to be there and having the opportunity to play with such good musicians! In the long run it doesn’t matter if I get any lead or solos. Yes, I have to work at this (old habits die hard) but it has helped me so much! For example, Mike has been most gracious about last night’s big band gig, but from my point of view of the section, I had this set of observations. Mike was just bringing it! Sure he passed me some lead, but he sure didn’t have to! He sounds great. Young Chris Joyce had a substantial number of nice solos as he progresses in this aspect of his playing. John Priola played a spectacular and tasteful opening cadenza on “I Can’t Get Started.” What a privilege to play with this section! Often on the bandstand, I’ll close my eyes, even when I’m not playing. What I am doing is quietly affirming my gratitude for just getting to do all of this.  I am also quietly affirming the positives of each player as well as for me. We’re all in this together.

Music is Sonic Love! We love making it. We love sharing. Audiences love hearing it. When it all comes together, we all have a very positive spiritual experience as a result. I honestly believe the cosmic forces all came together for one of those wonderful moments. When I opened my eyes after the last note of Mac Park, the place erupted. It was wonderful. I have received quite a few emails and FB messages regarding this performance. There was a time when I would have just basked in my own ego. This isn’t true anymore. Now, I was just grateful to a part of ALL of it. We all put this together.

So, when ‘life’ seems to get in the way, I would say this. Life IS the WAY! LOVE the challenges! Love the progress! Love the chance to share what you love. Don’t sweat the down moments save for the chance to learn from them and reduce their frequency. Love your peers. Love your audience. Love your day gig (if you have one). When you are operating in this zone, you will open doors to progress that have been just sitting there waiting for you to step through. This has happened to me (IS happening to me!)and it can happen to you! This is much more than positive thinking. It is a life change. It works.

I often sign off posts with ‘peace.’ I don’t do this offhandedly. I can’t imagine anything more positive to wish for folks than peace.

PEACE!

Nick Drozdoff

“Have Trumpet; Will Travel!”

 

Free Will Payments - "Tip Jar"

December 27, 2009

Folks, I have received many suggestions to do this. I have received many inquiries as to where my "tip jar" is.

The idea is that so many people regularly watch my lesson videos and more and that they'd like to offer somethig to help me keep this all going. I sincerely appreciate that. I most definitely need help keeping this all going.

I have had a tip jar free will offering item for "sale" here for some time now. It is offered up in increments of $1.50. Some folks just send me random amounts via Paypal. The thought here is that not everyone has a lot of money to spend on lessons but want to do something out of gratitude for the sharing of these lessons. I randomly picked $1.50 as the minimum free will offering to help me keep this all going.

To find this, jut go to the Order Music tab above and go to the fourth item down the list.

I am grateful for the opportunity to share my music and my methods. I am also grateful for any amount you can offer up in payment for those services, if you can.

Have a peaceful new year!

Nick Drozdoff

Coming Soon! "How To Practice: A Guide for Advanced Trumpeters"

August 5, 2009

I am writing a trumpet text titled "How To Practice: A Guide for Advanced Trumpeters." As the title implies, this is not a method for beginners. This is a guide book for experienced players. 

I have had many email questions about how I do things. I've been asked how it is I can still keep improving my playing with no platuea in sight. Folks ask me these things as though there is some sort of mysterious answer. They're expecting me to say "I use the force, Luke!"

The answer is actually very simple. It should also be heartening to all who will listen. Here it is! This is the answer to every trumpeters quesion about how to start a modest but continuous upward glide of daily trumpet playing growth with no plateaus ever again. You'll never have a bad day ever again! Here's the secret. Get ready!

I PRACTICE ABOUT THREE HOURS PER DAY!

That is all there is to it. Nothning special.

Well, actually there is a bit more to this. I attribute my current state of growth to HOW I practice, WHAT I practice and even WHEN I practice. In working on some issues with my jazz playing I have hit on a set of routines and a way of thinking that has proven to very beneficial to me.

ANYONE CAN DO THIS! I am NOT special!

This book will be completed in mid August. It will have all of my routines completely outlined. Music for many, though not all, of my exercises will be provided.

I am writing this book for ANY embouchure type. I firmly believe that using these ideas will work with a rolled in set, a pucker set, a TCE set, ANY set.

Please check back here for updates.

The book will only be available in PDF format. You place an order using Paypal and then I simply email it to you as an attachment. It will sell for $37.50.

Stay tuned for more!

Collected MP3 Files - Complete Works For Sale!

June 22, 2009

This is the complete collection of all the mp3’s I’ve made over the past 18 years. These range from the naive to fairly interesting. They all have meaning to me. There are 98 files. Many of these are already on sale at Snocap for which there is a link on the home page here. The package here is for the entire collection – no partial sales. At 69 cents each the price is $67.67. After payment is received they will be shipped to you either via Yousendit.com or Skype, whichever is most convenient for each of us.

Note: The files from my CD, "No Man Is An Island" or the CD, "Intercontinental Drift," are NOT on the list. The 98 files were originally distributed via mp3.com, ampcast.com and mp3unsigned.com. They are not on a CD or on Itunes. They are only available here or at Snocap.

Click on the Order Music tab above.

Here is a complete list of the tunes included:

MP3 Sales List:

110 Blues
1104
A Call to Giving
Ambient Experiment
Arban Characteristic Studies 1 – 11
At The River - My Arrangement
Baroque Fanfare Tune - Anonymous
Been There, Done That
Bowen by Haydn
Breath of Life
Carnival of Venice
Changing Skies – by Peter Drozdoff
Telemann Concerto in four movements
Coro by Handel
Creation by Haydn
Debussy Fanfare for two trumpets
Die Bankelsangerlieder
Dispersing Mists
Drozdoff Suite for Unaccompanied Trumpet in three movements
Duet from Lakme by Debussy
Electronobop
Elegy
Eternal Noon
Falling For You by Peter Drozdoff
Fanfare by Dukas
Fanfare by Reich
Feels Like Love by Peter Drozdoff
Foolproof by Peter Drozdoff
Forest Green (traditional hymn)
Fringing
Getting My Modal Down
Halleluiah Chorus – Handel
Haydn Trumpet Concerto – Mvmt. 3
Hornpipe – Handel
Hydronium
Introspection
Jobbing Blues
Kepler-Brahe
La Grace – Telemann
Lament A
Lazy Afternoon at the Beach
Let’s Get Nuts
Manteca – Gillespie
March by Haydn
Metamorph Letting Off Steam
Michigan Shores Nocturne
More Neutrons Please
More Than a Wish
Muted Ambience
Natashinka
One Minute Wonder 1- 6
On The Steps of the Temple
Outside Inside Out
Party Next Door
Phaeton’s Fall
Phaeton’s Toys
Pivot
Plant Talk by Peter Drozdoff
Rigadoun by Andre Campra
Rondeau by Mouret
Scherzo by Cheetham
Secret Place
Serenity by Ives
Sharagan and Fugue by Hovanhess
Shut the Front Door
Small Voice
Summer Phunky Physics
The Asymmetric Jump
The Call by Ralph Vaughn Williams
The Rejoicing by Handel
Things Not Seen
Toccata by Martini
Untutored Lips
What Are We Doing Here
Whose Life
Yon Form Rows

"A Curious Yellow" Picked as the Best Jazz Piece of 2007 by WAMIA
December 9, 2007

Australian composer, Adrian Kelly, wrote “A Curious Yellow” for his CD, “Intercontinental Drift.” It is composed for string quartet and specifically Nick Drozdoff’s flugelhorn work.

Recently this piece won the Western Australian Music Industry Association Award as the best jazz piece of 2007. This is truly an intercontinental project. The original CD tracks were recorded in Perth and the trumpet parts were recorded in Saratoga, New York. However, Drozdoff recorded his part on Curious Yellow upon returning to Chicago.

You can hear the entire piece by going to the little media player at the top of the page and using the little pull down window to the right side of it to select “Curious Yellow.”