Monthly Masterclass Series, Class 14, Articulation Versatility

The next Monthly Masterclass Series, class 14, will be Saturday, February 26th from 11am to 12:30pm EST. The title of the masterclass is "Articulation Versatility." This masterclass is going to be part of a series of classes inspired by What is Improvement?, a class held last month. This masterclass will be for those interested in building variety, versatility and flexibility in articulation. This class will have a lot of playing and many fun exercises to experiment with. So for those that can, PLEASE BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS. If you want to just listen and take notes, of course that is fine too. 😃 A donation of $10 for students and 15-$20 for all others working and out of school is required. If there is a real hardship with this price for some of you, please get in touch with me soon. Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation. -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item. PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is also a place to mark down what you are paying for. Please put Bolter Masterclass in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. Please have your donation in by Friday, February 25th by the end of the evening. If you are late, please send in your donation as soon as possible on Saturday February 26th and email me at normtobe atgmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 by 10:30am EST. If you have not received an email from me by 10:30am EST on 2/26 and have already paid, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. Only those that have sent in the donation will get the Zoom link. Forward the best!

Monthly Masterclass Series, class 13 "What is Improvement?"

Hi All! This is a reminder about the Monthly Masterclass Series, class 13, called "What is Improvement?" this Saturday 1/29/22 from 11am-12:30pm EST. Improvement is one of those words that can seem to have an obvious meaning. When you look at it from different angles, we can see where the general associated meaning might actually be inhibiting improvement. What do we want to prove in our improvement? So for those interested in this, try to come up with other words that come to you if you had to describe improvement. Try doing that for the next few days if you can because it will help tune you into the masterclass. :-) Does improvement come with it's own cost?? Hmmmm.... Hint: it's not what you do, it's the reasons why you do it that determine its value. A donation of $10 for students and 15-$20 for all others working and out of school is required. If there is a real hardship with this price for some of you, please get in touch with me soon. Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation. -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item. PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is a place to also mark down what you are paying for. Please put Bolter Masterclass in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. Please have your donation in by Friday, January 28th by the end of the evening. If you are late, please send in your donation as soon as possible on Saturday January 29th and email me at normtobeat at gmail dot com or text me at 617-759-1620 by 10:30am EST. If you have not received an email from me by 10:30am EST on 1/29 and have already paid, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. Only those that have sent in the donation will get the Zoom link. Forward the best and see you soon! Norman Mr. Bolter etc.

Monthly Masterclass Series, Class 12, "Ask Norman" 12/18/21

The next Monthly Masterclass Series, class 12, will be this Saturday, December 18th from 11am to 12:30pm EST. The title of the masterclass is "Ask Norman." This is a chance for everyone to ask me any question your mind. It might be about a particular playing issue you are confronting, a pedagogical question, 3 dimensional sound, musical connection, section playing, you name it! If there have been things you have been working on that I've mentioned and you would like some insight or more clarity on it please ask. The space is open for questions and we can see where that takes us! Sorry for the late notice, but after looking more carefully on the calendar, this is the only Saturday that would really even have a chance of some people participating. The Saturday after is Christmas and the one after is New Year's Day, so maybe not! :-) A donation of $10 for students and 15-$20 for all others working and out of school is required. If there is a real hardship with this price for some of you, please get in touch with me soon. Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation. -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item. PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is a place to also mark down what you are paying for. Please put Bolter Masterclass in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. Please have your donation in by Friday, December 17th by the end of the evening. If you are late, please send in your donation as soon as possible on Saturday December 18th and email me at normtobe at gmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 by 10:30am EST. If you have not received an email from me by 10:30am EST on 12/18 and have already paid, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. Only those that have sent in the donation will get the Zoom link. To your well being! Norman Mr. Bolter etc.

Companion notes to video 3, More of What is Music from the series Integrating Technique and Music Making

I hope by now you can see rhythm, pitch and timbre is everwhere! But just leaving that as a fact in the drawer of our minds will never unlock the essence and experince of this truth. To keep it engaged with interest will lead on a journey through a greater understanding of music but also life itself. Try keeping a notebook. At least, find it throughout the day by simple observations. This will deepen your music making because you will be getting more intimate with the trio of music's existence as it appears in our part of creation. Have you been finding the 'RPT' of your attitude in various parts of life??? This work into RPT GOES EVERYWERE! They are shoes that will never wear out! P.S. Beware of the ROBE OF DOOM! :-)

Monthly Masterclass Series, class 11, Odd and Curious Techniques for Brass Players 11/27/21

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving for all those who celebrate this day. I'm grateful for the opportunity to offer some of my life's work to those who are interested. Thank you to all! Technology is born out of need and this masterclass on Odd and Curious Techniques for Brass Players will hopefully offer some techniques and technologies which you may have not encountered. Some of what we will look into (PLEASE BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS AND A VERY OPEN MIND), will be some techniques and technologies on: 1. breathing in specific rhythmic sequences and more 2. mouthpiece playing (you haven't done this before!) 3. Tone - embouchure conditioners 4. work with colors and anatomy 5. Posture (not your usual!) 6. energy work (some new brain coordination movements) 7. Playing with symbols Lots of experimenting the entire time of the masterclass. Don't worry, everyone will be on mute so you can feel totally free so PLEASE BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS 😃 If time runs out we will have a continuation of this class at another time. The Monthly Masterclass Series, class 11, Odd and Curious for Brass Players, will be this Saturday, November 27th from 11am to 12:30pm EST. A holiday donation discount will be $5 for students and $10 for all others working and out of school is required. If there is a real hardship with this price for some of you, please get in touch with me soon. Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. There is a place to mark down what you are paying for. Please put Bolter Masterclass in that area.Thank you in advance. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. Please have your donation in by Friday, November 26th by the end of the evening. If you are late, please send in your donation as soon as possible on Saturday November 27th and email me at normtobe@gmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 by 10:30am EST. If you have not received an email from me by 10:30am EST 10/30, and have already paid, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. Only those that have sent in the donation will get the Zoom link. Hope to see some of you this Saturday 11/27/21 for an odd and curious time together! To your well being!

Companion Notes to Video 2, "What is Music" from Integrating Technique and Music Making

It is very easy to get stuck in our default habit life and it takes some motivation to get us to look at things fresh. One way to help that process along is being a ‘detective’ looking for clues and evidence. On the video, as I’ve said many times before, rhythm, pitch and timbre, RPT, is the three limbed body of music’s appearance here in the physical worlds. The contemplation here is doing some detective work and seeing (hearing), where they appear in various aspects of our lives, inside and outside of ourselves. This is one of the gateways to connect to music as a living thing. Here is a simple outline to assist you on your journey: 1. get a notebook and divide it into three sections or get three small notebooks- one for rhythm, one for pitch and one for timbre. 2. every day for a week, jot down where you hear rhythm, pitch and timbre. You can for example follow rhythm for a day, pitch on another day and timbre for another day. This can keep you very tuned to each one with singularity and focus. You can also find other ways to do it. 3. At the end of each day, you can see what you have come up with. 4. You might find that you resonate more with one of these three than the other two. That is fine. That will help you learn more about you. From knowing that one more fully, the others might start to come into more clearly. 5. Get into the spirit of being a detective! You will be amazed at what you discover outside yourself and inside yourself. Your attitude and interest are key. Collect evidence, don’t judge it.

Companion notes to video 1 of Integrating Technique and Music Making

Oftentimes I hear brass players talking about improving their fundamentals. This usually means getting more control over evenness of sound and articulation, greater accuracy percision, improved range etc. This of course is a vital ingredient to the development of skill and dependability which also increases confidence in the player mentally. If the approach to working on the basics gets increasingly stiff and sterile, this can develop in creating a division between technique and music making. Part of my goal in this video series is to take some of the worry and anxiety out of working on the basics by integrating musical shapes and feeling into them. This was done by using the example of blowing out birthday candles as opposed to blowing bubbles since each of them requires a different use of the air. From this example, it tells you there is a technique for each one of those activities. Now, when we have an interest in something (interest anagrams to enters it), we are naturally drawn to be with that something. We actually want to work with that something, find out more about that something, play with that something. With this need of wanting to be with this something, we discover more about it. We start to enter(enters it), the very life of that something. Children do this all the time when they are playing with toys they really love. Sometimes, (I know this well!), it can get pretty frustrating when it seems to be more difficult to be with that something than other times when we can’t get the results we are going for. Some people give up at that point, others get more determined even in the midst of their frustration. It all depends on the potency of the cause that drives you. I always loved to work on the fundamentals. I found it grounding and when done with care, it made my playing feel much better. I didn’t mind working on them for hours, really trying to go after what I could feel and hear in my mind and heart and then have it make its way through the horn. Isn’t it a marvelous feeling when this happens?! This video, which was inspired by the interest of Don Lukas (thanks Don for your support!), gives very simple ways to encourage the integration process of technique and music making by using mental and emotional connections to help energize the concepts you want to materialize into a living reality through your horn. The practice room is your sanctuary and laboratory to experiment and find your living science with your instrument. What a wonderful opportunity! The next video in this series “What is Music and What is Music Making?” will shed more light on the relationship between music and technique, helping to see that they are actually part of the same family. Here is the link to to the video on YouTube: http://frequencybone.blogspot.com/2021/11/companion-notes-to-video-1-of.html