INTRODUCTION

Brass Intensive is designed to serve brass programs at institutions of higher learning seeking to enhance:
• Recruitment of high school students
• Educational enhancement for current students

Brass Intensive is modeled on the acclaimed ABQ International Brass Quintet Seminar, founded in 1993 and presented over the years by the Boston Conservatory, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and currently at Boston College.

Brass Intensive is a two-day program that brings the Atlantic Brass Quintet to a college, university, or conservatory campus. Over the course of the visit, ABQ teams up with the brass faculty in concentrated coaching and workshop sessions designed to reach out to area and regional high school students as an institutional recruitment tool, or as an educational adjunct for students already enrolled in your program. Each Brass Intensive includes a public performance by the Atlantic Brass Quintet, which may incorporate the participation of members of the brass faculty.

Students who participate in a Brass Intensive will develop one-on-one relationships with the Atlantic Brass Quintet and faculty artists, along the way gaining insight into the world of professional music and learning how to develop and maintain a chamber music ensemble.

Brass Intensive seminars feature:
• Informal playing presentation by the Atlantic Brass Quintet
• Student ensemble coachings and “Plug-ins” with ABQ and faculty artists
• Student ensemble performance class
• Instrumental clinics
• Discussion Group: “The Performing Musician Today”
• Atlantic Brass Quintet in concert

SEMINAR COMPONENTS

1. Student Ensembles
The Brass Intensives program is structured to assist young brass players of the high school and college age. Host institutions and their faculty artists are encouraged to assemble students from either or both arenas, especially for use as a recruiting tool. Although the brass quintet medium is the heart of brass chamber music, other brass chamber ensembles may also be assembled according to ability and availability. Pre-formed groups are of course welcome.

While flexible, the ideal number of student ensembles will equal the sum of the members of the Atlantic Brass Quintet plus the number of participating faculty from the institution. Thus, if the brass faculty includes six members who will participate in coaching, there should be eleven student ensembles. This structure ensures that each student ensemble will receive at least one coaching from a member of the Atlantic Brass Quintet and a member of the Music Department brass faculty.

Participating institutions should ensure that ensembles have been assembled prior to arrival of the Atlantic Brass Quintet to receive guidance in rehearsing their selected repertoire. Repertoire for student ensembles is open to all works written, arranged, or adapted for brass chamber music ensembles, pending approval by the Atlantic Brass Quintet and faculty artists.

2. Coaching Sessions & “Plug-ins”
Each coaching is a 2-hour session under the guidance of a member of the Atlantic Brass Quintet or a faculty artist of the host institution. Emphasis is placed on musicality, working as a team, chamber music sensibility, rhythmic and stylistic accuracy, stage presence, and overall musicianship. Every student ensemble takes in “Plug-ins,” in which members of the Atlantic Brass Quintet perform in place of and along with the student participants.

3. Student Ensemble Performance Class
Recital-style performances by each student ensemble for the Atlantic Brass Quintet, brass faculty, and other student participants. The Atlantic Brass Quintet and faculty take notes during the performances and offer spoken comments following each performance. Each performance is recorded on videotape and all of the ensembles receive written commentary from the Atlantic Brass Quintet members and faculty, as well as the videotape of their performance.

4. “The Performing Musician Today”
A discussion group and question and answer session with the members of the Atlantic Brass Quintet and faculty. Topics cover a full scope of the career possibilities of a professional musician, and advice on ways to reach goals. Specific topics will include:
• How to develop and maintain a chamber music ensemble
• Chamber music repertoire
• The business of music

5. Instrumental Clinics
Students participate in sessions with individual members of the Atlantic Brass Quintet. These clinics involve discussion about topics including instrument technique, literature, history, mechanics. These sessions may include individual student performance in master class format as well.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE