Renowned trombonist teaches, performs at USU
“He’s one of the best in the world,” said music professor Todd Fallis. “Top five, easy.”
And he was in Logan for a five-day residency to teach, perform, critique and dazzle trombone students and others with 42 years of musical experience under his belt.
Mark H. Lawrence, principal trombonist for the San Francisco Symphony, has recorded CDs and performed in some of the world’s finest venues.
Friday night, he belted out the modern classic “Arrows of Time” by Richard Peaslee and the old Tommy Dorsey favorite “Trombonology,” among others. About 100 spectators experienced the 90-minute performance, and most of them were students who were there on assignments from classes like “art symposium.”
Jennifer Hughes has the USU 1330 class. She said she probably wouldn’t go to the recital otherwise.
“It’s kind of cool,” said Hughes, a senior in elementary education. “It’s stuff that you would never think about going to.”
The trombone students were more excited about Lawrence’s stay. Thirteen music or music education students are specializing in trombone. Two of those actually play the euphonium.
Saturday night Lawrence conducted a special “master class” for students willing to play a song for him and then subject themselves to professional critique. Seven students were chosen by trombone teacher Todd Fallis; he also chose the pieces they played.
“He taught all the [trombone] students private lessons over the last three days,” Fallis said.
The master class is set up differently. The students played in front of not just Lawrence, but all their peers and any members of the public who wanted to come. Then Lawrence would analyze their technique, rhythm, presence, and other aspects of their performance, often asking them to repeat certain parts in particular ways.
“Let’s just talk a minute about stage presence,” Lawrence said to Roger Karren after his frantic rendition of the first movement of “Arrows of Time.”
Karren is a senior pursuing a second degree in music after already receiving his bachelor’s in computer science.
Lawrence launched into a speech about the importance of composure and appearance on stage, noting that body language tells the audience as much as music does. He even mentioned Karren’s page-turning style.
“You look like you were going through a New York City phonebook up there,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence’s criticism was humorous at times, and always constructive.
“All notes are not equal in importance,” Lawrence said. “I compare [music] to
speaking.
“We put words to music to get an idea of what the inflection might be,” Lawrence said.
His criticism was that Emily Nalder, a junior in music education, was treating all the notes the same. Lawrence compared her playing to a teacher speaking in monotone.
Employing analogies to get the students to put more feeling and air into their playing, he told her to pretend like she was blowing up an air mattress. He also asked her to inhale as if she had to swim 25 yards on one breath.
Lawrence certainly has much practice exercising his lungs, having “got the gig [at San Francisco Symphony] when he was 24 years old,” Fallis said.
With the experience of a veteran musician, Lawrence changed from the whisper mute to the straight mute to the cup mute calmly and quickly.
Lawrence actually only played two genuine solos. The other pieces were accompanied by San Francisco Conservatory pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi, a Japanese native who started playing piano at age 10.
The classically trained Nakagoshi accompanied Lawrence on most of the songs, including Jacques Casterede’s “Sonatine for Trombone and Piano.”
“That’s the hardest piece I ever played,” Nakagoshi said.
Lawrence didn’t single out any of the songs he played as difficult, but he said he really enjoyed “Arrows of Time.”
Although the trombone was invented in the 1400s, all the pieces Lawrence performed were written in the 20th century.
Lawrence explained: “Most [trombone] solo pieces were written after 1900.”
The students enjoyed his musical wisdom and insights as much as his performance.
“Usually, when you play in public it’s never quite as good as you’d like it to be and it’s never as bad as you imagine,” Lawrence said.
Many of the trombonists said they looked forward to lessons from an expert. Some students were more excited than nervous.
“I’ve been to two other master classes and it’s just exciting because they are major names that you hear on CD’s,” said Katie Fulford, a freshman majoring in music, emphasizing in trombone performance.
Lawrence has released 13 solo and ensemble CD’s, and more than 30 with the San Francisco Symphony.
-marklaroc@cc.usu.edu