TEM Extra: The Case for One Person Calling the Shots

This latest TEM Extra is all about who is calling the shots in a group or business:

• A 60-second clip from TBJ182 featuring Jeff Curnow of The Philadelphia Orchestra about how the legendary Empire Brass used to be run by two people rather than a democracy and how that was beneficial artistically

• The absolute dumbest question I’ve heard anyone get asked in an interview in my life

• What Jerry Seinfeld credits for the success of Seinfeld

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TEM Coaching Chat: Don't blend in

This week’s TEM Coaching Chat is all about not blending in. I touched on the following:

• A 60-second clip from TBJ182 featuring Jeff Curnow of The Philadelphia Orchestra about his time with the legendary Empire Brass

• How Empire Brass stood out from other brass quintets and chamber ensembles

• The various ways a musician can stand out

Enjoy!

TEM52: Sam Pilafian of Boston Brass on the legacy of Prince, developing your voice on stage and becoming an "overnight success" after 20 years of work (Part 2)

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TEM52: Sam Pilafian of Boston Brass on the legacy of Prince, developing your voice on stage and becoming an "overnight success" after 20 years of work (Part 2)

Here is Part 2 of my incredible conversation with Sam Pilafian of Boston Brass.

Topics Covered:

• Sam's thoughts on the passing of Prince and the hilarious story of when Empire Brass ran into him while waiting for an elevator

• How Prince was able to surround himself with the best musicians in the business

• How preparing to become the first brass quintet to ever win the Naumberg chamber competition helped to shape empire brass

• The importance of developing your voice (either as a group or an individual) on stage

• How winning the 1976 Naumberg Chamber Music Award led to a contract with Columbia Artist Management, which in turn led to some of the members quitting gigs like the Boston Symphony to go all in

• How good the powers that be at Columbia Artist Management were at "creating careers" and how they helped to steer the Empire Brass brand and sound

• The connection that's made with an audience when every member of a chamber group is individually developed and the audience gets to know them

• How some groups become "overnight successes" after 20 years of work

• How great a group plays live after they make a recording

• How valuable having string playing coaches was for the group

• How they modeled their sound after the Borodin Quartet

• How a banjo player he played with over a decade earlier in Your Father's Mustache led to him playing on Pink Floyd's The Wall

• How the Empire Brass Seminar at Tanglewood enabled them to network with the next generation of great brass players

• The importance of developing your own repertoire

• How Empire Brass became so popular in Japan

• How he has found himself in a number of "second careers" like developing The Breathing Gym and producing

• The brand new Boston Brass album, Reminiscing, which was inspired by the late, great Rolf Smedvig

Links:

• Video of Boston Brass after a concert in Okayama, Japan

• Reminiscing by Boston Brass

Favorite Quote:

• "If you work that hard, you can come up with (Pink Floyd's The Wall). That was good math. I needed to see that. No corner-cutting. No gifts. These guys did it uphill the whole freaking way until they were happy with it. And no settling."

• "We used to have a saying that 'every night's Yankees Stadium.' We'd be in Devils Lake, North Dakota having a big fight about how something should release after the concert. That was always a good sign to tell you the truth."

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https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass