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SPRING 2017 THE TROMBONIST<br />
BASS<br />
BONE<br />
FILES<br />
BY<br />
ROGER<br />
ARGENTE<br />
Thank you Justin Clarke, for taking<br />
the time to tell the BTS about<br />
yourself and your life as a musician.<br />
BACKGROUND?<br />
I’ve been playing in the Bern Symphony Orchestra<br />
(Switzerland) for 10 years now. I grew up in the USA’s<br />
smallest state, Rhode Island. My father and brothers<br />
played the trombone and naturally I wanted to play it<br />
too and I was lucky to have a good school band director<br />
and opportunities to play. I didn’t play in an orchestra<br />
until I was 17 or 18, and developed my playing in local<br />
big bands, rock bands, and even had a gig in a ska band.<br />
I had a strong interest in music but I didn’t believe I had<br />
what it took to become a professional, so when I went to<br />
Syracuse University in NY state I took a music business<br />
degree (management, sound engineering, marketing,<br />
copyright law, and so on). Throughout, I was lucky to<br />
have lessons with Bill Harris, principal trombonist of<br />
the city’s Symphony Orchestra and I switched to bass<br />
trombone under his advice. My playing developed a<br />
lot with him and I gained the confidence to audition for<br />
some of the more prestigious American music schools.<br />
That’s what led me to study with Dave Taylor at<br />
Manhattan School of Music and then Don Harwood at<br />
the Juilliard School.<br />
HOW DID YOU COME TO JOIN YOUR ORCHESTRA?<br />
In 2006, Dave Taylor sent me as a sub for gig he<br />
couldn’t make at the Gstaad Festival. There I met a few<br />
local musicians who encouraged me to take an audition<br />
in the Bern Symphony Orchestra. I flew over later that<br />
year and have been living and working here in the Swiss<br />
capital ever since.<br />
STAND OUT MOMENTS?<br />
Festival Orchestra. They do numerous international<br />
tours and highlights include a particularly moving tour<br />
and recording project of Mahler’s 9th Symphony; also<br />
singing four-part Brahms and Mendelssohn for my<br />
family in New York. Another performance I will always<br />
remember is Claudio Abbado’s memorial concert with<br />
the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, under Andris Nelsons.<br />
We played Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony without<br />
Justin Clarke<br />
conductor, Berg’s Violin Concerto, one of<br />
my favorite pieces, and the finale of Mahler’s 3rd<br />
Symphony. The silence in the hall after we finished was<br />
absolutely gripping. I also got to sit next to Rheinhold<br />
Friedrich and Ian Bousfield, they’re not too bad(!)<br />
A NORMAL WEEK?<br />
It’s always different, that’s why I love my job. If I’m<br />
in Bern we typically have a few symphony projects a<br />
month at the same time as a few operas in the theatre.<br />
I try to see my students typically once a week at the<br />
Geneva Conservatory, so I’m often on the train.<br />
If I’m with the Budapest Festival Orchestra I could be<br />
anywhere, but I try to use the travelling to meet people<br />
and to get to know the nooks and crannies of whatever<br />
city we’re in.<br />
DOUBLING?<br />
The only valve playing I do is on a helicon, which<br />
is a bit like a sousaphone, and I sometimes play it<br />
with a Balkan brass band. That doesn’t involve much<br />
finger work, it’s more blasting out I-V changes. I do<br />
play contra and a little bit of tenor now and then, but<br />
not as much as others. However, I do a fair bit of<br />
sackbut playing and I’ve performed with a lot of period<br />
instrument groups, including the Freiburg Barock<br />
Orchester. There is a rich historical music scene in Basel<br />
and I studied with Charles Toet at the Schola Cantorum<br />
Basiliensis. The instruments are smaller and finer, and<br />
make a beautiful sound, but there’s not much room<br />
for error. I have always to make sure I’m putting the<br />
appropriate amount of air through the horn.<br />
TEACHING?<br />
I have been teaching at the Geneva Conservatory (Haute<br />
Ecole du Musique) since 2013. I’m lucky to be teaching<br />
alongside the tenor trombone class of Andrea Bandini,<br />
so there is a lot of young talent that comes through.<br />
The wonderful thing about teaching is that everyone<br />
is different and you have to find what works for every<br />
individual. The goal is to play the instrument beautifully<br />
and make music. It’s a challenge and it forces me to<br />
stay flexible. I have the feeling I learn as much from my<br />
students as they learn from me, so in the end we’re both<br />
better.<br />
The Bass Bone Files : TOP SECRET<br />
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