Legacy Series Videos
The Performer (28:30)
With a career spanning seven decades with the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphonies, Arnold Jacobs has earned a reputation as a world-class performer. The Performer explores Arnold Jacobs’ legendary performing career with rare photos, video recordings and some of his finest music recordings including:
Videos: Early Days; Curtis Audition; Fritz Reiner Studio Interview; Chicago Brass Sound; Fritz Reiner / Georg Solti Studio Interview.
Music Recodings: Monti: Czardas, Arnold Jacobs Solo; Wagner: Ride of the Valkyrie, Pittsburgh Symphony; Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Chicago Symphony, Fritz Reiner; Moussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition (Promanade / Bydlo) , Chicago Symphony, Raphael Kubelik; Hindemith: Concert Music for Strings and Brass, Chicago Symphony, Paul Hindemith (Video); Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Chicago Symphony, Fritz Reiner; Berlioz: Rakoczy March, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Trombone and Tuba Sections; Bruckner: Symphony No. 7, Chicago Symphony, Georg Solti; Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet, Chicago Symphony, Georg Solti (Video); Wagner: Die Miestersinger, Chicago Symphony, Georg Solti (Video); Mousorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Great Gate of Kiev), Chicago Symphony, Georg Solti; Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto, Chicago Symphony, Henry Mazur; Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1, Gunnison Music Camp.
The Teacher (26:44)
Arnold Jacobs was a world class performer. Equally significant are his teachings. Nearly every brass player in America has studied with Arnold Jacobs, whether [that player] knows it or not.
Videos:
Students: Working with People; Communicating with Students; Differences in Students; Making Statements; Beginning Students; Elementary Artist; Greatest Teaching Problem
Procedures: Scales; Phrasing for Beginners; Creating Phrases; Solfege; Intonation; Vibrato
Practice: Don’t Practice Mediocrity; Practice Programs; Make Bad Notes into Good Ones; Creating Phrases
Influence on Musicians: Influence on the Profession; Generations
Breathing – Physiology (25:13)
Arnold Jacobs was the pioneer of modern-day knowledge of respiration in relation to wind instruments. His research began as a hobby and was conducted through thousands of hours of independent research. He had no intention of using these studies in his teachings but if he saw phenomena existing in an individual in the way he uses his musculature, he would work with him as a therapist.
Videos: Most Common Teaching Problem; Physiology as a Hobby; ‘Old School’ Respiratory Concepts; Physiology of the Respiratory System; Posture; Bellows; Play from the Diaphragm; The Diaphragm; Breathe to Expand; Breathe to Expand, Don’t Expand to Breathe; Think of Dolly Parton; Muscle Antagonists; Minimal Motors; Problems with the ‘Old School’ Method; Breaking Rules; Importance of Breath.
Breathing – Air Flow/Pressure (17:16)
Many students came to Mr. Jacobs with problems differentiating between Air Fow and Air Pressure. Because of this Mr. Jacobs studied this including bringing colleagues from the CSO for testing. The results were amazing!
Videos: Phenomena of Wind; Air Pressure/Air Volume; Air Like a Fountain; Billings Hospital Tests; Length, Thickness and Tension; High Flow Rate Instruments; Static Pressure; Valsalva; Gizella Standing on Pat Sheridan.
Breathing – Shallow Breathing (20:01)
Jacobs has never had a large lung capacity. Contrary to legend, he has two lungs but with diminished capacity. Early in his career he had a capacity of nearly five liters but after cancer surgery in the 1980s, his capacity diminished to approximately 2.75 liters. With time he was able to get it back to 3.8 to 4.4 liters—his normal capacity during the latter part of his career. For wind players with small lung capacities, Jacobs is an inspiration. During his tenure with the Chicago Symphony, his capacity at its best was only four to five liters and he played the tuba—an instrument that requires large volumes of air to play! The most obvious question is, “How does Jacobs do it?”
Videos: Mr. Jacobs’ Capacity; Shallow Breathing; Body Typing and Vital Capacity; Women; Aging Process; Yawn; Breathing Through the Nose; Slow vs. Fast Breath; Boyle’s Law; Relaxation Pressure Curve; Waste Air, It Costs Nothing.
Breathing – Breathing Devices (23:30)
Mr. Jacobs was famous for using breathing devices. He discovered that working away from the instrument a student could learn correct breathing skills quickly then reapply them to the instrument.
Videos: Breathing Devices; Away from the Instrument; Voldyne; Inspiron; Inspiron with Mouthpiece; Breath Builder; Air Bags; Why Use Them; Mr. Jacobs Works with a Student.
Breathing Exercises (17:51)
Breathing Exercises were one of the most popular parts of a Jacobs Masterclass, These are physical skills that should be learned away from the instrument. Remember when doing these exercises, take breaks when feeling dizzy to avoid hyperventilation. While pausing, reflect and evaluate how much air is in the lungs and how much of the unused air capacity is left in the lungs. For visual reinforcement, do these exercises in front of a mirror. As skills develop, sustained notes on the instrument can be played.
We present these videos twice and give an opportunity to pause the video and work on this at your own pace.
The Tongue (26:03)
Next to problems with respiration, the most common problems with which students come to Jacobs are those concerning the tongue. The tongue is an unruly organ and has nothing to do with vibration, but can easily get into the air stream and negatively affect the tone’s production.
Videos: Use of the Tongue; Cause and Effects of Problems with the Tongue; Nuiscence Value of the Tongue; Use of Speech; Vowels; Raising and Lowering the Tongue; Languages; Relationship Between Vowels and Consonants; Staccato Notes; Double and Triple Tonguing; Bernoulli Principle; Pressure Behind the Tongue; Play to the Lips, not the Tongue; Cause and Effect.
The Embouchure (33:41)
“The most common problems I have seen over the last sixty-odd years I have been teaching are with the tongue and the diaphragm. Surprisingly enough, I rarely find problems with the embouchure. That might sound strange because people come to see me because of problems with their embouchure, but frequently it is the embouchure reacting to a bad set of circumstances and failing—it is simply cause and effect. If we change the cause of the factor, it is easy to clear up the embouchure. The embouchure is not breaking down, it is trying to work under impossible conditions.”
Videos: Teaching Problems; Control of the Embouchure; Cranial Nerves; Fuel for Vibration; Vibration of the Embouchure; Blow Without Vibration; Isolation of the Lip; Length, Thickness and Tension; Length of the Embouchure; Buzzing on the Mouthpiece; Buzzing Without the Rim; Buzzing with Rim vs. Mouthpiece; Buzzing Using Decibel Meter; Sound of the Buzz; Double Buzz; Strengthening Embouchure Musculature;
Mouthpiece Pressure Against the Lips; Finding the Spot; Feel of the Embouchure; Changing the Position of the Embouchure; Mr. Jacobs’ Embouchure; Changing the Embouchure’s Placement.
SONG and wind (35:49)
While Jacobs’ reputation is for his studies related to the physical aspects of playing an instrument, his thoughts on the mental elements of music are equally important. When we combine Song and Wind, the musical message, song, is the principal element comprising 85 percent of the consciousness. The remaining 15 percent is the application of the breath, wind, to fuel the vibration of the lips.
Videos: Basis of Teaching; Product not Methodology; Roger Bobo – Waterslosh; Paralysis by Analysis; Tell the Truth to the Body; Philip Farkas – Shut your Eys, Turn off Your Brain and Blow the Damn Thing; Bad Habits; Simplicity; Shades of Grey; From Crudities Come Skills; Don’t Play Weaknesses; Imitation; Play it Like Bud; Work Away from the Instrument; Just Press Valves???; Vincent Cichowicz – Musical Imagery; Horn in the Hand, Horn in the Head; Mistakes; Starting Note; Song and Wind; X Player; Results; Horn has No Brains; Study of Music; Be an Artist; Sing the Part.