Five Things Friday: Format and News

We are very happy here at Brass Chicks to be celebrating 6 weeks of  Five Things Fridays! We have had six different Five Things Friday posts so far that have been helpful, eye-opening, and inspiring. Thank you so much to our guest Brass Chick bloggers and our readers! We cannot wait to see what comes next 🙂

Submissions are coming in fast but we do still have openings for mid October thru the rest of the year. Please  do not hesitate to reach out to us at brasschicksblog@gmail.com or on our Facebook page if you would like to write a post for the future!

New to Brass Chicks or still unsure exactly what a Five Things Friday post entails?

Five Things Friday is a weekly series where the writer states 5 things that are important, interesting, or helpful to her. These can be 5 things learned, 5 things you love, 5 examples of xyz, or anything else that gets you excited! We love this format because it allows ANYONE to write a post regardless of experience level or background. Examples include: 5 favorite trumpet players, 5 recordings that changed your life, 5 things you learned in your time at school– the possibilities are endless.

In terms of format – we don’t have a length limit set for each of the Five Things but please check out previous posts for an idea. If you are interested in writing a post, reach out to us with a Friday in mind, and then your post will be due to us the Monday beforehand. We will also post your photo, a bio under 250 words, and any links you may want to share.
We hope to hear from you soon and thanks for being a part of the Brass Chicks community!

Looking Back: Album Releases From This Summer

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As Summer 2017 draws to an end, we look back on a prolific four months of album releases featuring female brass musicians. With music including classical, jazz, and mariachi, this summer’s albums have something to offer for everyone.

NB: If you or a friend released an album this summer and we missed it, let us know in the comments! Continue reading

Five Favorite Practice Strategies – Melissa Hagstedt 8/25

Super excited to share another great productive and helpful Friday post – this one from trombonist Melissa Hagstedt.

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Melissa is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts High School,  and is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Music Performance at New York University. While at UNCSA she studied with John Ilika. At UNCSA she performed frequently with the Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Band, Trombone Choir and Wind Ensemble. Prior to her time at UNCSA, she was a member of the 2013 National Association for Music Education’s All Nation Concert Band. Currently she is studying with Dr. Per Brevig and plays in various ensembles throughout the NYC area such as the NYU Symphony Orchestra, NYU Brass Choir, and the NYU Brass Trio. She has had experience as a pit orchestra musician in the productions Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Giovanni, Ballad of a Baby Doe and Pirates of Penzance with both the Blue Hill Troupe, Utopia Opera Company and Vocal Productions NYC.

Thanks, Melissa, for sharing your practice strategies with the Brass Chicks community!

Here are my five favorite practice strategies. Each of these practice strategies have been personal breakthroughs which I feel have helped me make great strides in becoming a better player. I hope that you will try some of these out to see if they work for you!

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Introducing Genghis Barbie!

We are so excited to present our first guest of August: Genghis Barbie! Genghis Barbie has changed the game for chamber music ensembles, inspiring countless younger musicians with their character, musicality, and unrepentant sense of fun. It was an honor to feature them in an interview. We heard from each Barbie and cannot wait to share their amazing responses with you later this week!

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GENGHIS BARBIE, the leading post post-feminist feminist all-female horn experience, is the most innovative and energizing chamber ensemble of its generation and beyond. With a combined 24 years of conservatory training, Genghis Barbie delivers to you a visceral and unadulterated musical adventure. Performing arrangements of pop music from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s and today, contemporary commissions, and classical works, they are the most versatile and expansive group on NYC’s classical/pop/rock/jazz/indie/alternative/punk/electro-acoustic scene. Genghis Barbie was incepted in a unique moment of ingenuity when Freedom Barbie, Cosmic Barbie, Velvet Barbie, and Attila the Horn converged and vowed to create distinctive, interactive and personal performances. In addition to their busy New York City performing schedule, the ladies of Genghis Barbie have performed as Contributing Artists at the 2011 International Horn Society Symposium in San Francisco, played Schumann’s Konzertstück with the Southern Methodist University Wind Ensemble, and appeared on America’s Got Talent. In May 2012, Genghis Barbie made their Carnegie Hall debut in the premiere of a new concerto for four horns, commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony. As educators, they have toured numerous universities presenting workshops, masterclasses, and lectures on musical entrepreneurship. They have released four studio albums: the self-titled debut album, the holiday album “Genghis Barbie: Home for the Holidays,” “Genghis Baby: Songs for Noa,” and the newly released “Amp it Up!” Genghis Barbie aspires to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres show within one calendar year.

– from genghisbarbie.com

 

Five Tips for a Productive Practice Session! – Kate Amrine 8/4

Since we are still gathering Five Things Friday posts from guests (please reach out to us if you want to be involved!!) I will be writing the post for today 🙂

Here are my five tips for a productive practice session! And the best part? These are all things you can do away from your instrument 🙂 I have done my fair share of traveling, touring, and various things where getting physical time on the instrument can be difficult. Maybe you are tired from a string of gigs or a summer festival but know you still have material you need to work on. Some of these things you can do instead of a practice session or can take place before and during a session. See what works for YOU! So here we go:

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We want YOU to join the Brass Chicks community!

We have received some great feedback from our readers and we are so excited to gear up for another month of Brass Chicks interviews. Since we are still putting everything together, we can’t announce the theme for this month just yet but please stay tuned 🙂 Brass Chicks is now on Facebook so please follow/like us and invite your friends to check out the page!

We are opening our arms and blog for YOU to be a featured writer for our Five Things Friday series. As you can see from our first two Fridays – the possibilities are endless for you to write about- anything from 5 things I learned last summer at an orchestra festival to 5 recordings that changed my life as a trumpet player. We would love to hear from our female-identifying friends in the Brass Chicks Community. If you are interested in writing a post or getting involved in any way, then please reach out to us at

brasschicksblog@gmail.com
More posts and interviews coming soon!