Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 16, 1995 TAG: 9511160018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Ahh, the perks of elementary school. Recess, those little cups of ice cream with wooden spoons and at Falling Branch Elementary this week only: Walter Bostian, Eric M. Berlin and Nancy Lianza, collectively The Brass Trio of Boston.
"It excites me that for many kids, we're the first time they've heard these instruments up close," says New River Valley native Bostian, who first picked up a trombone as a sixth-grader at Blacksburg Middle School. "These instruments have brought a lot of joy and fulfillment to our lives and we'd like to pass it along."
A 1987 graduate of Diane Love's band program at Blacksburg High, Bostian is a busy Boston free-lance trombone player. A member of New England Brass, he has been heard in the Boston Philharmonic, the TKO Big Band, the Hot Tamale Brass Band, and the Movers, winners of the 1995 Boston Battle of the Blues Bands. Mom teaches English and dad Engineering at Tech.
The fourth-graders at the Christiansburg school are in their third year of the artists-in-residence program. The Laurel String Quartet and the Radford University Percussion and Marimba Ensemble have performed the past two sessions of the program, sponsored by New River Valley Friends of the Roanoke Symphony.
The Trio started on Monday with "What is a brass instrument and how does it work?" By Friday the children will join them in a performance of "We Gather Together."
"Where have you heard these instruments before?" Bostian asks Teri Ford's class the first day of the program.
"At Steppin' Out," says a flaxen-haired girl up front.
"In the music room," says a boy from the back of the room.
"I play all of them," another boy says with great confidence.
"You do? Then we can all go home," says a smiling Berlin, the trumpet player who also plays Screech to Bostian's Zach. (Adults: see "Saved by The Bell to understand this reference. The point is, the Trio's program makes the children laugh while they learn.)
"Do you like Virginia Tech?" Bostian inquires hoping someone will put the sound of brass together with football games. Many yeses fill the room.
"Are they going to beat the Wahoos?" Bostian asks. The kids scream the affirmative again.
"Then you might have heard this one before." The trio plays the "Virginia Tech Fight Song." Bostian tells the students they have heard brass instruments at such big events because "they're loud and carry a long way."
On to the historical uses of brass instruments. First, medieval times. "When you watched The Simpsons on TV?" asks Berlin.
"No, there was no television," Bostian corrects his sidekick.
The children are told about minstrels who traveled from town to town with music and the news of neighboring communities. They used brass instruments because "you can hear them a long way off," Bostian says, then turns to the trumpet player. "Eric, we want our next piece to sound like it's a long way away." Berlin takes off in a sprint out the door and down the hall. Lianza and Bostian retrieve him and drag him back into the room.
"Eric, we are pretending we are far away," Lianza says in mock annoyance. "We're just going to play softly." (Later Berlin will misunderstand a musical movement called a "rondo" for "Rambo" and "the jig" for "jog" and dash away to the delight of the children.)
Lianza tells the group she likes to listen to music because "it can put you in a better mood if you've had a bad day and it can remind you of fun times, too."
The children explain why they like music.
"Cause it's fun" and "the sounds are cool."
They close their eyes to see what pictures enter their heads during the trio's rendition of Bach's Invention No. 4 in C Minor. Many peek to see if their neighbors actually have their peepers shut. After the music stops, Tabitha O'Bryan reports having seen "the time back when women had really big hair." Someone else saw "Williamsburg." Bostian explains they did have funny hair back then.
The hit, however, is definitely when The Trio demonstrates what Bostian calls "the disgusting sound" that gives voice to each one of their instruments.
"All you need is a piece of plumbing on one end and a bell on the other to get that beautiful brass sound," Berlin tells the group. Lianza plays the Sesame Street theme song on a long garden hose rigged with mouthpiece and bell to prove the point.
Question time ends the program.
"Do you guys have any questions about the instruments, about life in general - maybe we can help you out," Bostian tells the room of small people.
Lianza explains to one girl that The Trio stays together when they play "because we all have the same beat in our heads."
"Why do you put your hand in the horn?" Danielle Snair asks.
"To catch the bad notes that fall out," Berlin jokes.
"I'll tell you Wednesday," Lianza says with an eye roll to Berlin. "That's French Horn Day and you can't miss it even if you're sick and your mom has to carry you in."
Bostian explains that the more plumbing the instrument has, the lower the sound it emits. The children want to know just how long each instrument would be if all that plumbing was stretched out.
"16 feet," Bostian says of his trombone.
Berlin's trumpet would be eight feet long.
Lianza won't tell just yet. "Sorry," she says. "You'll have to wait till French Horn Day."
by CNB