While every gig has its challenges, the Sunday morning church gig has some unique surprises that you won't find anywhere else. First, the sanctuary where you will be seated is a big echo chamber where the smallest sound carries forever. Sanctuaries can be drafty, be too hot, too cold, have horrible site lines, and a host of other surprises. Pack these supplies to keep you prepared for every scenario at your next church gig.

When preparing to perform a solo or a whole recital, there are a lot of factors that motivate our practice. To have a polished end product we meticulously learn notes, rhythms, and technique, with metronomes, recording devices, and more.  And, if you are like me, I practice getting through the complete solo or program to make sure I have enough endurance.

What happens when your endurance hits a wall?

While we like to define success by the outcome of our goal, it is actually the process that leads to the outcome which truly defines our success. While every goal may have different deliverables along the way, here is some great advice from Denis Wick Artist Aaron Tindall on how to keep in a mindset that breeds success in every event and goal in your life.

The focus of mute usage has shifted from changing dynamics to manipulating the colour of sound in a variety of directions. Composers expect you to use mutes through the full range of a brass instrument, and require an ever growing need for blending with different instruments and effects. With all these challenges in mind, Denis Wick has created a wide variety of mutes to help fill out your colour pallet and get the job done with minimal work for you.

Since the straight mute is possibly the most commonly used mute in composition, let’s take a look at the full colour pallet the Denis Wick line offers you.

The key to progress is often what we as musicians do between lessons, not what we do during lessons. Musicians often assume the more time they spend practicing, the better they will become. While we know that practice is needed to progress, how we go about this practice is key to how quickly the progress is made.

Quick mute changes can very quickly turn a perfectly good brass player into a solo percussionist in the middle of a performance. Has this happened to you? Test-pieces for wind and brass bands often have a situation where whole brass section is muted and indeed many brass players are increasingly called upon to change mutes quickly. Use these tips to prevent your next mute change from becoming a percussion solo!

Meet Denis Wick euphonium artist, Tim Maeseneer. Tim is Professor of Saxhorn (Band instruments) at the prestigious Leuven University College of Arts (LUCA) campus Lemmensinstituut. He is soloist in residence with Brassband Willebroek and an ambassador and performing artist for Denis Wick Products and Besson Musical Instruments.  Learn about how it all started, and what is currently happening in his career in this series of Get to Know interviews.

Anything can be achieved on our instrument, so long as we practice incrementally. I’ve always called this style of practice “incremental,” because it describes how we improve our skills by one unit at a time in an organized linear way. And it’s exactly the mindset you should proceed with when trying to play lower.

Straight mutes come in all sizes and materials, and understanding how they can work for you will make your life a lot easier. Tom Hutchinson, principal cornetist of the Cory Brass Band, play-tests 3 of our straight mute options: the aluminium straight, copper bottom, and pianissimo mute. Which one will work best for you next muted section?

Euphonium soloist, conductor and educator John Caputo is the Lecturer of Euphonium and Trombone at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A sixteen-year veteran of the US Air Force Bands Program, he has built an international reputation for excellence as a performer and educator. Find out out about Johns career, teaching, what product John plays, and how he chooses it in this Denis Wick Get to Know clinic with Alliance mouthpiece performer, John Caputo.