Quote from: Peter Ellefson on Jan 23, 2018, 12:57PMI will try to stay out of the who got him straightened out discussion. We really dont know who helped (or hurt) and to what extent. It is all pure speculation and hearsay so many years after the fact, fueled by the everybody needing to know everything ethos that the internet fosters. Several of us on TTF were students of Frank Crisafulli and I venture to guess that he had a similar impact on each of us.
I will speak from years of lessons with him both while in school at NU and off and on for years after (yes, in the same room; yes, seeing his embouchure; yes, hearing him in person; yes, hearing him in the CSO etc.).
First hand experience revealed to me the following:
1. He was never happy with a particular embouchure and was constantly fiddling and rethinking. In later years some dental troubles exacerbated his embouchure fixation. The adjustments he made were all relatively slight.
2. No matter which setting he was using, how much he complained or self-effaced, he sounded pretty much the same: core-filled, resonant, meaty and in tune. His sound projected.
3. The benefit of hindsight shows that his embouchure wasnt as 'unorthodox' as he would lead one to believe (or himself believed).
4. Whatever he was doing, it worked. It may not have worked to Reiners satisfaction on Bolero and in another era, he may have not had to accept the 2nd chair. He "made lemonade" for decades after.
5. The experience scarred him and was a further catalyst for the experimentation to follow. See point #3.
6. While in the CSO, his product never sounded all that different from era to era. He was never 'broken' and never 'fixed' at least to my ear.
He sounded great and taught his students well, as people and musicians. For me that is more important than who helped/harmed him or what his embouchure looked like. Of course, as students, we are biased in favor of our teachers. There are many videos available of the CSO while he was a member. That section was electric.
For further listening, dont miss the 1967 CSO Trombone Quartet recordings (available on CD), with Friedman, Dodson, Crisafulli, Kleinhammer sitting down and reading quartets and recorded by WFMT to be used as intro and exit music to other programs on the network. Just great, straight ahead, nuts and bolts playing, with no rehearsal. Four legends.
PE
I took lessons from Mr. C all the way through high school and college. This discussion, particularly Peter's synopsis, may have provided some insight to me as to his tolerance /sensitivity in listening to student-induced fixations. A college professor had made comments through out my high school years (at Contests..actually made comments on my adjudication forms... and Invitational State symposiums where I was selected as among the best in the state..) about my "Big Horn" inhibiting my skills. The horn was a stock 9-inch Holton 150 yellow bell, purchased via Mr. C's contact. To make a long story short, the professor's comments created self-doubt, at times, about my upper register strengths. Mr. C scoffed it off, told me to ignore the professor...but one day after a very good lesson it surfaced again. This time he set me up with Bob Boyd in Cleveland...who still had his King 5B is his collection inventory. I played the King and the Holton for him. After two lessons back-to-back, staying at relatives in Ohio, the psychological hang-up ended. Where Mr. C was bemused by the goofy comments on horn size, Bob was actually pretty ticked off. I have always believed that Mr. C and Ed Kleinhammer should have co-authored a book on the Art of Teaching, not just trombone playing, as they were both as exceptional in that regard as they were fine players.
