The Inside Story: Alias Brass and PRISM

When thinking of versatile instrumental setups, the brass quintet might not be the first thing that comes to mind. A grave oversight, according to Alias Brass, who aims to change any such preconceived notions with their vibrant renditions of highly diverse and inclusive music on PRISM.

Today, the members of Alias Brass are our featured artists in “The Inside Story,” a blog series exploring the inner workings and personalities of our composers and performers. Read on to learn about their aspirations to collaborate with Beyoncé and the stand-up comedy exercise that serves as their pre-show ritual…

Tell us about your first performance.

Our premiere performance took place at the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute during the summer of 2015. We were honored to have received a professional residency, and to spend a week receiving feedback from members of Summit Brass, including Larry Zalkind and Marty Hackleman, who were our main coaches. The evening before our first show we plastered the Lamont School of Music in posters, and when the performance began, were greeted by a packed house. 

Our first performance was very different from what we do now. It featured a “voice of god” introducing each selection, and blackouts in between each piece. It was completely memorized. Well, almost completely memorized. Someone may have had music taped to the floor of the stage for one of the selections. We also included subtle props, such as masks for our closer, Vuelta del Fuego, to make the music more engaging for our audience.

We still have fans from that institute. It always surprises us when we meet someone who remembers that first performance fondly, even though it’s been almost eight years!

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

As classical musicians, we always have a little pop star envy. We’d love to collaborate with someone like… Beyoncé! We wouldn’t even mind being JUST the back up band. Can anyone share her phone number?

What advice would you give to your younger self if given the chance?

As a group, we’ve always been pretty open to new ideas, however there have been times where we were all a bit more stubborn. One such example includes the invention of one of our fan favorites, Fugue on a Theme from Tetris. This skit involves our tubist starting on a lone chair in the center of the stage. It is actually supposed to be one of our trumpet player’s turn to use the chair, however the tubist wont move. Players walk on from each side of the stage playing the fugue subject and physically try to knock the tubist off the chair, when that doesn’t work, our hornist enters and seduces our tubist off of the chair with her subject entrance. While the tubist is off the chair the trombonist stands on the back of the chair, the two trumpet players sit on the corners, and finally the hornist sneaks behind the tubist and sits on the shoulders of the trumpet players. This results in four players performing on one chair, while the tubist runs around and tries to find a spot to sit, he is unsuccessful.

When the idea of performing a piece on one chair was brought up, there was initially resistance. Some didn’t think it was possible, however we tried it, it worked, and it is now one of our most talked about performance pieces on our program. This taught us that no matter what we think of an idea at first, we can’t discount it, until we try it. You’ll never know what might turn into a hit if you don’t give it a chance in the first place.

How do you prepare for a performance?

During a tour of Minnesota, we stopped off in Minneapolis and had a coaching session with a professional comedian. One of our biggest takeaways from that coaching was a game called “Zip Zap.” It involves passing energy around in a circle either clockwise, counterclockwise, or across. However, you can’t check out, you have to be alert in case someone passes you the energy or changes the direction of the energy and you aren’t expecting it. 

We still play this game before every show! Since we perform on so many different stages, we have to be ready for anything to happen acoustically, and this game not only helps us relax, but prepares us to be ready for whatever environment and audience we are about to engage with. Plus, it’s fun.

What are your other passions besides music?

On the road, we have plenty of travel time to just do our own thing. You’ll usually find Clayton and TJ playing multiplayer games on their ipads, Jon and Tim making really bad jokes as they pass field after field of farmland, and Natalie on her computer catching up on whatever logistics need to be taken care of. I mention this, because if we are touring, we are already doing what we are passionate about. Playing chamber music, sharing an experience with our audience, and inspiring the next generation.

What musical mentors had the greatest impact on your artistic journey? Is there any wisdom they’ve imparted onto you that still resonates today?

We’ve all been lucky enough to have world renowned brass soloists and chamber musicians as our individual and group mentors. The list includes former members of the Empire Brass and Canadian Brass, teachers at the Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, and principal players in orchestras such as the National Symphony and Houston Symphony. All have imparted their wisdom and experiences onto all of us, and that’s what continuously inspires and drives us.

Two of our largest mentors who are the most integral to our success are Martin Hackleman and Jens Lindemann. Both spent countless hours helping us polish our programs and choreography, brainstorming with us, and calling us out when we weren’t headed in the right direction. We can’t thank them enough for helping us get started, and for also being there today whenever we need them. We fully embody Marty’s motto that “your only goal is to be better than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow.” Words to live by!