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VINCENT CICHOWICZ ON ARNOLD JACOBS
BY LUIS LOUBRIEL
I
n the winter of 2004 I met with my former trumpet the Grant Park Symphony, and in 1952 he became a mem-
teacher, Vincent Cichowicz, to talk about the years he ber on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Cichowicz taught
spent as a colleague of Arnold Jacobs. Our conversation at Northwestern University from 1959 and became professor
began with the first meeting Cichowicz had with Jacobs, of trumpet in 1974.
with the lessons Cichowicz had with Renold Schilke, and it Today Cichowicz is retired, as Professor Emeritus, from
ended with the discussion of general brass playing concepts. full time teaching but stays active as music director of the
Vincent Cichowicz was born and raised in Chicago where Millar Brass Ensemble and by giving master classes in the
he received his early music training. He went on to study United States and in Canada.
with Renold Schilke, played with the Houston Symphony,
Loubriel: I know that you studied with Arnold Jacobs early on Loubriel: It sounds like a lot of psychological as well as techni-
in your career. cal input went into that approach.
Cichowicz: Right, I had three or four lessons but most of my Cichowicz: Absolutely. Both internal and external psycholo-
experience with him was in the orchestra. When we went on gy is required in thinking on these levels. The other aspect I
tour we often spent a lot of time together just talking so in a found interesting in terms of conceptual ideas was the
sense it was not so much actually taking lessons but instead it Alexander Method. There is a book about it that talks about
was a sharing of ideas. “end gain.” “End gain” is about the “making of music” part
At the beginning I was very skeptical of Jacobs’ ideas. I told going step by step. Well, how do I get there? You have to have
him that and he said, “Well, yes but in order to prove or dis- steps to get there. On the other hand, children learn to speak
prove you have to give it an honest trial.” I agreed and I said, without any instruction but instead are guided by what they
“Absolutely, it is the only way to make a decision.” Often at the hear.
beginning of something that you do not fully comprehend Loubriel: You are right. I remember learning to talk when I
there is no way you can make an intelligent judgment. After was young and listening to my sister pronouncing the letter “t” and
working with it over a considerable period of time, and keep- trying to imitate the sound of it. Now, it is interesting that the
ing in mind certain perceptions, I process of learning to play the trumpet is
was convinced. It answered a lot of
questions that in my previous ways
“At the beginning I was very skep- so Isimilar. would be curious to know that when
of going about my work never tical of Jacobs’ ideas. I told him compared to the teaching approaches of
seemed to be fully solved. the 1950s and 1960s, was Jacobs’ teach-
Loubriel: What part of it did you that and he said, ‘Well, yes but in ing different?
understand? order to prove or disprove you Cichowicz: I would say definitely
Cichowicz: I did understand that different. All you have to do is to go
so much of what I did was instinctive have to give it an honest trial.’” back to some of the trumpet method
and, except for a few things, we did books of this period and you will find
not have to do any serious changes in what I was doing. that many are extraordinarily analytical. I make the compari-
Instead, we needed to clarify why, as a trumpet player, one has son with going to the doctor because you have a temperature,
a good day or a bad day. What is the difference between those so it’s obvious that you are sick. If all he does is to give you
two? aspirin, or give you some ice to lower your temperature, then
Many times when you really understand principles properly he is not a good doctor. A good doctor would say, “What’s
you find that there is less of a deviation. So it’s really a ques- making your temperature rise?” I have to that find out in order
tion of making a discovery and saying, “Yes, there is a practi- to deal with that. It is the same thing with the theories of the
cal way of going about this.” Certainly in teaching you must 1950s. When I studied with Renold Schilke, for example, he
have the basis for what you are trying to do in order to present said, “Make your stomach hard.” I tried that and it was terri-
it to someone. It’s important to have a clear understanding of ble. So I asked, “Why is he telling me to do this?” It occurred
principles. You can’t just say, “Okay, make a beautiful sound.” to me that if you play a high “C” forte you would find that
The student might say, “I’d like to but I can’t.” Then you have your stomach area gets hard. However, you can’t start out that
to go into the principles of what goes into making a good way. It has to be a result of what you are doing rather than
sound. If you don’t have a conception of a good sound you something that you begin with.
can’t get to it through mechanical means alone. You must have It was a big discovery for me to find out that people were
a clear image in your head, and then you can apply the techni- trying to analyze the symptoms, or the outer things, in trum-
cal aspects to achieve your goal. If there is something that is pet playing. So they would say, “This person plays beautiful
not functioning correctly, you can take steps to correct your high C’s” and they found that their abdominal muscles were
approach. firm so they said, “Well, the tighter you make it the better it