After he mastered the canon of classical trumpet repertoire, he went on to expand it with renditions of works written for other instruments that he made sound so natural, most of us grew up thinking they were originally written for trumpet. Monsieur André, you will be missed dearly.

Definition of racism from Oxford English Dictionary (via Mac OS X Dictionary app). A response to http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/on-why-nicholas-payton-is-not-a-racist/

presented by trumpeter Suresh Singaratham is impressive hard bop in the

Jazz Messenger vein. The core team of Jake Saslow/ts, Jesse Lewis/g,

Fabian/p, Fabian Almazan/p, Fraser Hollins/b and Lee Pearson/dr give a

youthful and Gen Y vigor to stretched out tunes like “Temporal

Incursions” and “Remnants Of Eternity” while bridging the generation

gap between Young Lions and Baby Boomers…read more at JazzWeekly.com

read more at  allmusic.com

“Temporal Incursions” is an impressive opener—a 10-minute opus that displays Singaratnam’s inventiveness as a writer. It also establishes his credentials as a trumpeter, with a slight softness to his tone that gives his playing a degree of warmth and makes his sound a fine match for the tenor of Jake Saslow. Guitarist Jesse Lewis is also a crucial element of “Temporal Incursions,” his style shifting from washes of sounds reminiscent of Robert Fripp to single note runs with some resemblance to John McLaughlin; both critical to the tune’s changing moods.…read more at AllAboutJazz.com

read the complete review at http://theurbanflux.wordpress.com

I was knocked out of my chair this weekend by trumpeter Suresh Singaratnam‘s new CD, Lost in New York. It’s a mindblower of mood-swings from mellow to scorching. Listen to…read more at ZoomStreet.

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by: Cicily Janus

In the realm of the jazz world, it seems that artists are categorized into two different streams: Those who can and those who can’t. But I think there’s a third category that often gets buried. There are those who know how to turn their sheer will and hard work into success. In his debut album as a jazz artist, Suresh Singaratnam, who has been known as a hot young talent in the classical trumpet world, has now succeeded on all counts. His charming personality and melodic style stands out on his freshman release titled, Lost in New York. This album is truly one graced with beauty and much thought. Many artists in the jazz community, especially for their first releases, often put together albums that are compiled of single standards instead of creating a whole experience. What Suresh created with original content and panache was a body of work that tells a story of transition into modern cutting edge jazz….

read the complete review at NewFaceOfJazz.com

Those days when you can never seem to get a clean note out, and your lips just feel like they have no strength at all. They happen every once in a while. Any advice on stopping them fast?

Here was my answer:

Like I said, I used to hate those weeks, but they’re caused by a combination of physical and psychological factors and I’ve learned a few tricks to help myself get back on track. The short answer is, take a break from all exercises, just play songs and pieces you love to play because you know you sound good when you’re playing them. If you can, do this in a room with a lot of reverb. Another possibility is a problem with your breathing, so you might try to pay special attention to that and make sure you’re taking deep, yet comfortable and relaxed breaths. (As the saying goes: “inhale to expand, don’t expand to inhale”) You could also take a day or two away from the horn. There’s a chance you’re over-practicing and just need a rest. (I remember you had that audition recently). The long answer is…..

In one of my first lessons with him, my last teacher (Vincent Penzarella) told me that playing the trumpet is 90% mental focus on the music, 9% breath control, and 1% embouchure control. When I started studying with him, my embouchure was a mess, I didn’t know how to breath properly, but most importantly, I wasn’t really thinking about music when I was playing the trumpet. I knew he studied with Arnold Jacobs, so I was expecting him to get into the breathing stuff early on. It took him a few months. In our first lessons, he had me doing a lot of basic things like major/minor scales & long tones. I was a senior at MSM, so it was a bit of a blow to the ego, but I was pretty open to his ideas since I’d heard so many good things from his other students. The important component he added to these seemingly simple exercise was his insistence that I mentally sing whatever I play while playing. Actually, he went a step further and always told me to “sing on the trumpet, don’t play.”  If I was working on major scales, I would have to sing every single note in my mind while playing them. The feeling on my lips and what came out of the bell of the trumpet weren’t important, what I heard in my mind was. For long tones, he told me to subdivide the notes in my mind, but also hear myself playing each note in the context of a full orchestral brass section playing that note in surrounding octaves. Long tones quickly became something that wouldn’t be practical to work on while watching TV.

After a few months of this, we started working on breathing exercises. Penzarella always stressed the importance of hearing the music in my mind while working on breathing, so those feelings of effortlessness would transfer to the trumpet. The breathing exercises would be useless for trumpet playing if they were learned outside of a musical context. A few months later, we tried to fix my embouchure, but I was having trouble making the adjustment because I was too attached to how the mouthpiece felt on my lips after years of playing and the new embouchure felt uncomfortable.

I didn’t correct my embouchure until after I completed my Masters degree at MSM. Actually, the correction didn’t happen until  about a year after I graduated. It was also a sort of accidental process that I didn’t understand till a few months had passed. I was a little disorientated and unmotivated after graduation. Practicing occasionally, I once went about 10 days without even touching my trumpet. When I picked it up again, I thought I would try the corrected embouchure Mr. Penzarella showed me. Because I had enough time away from the horn, I had “forgotten” the old embouchure enough to feel more comfortable with the new setup. I knew I would have to build up strength again, so I gradually increased my playing time everyday, but I started by only playing pieces I enjoyed, pieces I knew well, and new music that was easy to read through. After a few months, the new embouchure felt completely natural and now I can’t even imagine going back to the way I used to play. There’s no way I could’ve played the intervals in that Bach Violin partita movement with the old embouchure and I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the Hindemith at the tempo I recorded at. These days, the room I do all my practicing in is small, but it doesn’t really matter, because I’m more concerned with the clarity of the music in my mind when I’m practicing.

The point of all of that was to share my little epiphany about just how much our state of mind can effect our playing. Have you noticed how endurance seems almost unlimited when playing in a church or large hall with a lot of reverb, but playing in a small stuffy room seems to bring fatigue quickly? Creating a beautiful sound on the trumpet does require practice on the instrument, but it also requires a lot of imagination and focus. That comes naturally to a few fortunate ones, but a lot of us need to consciously stayed engaged with the task at hand, or things don’t sound too great.

Finally, I suggested the possibility of taking some time off and just listening to some good music because frustration can be a distraction from the music, and catalyst for tension in the body, which restricts your airflow, which makes playing more taxing for the embouchure, which will frustrate you, which can distract you from the music…..well, you get the idea Hope that helps =)

Toronto Music Scene’s Tanya Bailey had a chance to chat with trumpeter Suresh Singaratnam who has won numerous awards and scholarships for his playing.  Here’s what he had to say…read more at TorontoMusicScene.ca

…read more at www.IRememberMichael.com

Suresh Singaratnam is still in his earliest years as a recording musician, yet his talents are already radiant. Suresh has been trained as both a classical and a jazz musician, and he has recordings to highlight both styles, yet he is able to maintain the important aspects of each music without his music becoming a fusion of two styles- his music stays true and authentic to both classical and jazz. On this album, entitled Two Hundred Sixty One, Vol. 1, Suresh Sinaratnam shows that as a trumpet player…read more at MicControlBlog.com.

by Emanuel Ax

All of us love applause, and so we should – it means that the listener LIKES us! So we should welcome applause whenever it comes. And yet, we seem to have set up some very arcane rules as to when it is actually OK to applaud….read more on Emanuel Ax’s Official Blog.

My bassist Fraser Hollins…(ok, he isn’t just MY bass player, haha, but he’s the bassist on Lost in New York and he sounds amazing) just launched his new website, MySpace page and Blog. Check it out!

www.fraserhollins.com

To “Rowuk” on TrumpetMaster.com,

I’m sorry you lost your mother to cancer. I’ve never lost anyone close to me, so I’m always at a loss for words when speaking with people who have, but I can definitely understand why reading the words “publicity stunt” and “donation to cancer research” on the same page would be nothing less than infuriating to you. In my efforts to attract the attention of the masses, I lacked the foresight and sensitivity to realize the effect my words could have on those who had suffered because of cancer. For that error in judgement, I offer my deepest apologies. Your donation to the bone marrow bank is beyond commendable. It’s a beautiful thing to know that there’s a girl somewhere in Canada who has fully recovered from leukemia since someone living thousands of miles away was inspired to improve the lives of others because of a loss he suffered. You turned the tragedy of your mom’s passing into the gift of health and longer life for someone you’ve never even met

To everyone else:

First of all, Rowuk is right, please donate blood or register with a bone marrow bank if you can. It’s definitely a more immediate solution than what I’m doing. As for the discussion about my fundraising efforts, here are my thoughts on that matter. 

I’ve noticed the excerpts from my “publicity stunt” paragraph are the most quoted on the thread that started with Dan Gosling’s posting of my YouTube video. I wrote most of the text on www.261days.com a couple days after Ashton Kutcher was on the news for donating 10,000 mosquito nets to the fight against malaria after he beat CNN to 1,000,000 followers on Twitter. If any of you are annoyed by what I’m doing, think about how annoyed you could be by a multimillionaire being praised for donating $100,000. That’s what lead to the arrogant language in my original statement. At the time, I also wanted to be clear that this was a marketing ploy to contrast Ashton’s basking in the country’s admiration of his “philanthropy” after he donated a relatively small percentage of his wealth. 

The YouTube video is meant to generate excitement for the campaign. It’s short, and fast moving because most people don’t seem have the time or patience to read all the text on www.261days.com . The video something that people can easily send to their friends and family. It also demonstrates how 1,000,000 sales are possible in 261 days, even for an unknown artist. Susan Boyle’s YouTube video was viewed over 100,000,000 times in about a week. If she had a single for sale on iTunes and just 1% of the people who watched that video bought that track, she’d have sold 1,000,000 tracks in a week. For many people, the combination of an animated explanation of exponential growth set to the soundtrack of a familiar but challenging piece of music is enough to convince them to buy the album. For anyone who is curious to hear clips of all the selections on the album, samples are available on iTunes, my Facebook music page, MySpace profile and website. For those who need more detailed information about my fundraising plans, there’s the text on www.261days.com . I’ve come to understand that there are still a few issues to address, so I hope to address them here. 

My original plan was to donate $1,000,000 dollars if I sold 1,000,000 albums, but then I realised $1,000,000 wasn’t enough. The problem with increasing the donation was accounting for the variable pricing of the album. The 7 track album costs as low as $6.93 CAD on iTunes Canada. After Apple and my distributor take their percentage of that amount, I’m left with $4.37. The physical CD sells for as high $10.00 USD. At the current exchange rate, that’s $11.19. After subtracting the money I lose on packaging and the cost of manufacturing each CD, I’m left with a around $5 per CD sold. My reason for choosing the lowest possible profit amount is tied to taxation, Since I don’t believe in claiming charitable donations on my tax return, I have to account for paying income tax on the album sales. The federal income tax rate for Canadians earning more than $126,264 is 29%. After that and Ontario’s provincial tax of 11%, about $2.75 million would remain. At the time, $2,000,000 seemed like the easiest number for people to remember, but after reading my own breakdown of the numbers here, I’ll admit $2,500,000 would have worked just as well. I’m also encouraging people to buy the album on iTunes because we get the benefit of a third party accounting department without spending an extra cent on administrative costs. By posting the video on YouTube and the announcement on a page that is cached by search engines, there’s a public record of my statements. That combined with the sales reports from Apple, PayPal, HMV, Amazon and Indiepool hold me accountable to fulfill my promise when 1,000,000 albums are sold.

Some people are troubled by the omission of any information about how the money will be spent if I don’t reach my goal of 1,000,000. I agree this is a detail that will make some suspicious. I didn’t want to discuss the possibility of failure in the initial announcement because I wanted people to know I believe this will work. If October 23rd arrives and the final tally is something as low as 100,000, or even 10,000, I’ll still be able to afford to give half the money away, so I promise I will, but like I said, why should we settle for something so low when it really could just take 2 people and 20 days to reach our true goal of 1,000,000?

Just to clarify things, I am NOT affiliated with the Canadian Cancer Society in any way whatsoever. I did contact them before I posted the announcement to let them know what I was doing first hand. I didn’t ask for an endorsement or any promotion from them, I just wanted to let them know my intentions were sincere, so if they heard about my efforts from someone else, they wouldn’t think I was trying to scam anyone by using their name. I posted a link to the Canadian Cancer Society’s website so people could learn about that organization. I chose the Canadian Cancer Society because I didn’t want be ambiguous about WHERE the money was going and they seemed like the most appropriate group to handle a donation to fund cancer research.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I’ve had a change of heart since I posted that initial announcement. While I’ll never deny that this STARTED as something that was ultimately about selling my first album, something changed after the first person bought the album after reading about the $2,000,000 donation. I panicked a little. I realized if this was too much of a challenge, I would have to refund that person’s money immediately and explain to him that I was giving up before I really started. Something about that didn’t seem right. I had a choice between giving into my fear of failure, or summoning the determination and resourcefulness I would need to make this happen because proving it’s possible would really change how people looked at wealth and what it means to be generous. To my harshest critics, I hope I’ve proved the legitimacy and sincerity of my intentions to you. While your voices are strong in opposition, they could be even stronger in support.

Suresh S.

–iii-<

It’s been less than a week since we began the 261 Days campaign and Two Hundred Sixty-One: Vol. 1 has already broken into the top 25 chart for classical music on iTunes Canada. What’s even more surprising is, in less then 3 months, my recordings of Carnival of Venice and the Hindemith Trumpet Sonata are now the best selling recordings of those pieces on iTunes Canada! To everyone in Canada who’s reading this, please tell EVERYONE you know about what we’re trying to do here. If the album keeps climbing the classical charts, that’s more even exposure to help move things along toward 1,000,000. 

Click here to buy the album on iTunes

Click here to learn more about the 261 Days Campaign to raise $2,000,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society

I obviously don’t have that kind of money, but I realised I WOULD if I sold 1 million copies of my first CD. Even if ALL of that was from digital sales on iTunes where I only make about $4 per album sold, I could still afford to donate $2,000,000 to charity (even after paying my  taxes). While Mr. Kutcher’s donation was definitely a good deed, let’s be realistic for a moment; $100,000 is a small dent in his bank account. If CNN beat him to a million followers and made the contribution instead, $100,000 would have an even less significant percentage. I’m proposing to commit almost half of my earnings from the sale of this album to the cause.

Why 1 million copies? Isn’t that unrealistic? I think a target of $2,000,000 will be easier to reach than something lower. Here’s why:

You’ll have to admit that the absolute absurdity of my plan is quite intriguing. 2 million copies of a classical trumpet album by an unknown trumpet player from Toronto with no record contract…….during a global recession????? NO one sells a million albums of anything anymore. On top of that, this is music of a genre that is considered one of the least commercially viable. yet here you are, still reading about my plan. I have no small fortune to spend on advertising, nor do I have any existing fame to build this campaign on. All I have is a website, a blog, a 7 track album of surprisingly good classical trumpet music and YOU to help me raise this $2,000,000 for cancer research. Pulling this off will make the “grassrootsness” of Mr. Kutcher’s efforts seem like a corporate affair. I’ll need YOUR help to spread the word. If you’re reading this on my blog, you’re probably tech-savvy enough to buy the album from iTunes and save some money. (the complete album is $6.93 on iTunes, the CD is $10 USD + shipping). When we get to October 23rd and that cheque is handed to the Canadian Cancer Society, we’re all going to feel like we accomplished something pretty special. I’m also convinced that if a just few of the right people in the media get word of this, getting to 1 million will be a walk in the park. With the global economy the way it is now. We’re all looking for a collective victory right now. This is something that can transcend religion, politics, race, and nationality.

Now, to be fair, and continue with my own call to “be realistic”, I’m not going to pretend this isn’t a publicity stunt, because it is. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not doing this to sell my album. I’ll wholeheartedly admit that my main motivation for this is to sell 1 million copies of my first album. At least I’m being upfront about it, right? The very pleasant side effect of my experiment is a $2,000,000 donation to the Canadian Cancer Society.

So finally, here’s the deal:

If I sell 1 million copies of my 1st album (Physical CDs OR complete album downloads on CDBaby or iTunes) by October 23, 2009, I will donate $2,000,000 to the Canadian Cancer Society.

To everyone who has already purchased the album, don’t worry, I’m not resetting the counter with this announcement. Your purchase just gained the added value of helping of something more important than a young musician’s career because I’m counting all past sales towards the target of 1 million copies. To everyone who doesn’t have the album yet, I’m inclined to recommend that you buy the album from iTunes and save a few dollars. I’d also prefer you buy the album from iTunes for a couple other reasons:

1. We get the sales recorded by an impartial 3rd party without having to hire an accounting staff.
2. You can trust Apple to report iTunes sales because it’s also in THEIR best interest to report as many sales as possible (helps the value of their stock, etc)
3. We don’t have to worry about shipping anything.
4. You’re saving money, the actual CD costs at least $10 USD
5. Instant gratification: you pay, you download the album in seconds.
6. People with an iPhone or iPod Touch don’t even need a computer to buy the album, they can get directly from their devices.
7. When we get close to our target, we can approach Apple to see if they’ll match our donation

Some have suggested that I organize concerts and sell other merchandise to help with the cause. I think focusing on iTunes sales alone is far more cost effective.

• All the money we need to spend to make this happen has already been spent.
• We don’t have to manufacture anymore CDs unless there are orders for CDs.
• We don’t have to hire anyone to keep track of sales because people are already being paid to do that at Apple and my CD manufacturer.
• We don’t have to spend any money on office space, hiring people to handle the orders.
• Marketing won’t cost anything either because it will start off with you telling your family and friends until this becomes big enough to get media coverage.

Why the October 23rd deadline? That’s 261 days after the release of the album.

A final word to the skeptics. If everyone who reads this buys the album, convinces 2 people to buy the album and then convinces ANOTHER 2 people to buy it…..It would only take 20 days to reach 1 million. We have till late October. =)

To visit my website and purchase Two Hundred Sixty-One: Vol. 1 from a variety of sources: http://www.whoissuresh.com

Click here to go directly to the iTunes Store page for Two Hundred Sixty-One: Vol. 1

Click here to buy and download the album from CDBaby

Click here to watch the video ad on YouTube

Click here for more information about the Canadian Cancer Society

Thank you all for your help =)

Suresh S.

–iii-<

Undercover can help you locate any lost or stolen iPhone or iPod.
Upon registration, you will receive your own Undercover account at https://www.retrievemyiphone.com. Every time the Undercover application is launched, the phone’s location and IP information is stored in your account. You can then login to your account to track the device.

If your iPhone is lost, you can set a message that will be displayed to the finder when he launches Undercover. In the meantime, Undercover will transmit your phone’s location….continue reading at Orbicule.com

By Camille Noe Pagán

It’s time for a new slim-down mantra: Eat more to weigh less. No joke! The right foods help you drop pounds by revving your calorie burn and curbing cravings. We consulted top experts for the best picks and asked leading chefs for easy, tasty ways to prepare them. Add these eats to your plate today and you’ll be slimmer and healthier in no time!

Steak

Beef has a rep as a diet buster, but eating it may help you peel off pounds….continue reading at elf.com.

Written By: Tristan Guillford

Cyberdyne Corporation of Japan, in conjunction with Daiwa House, has begun mass production of a cybernetic bodysuit that augments body movement and increases user strength by up to tenfold…continue reading at| h+ Magazine.

I know a lot of people who would like to buy a Mac but decide against it because of Apple’s prices. Without getting into a long discussion about how the total cost of ownership is probably less when you buy a Mac, there’s a safe, easy [and completely legal] way to buy a Mac with a warranty FROM APPLE for a little less. Apple’s online store has a page where you can buy refurbished and earlier generation products directly from them. I recommend going for the refurbished products since the discounts on the previous generation are trivial.

The important point is, you get the same free 1 year warranty on parts & labour that they offer with new products, and you can upgrade to the optional 2-3 year Applecare warranty anytime before the free 1 year warranty expires. The first 3 Macs I bought were all refurbished and although I had to get the speakers on the 2001 iMac G3 repaired [for free free since it was under warranty] before I sold it, the other 2 worked without a problem and are STILL running fine 5 and 4 years later.

Here’s the link to the Apple Store’s “Special Deals” page:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals?mco=MzAyNDk3NA

Check it out at www.jakesaslow.com