Faculty Spotlight: Claude Fried

This week's faculty spotlight is Claude Fried, PMAC's very own low brass instructor!

Claude Fried's heart is as big as his instruments. As PMAC's one and only low brass guy, he specializes in those heavy, honking and tonking instruments that provide vital support in any band. Whether you want to learn tuba or trombone, bass trombone or baritone, or play in his brass ensemble, Claude is your guy. After performing in countless ensembles, orchestras (including as principal trombonist with the NH Philharmonic in 2012), big bands, little bands, chamber ensembles and more, Claude has hopped on over to PMAC to teach you something about low brass - and do it all with a smile!

PMAC: What is your teaching philosophy?

Claude: I've learned that catering to enthusiasm and results is the best way to teach music universally. I believe strongly that if you teach with a set "philosophy", it means that the student's specific needs and wants are not at the forefront of your mind. Every professional musician and instrumentalist thinks about and plays music differently which proves that there are many ways to successfully learn and execute playing at a high level.

PMAC: Who is your greatest musical influence?

Claude: There's no easy way to answer this question. I adore music of all genres played by all sorts of different people. Sometimes hearing a beginning player stumble through and improvise on a blues can be as interesting and engaging as a professional who makes it seem like second nature. Hearing a funk or rock drummer play a groove can be as interesting as hearing a brass quintet play through a recital. Instrumentalists that inspire me are devoted to the music they play, so I could easily say that musicians of the Seacoast are generally more inspiring than the young mechanical prodigies who sound like everyone else and are auditioning for orchestral positions.

That being said, I hold very high esteem for composers and songwriters - those who not only tell the story, but are the authors too. Mahler, Bruckner, Brahms are some of my favorite orchestral composers and inspirational "authors."

PMAC: What was your first instrument? What lead you to what you are playing now?

Claude: My first instrument was piano - I didn't like it; it cut into my baseball time. My second instrument was alto sax - I didn't like it; my 5th grade colleagues played very loud, very wrong most of the time. My third instrument was percussion - that was awesome. I probably might still be a drummer if my band director in HS didn't desperately need a trombone player. I started playing trombone on a suggestion and a whim. I didn't like it at first (I used to make fun of the trombone players in my HS band because they played the goofy-looking instruments) until I heard a recording of Bill Watrus play A Time For Love. From that moment on I was in love with what a trombone could do and sound like. I started exploring other trombonists and was even more impressed with classical players like Joe Alessi, Jim Markey, and Jorgen van Rijen. That propelled me into conservatory training and classical focus.

PMAC: What are the advantages to playing a low brass instrument? What is you favorite part about it?

Claude: At the same time that I picked up trombone, I started playing electric bass in a funk, soul, r&b band with some local 50+ musicians. It started with coffee house jams and soon turned into the band that inspired my musical life more than any other singular thing - "A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That, and We Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody." We began getting regular gigs and notoriety: bass lines started flowing through my bloodstream.

When that band stopped performing (when I went to college) I still had the bug for the low end and for the groove but never had an outlet. I picked up bass trombone for a while in school which was pretty cool and much closer to what I was craving, but it wasn't the same. I started playing tuba in school too which was great, except I wasn't good enough to hold a group together so my interest faded.

A couple years later when I moved to Dover and saw the Soggy Po Boys play for the first time, the itch came back in full force and while Mike Effenberger was holding down the bass line undeniably well with his left hand, I was beyond inspired to bring back my passion for the bass. The following week I brought a borrowed tuba to the jam and sat in with the curious (and forgiving) band members, I haphazardly played a few tunes, and the rest is history. My favorite part of playing low brass is the versatility - the fact that I can play Saint-Saens and Beethoven on trombone in an orchestra and then hurry back to Dover to play the gig with the Po Boys the same night.

PMAC: If you were a visual artist, what would your medium be?

Claude: Clay.

(That's mostly a joke because I'm writing this at 3am and have no idea how to answer that.)