Teaching / Coaching – Mary Hammann

OFFERING PROFESSIONAL COACHING FOR ASPIRING YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

Audition training
Achieving your potential
Practical survival techniques

Mary Hammann is experienced in maintaining stamina, concentration and a high level playing technique to meet the challenges of a professional performance career in music. Her wide range of experience as orchestral, chamber music and soloist spans three decades.

She trained with the three viola masters of her day: Karen Tuttle, Walter Trampler and Michael Tree. In particular, the somatic approach of Karen Tuttle inspires her playing: how to use your body and mind in service to the music and the unique sound of the viola. She has maintained her health and quality of playing through her continued journey into the practices of yoga, Pilates and meditation.

Ms. Hammann’s focus in coaching is to bring out the unique individuality of each player, while sharing the tricks of the trade for success.

How to:

Prepare a professional level audition
Focus your mind and calm your nerves
Increase your physical stamina to achieve your playing goals
Care for yourself and prevent injury

Mary Hammann works with each player to construct an individual program of practice to suit short or long-term goals. Your choice of focused technique lessons, audition and orchestral excerpt study is combined with fine-tuning your own support methods of increasing your potential.

Please contact Ms. Hammann for more information and an intake lesson.

COACHING

Ms. Hammann’s focus in coaching is to bring out the unique individuality of each player,
while sharing the tricks of the trade for success.

Mary Hammann works with violists to construct an individual program of practice to suit short or long-term goals. Your choice of focused technique lessons, audition and orchestral excerpt study is combined with fine-tuning your own support methods of increasing your potential.

AUDITION preparation
TECHNIQUE for the long game
AWARENESS of body
CLARITY of mind
EXCELLENCE every time

PREPARE a professional level audition
FOCUS your mind and calm your nerves
INCREASE your physical stamina
PREVENT injury
EXCELLENCE every time

Mary-Hammann-Viola--painting

When I began the process of auditioning for orchestras. I quickly realized that this would require a skill set wholly unlike performance. Of course, perfection in performance is a goal all musicians aspire to each and every time we step onto the concert stage. We prepare diligently and expect excellence from ourselves. Once in performance, inaccuracy is noticed and then ignored while the beauty of music takes over. The hope is that the audience will be swept away by the overall musical gesture. Indeed, the audience usually never remembers or even hears those small mistakes that occur in virtually every performance. This is the reality of performance and musicians come to understand that imperfection is, while an ultimate goal, never the entire story.

Not so with auditions. A modern orchestral audition is about 5-8 minutes long. The expectation is certainly a beautiful rendering of the prepared music, but that aspect recedes to the background. Playing absolutely perfectly is the goal and what will ultimately win a job. It is more like an Olympic sport than a performance and it requires a very specific mind set. During the few minutes a musician has to impress the committee, we must have flawless intonation, excellent rhythmic integrity perfect technique, complete bow control, a thorough knowledge of the excepts, and give a convincing musical interpretation. The music making will be noted by a committee, but what will eliminate a candidate immediately is a small mistake, a flub of the bow, rhythmic inconsistency or one note out of tune. See the difference? When I realized this, then I understood exactly how to succeed.

Mary Hammann’s wealth of experience includes performing as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for more than 25 years, while balancing an active chamber music career. She offers insights and teaches practical skills to help you meet the challenges of a career in musical performance. Mary works with musicians to develop an individual program to suit their short and long-term goals. Her coaching focuses on encouraging each player’s individuality, while at the same time, sharing proven techniques she has established as key components for success.