Happy Valentine's Day from SlideShow!

To celebrate Valentine’s Day we made a trombone (and trumpet!) version of the Nat King Cole/Frank Sinatra classic, “L-O-V-E”. It was a natural choice when trying to select a video to make for Valentine’s Day. I wrote the arrangement for the song and it was originally my idea to have it be an all trombone arrangement, like most of SlideShow’s videos. But then, I changed my mind and decided to play the famous “trumpet solo” on trumpet instead! I thought it would be a fun gag and a nice throwback to the original song. I have been “secretly” playing trumpet for years. Mostly while teaching lessons and in the privacy of my own house… This video is my trumpet debut to the public, so I am very excited about it!

This video was a huge team effort between a lot of people. My husband, Patrick Chappell, also plays trombone and bass trombone in the video. Our friend, Andrew McCormick, who is a trumpet player from the U.S. Navy Band, surprised us all with his acting chops in his role of Reginald. He kept us laughing the whole shoot! Adam Byars, a fellow trombonist with the U.S. Navy Band, directed our video. His creativity and attention to detail really brought the video to life. Last but not least, my sister-in-law, Ellen Chappell, edited the video and designed our graphics.

Here is our version of “L-O-V-E”! Be a Valentine and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

One Piece Oto Utage Videos

This is not “new news” but I wanted to post some videos from last years’ One Piece Oto Utage show that I haven’t shared yet. The first video is the original promo video for the tour that I filmed with some other cast members at Fuji TV. The second video is our performance with Teppei Koike at the 2018 FNS Music Festival, which also aired on Fuji TV. This was such a fun show to be a part of! Enjoy!

2019 ABODA Regional and All-State Audition Etudes

Continuing SlideShow’s etude recording project, here are a couple videos I recorded for the 2019 ABODA (Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association) Regional and All-State Band auditions. Like our TMEA and DoDEA video series, these videos are made for auditioning students to use a reference in their preparation. I was very happy to record these etudes for my home state of Arizona! It was great to talk to so many local Arizona music educators about this project. (Many of whom are my friends, colleagues and past teachers!) I am glad know they were able to share them personally with their students.

To see more audition etudes and other trombone videos check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: SlideShow

2/9/19 Live with ゼロゼロイチハチ (Zero Zero Ichi Hachi)

My next live performance is on Saturday 2/9 with ゼロゼロイチハチ (Zero Zero Ichi Hachi) at Green Apple in Koenji. Zero Zero Ichi Hachi is a trombone ensemble created by Japanese YouTuber Aki-C. At this concert we will be playing many of Aki-C’s trombone arrangements made famous by his YouTube videos. The members will perform in many different combinations from duets, all the way up to a full trombone octet! I am very excited to play in this concert because it’s been a long time since I have gotten to play in a trombone ensemble of this size. The more trombones, the better! Something that makes this group very unique is there are 7 female trombonists! This is the first time in my life that I have ever seen 7 female trombonists in the same room, it's very cool.

Also - I LOVE the music! The arrangements are really fun. We are playing music from Studio Ghibli, Disney, and more. The pieces I am most looking forward to performing are 海の見える街 (A Town with an Ocean View) from Kiki’s Delivery Service and 人生のメリーゴーランド (The Merry-go-round of Life) from Howl’s Moving Castle. We will also be performing I Just Can’t Wait to Be King from The Lion King. This is the live version of the video that Aki-C and I made together last year. You can check out my post about that project here: I Just Can’t Wait to Be King

Below is the event flyer and a video of one of the songs we will be performing. Please send me a message if you would like you come!

DoDEA Pacific Honor Band Audition Etudes

After the positive feedback we received from our TMEA All-State videos, we have decided to make more etude reference videos for other states and districts. I am very excited to grow this project! In Yokosuka, Japan, where I live now, there are military schools that American children can attend. I did not even know these school districts existed until 2 years ago. The school district is called DoDEA, Department of Defense Education Activity. Since living in Yokosuka, I have built relationships and worked with many of the DoDEA music educators. I recorded these etudes for the kids to reference for their upcoming Pacific Honor Band auditions. It has been fun to share these videos with the kids personally and watch them get excited about their auditions. I have also learned, KIDS LOVE YOUTUBE! I mean, so do I, but WOW! I had no idea.

Please enjoy and feel free to share these videos with any music educators or students. I am also very interested in hearing your thoughts about this etude recording project. Please send me a message in the contact section of my website if you have any input. Next up is my home state of Arizona!

1/12/19 Live with STKORN

I will be playing with STKORN for their one year anniversary show at Roppongi Birdland. I am super excited about this show. The music is so fun! I hope to see you there.

Last Christmas for pBone

Here is SlideShow’s newest YouTube video, just in time for Christmas! I made an arrangement of Wham!’s Last Christmas for pBones. This video was made in collaboration with Japanese trombonist, arranger and YouTuber, Aki-C. This is the second collaboration we have done together.

After our first video collaboration on I Just Can’t Wait to Be King, I knew I wanted to do another video project together soon. With Christmas just around the corner, a Christmas tune was the natural choice. I have had a green pBone for years and when I found out Aki-C had a red one, it was just too perfect - Christmas colors! I knew at that moment, if we were going to do this, it just had to be on pBones! I asked him what his favorite Christmas song was… he thought about it for a second… and told me Wham!’s Last Christmas. It wasn’t at all what I expected, or even thought of when it comes to Christmas music (I even had to sing the tune back to him to make sure I had the right one haha), but hey, I went with it!

Since Aki-C arranged our last collaboration song, it was my turn! I originally intended to write this song as a trombone quartet. But as I was arranging, I hated having to “take away” notes from the harmony to have someone play the melody and counter melody lines. So I kept adding parts… what I eventually ended up with was a trombone quartet that functioned as the rhythm section, then added the solo and “extra” parts on top. Trombone 4 was naturally the bass, and trombones 1,2, and 3 functioned as the keyboard part. We traded off on the melody line, and then I added one more part just to get in all those little extra parts I just had to have. I’m pretty happy with how the final product turned out. The red and green pBones MADE this video and Aki-C’s pro YouTuber audio mixing skills took it to the next level. Please enjoy Last Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

See you next year!

-Lisa

Beethoven 9 at the Yokosuka Arts Theatre - 12/9

Tomorrow (12/9) I will be playing Beethoven 9 at the Yokosuka Arts Theatre with the Yokosuka Symphony. This will be my third time playing this annual concert! In Japan, playing Beethoven 9 in December is somewhat of a tradition. Here is the event flyer!

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch is the first 2018 Christmas video release from SlideShow!. I chose to arrange this song because How the Grinch Stole Christmas was my favorite childhood Christmas movie. I will never get sick of it! I am also a big fan of the 2000 Jim Carrey version. I have wanted to arrange this song for a long time, and with the new Grinch movie coming out this year, I knew the time was now. I also wanted to make this arrangement a bass trombone feature to showcase my husband Patrick’s sweet bass trombone skills.

In this video, Patrick, our friend James Brownell (aka Brownie), and I make our best attempts to be “Grinches” haha. This video really was a group effort. Our friends Andrew and Regina McCormick graciously let us invade their beautifully Christmas-decorated home. I have no Christmas decorations in my home, well, because I’m a Grinch! Andrew, Gina, and Brownie also let us steal things from their kids. The two older boys, Luke and Max, had to be bribed the whole time with candy. Ben, the baby, was the real star of the shoot and nailed his performance in one take. We all got a kick out of that! I hope they are not traumatized… but hey, it was in the name of art.

I hope you enjoy the video and Merry Christmas!

TMEA All-State Etudes

As some of you may know, my husband, Patrick (who is also a trombonist!), is from Texas. He had the idea for us to record the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) All-State Band audition etudes for trombone. The purpose of us sharing these etude videos is to provide high school students who are auditioning a reference they can use in their preparation. Too often in music education children only get a sound and musical reference from their peers. I believe that is one of the reasons people take so long to master an instrument. (I am still working on it everyday)! Victor Wooten talks a lot about this concept in his book, The Music Lesson. In elementary music classes, kids only hear other elementary students playing instruments, therefore they never excel beyond that level. In junior high, they are exposed to a slightly higher level of musically performing peers, and so on. In a small effort to break this cycle, I hope these videos can be of use to young aspiring trombonists.

We have posted these videos on our YouTube channel, SlideShow! In addition to our fun trombone ensemble videos that we love making, we also want to make it a goal to promote music education. Here is my interpretation of one of the 2018-2019 TMEA Etudes:

To see the rest of the etude videos we made and more you can visit our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI1z7hPImjFYeInJpPMZR0w

Make sure to subscribe to be up to date on all of our latest videos!

Thriller, Newest Video from SlideShow!

I hope you all had a happy Halloween, I know I did! Halloween is my favorite holiday, so it was only natural that we made a SlideShow! video to celebrate the occasion. I made this video with my husband, Patrick Chappell. One of our cats, Mars, makes a special cameo at the end. We were messing around while filming the video and afterward decided that scene just had to be in! Haha, we were laughing so hard. I think the cat lovers of the world will like it.

Here is our newest video, Thriller! After you watch, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Help us get to 100 subscribers so we can make a custom URL for our channel. Thank you for your support and enjoy!

I Just Can't Wait to Be King

For my latest project, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, I teamed up with trombonist, arranger and YouTuber, Aki-C. I met Aki-C in June of this year in Osaka at the DUT (Device Under Test) Laboratory show. Patrick and I were performing at the event with DUT as guest artists, and Aki-C was performing with his band, STKORN. I went to see STKORN for a second time, live in Tokyo last month. After the show Aki-C asked me if I would collaborate on a YouTube project with him, and of course I said yes! This is a song I’ve been wanting to record for a while, I always thought it would sound cool on trombone. Aki-C’s arrangement turned out great and his video making process was seamless. We had so much fun making this video together, despite the ever so present English-Japanese language barrier, haha. There were many hilarious moments along the way, and we learned, when in doubt, draw a picture! Here is a picture Aki-C sent me when we were “discussing” camera angles.

And here is the final product! Please enjoy our version of “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” from Disney’s The Lion King. While you’re at it, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channels for more fun trombone videos!

Back Bone Live at Keystone Club Tokyo

I will be playing with Back Bone this Sunday, 10/21, at Keystone Club Tokyo. This is going to be a great show - there is a lot going on! Back Bone will be performing many funk, jazz, and pop tunes in their usual formation - 5 trombones and rhythm section. In addition to the trombone ensemble, this show will include vocals by Mariko Yamagata and will also feature guest artists Motoyuki Koseki from Steinway Piano and tap dancer Tsubura Yoshida. But wait, there’s more! Contemporary trombonist Barrie Webb from the U.K. will be visiting Japan and performing two amazing solos at the event. You can check out his website here: https://barriewebbtrombone.wordpress.com/

If you are in the Tokyo area and love trombones (I mean, who doesn’t?! There will be a total of 7 trombonists performing at this event!), funk music, tap dancing or are just looking to have fun, you should come check out this show! Here is a link to the Facebook event invite with details: https://www.facebook.com/events/2064903670207960/

I hope to see you there!

Back Bone Live at Papera 9/26/18

Hello everyone! I will be playing with Back Bone live at Papera in Shinjuku on 9/26. This is a special formation of Back Bone - acapella trombone ensemble! We will be playing many tunes arranged for 3, 4, and 5 trombones. It is a fun setlist that includes music from many different genres - classical, jazz, Broadway, movies, T.V., and pop. Masahiro “Billy” Kato, the groups’ leader, did most of the arrangements, but we will be playing some of my arrangements as well! The event flyer is below, I hope to see you there!

Back Bone normally plays in a completely different formation - a trombone quintet with a full rhythm section and vocals. You can check them out on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/backbonetrb/

One Piece Oto Utage ワンピース音宴

I am super excited to announce that I will be performing in the brand new show, One Piece Oto Utage (ワンピース音宴). The show opens on 8/12 at the Tokyo International Forum and will run until 9/2. If you are in Tokyo this show is a must see! One Piece Oto Utage integrates live musicians, animation and actors playing your favorite characters from the One Piece anime. Every song is a smash hit (so fun to play!) and the way the One Piece story is portrayed in the show is really heartwarming. 

Working on this show has been a long journey for me. I started doing promotional recordings and events in February of this year. We are just now wrapping up a 7 week rehearsal process that took place in both Tokyo and Yamagata. It is time to open this show! I can't wait!

otoutage.com

Check out the latest promo video for the show:

DUT Laboratory #3

This weekend in Osaka, Patrick and I will be performing as the SlideShow! Duet Version at DUT Laboratory #3. The shows will take place on 6/2 and 6/3 at the Creative Center Osaka, Black Chamber. DUT (Device Under Test) is an innovative and unique Japanese band that has hosted this event for three years in a row. Patrick and I are are honored to be performing as guests artists at this event. We will be playing our own set, as well as performing a few songs with the DUT band. This show also features the top performers from the marching band and drum corps scene in Japan. Please check out the above flyer for the event details and if you are in Osaka, I hope to see you there! 

SlideShow! Presents: Pokémon

Here is our first video release under our new name, SlideShow! I arranged the Pokémon theme song for trombone quartet and drum set. In addition to the music, this video contains a noteworthy performance by Guillermo Ramirez as Ash Ketchum.

We are all huge Pokémon fans! We grew up watching the cartoons, playing the games and trading the cards. In 2016 our childhood love for Pokémon reawakened when PokémonGo came out for iPhone. At that time time we were in rehearsals for the show Blast! The Music of Disney. We would spend our lunch and dinner breaks together wondering around "catching" Pokémon. 

This past summer, when Blast! The Music of Disney toured Japan, we continued to play together fighting gym battles, doing raids and giving those friendly reminders to open your apps while walking to the convenie. Ben Owens and I would even go running everyday with our PokémonGo apps open to hatch eggs. Hey, it's a great way to stay fit! 

I want to use this blog to give a little more insight to the inspiration behind my arrangements for SlideShow! There is a story behind every arrangement, and if you care to read, it might make you love the songs just as much as we do. Please enjoy Pokémon! Feel free to share and spread the word about SlideShow!. We're just getting started. 

The Bone Zone is now SlideShow!

The Bone Zone has now been renamed and rebranded as SlideShow!

SlideShow!, formerly The Bone Zone, is a collection of trombonists from all over the world. At one point or another, in many different combinations, we have all played with each other in the same place! But time moves on, people take different gigs and people move to different places. We have always had so much fun playing together that we wanted to keep the party going. Utilizing the ever evolving world of technology, we are a modern day assembly of musicians that show that anything is possible! We arrange, record, produce music videos, and of course communicate with each from around the globe. We play what we want to play - our favorite songs and music from our favorite TV shows, movies, Broadway musicals and even trombone repertoire. All of which have special meanings to us as a group. So please enjoy our videos, share, like, subscribe and come join the party!

You can follow SlideShow! on social media to keep up with our latest projects, news about the members, and lots of other trombone fun!

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