Horn Players Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins

Horn soloist and composer Lawrence Lowe was in Tempe yesterday, where he performed two solos (the “traditional version” of the Mozart Concert Rondo [without the sixty newly discovered bars] and the third movement of his Sonata No. 1 for horn) with the Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble (a community group) and presented a version of his “Horn players guide to the seven deadly sins” lecture to the ASU horn studio. Professor Lowe serves on the faculty at Brigham Young University and has an excellent solo CD and several published works to his credit.

His performance was excellent but I would like to focus in this post on his presentation. I have previous posts in my “old” blog that relate to this presentation, which I first heard in 2003. Since then he has kept tweaking the presentation, with more of a focus on sins of behavior.

As I have blogged on this before, I just want to highlight a few of the current list of sins.

Damaging the muscles. Don’t damage your face, especially by showing off on difficult works or with too much playing. The lips are fairly delicate muscles, take care of them! You can usually rebuild after an injury but it is better to not injure the chops in the first place.

Beware of equipment cults. Pick horns and mouthpieces that others out there are making money playing and just practice. But, that said, don’t be stuck on playing one exact type of horn or mouthpiece, as playing the model XX horn or mouthpiece is not the only route to success.

Cramming. You can’t “cram” in practice. You have to keep your chops together, always ready to go. As a part of keeping your chops healthy there is a lot of value in a light day of playing. Muscles need time to rebuild. One light day a week (warming up only) is a really good idea as a part of your routine. A day off here and there is also perfectly fine!

Gig swapping. This is a tough one, but as much as possible try not to swap gigs. Keep honest with contractors, it will pay off in the end.

Staying home. This was an important point I think, as many students especially don’t get out to horn events, competitions, workshops, etc. Be places, do things, take risks. Often opportunity comes when you step out from your comfort zone.