Archived under: Random | Annamia Larsson, Emporia Municipal Band, International Horn Society
Hearing the City Band, and on the Road to IHS Illinois
I am on my way to the International Horn Symposium in Illinois, with a multi day stop in Kansas to visit my mother. Last night I went with her to hear a classic sound rooted in the past, the sound of a town band in the park. I heard the concert of the Emporia Municipal Band in their newly rebuilt bandstand, which was built in 1901. The band has its roots in the 1880s, but took its present form in 1941. In fact, one of the members has been in the band since 1941! I played many concerts with the group from late high school into graduate school; little has changed over the years. The crowd was a good mix of older people and younger families with kids and only two trains went by during the concert! As it was the opening concert and the bandstand was being rededicated, I even got to hear a short speech by the mayor who actually was in my high school graduating class. Small world.
Part of what is fascinating about Classical music in general is the aspect of experiencing a music and sound that is from or rooted in the past. The band concert in the park is certainly rooted in the past and community music making. Small town band concerts in the park are not a thing of the past, they can be experienced, take the time to hear one if you have the chance. Also it reconfirms for me that if you play music people want to hear audiences will come; some arts groups seem to miss that basic fact of programming.
I don’t know how my time will look for blogging at the symposium next week, but if I have time and an Internet connection I will try to post. There is a lot going on at the event! One player I am particularly interested to hear is Annamia Eriksson Larsson, co-principal horn of the Royal Opera in Stockholm but well known on the Internet for her great version of the Long Call on YouTube. I have a link to that in my previous post on the topic; if you have not seen it do check it out. In particular I am interested to see how her sound live compares to the impression from YouTube; live horn playing is the best. If you can’t get to this symposium, be sure to get to another one soon, it will impact your approach to horn playing in many ways.
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