For the body of this post we go way back in the archives to the first year of the Horn Notes Blog. Conductors are an enigma in many ways. Certainly they really want the right notes, but there is more to it than that. Back on 8/27/2004 I posted another insight into what they are looking for which it might be timely to consider again as besides this being prime season for performances there are a number of auditions underway for schools, summer programs, etc. I have a few more new comments at the end of this post as well.
I was talking to a friend, a professional trumpet player, this past weekend and he brought up an interesting point/question–what do conductors want to hear? As horn players we can all come up with one answer really quickly, the right notes!! But he had a deeper answer which I suggested to all the horn students I worked with last week preparing for ensemble placement auditions which was helpful I believe in making the auditions the strongest I have heard from the ASU horn studio to date.
So, what is the answer? What do conductors want to hear? Conductors want to hear your interpretation. Really, it can even be an interpretation that a horn player might consider to be odd or flawed in some way but a conductor will accept it as being your interpretation and may buy it. At least you didn’t sound bland.
If you focus on communicating an interpretation in an audition this can be a major key to actually getting your musical point across to a listener and not sounding generic or overly conservative. My point last week was not to tell ASU horn students to do my interpretation, playing like musical parrots, but instead to get an interpretation across to the conductors that you are in fact playing for. There were students who sounded relatively more aggressive and more refined in approach but at least they all had an approach!! No one was in the “bland” range that we hear much too often in auditions.
Besides ensemble placements at schools, summer festival placements are also usually chosen by conductors. Want to win a slot? Give the conductor an interpretation! At most every professional orchestral job the winner is chosen essentially by the conductor in the final round. Yes, conductors want to hear the right notes for sure. But always give them an interpretation.
Following up further, I have tried lots of different ways to communicate to students that you have to have character in your playing. Bland is bland! Who likes bland horn playing? While in the end a conductor might actually prefer bland but accurate performance with good rhythm, try always to show more.
Recently also in studio class the topic of compression in recordings was mentioned. Recordings do give a false impression of the range of dynamics you need to master as soft and loud are modified in mastering to create a product that is closer to mid range dynamic all the time. This is why it is really important to actually hear live, professional horn players from time to time to have an accurate impression of the dynamics you need to actually master fully. That you have these dynamics mastered does not mean you blare away all the time either, it just means that you have the full range of dynamics ready in any situation so that you can easily give a conductor any interpretation they want.
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#1 by Bruce Richards on 01/30/2010 - 6:27 AM
I took two great things away from one summer at the Aspen Festival. The first was the experience of sitting next to real professional horn players. Hearing just how loud, and more importantly how soft they played. What are the real dynamic ranges that you have to play as a professional at the highest level. The second came directly from David Wakefield. He said always play the first rehearsal as if it was the concert. Look the conductor in the eye just before your entrance. This will give him confidence in you and if all goes well he will probably leave you alone.
#2 by Bruce Richards on 01/30/2010 - 7:08 AM
In regards to auditions; I can’t remember how many boring Mozart concertos I have heard on an audition committee. (not just horn) People “playing it safe” to get to the next round. Once they got there the majority failed to impress in the excerpts. Playing if safe is a mentality which can infiltrate your subconscious and affect all of your playing. It is a dangerous decision to make.
#3 by John Ericson on 01/30/2010 - 8:47 AM
#1 I love the quote from Wakefield. For disclosure, I also studied with Wakefield that same summer in Aspen and it was for me as well as for #1 a life turning point. At some point I should post more about that specific summer and the lessons and memories retained.
One other point I wish I had made is that often students honestly believe they are making big contrasts but they are not, the contrasts are totally felt but not actually heard by listeners. There is a point were your contrasts go over the top but they need to be big enough to be easily heard.
#4 by Jeffrey Agrell on 02/02/2010 - 6:33 AM
Very true. I often tell students to make enough dynamic contrast in your playing to get those folks in the back of the hall who have been texting the whole time to look up and notice that something interesting is happening and make them want to listen to the story you’re telling. It may feel like a lot to you, but for some unknown psychoacoustic law of the universe, it barely gets out to the cheap seats.
#5 by Jennifer Hyde on 02/03/2010 - 6:55 AM
I studied with David Wakefield this past summer at the Aspen Music Festival. I learned so much from sitting next to him in orchestra! My idea of dynamic contrasts and a top professionals idea were not the same. It wasn’t only the loud playing that impressed me, but also the sustained quiet, AIR-DRIVEN playing.
#6 by John Ericson on 02/03/2010 - 4:25 PM
The summer that #1 was in Aspen was my second summer there and I remember vividly playing fourth horn on Leonore 3 with #1 on third and Wakefield on first. I learned so much those summers. One thing I often tell people is that with the right summer event and hard work you can make a semester of progress easily. I know I improved tremendously over my undergrad years from a fairly average music business major at a small college to working on a Masters at Eastman. Hard work with good teachers and mentors does pay off.
#7 by Jonathan West on 02/03/2010 - 5:28 PM
I remember very many years ago, I was 1st horn in the University of London Orchestra, and the BBC came along to record one of our concerts for their “Youth Orchestras of the World” series.
We were playing the symphonic dances from West Side Story. I thought I had done a nice projected solo in “Somewhere”, but when I heard it on the broadcast it didn’t come through nearly as strongly as I had imagined it would. It was a very good lesson – what sounds right to you is not enough as heard from the back of the hall – so you have to play “too much” and then it will sound right.
One very good way of mastering the art of playing soft enough is to play regularly in a wind quintet. It is very easy to overbalance the woodwind players, especially as the horn often is just filling in the middle of the harmonies. Blending right is far harder with just 4 other players than with a whole orchestral string section in front of you.