A Coat Tale

This article was first posted in the original HTML Horn Notes Blog way back on 9/20/2004 but the topic is timeless.

I gave a recital last night, music of Telemann, Wilder, Poulenc, and Basler. It went pretty well after the first movement of the first piece.

The Telemann Concerto was thoroughly memorized and I was really enjoying playing it on my newly purchased used Paxman descant, which is a much better horn than the descant it replaced. So, what happened to impact how I played that first movement? Not much out of the ordinary (I felt ready for the hall and the audience) except that, suddenly, I was playing in a coat! Everything felt odd, especially sound and response. I quickly got more or less back in the groove, but did not really feel in the groove until I pushed up the right sleeve of the coat on the second half. This helped a lot; things finally felt normal again.

In the previous five or so months I have played many concerts but only one wearing a coat. At Brevard this summer I performed mainly in short sleeves. This time of year in Arizona it is beginning to cool off but it is still short sleeve weather. All my practice has been in short sleeves for many months.

I have seen other male hornists at workshops push their right coat sleeve way up. Verne Reynolds, my teacher at Eastman, did mention to me to be sure to push up the right sleeve in performance and told how he in fact had a coat made with the right sleeve shorter than the left when he played in Cincinnati. Not a bad idea really, and he thought that people in the audience could not tell.

When I played in Nashville I obviously performed in a coat basically all the time. No problem then. Normally, playing in a coat is no big problem but, especially coming out of the summer, guys be sure to practice in your recital coat! Normally I gently mention to female students to be sure to practice in their recital shoes to make sure that they are comfortable and not a distraction. The coat thing is now firmly also on my list of things to mention to students before a performance. Not only was the change of perceived tonal color a distraction, but I believe that it also actually impacted the stability and response of the instrument as well.

Maybe next year I will try a “cooler” outfit for the recital with no coat at all….

The update being that I think I have worn a coat for maybe one recital since that date, and no coat this year for sure!