Random Monday: Remoteness, Gray Areas and Flaming Horns

Remote lessons
While I can’t say for certain that I am a fan of online music lessons – like those done over Skype for instance – in some cases there may be no other choice. For example, in an article from MyWestTexas.com:

“My freshman year at Juilliard, my teacher (David Wakefield) went on tour,” Peterson said in a telephone interview. “And while he was on tour, I was preparing for an audition and still needed lessons so he decided to do lessons through Skype.

“It was beneficial for me. I really needed instruction, and he wasn’t there so it was great that I could still have lessons with him even though he wasn’t around.”

“That made me think — ‘Why couldn’t this service be offered to anyone?’

Playing the horn while majoring in another field
It is always nice to hear a story of a student player who continues to play after school, even when they choose a career outside of music.

There was a time when Matilda Davis was being encouraged to pursue a full-time teaching career in music.

But instead the talented young Orange French horn player decided she wanted to be a nurse.

Now she says she’s enjoying the best of both worlds.

After a year in Peru following the Higher School Certificate she decided a full-time music career wasn’t for her and she enrolled in nursing.

“At the time mum and dad were the only people who didn’t pressure me to make my career in music,” she said.

“It is very hard to make a living full-time as a musician and I think I was being realistic about that.”

Now she’s in her first year of nursing full-time at Orange Health Service and is loving it.

Grants and fundraisers
Many music educators are having to do lots of fundraising in order to maintain or purchase instruments. Occasionally, grants or mini-grants are available through private foundations.

Getting in to the youth orchestra
One added bonus in playing with a youth orchestra is the opportunity to perform a joint concert with the local professional orchestra.

Newark High School junior and French horn player Kelsey Williams has been performing this school year with the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

The RPYO features more than 100 of the most accomplished middle school and high school musicians from over 30 schools in the greater Rochester area.

Remembering back to my own youth, the performances I did with the Indianapolis Symphony left an indelible impression and the experience helped to ignite the flame.

Getting off the grid
Jeffrey Agrell looks forward to the wilderness of the Kendall Betts Horn Camp and with that, having no phone, email or Internet.

Concentrating on the gray areas
I have a bit of a “gray area” in my middle-low range and it is something that I pay a lot of attention to in my practice routine. This holds especially true when my playing season swings into full gear and most of my playing is anchored in the upper registers.

Julia Rose notes:

When I’m not rehearsing, I still need to work on my current weakness (the middle/low range) so I still spend 85% of my time in the middle to low range.

The Clevenger paper
This paper on Dale Clevenger by Margaret Tung has been mentioned a few times around the Internet but it is worth mentioning once again. Having now read the entire document, I am reminded of many things that I learned while studying with Mr. Clevenger.

Random videos

This beagle doesn’t even need the horn out of the case in order to make a ruckus.

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29 ways to stay creative. Some good ideas in here.

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I am not sure why but there seems to be a flourishing interest in flame-throwing brass instruments of late.

That being said, you have to love Elgars’s Pomp and Circumstance done with flaming brass. This gives me some ideas for the next graduation gig I do…

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This Frankenhorn, flame-throwing trombone wins the award for “most deadly.” Pity the poor viola section that sits in front of this one!

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This video begins with a very nice horn feature.

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