Excluding the 1st concerto (which has no slow movement to speak of) what is your favorite?

Take our informal poll at the bottom of this page and view the live results immediately!

* * *

Examples

Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417
Hermann Baumann (natural horn); Nikolaus Harnoncourt, CMW [2/3]

* * *

Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major, K. 447
Alan Civil; Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra
(The slow movement begins at the 7:06 mark.)

* * *

Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major, K. 495
Barry Tuckwell; Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
(The slow movement begins at the 7:25 mark.

* * *

Take the Poll!

* * *

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But before getting started, an agenda for consistent testing was needed in order to determine as fairly as possible what horns played the best. Based on my own personal and subjective set of standards, I wanted to come up with a wish list of what I would deem as “top gear” for this conference.

Keep it simple

Basic scales and arpeggios can tell a lot about a horn.

With even the simplest patterns, one can quickly and fairly judge intonation, response and many other determining factors. Myself, I prefer basics over solos or excerpts for one simple reason: to concentrate less on performing and more on critical evaluation.

Sometimes moving a slide or two may be involved. On my first morning of trials at the SWHC for instance, a door was open and the room was relatively cold; moving slides was a necessity on that occasion.

Bad notes

Next on the agenda is to find out if the horn has any weak spots, and in particular, any bad notes. Geyer-wrap horns, for example, can be fairly notorious for a few particular quirks and here is what I go for right away:

• Does the horn have a high B-flat?
• How is the high A and what fingering works best?

Geyer from Pope Instruments

On older horns too, grabbing the stop-arm rotor and giving it a good shake back-and-forth can reveal if there is wiggle-room in the valve. If the valves are tight, there will be little or no movement.

At the SWHC, this original Geyer with rebuilt valves and a new lead pipe by Ron Pinc was on Ken Pope‘s table. I played on it for a good while and enjoyed listening to others play on it too.

The valves seemed very tight and there were no bad notes to speak of. Characteristic of an original Carl Geyer horn in good shape, the tone felt like warm melted butter and it is well worth the price.

This horn is for sale from Pope Instruments, and another horn on the same table that caught my strong attention was the Paxman 25LGD.

I had never tried a dual bore horn before and thoroughly enjoyed the F-side of this instrument, among many other things. The Paxman 25LGD is a large-bore horn and it had a very open and free feel and response.

‘Wow’ factor

For any make or model of horn, I also like to slowly toggle between the different sides of the instrument to see how they do (or do not) line up. Again, moving a slide or two might be necessary. Be sure to give that a try before giving up altogether and putting a tester horn back down.

Patterson Custom Double

One of my favorite tests for Kruspe wraps in particular is to play a few loud forte-pianos and sfortzandos. I do this to see if the instrument can get some color and sizzle with having to work too hard for it.

If the horn just says ‘wow’ instead of WOW! I put it down and walk away.

One horn that had me saying WOW was the Patterson Custom Double. This was easily one of the best horns at the show. The Patterson Custom Double has the open feel of most Conn horns, but it contains plenty of sizzle and power for when it is needed.

Tone quality flows evenly throughout: the high range did not get shrieky and the low range did not feel stuffy or sound tubby.

Be aware of bias, stay open for surprises

Back in the day, the word fink was a pejorative for someone who is a tattle-tale and rats out their friends. You dirty rotten fink! Pinko commie fink!

This bias, I must sheepishly admit, has always been in my mind whenever I see or hear the brand name Finke  - and so to be fair, I had to put that aside and actually sit down and try one out.

Thankfully I put asunder my rather childish hangup and decided to try out the Finke Americus horn at the Osmun Music table. It was a nice surprise and a very fun horn to play on.

Finke Americus from Osmun Music

The Americus model is described as a large-bore Geyer-wrap design and it is made in nickel-silver. The tone quality and intonation felt even and smooth in all ranges.

Unfortunately, my camera lens had a smudge on it, but there is plenty of information at the Osmun Music site on the Finke Americus.

I felt an immediacy to the response of this horn, one that really intrigued me the more I played on it. The tone glows and radiates like an Engelbert Schmid double horn, but with perhaps more depth and weight.

Ultimately, the big lesson for me with the Finke Americus was that preconceived notions about a horn can lead to missed opportunities. I look forward to trying one of these horns out again.

* * *

In Part II: Custom lead pipes, my favorite Conn horn and the dilemma of the Schmid double horn.

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Overall trend: Jan. 1, 2011 - Dec. 5, 2011. Click for a larger view.

To accurately monitor web traffic to and from Horn Matters, several different statistical tools are used: Google Analytics, StatCounter and the built-in server stats provided by our hosting service. What follows are a few charts and graphs which illustrate the general trends based on the results from these tools.

Comparing 2011 to 2010

We begin by looking at the big picture – - comparing page loads (how many times a page is seen), unique visits (the actual number of visitors) and return visits for 2010 and for the first 11 months of 2011 (stats to date).

This chart indicates that our traffic has increased significantly – about 20% from 2010 to 2011. For the year 2011 alone, these numbers averaged out, per person to:

• 2.58 pages per visit
• Just over 3 minutes average time on site

Top countries of origin

Taking this statistical data and sorting it by country of origin produces the following results for the top 17 countries.

Roughly 80% of web traffic to Horn Matters generates from the USA and while this is nothing to scoff at, we hope this will change over time. We aspire to appeal to all walks of life in as many geographic regions as possible.

Browsers

One interesting trend to look at is the drop-off in use of the web browser Internet Explorer and the increase in use of Google Chrome.

In previous years IE dominated the rankings and Chrome barely registered as a blip on the radar. In 2011, IE has dropped from the #1 spot and is currently tied with Apple’s Safari browser. For web programmers and designers, IE is more-or-less reviled as a browser and speaking for myself, I am quite happy that fewer people are using it.

Looking at the top 7 browsers:

Frequency

Among our returning visitors, most check in on a daily or semi-daily basis.

Top 35 Items of Interest for 2011

Closing out this overview here are the Top 35 items of interest on the Horn Matters site for 2011, according to unique visits.

* * *

One item in particular that stands out to me is #12 – for an article that was only posted a few days ago, this is (relatively speaking) viral in terms of its ranking for the whole year.

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This is a topic I have been asked about several times this fall semester and is one that it is important to develop tactics to master and to help students master. As it was a topic on my mind I noticed in particular a new post last week on Andrew’s Hitz on the topic of “Sight-Reading: Shifting Priorities.” His brief discussion gets at one first import tactic that it is important to apply, that of finding the groove of the rhythm.

It has been my experience that many musicians and especially students focus on the wrong things when sight-reading a piece of music. The main focus for many, whether intentional or not, is hitting the right notes. But from a purely technical standpoint there is another aspect of the music which is significantly more important than note accuracy and that is the rhythms.

If I could choose to sight-read a piece of music with a musician who either plays all of the right pitches or nails all of the rhythms I would choose the latter every single time. A player who sight-reads with great groove and rhythmic confidence will make everyone around them feel more confident. [Emphasis original.]

Hitz goes on in his article to point out a tactic to build groove, that of playing the work to be sight-read on one note. This may be also done very effectively with wind patterns, air only. The idea is to feel the groove first; it can help a great deal.

This brings up two related tips right away as well–don’t stop and start on the right note! The one, giant pet peeve basically everyone hates is hearing people stop when they miss. Keep that groove going, don’t stop. As to the first note, this is a particular issue for horn players as it is frighteningly easy to start on the wrong harmonic. Develop a tactic to find the first note. This may involve using reference notes such as the concert B-flat tuning note as comparison points. But be sure mentally that you have the pitch of the first note visualized very clearly.

When I talk about sight-reading with students I go back to my own experiences as a student working on sight-reading. I am not a great reader of music and never will be. I really don’t like to sight-read. As a professional there are two types of gigs; ones that need sight-reading skills, and ones that don’t. One thing I really liked about playing full time in the Nashville Symphony was that the contract guaranteed that we would have music available well before the first service. The take away being I basically never needed to sight-read on the job there; I could listen to any new work before the rehearsal if needed and could work on anything that looked tricky before the first rehearsal. But I did need to sight-read when I was called for session work. I always managed then but it was the element I least liked about that type of work and is also part of why I am not a big fan of sitting down and reading horn duos and quartets and such. It is not fun. In any event, while not really a tactic to develop sight-reading, it can be a tactic to develop your career: avoid sight-reading on the job if possible.

It has never been my strength. Early on in my college studies a teacher suggested reading a book on speed reading to develop sight-reading, and one general tactic I picked up there was that of looking for groupings of notes. When you have played horn a while you have played a lot of music, and when you see familiar patterns in music those are headlines to hang on to as you read ahead.

A book I made some use of later as a student was by hornist Nicholas Perrini (but edited for all treble clef brass) Develop Accuracy Through Sightreading. I recently got it back out and was interested to see the tactics he presents. The central one involves scanning in general and more specifically “a triangular motion at the beginning of each etude” where you start a ways in (at the first logical breathing point), then look back to any markings at the top of the beginning of the etude, then down to the bottom of the opening, and finally track back over the music to the first breathing point. With the idea that you study the beginning a bit and skim over the rest of the work looking at:

1. Key signature(s)
2. Time signature(s)
3. Tempo (Phrases)
4. Breathing places
5. Dynamics and articulation
6. Accidentals or other unusual notations

Perrini explains this tactic further in his text, which also contains 39 etudes suited to sight-reading practice. Of course, you can sight read almost anything and that would be the final tactic; in your warm-up or somewhere in your practice make a specific effort to sight read something. I ultimately when I was a student made the most specific use of the Cafarelli trumpet etudes, but that was mostly related to having a copy and it fit the right groove for me in that context.

It is a skill that must be honed. To review, seven tactics to develop sight-reading are

1. Find the groove
2. Don’t stop
3. Start on the right note
4. Avoid sight-reading on the job
5. Look for groupings
6. Scanning and the triangle
7. Practice sight-reading

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As someone who works in marketing and advertising, I respect the value and power of word-of-mouth opinion. While big-name consumer brands – like McDonald’s and Sony - manipulate popular opinion and end-purchasing through detailed marketing strategies, the same is not completely true in the much smaller universe of horns and musical instruments.

I doubt that in our lifetime for example, that we will ever see television commercials, bus signs or billboards that advertise orchestral instruments, let alone a specific instrument like the French horn.

What drives a person to try out a different horn?

In my own observations, the initial motivation to try out a new instrument – whether it be a professional player, student or enthusiast – appears to be based wholly on what a player hears or feels about a certain brand. While a limited amount of advertising avenues for horn makers exist in order to drive opinion – banner ads, artist endorsements and trade journal advertising as examples – for the most part their sales rely heavily on word-of-mouth opinion.

Under this rule, popular opinion can make or break a company’s brand and in more extreme cases, its reputation.

Whether or not this opinion is accurate or based in fact is beside the point – if someone simply believes that a certain horn does not play well, they probably will not even consider a trial session to play on it. Even if they do try it out, that trial will be biased and therefore, tainted.

To quantify this theory and test it out further, a survey titled “What Brand Names Do You Trust?” collected the opinions of 392 participants. The results are in and while it may take some time to process a full report, here are some overview statistics to think about in the meantime.

The survey

392 participants were surveyed on list of 33 brand names.

• Alexander
• Atkinson
• Balu
• Berg
• Cantesanu
• Conn (Abilene TX 1969-86)
• Conn (Eastlake OH 1986-present)
• Conn (Elkhart IN 1937-1969)
• Cornford
• Dieter-Otto
• Dürk
• Eastman
• Finke
• Geyer
• Holton
• Hoyer
• Jupiter
• Kalison
• King
• Kortesmaki
• Kruspe
• Kühn
• Lawson
• Lewis
• McCracken
• Patterson
• Paxman
• Rauch
• Schmid
• Schmidt
• Sorley
• Willson
• Yamaha

Participants were asked the simple question of “Do you believe this brand to produce quality French horns?” Four options were given as answers:

• Yes
• No
• I have no opinion
• I have never heard of it

Quality and motorcycles

The key term in the survey question was the word “quality.” It was chosen with a very deliberate purpose.

Like beauty, the perception of a horn’s quality is in the eye of the beholder. It could mean any number of things – from how the instrument is constructed, to how it actually plays. It is not an objective term and to a certain degree, neither is the preference to choose one brand of horn over another.

From the book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence” (1974) we have Pirsig’s metaphysics of Quality to consider:

“Quality,” or “value,” as described by Pirsig, cannot be defined because it empirically precedes any intellectual construction of it. Quality is the “knife-edge” of experience, known to all. “What distinguishes good and bad writing? Do we need to ask this question of Lysias or anyone else who ever did write anything?” (Plato’s Phaedrus, 258d).

Equating it with the Tao, Pirsig postulates that Quality is the fundamental force in the universe stimulating everything from atoms to animals to evolve and incorporate ever greater levels of Quality. According to the MOQ, everything (including ideas, and matter) is a product and a result of Quality.

The big question

What is a quality French horn?

In short, we know it when we see it and that is really the only viable answer.

This survey and its results are not intended as a popularity contest or as a list of recommended horns and it should not be viewed as such. In this regard, surveying what people people perceive about a particular brand is a very valid study and when looking at the results, the old axiom of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” should be kept in mind.

However, if I were an existing company whose brand name appears within this study, I would be paying very close attention to its results and also to what might be done to sustain, reinforce or in some cases, rebuild my company’s brand and image.

This all being said, here are some preliminary results to think about.

High and low meta-scores

The top eight most recognized brands:

1. Holton (100%)
2. Yamaha (99%)
3. Conn (98%)
4. Alexander (98%)
5. Paxman (98%)
6. Hoyer (95%)
7. Jupiter  (95%)
8. King  (94%)

The bottom eight least recognized brands:

1. Sorley  (227 votes)
2. Kortesmaki  (213 votes)
3. Cornford  (199 votes)
4. Cantesanu  (196 votes)
5. Kalison (195 votes)
6. Willson (180 votes)
7. McCracken (157 votes)
8. Eastman (149 votes)

The top eight brands most perceived to produce quality horns:

1. Alexander (346 votes)
2. Paxman (346 votes)
3. Schmid (306 votes)
4. Conn – Elkhart IN 1937-1969 (305 votes)
5. Geyer (292 votes)
6. Hoyer (281 votes)
7. Yamaha  (280 votes)
8. Kruspe  (265 votes)

The bottom eight brands least perceived to produce quality horns:

1. Jupiter  (275 votes)
2. Conn – Abilene TX 1969-86  (167 votes)
3. King  (163 votes)
4. Conn – Eastlake OH 1986-present  (135 votes)
5. Holton  (133 votes)
6. Eastman  (102 votes)
7. Kalison  (76 votes)
8. Yamaha  (69 votes)

More to come

These results are only a beginning. Since participants were grouped into age and experience sub-sets, there will be plenty of more data to look at and cross-compare in a full report, coming either this Friday or sometime next week.

Buying or selling something?

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* * *

Crunching the numbers from the report Name Recognition, Influence and Age Groups in the Online (French) Horn Community, another layer of the onion is peeled away for us to look at.

Survey takers were asked a simple Yes or No question to a list of known horn players in our field. Respondents were categorized into age groups in order to detect any bias or gap between the generations of horn players who participated in the survey.

Embedded below are five Appendix pages that will get added to the initial report.

Click on EXPAND in the middle of the image below to get started.

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• Ken Pope Repair
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• Andrew Bain
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• Stefan Dohr
• Annamia Eriksson
• Ronald Janezic
• Richard King
• Frank Lloyd
• Philip Meyers
• Jennifer Montone
• Marie Luise Neunecker
• Marc Papeghin
• Steve Park
• David Pyatt
• Arkady Shilkloper
• James Sommerville
• James Thatcher
• Richard Todd
• Tom Varner
• Frøydis Ree Wekre
• Robert Ward
• Gail Williams
• Sarah Willis

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A great way to reign yourself in is to set specific goals. Goal setting is a great tool to plan for the future, and for motivating oneself to do the necessary work in order to achieve the goal.

From the Mind Tools web site:

Creating and planning out goals can help you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You’ll also quickly spot the distractions that can, so easily, lead you astray.

Why should I set goals for myself?

Goal setting is a common technique used by successful people in almost every profession. Top athletes, artists and business people alike all use goal setting as a means to an end. It focuses one’s attention on self-improvement and especially on the means to attain that improvement.

Besides the obvious benefit, reaching a set goal can inspire an extra boost of confidence and a sense of personal pride. Reaching one goal can lead one to aspire for even higher goals; it can have a cascading effect.

Getting started

This video from the same Mind Tools resource has some excellent suggestions for getting started.

Three Tips for ‘Keeping it Real’

There is really nothing new or revolutionary about this topic of course; there are a number of resources on the Internet to draw from. That being said, here are a few big-picture tips to help keep your head on straight and your sanity intact.

1.) Be realistic and honest

You really do not do yourself any favors by setting unrealistic goals with unreasonable timelines.

A long time ago (at band camp) I encountered a trombone student who was absolutely determined to have a solid high range in four weeks. His primary means to achieve this goal was to practice more and to do 1,000 sit-ups every day.

While he did gain some impressive abdominal muscles, he did not improve his high range in four weeks. His only accomplishment was to exacerbate his frustrations. He ended up only compounding the problem.

The lesson from this story is that goal-setting takes logical and reasoned planning. Rome was not built in a day goes the old saying, and that wisdom certainly applies towards tackling big issues like the high range.

2.) Create a plan

Dividing goals into three categories can help to separate what is immediately attainable from what will take some more time and planning.

• Short-term goals
  What is immediately attainable if I just work a little differently on this one thing?

• Medium-term goals
  A big performance is coming up and I need to be sure that I have enough endurance and embouchure strength to get through it and not hurt myself.

• Long-term goals
  I want my horn playing to feel freer and easier.

A useful tool in creating and planning out termed goals is journaling. Writing down your goals takes them out of your head and into a medium where they can be looked at more objectively. It can also help you to monitor and diagnose your progress as the work is being done.

3.) Keep your mouth shut

This is probably the most important tip in this topic.

An ounce of humility and discretion can go a long way towards achieving a goal. The mind is a tricky place and research shows that when we speak our goals out loud in a determined manner, we are actually less likely to achieve them.

As the embedded three-minute video below illustrates, when we brag to others about our big plans, this talk can trick our minds into thinking that the goal has already been accomplished.

Telling others about our big plans actually lessens the chance that we will do the necessary work to attain the goal.

One only needs to think about the annual tradition of New Year’s Resolutions – and their success/failure rate – in order to understand and appreciate this concept.

Myself, I have yet to lose 40 pounds.

Buying or selling something?

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• Too high
• Too much bass clef
• No time for mute changes
• Stopped notes in too loud a context

I expanded on the high range thought here and here as well, and Bruce has a nice rundown of his own with further notes on the high range and three more key items:

• Writing horn parts that have no rests
• Overusing the “rip”
• Heavy orchestration in solo passages

To those lists I have two more items to add, which are opposite extremes but we have all seen them both.

“Mary had a Little Lamb” horn parts. Some composers/arrangers are clearly afraid of the horn. Perhaps they had a bad experience, perhaps they just don’t know how to write for the horn. In either case, parts completely devoid of any technical challenge relative to that seen in other parts in other instruments are a big clue that you don’t get how to write for the horn.

“Saxophone” parts. These may sound awesome in Finale or Sibelius but really, there is a type of music that just has too many notes to sound good on horn even if a fine player can manage it. Give those to saxophone or something else.

My final suggestion for now for composers or arrangers is to talk to several actual horn players that are not your friends and honestly listen to their feedback. I recall one time a composer who I knew in school had written stopped very loud very high horn parts in an orchestral tutti. There was no possible way they could ever project through the texture. I asked the composer about it and he said that another horn player I knew said that we could do that effect. Which was true, sort of, except it could not be done loud enough to carry over the orchestration.

Not too long ago a video hit YouTube that I would like to conclude with. It is titled “Trumpet Tips 3: Confessions” and I recommend it (and the series in general) highly. The work the anonymous trumpet player encounters in the video is titled The Swinging Pendulum of Death Drenched in the Tears of the Afflicted** by the composer Vhrech Taless Trehnchkote-Huberr. Of course, the video is a parody but really, Jeff Curnow brings up great points that any aspiring composer would be wise to think about. I have a final thought on special effects after the video.

In short, I do actually enjoy playing special effects but if you ask for an effect, even if is possible to play, it does not mean that anyone will actually hear the effect if it does not fit the orchestration. It is not as extreme as the closed mouth scream in this screen grab of the musical example from the video, but you kind of feel like they have asked you to do something close to that when it is an effect that you know basically no horn player can ever pull off in an actual performance context.

**Using Google translate, the original German title should be something like Das schwingende Pendel des Todes Drenched in den Tränen der Betrübten.

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College is for many students the first time away from home, and from parental supervision. While testing out the real world is all part of growing up, it can get in the way of the main purpose of college – to learn and receive training, to get a degree and to use that degree to gain employment.

Probably the biggest detractor for myself was the amount of distractions there can be as a student in college.

It certainly helps to have a caring studio teacher who emphasizes specific goals and benchmarks but ultimately, college is the time to learn how to discipline yourself. Studying to be a professional is a serious business and in our current economic climes especially, it pays to think deeply and seriously about future prospects.

This aside, academic study itself can act as an internal pressure cooker on one’s spirit and emotional state. When the pot boils over, it helps to stop and think about what you are doing.

1. Think about self-improvement

Think about turning those hundreds of hours in the practice room into something bigger and more life-altering.

1. Take up journaling. The payoff can be big in the long run, as I found out about a year ago.
2. Know your line and stick to it.
3. Balance personal and ensemble practice.
4. Think about how much to practice.
5. Failures are just another step towards success.

2. Focus on basic techniques

College is a great time to really work on the basic techniques that are needed in the professional realm. The sooner things like these get worked on, the better.

• Double tonguing
• Accuracy
• Lip Trills
• Transposition

3. Work out issues with yourself and others

Academically-based performing ensembles – both large and small – are a good place to start learning about what it means to be a professional. There are no hard-and-fast rules written down anywhere, but here are some helpful guidelines to think about.

1. A list of what not to do as illustrated by a jaded pro.
2. On dealing with criticism.
3. Professionalism starts with rehearsal behavior.
4. If you are a student new to a certain college and studio, think about being a newbie. Observe and respect the status quo before trying to set fire to it.
5. Avoid drama whenever possible.

4. Dive into new repertoire

A supportive private studio teacher will help a student spread their wings, exploring new music to both study and perform.

• The 3 big concertos
• Collections and method books
• Orchestral excerpts
• Music-related texts
• Listen to a lot of recordings
• Methods from other instruments

5. Look at the big picture

Outside of the practice room there can be other issues and questions to think about, such as:

• Am I studying with the right teacher?
• How am I going to pay for this?
• How can I work smarter and not harder?
• Do I spend too much time online?

1. 10 Survival Tips
2. 6 Tips for Applications and Auditions
3. Think about how much this education is costing you
4. Think about your horn teacher
5. Think seriously about what you say online

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One of the biggest benefits from taking time off is that it provides an opportunity to hit the reset button and start over.

Along these lines

Fergus McWilliam, low horn since 1985, says he takes a four week break from the horn every summer so that he’s forced to start again from scratch. He regards this as something akin to an annual medical check up; or a surveyor  stripping a building back to its foundations to make sure everything’s still securely in place.

(Source.)

Of course during this interim period I am still thinking, living and writing about music and the French horn. While at work for example, I listen almost constantly to Internet-streamed classical music radio stations, broadcasts and recordings.

(As a side note, I cannot say enough good things about Wilhelm Bruns and his natural horn playing.)

1.) Plan ahead

Taking time off and getting back in shape takes some planning.

If an impending event is in the future – such as an audition or a performance – it is probably not a good idea to wait until the last minute to get back in shape. It is probably also not a good idea to take too much time off.

Having done this before, I know that 2-3 weeks is enough time to get back in shape (and this seems to be a fairly common timeline for many players). This year however I am getting a big head start in order to prepare for what is shaping up to be a very busy playing season.

When calculating the time needed to get back in shape, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

2.) Take it easy

Playing the horn is a physical activity and with getting back in shape, adequate rest is important. The first few days can be particularly misleading in that everything can feel fresh, free and easy.

Muscle conditioning is a gradual process and when muscles tingle or burn that is normal. This is normally a sign of lactic acid building up in the muscle tissue and it is a natural part of the re-building process.

It can also be a sign to take a break – for a few minutes, or even for a few hours. In more extreme cases these sensations may even be micro-tears in the embouchure muscles.

3.) Remain calm and carry on

Sometimes after taking time off and returning to playing, I get the “wiggles” – my embouchure may twitch or convulse, particularly in the transitional areas between ranges.

This is normal and is nothing to get too terribly excited about. Muscle synapses need time to re-coordinate themselves; during the layoff time they fall out of sync and upon returning to activity, they will wiggle and wobble out-of-order as they fall back into line.

Aches, pains and odd physical sensations are nothing to get excited about when getting back in shape. Actively resisting these sensations may only make things worse.

It is akin to a baby learning how to walk; in its first attempts at walking there will be wobbles, and even a few falls. If that baby had the brain to think in detail about the complicated muscle coordination it takes to walk, it might never get up on its own two feet.

Like a military cadet learning to march in perfect step with the entire parade, I take confidence in that with time and good training, the wiggles and wobbles will go away.

4.) Get back to basics

Getting back to basics is actually one of the pleasures of taking time off. This can translate to different things for different people, but for myself it boils down to:

• Long tones
• Scales
• Arpeggios

Of course these basics can take on many forms outside of routine practice. Some of my personal favorites for this approach include the Kopprasch, Schantl, Ward Fearn and Arban books.

(I am also looking forward to experimenting with what Lucinda Lewis calls “blocked buzzing.”)

How about you?

What are some of your strategies for getting back in shape?

Please feel free to add your thoughts and comments below.

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This update is an example of something that I am aiming to become a regular feature so if you are not a fan of this change, rest assured that in 2 or 3 months it will change again.

To help keep track of the different themes on my end, I am having to give them names. The current theme that is live on the site for example, is called Blue Ripple. While this might sound like a cheap alcohol that smells like strong mouthwash, the name refers to the bright blue color and the background image that suggests a water ripple.

Variations on a theme

I wouldn’t want to give away too much and spoil the surprise, so only samples are being shown today – the logo with just a hint of the background. The names give an additional clue as to what the theme will ultimately look like when it goes live.

Be looking for these variations and what they will look like in full context over the next year!

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Henry David Thoreau

The pleasure we feel in music springs from the obedience which is in it.

To a certain degree, pleasure is derived from succeeding at a predictably executed pattern. The hilarious “The Song That Goes Like This” from the Broadway hit Spamalot illustrates this phenomena perfectly with cheeky humor.

(Watch out for the volume on this video. It is very loud.)

Certainly, most popular music we hear on the radio would fit this description. They are typically crafted into a formula that we all recognize and are familiar with; basic chords and harmonic patterns are formed into repetitive cycles of verses, bridges and choruses.

While we might criticize popular music for being formulaic, this is in part what people expect and derive pleasure from when listening to it.

Taking this quotation deeper and more personally as a musician, I think about the many hours spent working on a piece of music – taking it apart bit-by-bit in a thoughtful, disciplined and controlled manner.

Whether it be for a solo recital or a symphonic performance, part of the deep satisfaction derived is from knowing that the successful performance was the result of obedient, disciplined work.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories.

In the diligent pursuit of improvement, failure is more-or-less inevitable. How that failure is dealt with can make a difference between forging ahead or in getting stuck in the mud. The best musicians embrace their mistakes knowing that there is a hidden value in making mistakes.

Along these lines is another famous quote from the inventor Thomas A. Edison:

I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.

Mozart

To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.

As I grow older – and hopefully wiser – knowing when and where to keep my mouth shut has been something that I pay much closer attention to. This has to be one of my most favorite quotations from a composer and it is one that I wish more people would observe, quite frankly.

From “Top Ten List: Who’s the New Guy?!“:

A good piece of blunt advice I learned from my conservatory teacher was this: in any new situation, “keep your mouth shut and your ears open.”

Every established work group has a dynamic history. It pays to understand and appreciated this history before you get too comfortable voicing opinions. For example, it is an easy temptation to speak negatively of a conductor as this can be like a popular sport among some musicians. In some work environments, you may even hear musicians openly complaining or spreading rumors about other musicians!

All acts of gossip aside, knowing when to stay silent is a good skill to have in the music business. When speaking in rehearsals or when discussing musical tastes and politics with colleagues sometimes the old adage of “less is more” is something to keep in mind.

This is not to say that remaining silent and stoic is the answer, but rather to suggest that not every opinion that pops into our heads needs to be immediately spoken aloud. In this day and age of instant satisfaction and reward through social media, this can be a tough, real-world lesson for some to learn.

A final quote from the Bard sums it up perfectly:

Discretion is the better part of valor.

- a quote derived from Shakespeare.

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The Jaded Clam Award

Quirky personalities are more-or-less a fact of life in the classical music profession. For non-musicians and students, it can almost seem like a dirty secret when the dramas behind-the-scenes are discovered.

A prevailing thought among spectators is that because music is performed so harmoniously, professional musicians must all get along like peas in a pod. On the surface this seems like a very logical assumption.

Yet, some musicians – especially those unaccustomed to or sheltered from social morays and business norms – exhibit a fair amount of temperamental and odd behaviors that in any other work environment would have serious repercussions.

From a deeply-jaded, professional French horn player named Archibald K. Noodlefish, here are some “tips” on how to make the best of a bad attitude.

Rehearsal tips
from the venerable Archibald K. Noodlefish

1.) Play with a smart-phone.
Let’s be honest – rehearsals are boring!

How can one possibly expect to pay attention for that long and stay on task? Most of the stuff being said does not relate to me personally, so I might as well zone out and get some Facebook time.

2.) Complain about everything.
Life is one constant disappointment after another and I like to remind everyone around me about that fact.

My opinion is fair and honest and people need to hear it. Some might say that I have a negative attitude, but I would like to think that I am just being truthful.

3.) Empty tuning slides with passionate rage.
So what if yanking out my slides sounds like coins dropping into a tin bucket?

What is the problem with blowing condensation out with hurricane force? Who cares if I spin my horn around like a drunken acrobat?

I must get that water out and sometimes it needs to happen quickly – at any cost. It’s an occupational hazard really and some people simply do not understand what I have to go through to get this done.

4.) Socialize during rehearsals.
I have important things to say and catching up to do with my buddies. So what if I giggle and goof around when the conductor is rehearsing the strings? They should just have a string sectional and let me go home.

5.) Be a “Don Juan.”
Life is short and I need to get all the romance and attention I deserve.

Dating other musicians in the group I work with makes things much easier. If it eventually doesn’t work out, I will just move on to someone else and try that out for a while.

What harm is there in that?

Archibald K. Noodlefish, Hornist Extraordinare

6.) Show immediate appreciation after every solo entrance a colleague executes correctly.
It is important to support my colleagues when they get something right and they need to know that I support them. Telling them in person afterward is just too much effort; there is not enough time during work to do that.

Shuffling feet, thrusting out a leg or making kiss-kiss noises are all good options worth exploring. Of course if they mess up I will not shuffle or signal any kind of approval.

That would be silly and disrespectful!

In any case I am fairly sure that the sudden void of praise will go completely unnoticed. Besides, I will just make up for it next time with an even bigger acknowledgment.

Maybe I should wave a flag or shoot off fireworks?

7.) Avoid eye contact with the boss.
I can see the Maestro just fine in my peripheral vision. The guy is a bit leery of me anyway so I might as well take advantage of his insecurity and ignore his attempts to control me. That dirty bastard…

8.) Bark commands. Give dirty looks.
Rehearsals are done in a rush! Who has time for manners and politeness?

I take it personally when mistakes are made. If someone around me is doing something wrong I let them know right away and in as few words as possible in order to save time.

Sometimes a facial expression alone – one that looks like I just tasted cow manure and accidentally saw my parents having sex – lets people know that I disapprove.

Also, do not underestimate the power of sarcastic eye rolls and loud, exasperated sighs filled with bitter angst. Oh my goodness, those are precious art forms in themselves!

(He chuckles to himself for a moment, then gets serious.)

If the recipient of my feedback cannot handle an intense appreciation for rehearsal efficiency that is their problem, not mine. They just need to get a thicker skin and toughen up.

9.) Play a little louder and a little longer than everyone else.
I create dulcet tones and lovely art when I play. It is imperative that everyone hears and appreciates my Art.

Need I say more?

10.) Park your chair in someone’s line of sight.
I absolutely need to see the Maestro and sometimes I need to move my chair around to get the best view.

The people behind me are not important and I do not need to acknowledge their presence or their need to see the conductor. They can adjust their chairs around me.

11.) Avoid saying things like hello, how are you?, good morning or good-bye.
I see my colleagues every day – sometimes two or three times! They are not going anywhere, so I might as well take advantage of this and spend that time warming-up or playing with my smart-phone.

Besides, I dislike most of those people anyway!

Warmest wishes for a successful and memory-filled career,
Archie K.

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…it is surpassingly strange that there is no connection between the conservatory programs, the trainers, and the orchestras that will employ conservatory-trained musicians.  There is no dialogue about what type of musicians music schools are preparing, how the paradigm needs to shift, and what new skills orchestras should be considering for the future. I cannot think of another industry where there is no relationship between the employers and the trainers.  For the future, this really needs to change and I believe the key words are “partnerships” and “collaborations”—orchestral partnerships with music schools, and orchestral collaborations within the community.

Incidentally, this is something very similar to what I wrote about a few years ago in “A Systems View of Music Performance.”

At some American music schools, it is the music theory departments that dictate standards for performance majors. It is here where I would cite a root cause of academic disconnect in a  performing musician’s overall career track.

New horn player in the CB
James Boldin recognizes Eric Reed – the new hornist in the granddaddy of all brass groups, the Canadian Brass.

Interview with Jeff Scott
For about 20 years, I did a great deal of brass and woodwind quintet playing as a freelancer and contracted orchestral musician. Woodwind quintet playing for myself in particular is a lot of fun; it is a very different experience from brass groups.

In this online interview, Jeff Scott talks about his own transition from mostly pit orchestra playing to performing and touring with the Imani Winds.

Tricky licks
The horn part from the Magnus Lindberg violin concerto looks like fun.

Cause and effect
David Vining reminds us to not put the cart before the horse.

Air coming into the body does not cause the ribs and diaphragm to move – that’s backwards.

Horn playing and conducting
Horn players make pretty good conductors I think. There is something about the persona that comes from horn study that I like. But then again, I am very biased!

Take a horn quiz
Are you up for a challenge? Andrew Clark has a horn quiz that you might want to try. I scored horribly.

HM Highlights

With over 1,400 articles it is easy to miss out on the goings on at Horn Matters. Here are some highlights that you may have missed.

This list fluctuates on a daily basis but here are the current top articles according to PostRank this morning.

• Tips on Surviving Very Long Concerts
• Hornmasters: The Exhale and Points of Resistance, Part I
• ‘Radical’ Embouchure Experiments, I
• Just Say “No” to Transposed Parts
• ‘Radical’ Embouchure Experiments, IV
• Random thoughts on ‘natural’ technique, embouchure study and sports analogies
• A Dissertation Should Look Like This
• The Vintage Conn 8D
• “Tut” for a Short, Crisp Staccato?
• Ultrasonic Cleaning FAQ

Top user rankings for the past month:

• Before Farkas: The Mercier (Dufrasne) Routine, Part I
• Day 145: Lessons from a Patterson/Yamaha
• Getting a Solid ‘Leg Up’ on Bell Support: Introducing the SockBlock
• A Community Concert, Students and Adults Together
• Interview: Jazz Hornist Mark Taylor and Notes on Embouchure Dystonia
• Hornmasters: Berv on the Shorter Warm-Up
• Ultimate Horn Technique and Ultimate Low Horn Arriving This Week
• On Ethics and Integrity in Copyright Licensing
• Art Masterpieces Graffittied with Horns

Random videos

Thanks to a Facebook friend, this video came across the radar. In the early to mid-twentieth century American culture, putting words to classical tunes was a fairly popular thing to do. This is only one example.

* * *

Don’t waste your time waiting for something to happen, but the first few minutes are interesting. I would file this under “Horns as Stage Props.”

* * *

Arkady Shilkloper shows us how to make an alphorn entertaining.

* * *

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