- - Please visit: Legacy Horn Experience - -
As mentioned in part I, recently I stumbled across my notes from the first big horn master class I ever attended, October 18, 1982 with Barry Tuckwell at the University of Kansas. That Saturday was one that undoubtedly impacted the course of my life and horn playing, and my notes from the class will I hope find some resonance with Horn Matters readers as well.
Another comment on Tuckwell
Turning the page in my notes, I have another comment on Tuckwell at the top of a page. Again, I had an impression of his playing that was exclusively from his recordings, so hearing him in person was eye opening. My comment was “Tuckwell — seems to play too soft, but can turn it on.”
Hindemith Sonata, page 1
That thought probably came in relation to comments on the playing of our next player, Richie Roberts. He was I believe a Sophomore (I knew him a bit as he had also took lessons with Susan Rankin, who I worked with privately) and was playing a Holton H180. What I wrote down was “Don’t play too ‘bombastically’ in loud spots (–not noisy).” I don’t know that I’ve ever used the word “bombastically” in my teaching, but you can imagine that is not a good thing, it must have been a bit too aggressive.
Roberts was for sure with piano for what was only the opening of the work (just to the low held E), so there was an additional comment to be sure to match the horn and piano melodies. In my teaching that is always a general concern, both for volume and style.
Tuckwell also got to talking about his tonguing. My notes are not real clear but it had something to do with blowing into the articulation and coordination of the tongue and air. “Anticipate with breath.”
Strauss 2:1
On this work and performer I have the fewest notes, but there are some good thoughts. The player was Dwight Pervis, I think he might have been a senior, and somehow I did not write down what type of horn he played.
A major point was for him to not treat this as a virtuoso movement, to give it a more reflective character. This is a great point. He had at least one specific passage in mind, the runs of sixteenth notes right at the beginning, don’t play these too fast.
Beyond that, he suggested he take more risks in terms of tempos. My guess is it sounded a bit “generic” to Tuckwell, that he wanted a more convincing performance and interpretation, but within an overall mood that was more reflective. As I get older, the thought of the more reflective interpretation of this work resonates with me more and more.
Q&A
Then there was time for questions.
One big topic was that of playing standing. I did not make a note of this but my memory says the players did a mixture of sitting and standing to play the solos. Tuckwell was in favor of standing, it projected better. At the time, there were a lot of players dedicated to playing seated, me being of that camp at the time.
Another topic had to do with playing the notes or playing with musicality. I wrote to “aim between” them. A good performance is a mixture of both to be sure.
The next few topics, sadly, I’m not sure quite what he said but he had questions that went into the topics of hand position versus pitch, lip trills, breath support, embouchure, and dynamics.
But his next topic I do have a bit more clarity on, that of practice. What I wrote down was “Balance practice, but emphasize what is needed.”
The final notes I made are worth quoting in full, as they sound like actual quotes:
- Off days, no! Only occasional on days
- Vary [the] warm up with [the] condition of lips
- Make every note count in [the] days practice
- Many problems are mental
Postlude
Oh, to go back again and be able to know better all the points made! But at least I still have these physical notes, powerful reminders of a day some 40 years ago when I was just starting to aim towards a career in horn performance and horn teaching.
Then we get to this photo. I had the opportunity to play third horn on the Konzertstuck at the 2012 IHS Symposium in Texas under the baton of Tuckwell! That was something I certainly never dreamed of in 1982, a memory now just as treasured as that master class long ago.
Return to beginning of Tuckwell 1982 Series
