Little Einsteins

My 3-year old son, Tyler, loves this show - "The Little Einsteins." Each episode features a piece of visual art, and a piece of classical music. I was very pleasantly surprised one day to hear Mozart's 2nd Horn Concerto coming out of the TV - who says TV is bad for kids?

This especially caught my attention, because I'm currently working on memorizing Mozart 2 for a performance at the end of the month with the Western Carolina Civic Orchestra. But the more I watched, I realized they were doing some funny things with our beloved Mozart. The featured piece is billed as the Rondo from K. 417, but they freely mix in a couple other familiar Mozart movements, including the 2nd movement of Mozart 3, the 3rd movement from Mozart 4, and a couple tunes I don't even recognize!

Other fun highlights include when the Little Einsteins sing the tune, and one of the characters (Quincy) plays the horn. My favorite is when they follow the swimming "French Horn" through the ocean in YouTube Part 3! In Part 4, they play a clever countermelody on the conch shell.

Here's Part 1. I highly recommend watching all 4 parts, but if you're pressed for time, Part 3 is my favorite.

Unfortunately, I can't find out who the horn player is. Some of it sounds a lot like the Alan Civil recording I have. Anybody have any other guesses?

On a somewhat related note, I came across this other gem on YouTube...

Hindemith's Horn Sonata

Tonight I'll be performing the Hindemith Sonata in F (1939) on a faculty recital. Each of our brass faculty are performing a solo piece. While doing a little fast and dirty "research" to find some things to say about the piece before I play it, I came across some interesting stuff.

In my approach to this piece, and in my teaching, I've always said that this is generally not "happy" music. And that has always made sense to me, considering that Hindemith was German, and this piece was written in 1939, just before WWII broke out. The Nazis were in power, etc.

Well, I found out that Hindemith's wife was Jewish. This was news to me. In 1938, Hitler's anti-Semitic campaign was already well under way, and Hindemith and his wife emigrated to Switzerland. Then in January of 1939 - the year the Horn Sonata was written - Hitler officially announced his plans to exterminate all European Jews.

In light of these facts, it really is no wonder that the Sonata has always seemed a bit dark and aggressive to me. There were some interesting things I came cross about Hindemith's relationship to the Nazi party, too. It seems he even wrote some music for them - I can only imagine that it was done under duress or in fear. But that's all beyond the scope of this blog for now.

Plan Your Work; Work Your Plan - A 3-Step Plan

This post is inspired by the "beginning of the semester pep talk" I've been giving to my students lately.

1) Plan your work.

Plan when you are going to practice. Don't expect practicing to "just happen!" Look at your planner for the week, and make "practice appointments" with yourself. (Btw, you should have a planner/calendar of some kind - paper or electronic.)

Plan what to practice. Prioritize your practice based on what needs the most attention, or what needs to be learned the soonest (for an upcoming performance or lesson). Don't just sit down and start making noise. Your time is extremely valuable; use it wisely! Don't waste all your time playing the stuff you already do well. I think it was Tuckwell who said "If you always sound good in the practice room, you aren't practicing the right things."

2) Work your plan.

Once you've looked at your planner and made those practice appointments, KEEP them! Stick to your plan, unless there is a legitimate reason to change it. (An invitation to join some friends on a Starbucks run is not a legitimate reason.)

3) Make sure some things are more important than work.

Faith, family. The best musicians I know lead full and balanced lives. They do lots of interesting things besides practice. This post is basically about priorities. Of course, to be successful as a musician, you must make your practice time a very high priority. Nevertheless, sometimes life gets in the way. And sometimes, the best thing for your playing is to rest. Be flexible when you have to.

Let's Get Physical

I hope the title of this blog entry reminds you of the Olivia Newton John song. :o) Alas, I'm showing my age. I did just have a birthday recently. I actually got to perform with her a few years ago, when she did a pops concert with the Macon (GA) Symphony - that was fun! It was the biggest crowd we ever had! She didn't wear the 1980's work-out gear, though.

Anyway, besides having a birthday recently, I also had surgery on my left shoulder to repair some cartilage that was torn in my car accident last September.

So, my left arm is in a sling for at least a couple more weeks. This makes my life VERY hard and frustrating, but I'm doing my best to maintain a positive attitude.

I started trying to play the horn again a few days ago, after an 11 day lay-off. I've had several of these little "vacations" from the horn in the past; getting my chops back is only a small part of the equation this time. That is usually frustrating enough by itself. But this time, I've got my left arm to rehab at the same time. At first, I could only play for 15 or 20 minutes; not because my chops were so flabby, but because my arm and shoulder hurt. Today, I've practiced 2 sessions, totaling a little more than an hour, and my arm has improved. But, it's still uncomfortable to play, and I have to be careful to keep as much weight as possible off my left arm. I've found that I can turn 90 degrees to the left in my chair and rest my left elbow on the back of the chair. Sometimes I also cross my legs (don't tell my students!) so I can actually rest the bottom of the bell tail on my left thigh. This allows me to play the horn, but my posture--and breathing--are greatly compromised.

My chops will bounce back much sooner than my shoulder. I started physical therapy this week, and will have to do it for 3 to 6 months! Hopefully, by the time I'm given the OK to quit wearing the sling, I'll be able to hold the horn in my usual posture.

Anyway, the inspiration for this post is that I was reminded in a big way that playing the horn is a physical activity. I would be willing to bet that many students don't ever think much about physical exertion below their chin while playing. The truth is, we're using a lot more muscles than just those in our embouchure when we play. We use our arms. (I don't think of the horn as a heavy instrument, but now I can hardly hold it!) And, we use muscles throughout our torso, front and back, to inhale and exhale properly. (At least we should!) We can get so wrapped up in thinking about what's happening in the mouthpiece that we take the rest of our bodies for granted. Pay attention to your shoulders, your arms, even your legs and feet if you're standing, and of course, your breathing. Make sure everything's working efficiently, and not detracting from your music-making. When you're performing, how you look matters too, but that's a topic for another time.

So, the REAL reason for this post is to remind us that we need to work hard when we breathe and when we play. I don't mean the kind of hard work that creates unnecessary tension. I just mean don't be lazy! Even when I'm not recovering from surgery, I can sometimes get lazy with my breathing. I know I've asked every one of my students to "take a bigger breath" and "blow faster air" many, many times. After a long rehearsal, concert, or practice session, you should be worn out - and not just in your face!

"Work hard" is sort of a mantra of mine. A "swing thought." I used to have a small piece of paper taped to my practice stand that had 3 of these swing thoughts on it: "No Bumps" reminded me to play with smooth slurs, "Lock it in" encouraged me to fix mistakes only once, and "Work Hard" kept me going when I felt lazy or tired. I want to work hard by giving everything I've got to my practicing and playing--physically, mentally, emotionally.

Actually, "work hard" is a phrase that serves me well in many areas of my life. Like I said, I can be lazy if I'm not careful. When I go to throw something away and the garbage can is full, instead of cramming it in there, I can work hard and take it out. Instead of leaving my cereal bowl on the counter, I can work hard and put it in the dishwasher (why are you snickering, Mom?).

And it's not just about chores. I plan to work hard at my physical therapy exercises to get my shoulder back to 100%. If you're a student, you should work hard on all your assignments. It's about having higher standards for yourself than anyone else sets for you. It's about enduring a little unpleasantness now to achieve a worthwhile goal later.

Any level of excellence or success that I've achieved is because I made the choice to work hard instead of taking the easy way. I hope you'll do the same.

Teach technique or music?

I recently took Nathan Stark's survey about accuracy on the horn. Any horn players/teachers are invited to participate. Some of the questions and response choices got me thinking about the different approaches some teachers take.

Some teachers are very "technique-oriented." They spend lots of time explaining things like airspeed and tongue position, and how the lips should move a certain way, etc. Others are very "music-oriented." They spend most of their lessons talking about what the mood of this piece is, and what childhood memory that brings to mind, and telling students to close their eyes and imagine the scene - then "play the scene," or to play this like your girlfriend just dumped you, etc.

Truthfully, most of us fall somewhere in between. In my own teaching, I make use of both tactics, but I definitely lean strongly towards the "technique-oriented" model. This is certainly influenced by the fact that most of my students are young undergraduates who have had little private instruction before they get to me. If I were teaching mostly grad students with already polished technique, then I'm sure I would spend more time waxing poetic about musical metaphors.

However, even in my own practicing, I am very "technique-oriented." I know many musicians believe that if you focus on the music, the technique will take care of itself, but I believe if you focus on the proper technique, then the music will take care of itself - sort of. Please keep reading...

We've all heard technically impeccable performances that were extremely dull and boring. That certainly isn't what I want. The desired result is a musically moving experience for your audience (if you enjoy it too, that's a bonus). The technique must serve the music. The technique is a means to an end. If I have the greatest musical intentions in the world, but I don't have the technique to execute them, then those intentions are useless.

I remember reading an article by Pip Eastop a long time ago that stuck with me, called "Vanishing Technique." In it he talks about his obsession in his own teaching with technique, so that his students can make whatever music they want, and neither they nor the audience is distracted by the technique involved. His website is really great, and I highly recommend that you check it out.

Focus obsessively on technique in your practice, so that your performance can be as musical as possible.

(Disclaimer: My primary job is to help my students become good musicians. Since they've chosen the horn as their musical medium, I must help them become good horn players in order to make good music. I do spend time equipping them with good musical sense, and helping them develop their musical instincts.)

When I'm performing, music is much more my focus (as long as I've practiced properly), but I'm also thinking lots of technical thoughts, too. There are times when I get so "in the zone" that it's like I'm a member of the audience, just enjoying the music like everyone else, but this is the minority of the time. My job is to give the audience a good musical experience. Like I said before, if I enjoy it too (which I usually do), then that's a bonus.

The magician isn't as spellbound as the audience, because he knows how the trick is done. And he's busy doing it!

SEHW 2009

I’m finally getting around to putting down some of my thoughts about the 2009 Southeast Horn Workshop, which I hosted at WCU March 6-8. When I first took the job at Western Carolina University in the Fall of ’06, my predecessor (Alan Mattingly) told me that he was scheduled to host the workshop in ’09, and that I was welcome to take it over, since he was moving outside the region to the University of Nebraska. I was excited by the idea, and jumped at the opportunity. So, in some ways, this workshop was 2 and a half years in the making! I can say now that I didn’t really know what I was getting into!

By January ’08, I was really getting serious about the planning, because I wanted to be able to announce the dates and guest artists at the ’08 SEHW in Columbus, GA in February. For over a year, hardly a day went by that I didn’t take some steps toward putting this thing together. I didn’t have a graduate assistant in the horn studio, so almost every detail of the planning was up to me. On top of all the work that was going into the SEHW, my wife and I decided to build a house (we move in May!), and I had to deal with the aftermath of a car accident on September 1st, ’08. It wasn’t my fault, and I still haven’t settled with the other party’s insurance. Both of these major life events have meant tons of phone calls, faxes, meetings, physical therapy, and stress! I don’t recommend mixing either of these things with trying to plan a workshop!!

As the event got closer, I did get some excellent help from some of my students, who sorted through the registrations and assigned competition times, helped coordinate the T-shirt orders, and made signs for the building and the road pointing people in the right direction. During the workshop weekend, my students, and my Phi Mu Alpha brothers, were AWESOME!! They took care of anything that anybody needed, and did it with a terrific attitude. I can’t thank them enough for their work!

Also, my parents deserve a special mention, because they came up from Florida, and stayed the entire week. They worked extremely hard, and also took care of Tyler, allowing Julie to come to some of the events of the workshop. I’ve known for a long time that I am incredibly blessed with awesome, loving parents, and they proved it again. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Now, about the weekend itself… It exceeded my expectations! We ended up with over 300 registrants, which is a SEHW record! All my advance planning paid off in that once things got started, the workshop pretty much ran itself. One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to see a lot of old friends again, and getting to make some new ones. The horn world really is a small one. It pays to be nice to everyone, b/c you will see them again!

Another nice thing about being the host, is getting to spend some more time with the guest artists. I’ve known Jeff Nelsen for a few years, but this was the first time I’d met Roger Kaza and his wife, Patti Wolf. Besides being world-class musicians, all three of them are super nice, and fun to hang out with! Julie and I met them for some North Carolina barbecue at the Dillsboro Smokehouse Thursday night when they arrived. Roger and Patti warned me that this was risky, taking a couple Texans out for barbecue! In the end, I think the NC ‘cue won their approval. Or maybe they were just being polite?

One of the downsides to being the host is that I couldn’t attend everything I wanted to, because I was running around taking care of things. Some of the highlights of the weekend for me were (in chronological order):

1) Roger Kaza’s recital Friday night. Wow! What GREAT playing (Patti too)! As one of my colleagues said: “Roger may be the best horn player in the world and nobody knows it.” It’s true that he’s kinda under the radar as far as horn soloists go, but his playing is superb.

2) The military horn players’ recital Saturday afternoon. Most of these guys are great friends of mine, and I was thrilled that they were able to come be a part of the SEHW. They all sounded awesome, and they ended the program with “Fire in the Hole” for 5 horns. This was just a really pleasant program, with great playing, good variety, an exciting finish, and…the whole thing was under an hour, which was appreciated at that point in the weekend!

3) Jeff Nelsen’s recital Saturday night. This was a huge highlight for me, because Jeff decided to do a lot of chamber music on his program, and I got to play on several tunes! He is such an awesome player—and such a great showman—all the crowds love him! He played some solo stuff, some duets with Roger, and then I got to join them for a trio. I almost passed on this opportunity, b/c I knew I’d be super busy with hosting duties, and I thought it would be nice to be able to just sit and enjoy the evening concert, but I’m sooooo glad that I decided to do it. I finally realized that if I have the opportunity to play with Jeff Nelsen and Roger Kaza, I should definitely take it! I was thrilled and honored to share the stage with them—it was a blast!

Then Skip Snead joins us for a 4tet arrangement of Bach's Air on the G String. Skip was my teacher in grad school, and is Jeff's cohort in the TAHQ.

Finally, 2 of my students (Ashleigh and Lizzie) came out, and we ended the program with a great arrangement of Ashokan Farewell for 6 horns.

Oh yeah, and in a gag to be talked about in horn gatherings for ages, Roger stepped in and played the accompaniment to Strauss 1 (quite well, I might add)!!

4) "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the final concert! I am really happy that this came together. I know from past experience that these Artists Ensembles can be hard to pull off, mostly because it's hard to get us college professors to commit. But, as my friends will tell you, I'm persistent! So, I was able to assemble more than enough people to play this, including a full rhythm section, and it was a perfect ending to a great weekend! Jeff Nelsen generously agreed to play 1st, and Roger Kaza conducted! I'm playing 15th part, on an F Wagner tuba rented from the Atlanta Symphony!

All in all, I had a blast during the workshop! But, I'm glad I won't be hosting again for a while!

Recital vs. Road Race

I'm such a bad blogger!  It's been 6 months since my last post!  (I realize the date above says February, but that's just when I started the draft - the publishing date is June 12, 2009)  But, I've had several ideas started as drafts, and hopefully over the summer I can be more productive.  Thanks to John Ericson for giving me a little nudge over lunch at the IHS workshop in Macomb.  If you haven't looked at his blog, it's WAY better than mine!

In May of 2008, I took up running for fitness.  I still consider myself a beginner.  In my typical fashion when getting into a new interest, I've been reading a lot about running over the past year.  One of my favorite resources is runnersworld.com.  If you're into running, and you haven't looked at runnersworld.com, you MUST check it out!  They have an unbelieveable amount of information about all things running-related.  For a long time, I didn't subscribe to the magazine, because they had so much great stuff on the web!  Finally, I gave in and subscribed, because it was only $1 an issue.

One interesting thing I've picked up on is that runners seem to run harder in a race than they ever do in training.  I understand giving that extra effort on race day, but the distance shouldn't be anything new, right?  For a lot of marathoners, the longest training run they ever do is 20 miles.  A marathon is 26.2 miles - no wonder so many people say those last 6 miles are so hard!

  

I think of a recital as a marathon of sorts.  It can be very tiring physically and mentally.  But I wouldn't dream of going onstage without having "covered the distance"several times in training.  

I don't recommend doing anything on stage that you haven't practiced A LOT!  

In fact, I believe in "over-preparing"--by skipping intermission in my trial run-throughs, or getting to the end of the program, then practicing some more--just so I know that I can finish strong on the performance, even when the nerves are in high gear.

Now, I've never run a marathon, so I don't know firsthand what it feels like.  But, if I were a serious marathoner, I'd want to know that I could run 30 miles if I had to, so that I could toe the starting line on race day with complete confidence that I can cover the 26.2 miles that lie ahead.

Of course, most marathon runners are amateurs, just doing it for the thrill and the finisher's medal.  I have much more at stake when I play a recital - I'm "going for the gold!"

It's also important to remember that there are no style points in running - all that matters is that you finish the course and do it in as little time as possible.  You can't "limp across the finish line" of your recital - that would be a terrible way to end!

May you always finish strong!