When you're performing in front of people, your first responsibility is to the audience, then to the composer. So, if the composer wrote something that you can't play without diminishing the experience for the audience, then change it, leave it out, or something! (sorry, composers) Nobody likes to watch/hear someone struggling with their instrument. You have a responsibility to those people who have taken precious time out of their lives (which they'll NEVER get back) to come hear you play. No pressure...
Friday, March 11, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
SEHW 2011
The 2011 Southeast Horn Workshop was this past weekend in Boone, NC on the campus of Appalachian State University. My students and I had a great time! A big thank you to the hosts, Karen Robertson and her students, for putting on a top-notch event.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Practice Tips
This is a list that I gave to my students at one of our weekly Studio Classes last semester. It was partly an outline for the discussion we had, and partly a list that they could refer to as a reminder during their practice time. In many cases, each of these items could serve as the basis for a separate blog post--and I may discuss many of them in greater detail in the future--but here they are all together! We can all use reminders of these things occasionally. I've only given credit on a couple items, but very few of these ideas are original.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Raise Your Expectations
I have a sign in my studio that says
This is as much a reminder to me as to my students. Too often, I find myself settling for less than my best because I simply forget how good it could be! Sometimes I'll be listening to one of my favorite horn recordings that I haven't heard in a while, and I think "Oh yeah - I want to sound like THAT!" I get inspired all over again, and my expectations are raised. Here are some tips to make sure you're not settling for less than your best:
Raise your expectations
This is as much a reminder to me as to my students. Too often, I find myself settling for less than my best because I simply forget how good it could be! Sometimes I'll be listening to one of my favorite horn recordings that I haven't heard in a while, and I think "Oh yeah - I want to sound like THAT!" I get inspired all over again, and my expectations are raised. Here are some tips to make sure you're not settling for less than your best:
Know the Score!
Here at Western Carolina University, my students are fortunate to be accompanied by piano faculty when they perform in recital. Whenever possible, I like to attend their rehearsals so I can help them through any ensemble issues that might arise and offer feedback to the student on how to improve their performance before they take it to the public. Many of my students have never performed with a piano until they get to college.
The number one piece of advice I would give to any student preparing to rehearse with an accompanist for the first time is: Know the score! You really need to know the piano part in great detail. (Obviously, before you get with your accompanist, you better have YOUR part absolutely nailed!) Knowing the score, and how your two parts interact and fit together, will make rehearsals run MUCH smoother, and will allow you to actually play as an ensemble rather than as a soloist with some nice piano music playing along.
So, how do you get to know the score? Spend some time looking at it while listening to a recording of the piece, and notice how the parts interact. Yes, you are the soloist, but there are times when you will need to listen and react to what the piano is playing. This is especially true if you're playing a sonata, like the Beethoven, where the horn and piano are more equal partners. As you're listening, mark some cues in your part that tell you which beat the piano plays on, or what rhythmic pattern they have. This will save valuable time during rehearsals (rehearsal time is money!). Also, listen to the piece over and over even without looking at the score, so you get the music inside you, and you can hum the piano part while the horn part is resting. When you practice, have the accompaniment running in your mind vividly, like a soundtrack.
In addition to knowing the score, the next best piece of advice I can give for playing with an accompanist is to lead. Play with confidence, and establish your tempo, and your accompanist will fall right in line. This assumes that you have a clear musical plan, and that you have practiced enough that you can execute it. (Remember, you also need to know when to follow, and that comes from knowing the score.)
The best part about making music is making music with other people. So, know the score, and you'll be able to make music with your accompanist instead of just making music next to them!
The number one piece of advice I would give to any student preparing to rehearse with an accompanist for the first time is: Know the score! You really need to know the piano part in great detail. (Obviously, before you get with your accompanist, you better have YOUR part absolutely nailed!) Knowing the score, and how your two parts interact and fit together, will make rehearsals run MUCH smoother, and will allow you to actually play as an ensemble rather than as a soloist with some nice piano music playing along.
So, how do you get to know the score? Spend some time looking at it while listening to a recording of the piece, and notice how the parts interact. Yes, you are the soloist, but there are times when you will need to listen and react to what the piano is playing. This is especially true if you're playing a sonata, like the Beethoven, where the horn and piano are more equal partners. As you're listening, mark some cues in your part that tell you which beat the piano plays on, or what rhythmic pattern they have. This will save valuable time during rehearsals (rehearsal time is money!). Also, listen to the piece over and over even without looking at the score, so you get the music inside you, and you can hum the piano part while the horn part is resting. When you practice, have the accompaniment running in your mind vividly, like a soundtrack.
In addition to knowing the score, the next best piece of advice I can give for playing with an accompanist is to lead. Play with confidence, and establish your tempo, and your accompanist will fall right in line. This assumes that you have a clear musical plan, and that you have practiced enough that you can execute it. (Remember, you also need to know when to follow, and that comes from knowing the score.)
The best part about making music is making music with other people. So, know the score, and you'll be able to make music with your accompanist instead of just making music next to them!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Ugly Soft, Ugly Loud
A point that I have to make often in lessons with my students is that in order to expand your dynamic range, you have to go beyond the point where it sounds good. Get out of your comfort zone. I call it "ugly soft" and "ugly loud." If you don't push your limits, you won't improve. This is true for most things in life.
If we keep doing what we're doing, we'll keep having what we're having.
Related to this topic is the "Someone Might Be Listening Syndrome," which causes students to play things they're good at over and over in the practice room, while ignoring the passages or aspects of their playing that really need work. I don't know who said it first, but "if you always sound good in the practice room, then you're practicing the wrong things." Maybe it was Tuckwell. (He's kind of the Mark Twain or the Yogi Berra of the horn world; most clever quotes are attributed to him!)
Let me be clear: I'm not advocating playing with an ugly sound in performance. This is merely a practice tool. The goal is not to achieve an ugly sound! The goal is to be able to play louder and softer with a beautiful sound. In order to achieve this, you have to spend time practicing in the "Ugly Zone."
The traditional long tones with crescendo/diminuendo are the #1 best way to expand your dynamic control, because they take you gradually into and out of the "Ugly Zone," and it's easy to track your progress as the "Ugly Zone" gets pushed farther and farther in either direction. I know what some of you are thinking, but if you're focused on everything you should be focused on while practicing long tones, they are NOT boring!
Besides these long tones, another great place to practice these "extreme dynamics" is in etudes. I'm a big fan of Kopprasch (my students don't always share my enthusiasm), and I always write something at the top of the first page in my students' books that my first teacher wrote in mine:
p=ppp
f=fff
Too often, students are afraid of getting outside their comfort zone, and therefore they don't improve as fast as they might. There is always an adjustment period, whenever we're trying to build new skills or expand existing ones. Think of a baby learning to walk. It looks pretty awkward when he/she tries taking their first steps, and there will be stumbles and falls. But, they can't go on crawling forever!
Don't be afraid of sounding bad in practice. Be more afraid of sounding bad in performance! Attack your weaknesses!
If we keep doing what we're doing, we'll keep having what we're having.
Related to this topic is the "Someone Might Be Listening Syndrome," which causes students to play things they're good at over and over in the practice room, while ignoring the passages or aspects of their playing that really need work. I don't know who said it first, but "if you always sound good in the practice room, then you're practicing the wrong things." Maybe it was Tuckwell. (He's kind of the Mark Twain or the Yogi Berra of the horn world; most clever quotes are attributed to him!)
Let me be clear: I'm not advocating playing with an ugly sound in performance. This is merely a practice tool. The goal is not to achieve an ugly sound! The goal is to be able to play louder and softer with a beautiful sound. In order to achieve this, you have to spend time practicing in the "Ugly Zone."
The traditional long tones with crescendo/diminuendo are the #1 best way to expand your dynamic control, because they take you gradually into and out of the "Ugly Zone," and it's easy to track your progress as the "Ugly Zone" gets pushed farther and farther in either direction. I know what some of you are thinking, but if you're focused on everything you should be focused on while practicing long tones, they are NOT boring!
Besides these long tones, another great place to practice these "extreme dynamics" is in etudes. I'm a big fan of Kopprasch (my students don't always share my enthusiasm), and I always write something at the top of the first page in my students' books that my first teacher wrote in mine:
p=ppp
f=fff
Too often, students are afraid of getting outside their comfort zone, and therefore they don't improve as fast as they might. There is always an adjustment period, whenever we're trying to build new skills or expand existing ones. Think of a baby learning to walk. It looks pretty awkward when he/she tries taking their first steps, and there will be stumbles and falls. But, they can't go on crawling forever!
Don't be afraid of sounding bad in practice. Be more afraid of sounding bad in performance! Attack your weaknesses!
Monday, June 14, 2010
The Power of Yielding
The idea of yielding is a powerful image for me in many areas of life, but it also has applications in horn playing. I first came across this idea in college, in the book Thinking Body, Dancing Mind, by Chungliang al Huang and Jerry Lynch. To me, this book is right up there with The Inner Game of Tennis on the list of must-haves for performing musicians.
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