My Return to the Triple
By Kerry Turner
My first encounter with a triple horn was as a college freshman. I had enrolled at Baylor University to study with Bill Robinson. At the time, all I could afford was a Selmer double. Prof. Robinson had just acquired 2 Paxman triples, I’m not sure how, and offered to let me play one of them. It was an instant love affair. Mind you, it wasn’t about playing high notes. I’ve always been blessed with a decent high range. What was it about the horn that made so much sense to me? I think the best way to understand it is to look at what I did not like about the double horn. You don’t really know what is limiting about a double until you learn to play a triple.
Recently, I had the very same experience. I played a Paxman triple during all of my years with the American Horn Quartet. When I began playing with that venerable ensemble, I was playing an Alex 103. The members of the AHQ strongly recommended that I switch to a triple horn. They claimed that, given the sort of repertoire and length of concerts we would be performing, I would soon see the advantages of such an instrument.
Last year, shortly after the AHQ retired, I began to long for a double horn again. the double felt so light in my hands. I felt the vibrations coming off the instrument better. It was sort of like driving a sports car after years behind the wheel of a Winnebago.
However, after a while, the limitations of the double horn began to make themselves known. After six days of 6-hour recording sessions in the orchestra, on the last day, I was faced with extremely delicate, soft and stopped passages on a piece. It was tough going for me. One of my colleagues, who was playing a triple, showed me how much easier that particular passage would be using the high F side. I tried it, and the notes popped right out.
El balance entre la vida y la embocadura
by Tom Varner
Pensamientos informales y una encuesta: ¿Cómo mantenemos nuestra embocadura y nuestro bienestar intacto cuando somos cornistas y profesores a tiempo completo, y además tenemos otros compromisos (esposo/a, hijos, padres ancianos)?
Queridos amigos de la IHS,
Cuando Mike Harcrow y Kristina Mascher- Turner me pidieron que contribuyera con algo para el boletín electrónico de Agosto 2017, explorando los temas me vino a la mente el acto de malabarismo entre la enseñanza, la ejecución y la vida, y decidí abordarlo. Yo he sido toda mi vida adulta un cornista independiente "músico improvisador/ jazzista/multifacético" y director de banda pero solo he sido profesor a tiempo completo desde hace 5 años (casi ya 6 años y 8 si se cuenta el tiempo como profesor adjunto). Francamente, éstos 5 años han sido un reto totalmente nuevo, en función de mantener el entrenamiento diario con mi instrumento mientras enseño a tiempo completo y con el hecho de tener una familia (ahora con dos adolescentes muy activos). No es que me queje, estoy muy agradecido de tener mi trabajo, amo a mis estudiantes y a mis colegas docentes, pero wow! el acto de balancear todo esto, no es fácil. (Los cornistas que han sido profesores por 10, 20, 30 años, ¡siéntanse libres de reírse de mí!).
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Tom Varner es profesor asociado de Interpretación en Jazz en la Universidad de Cornish de las Artes de Seattle. Por favor echa un vistazo a su reciente cd “Nine Surprises” en iTunes, Amazon y CD Baby.
Interview of the Month — Jerry Peel
Kristina Mascher-Turner: As I write these questions, I've got your "Heart's Journey" album playing and keep getting distracted by your lush, emotionally generous playing! Can you tell us how this album came to be? What inspired you to give birth to it?
Jerry Peel: I believed early in my career that the horn had the musical equivalency of the old Sarah Lee commercial “Nobody doesn’t love Sarah Lee.” I believed that “nobody wouldn’t love the horn” - they just needed to be introduced! It became a personal quest for me to make that introduction. I also believed that the horn had the characteristics to be a much more commercially viable solo instrument. While I was horn professor at the University of Miami in the 70’s (a great place to think non-traditionally!), I began that quest by asking a few composer/arranger/horn playing students and composer colleagues if they would be willing to write some “new” music for solo horn. Out of those collaborations came my first record, “A Horn of a Different Color.” When I moved to New York in the early 80’s I continued to plead with and cajole colleagues whose work I admired to write for me. At that point, I wanted solo horn, string quartet, and rhythm section to be the base ensemble and wanted music that could be played live. Many wonderful friends and colleagues responded in such a positive way that soon I had a library of arrangements of every style imaginable. And, yes, I did perform an evening of some of that music with some notables in the band, an evening I’m not likely to ever forget! Years later, due to fortuitous circumstances and generous friends, I was able to finance a second solo recording project. I realized then that I just wanted to record music that allowed me to do what I enjoyed the most, singing on the horn! And, “Heart’s Journey” was born. I had plans for two more recording projects. But life intervenes while one makes plans, and a bout with focal dystonia in the early 2000’s forced me to put the horn in the box, one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made. But, one that those with a true passion for the horn can easily understand.
KMT: As a young hornist, how did the strong Texas high school band tradition shape you as a player and teacher?
JP: I’ve often said how fortunate I am to have been born and raised in Kirbyville, Texas, a small town known for its fire department, churches on every corner - and its high school band! The band director, Karl Wadenpfuhl, and his wife Lottie, became my musical parents through all my school years. Luckily for me, Karl was an ex horn player - and even years after not playing, still had a really dark singing sound which he demonstrated sparingly. He was self-conscious about his limited ability at that point, but I loved listening to him. That was the sound in my young ears, only to be replaced with the Hollywood horn sound. In Kirbyville, there was very little exposure to live music, so I was captive to recordings and films to get my early impressions of that sound that both guided and frustrated my attempts to duplicate. Only, years later, did I learn that that massive horn sound on the films I loved was probably the result of 8 to 16 players! I say I was frustrated because I was never able to get that same quality of sound from my horn that was in my ears.
Practicing What I Preach
by Mark Syslo
My name is Mark Syslo, and like most of you, I am enthusiastic about playing the horn! I am also an instrumental music teacher. I want to thank Dr. Mike Harcrow for the opportunity to tell my story about being an educator and horn player. I first knew I wanted to “share music with others” when I was in 11th grade. I attended Mansfield University of Pennsylvania to study music education and studied horn with Mr. David Borsheim. After Mansfield, I was hired to teach 4th to 12th grade instrumental music in the Greenwood School District in Millerstown, PA. While at Greenwood, I worked on my graduate degree in music education at Penn State University. After nine years at Greenwood, I was hired to teach instrumental music in the Parkland School District in Allentown. I am the band director at two elementary schools in the district in addition to being an instructor in the fall with the high school marching band. I have just finished my 26th year of teaching.
Over the years, I have also enjoyed playing my horn as much as my schedule allows. The idea that I “practice what I preach” in my classroom has never gone away. (What kind of music teacher who has not touched his/her instrument in years asks a student to practice?!?) Over the years, I have played civic orchestras, community bands, musicals, solo work, in church, etc. Having a full-time job allows me to accept playing that is rewarding, and not necessarily for pay.
Being a music teacher who continues to play and perform can be very demanding. Anyone who thinks being a teacher is easy truly has no idea what it is to be a teacher. My job requires working with colleagues, administrators, and students while wearing a smile constantly! Yes, constantly! I write music, schedule rehearsals that are not scheduled for me, reschedule lessons that are missed for a myriad of reasons, stay in constant contact with parents, AND save enough energy for Friday night football games for the first three months of the school year!
The Best of Both Worlds
by Steve Park
It is probably assumed that most people who play horn at a professional level would choose to do it for a living. But that may not always be the best path to take. I have chosen a different path than most and have really been happy with the results.
I have always been good at playing horn. While I was still in junior high school, the high school band director recruited me to play in his band. They were preparing to perform at the Mid-west Clinic in Chicago, which means that they were one of the top bands in the country. They already had 5 horns, so they really didn’t need me. But the band director recognized that I played really well and offered me the opportunity.
I was first chair in All-state band. There were 8 horns in the section. As a senior in high school, I played 3rd horn in the orchestra and brass choir at the University of Utah. Both groups met in the afternoon on alternate days. I was able to arrange my schedule so that I could leave the high school early each day to make the rehearsals.
As a freshman at the University of Utah I had a full tuition music scholarship and played first horn in all the groups. I also got my first taste of studio recording. We recorded the theme music for the KSL Channel 5 News. The horn part was dominant in the music, and for the next couple of years I got to hear myself every time my parents watched the evening news. Today I do studio recording sessions on a regular basis and play in most of the contract orchestra gigs in the Salt Lake City area. At a recording session a couple of years ago, one of the Utah Symphony horn players asked me why I didn’t play professionally.
Lessons from Building a Successful Career as a Teacher and Hornist
by Brad Tatum
As hornists, we live in a society full of musicians who are aspiring to win that position with a full-time orchestra or other performing arts organization. It is easy for musicians who are fresh out of college to feel a sense of failure if they have not yet achieved this. Sadly, the old and inappropriate adage that those who can’t, teach, has always seemed truer for musicians than any other field. However, I am fortunate that at this stage in my life I have achieved a degree of success as a teacher and performer and find that they are quite complementary to each other. In this article, I hope to share some lessons I have learned along the way of how to be successful doing both, and to demonstrate how teaching can make you a better performer and vice-versa.
In addition to being blessed with a wife and two kids, I currently teach band and orchestra full time at Elizabeth Seton High School, play principal natural horn for the Washington Bach Consort, instruct a large studio of horn players, give recitals and masterclasses at universities, and freelance in the Washington, DC area. Most recently, I had the wonderful experience of hosting the first ever D.C. Horn Choir Camp at my high school. It was a terrific way to use my skills as a hornist and band director to benefit others.
I started my teaching career while completing my DMA at Maryland, and I have been teaching for nine years. My struggles to be a good music teacher and hornist have always seemed to coincide; so far, success in one has brought success in the other. It is safe to say it all began when I established a routine of practicing first thing in the morning before school. Not only has this created a great habit, but also it has made me a better music teacher. Some days this was my only chance to practice, and on the days I got distracted by other tasks, I always wished I had practiced first. It forced me to use my time wisely and to learn to practice with an emphasis on quality over quantity. It also helps me wake up and feel more focused before my school day begins.
Chops/Life Balance
IHS Members Only feature
by Tom Varner
Special thanks to Gabiella Ibarra for the Spanish translation 
Informal thoughts and a survey: How do we keep up our chops AND keep our sanity intact when we are horn players AND full-time teachers, and have other commitments (spouse, kids, aging parents) as well?
Dear IHS friends,
When Mike Harcrow and Kristina Mascher-Turner asked me to contribute something for the August 2017 E-Newsletter, exploring the subject of that old teaching/playing/life juggling act came to mind, and so I ran with it. I’ve been a “jazz/improvised music/everything” free-lance hornist and bandleader my whole adult life, but I’ve only been a full-time college music teacher for five years now (going on six, and eight if you count the time as an adjunct as well). Frankly, the past five years have truly been a challenge in a way that they never had been before, in terms of keeping up playing chops while teaching a full-time load and having a family (now with two busy teenagers). Not that I am complaining, as I am very grateful to have my job, and I love my students and fellow teachers, but wow, this balancing act is not easy. (Horn-playing teachers who have been doing this for 10, 20, 30 years, feel free to laugh at me!)
