Jonathan Luxton - the Gulbenkian Orchestra and ESML
Jonathan Luxton with João Gaspar
by Jonathon Luxton
João Gaspar and his horn quartet were organizing a horn workshop. He wanted me to do an interview talking about my 30 years in the Gulbenkian Orchestra, teaching for 26 years in the Escola da Música Lisboa (ESML), and my life in Portugal. It was filmed and recorded, and an article came out in a Portuguese magazine. I'm not sure how my Portuguese was as I was suffering a little from jet lag (I’d just returned from China, on my last big Gulbenkian tour).
After the general introductions, the interview started with João asking me why I'd come to Portugal to play for Gulbenkian. I explained that I had seen an ad in the Saturday Telegraph and had auditioned in London. I was not the first choice - that accolade went to Andy Antcliffe, now in the BBC. He didn't take the job, so they rang me. After some negotiating and doing 3 weeks here and there with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, I decided it was the job I wanted. The Orchestra was at that point only a chamber orchestra. Over the next 5 or 6 years, they started to play an ever-larger repertoire. I insisted on having 4 horns. They accepted, but we never got the 5th horn, even though our repertoire needed one.
Then we spoke about teaching and the legacy I was leaving in Portugal. I was honest and said that when I first came to Portugal, the general horn playing level was not what it is now. There were some good players, but they were few and far between. I'm a firm believer that beginners need the best teacher. It's quite easy to motivate students at University level, and if they arrive with their technique sorted out it makes teaching them easy. In my first few years, I taught at various Professional Schools (6th-12th grade) before starting at the ESML. Quite a lot of my ex-pupils were at this workshop. Paulo Guerreiro, (principal in OSP; also playing the Sao Carlos Opera), said that Bohdan Sebastik and myself were responsible for players such as Abel Pereira, Jose Bernardo Silva, Filipe Abreu and Paulo (and of course others). These wonderful players go on to teach, thus raising the level. The younger students take inspiration from their peers, and so the cycle goes on. I congratulated Paulo on taking over my position at the ESML and continuing to produce wonderful players like Ana Beatriz Menezes.
Pedagogy Column: Rodolfo Epelde
English versionLa analogía como método pedagógico en la enseñanza de la trompa
En mis casi treinta años como trompista profesional, y más de veinte como profesor, a menudo he necesitado crearme modelos acerca de diversos aspectos relacionados con la interpretación, tanto para mis propias necesidades como para ayudar a mis alumnos.
Dado que la forma en que se produce el sonido en los instrumentos de metal no es tan evidente a simple vista como en los instrumentos de cuerda, teclado, o incluso de viento madera, me ha sido muy útil crear analogías entre éstos y la trompa en diversos aspectos (producción del sonido, ampliación de la tesitura, articulación, etc.) para entender y explicar su funcionamiento. Creo que el haber realizado estudios de ingeniería me ha llevado a tratar de encontrar soluciones racionales a diferentes problemas, aunque tengo que decir que mis métodos han sido siempre empíricos y nunca científicos, es decir, que mis observaciones no han sido realizadas con aparatos de laboratorio, sino que proceden de mis propias sensaciones y las de mis alumnos.
Producción del sonido:
Cualquier alumno conoce (o se le puede mostrar fácilmente) el funcionamiento básico de un piano y un violoncello: en el primero los martillos, accionados por las teclas, golpean unas cuerdas mantenidas a la tensión necesaria por un bastidor metálico y unas clavijas que las sujetan contra el puente, y en el segundo prácticamente todo es similar pero, en lugar de martillos, tenemos las cerdas de un arco que, al rozar con las cuerdas mantenidas a la tensión justa, nos dan una vibración de la frecuencia buscada. Todo ello amplificado, en ambos casos, por una caja de resonancia.
Interview of the month: Abel Pereira
Kristina Mascher-Turner: When I think of Portugal, I think immediately of the sea, the long maritime tradition, the beautiful coastline, fresh seafood, the salty air…Your family roots are steeped in this tradition. Can you tell us what it was like spending so much of your childhood on the ocean?
Abel Pereira: Yes, that is true. My childhood playground was the beach. Not a day went by that I didn’t spend time there. In the summer we would go surfing all day long, even at night, and on winter evenings we would make fire pits in the sand waiting for our moms to come get us, sometimes waving wooden spoons if it was too late! I used to play with my friends jumping from boat to boat, imagining we were in pirate battles. Sometimes I would even skip school to go out on the water with my friends in small sailing boats that had been abandoned by the coast. We had no idea how dangerous that was, but for us, those were the biggest adventures!!! Usually on weekends if the weather were good I would go out on the water with my dad, helping the fishermen on the sea front. That was one of my favorite activities.
KMT: What was your first encounter with the horn? Was there a distinct moment when you knew you wanted to spend your life playing?
AP: Well, when I was about 11(?) our neighbors experienced a tragic incident and my dad, concerned for my safety, no longer wanted me to spend weekends on the boat with him. Instead I started playing the horn with my town’s marching band. I fell in love with the horn right from the beginning, especially after listening to Hermann Baumann’s sound, but at first I thought it would be something I did just for fun. At that time I couldn't imagine myself doing anything that wasn’t connected to the ocean. At the age of 14 though, after discovering the beauty of Brahms, Strauss and Mahler, my heart felt very divided between the sea life and the music world. I thought I had two options, either work on the boat during the week and play my horn on weekends or play my horn professionally and have some fun on weekends with the boat. Obviously I chose the second option.
KMT: You’ve studied both in Portugal and in Germany. Is there a significant difference in the horn playing traditions between the two countries?
AP: Yes, there is a big difference between these two countries. Germany has a 300-year-old tradition of horn playing during which they have created their own style. It’s a country full of great orchestras and amazing players. Through the years some of the orchestra’s horn sections may have developed more individually but the core of the style remains very strong. In Portugal the situation is very different. There is no strong tradition yet but rather a mix of styles. There are few orchestras in the country and most are not more than forty years old. When these orchestras were created there were not enough professional musicians to fill the spots so they had to import some musicians. Now there are some very good musicians and teachers but many of them come from different places like the US, France, Czech Republic and England, and with them they bring their own playing traditions!
Practice and Performance – The Mental Game
Hola a todos,
Este mes, vamos a centrarnos en los aspectos mentales y físicos involucrados al hacer música. Como músicos, somos una especie de atletas creativos. Con el fin de compartir versiones irresistibles y convincentes de nuestra música, debemos abordar la preparación y la ejecución de una manera equilibrada. Esto no es en lo absoluto una tarea sencilla. En ocasiones pensar en esto pudiera ser fustrante y usualmente puedo encontrar la manera de apreciar cuán complejo es éste aprendizaje.Cada día, trato de simplificar éstos descubrimientos que me resultan complejos y los convierto en piezas manejables que al juntarlas me permitan compartir líneas musicales hermosas a través de mi campana. Todos nos hemos encontrado en éste punto debido a que estamos aprendiendo continuamente... y siempre tendremos frente a nosotros ése potencial para desarrollarnos.
Para ésos momentos en donde pensamos que nuestro aprendizaje se ha detenido, recuerda que eso es solo algo mental. Ése momento de dificutad, es una elección. En su libro,“How The Best Get Better”, Dan Sullivan escribe que cuando te has tropezado con ése muro y sientes que has dejado de aprender, te has topado con lo que él llama " El Techo de la Complejidad". Te has desanimado o has colapsado de tal modo que es demasiado para poder abordar el siguiente paso hacia tu objetivo del aprendizaje. En éste punto, él escribe que lo mejor que puedes hacer es desglosar todo y comenzar de nuevo. Así veo yo mi rutina diaria. Comenzar de nuevo, tanto como sea posible con todo lo que tengo hasta ahora a la vez que trato de incorporar también el nuevo aprendizaje.
Tal vez mientras lees esto descubrirás nuevos elementos para añadirlos a tu rutina de mañana. Pero recuerda....
Hace un año aproximadamente, estaba haciendo algunos ejercicios de entonación y elegí fustrarme ante mi progreso que era lento. Me estaba sintiendo incómodo con mi desempeño. Un día, me encontré con una lectura del coach en aprendizaje de la educación musical Gregg Goodhart, y él mostraba el siguiente gráfico:
Fué un GRAN alivio el ver esto!! Entonces, esa sensación desagradable era sólo porque estaba fuera de mi zona de confort? Estaba en el lugar correcto cuando me sentía incómodo! Y ése lugar era la zona del aprendizaje.Qué bien!
Este gráfico explica una idea importante con respecto a la forma en que abordamos nuestro tiempo tanto al momento del estudio como en el escenario. La zona de confort está muy bien.Quédate un rato allí. Hay muchas buenas películas de superhéroes que valen la pena ver! Pero una vez que estás trabajando, deja esa zona de confort y concéntrate en aprender. Esfuérzate. Si estás en tu zona de confort, tal vez no lo estés haciendo mal, pero tal vez te estés perdiendo una oportunidad de crecer.
Ése es el primer error – buscar sentirse cómodo. El segundo gran error que la gente puede hacer es abandonar todo cuando se sienten incómodos. Ellos piensan que estar incómodo es algo malo, por lo que se saltan su zona de aprendizaje y van directamente a la zona de pánico. Este gráfico nos ha ayudado, a mis alumnos y a mi, a adoptar y aprovechar ese sentimiento de incomodidad. Sí es posible detectar lo que nos incomoda y así profundizar en ese sentimiento. ¿Realmente necesitamos tener el control total? ¿Queremos estar totalmente seguros de algo que tal vez no lo sea? Tal vez tenemos que salir de nuestra zona de confort, calmarnos, y ver lo que sucederá luego.
Si desean escuchar un poco más sobre el tema del juego mental, he hecho un vídeo corto al respecto.
Este mes, tenemos una entrevista maravillosa con "El Músico a prueba de balas" y profesor en interpretacion de la facultad de Juilliard, Noa Kageyama. Él se refiere al término "Músico a prueba de balas" como un sinónimo del músico que se "sumerge profundamente al realizar una obra"... y ahonda en este tema y otros enfoques valiosos para el entrenamiento y la psicología. El Dr. Peter Iltis comparte (junto con Eli Epstein) la investigación y propuesta de su "Proyecto de Archivo Internacional del Corno/Trompa con resonancias magnéticas". Acá ellos acostaron boca arriba a varios cornistas, nos metieron dentro de una ruidosa máquina de resonancia magnética, y nos hicieron tocar un corno natural de cobre por un rato. Gracias Pedro. Eso fue muy divertido! Jaja ... ahora soy testigo de que lo ustedes han hecho, vale la pena para todos! Vamos también a conocer este mes a nuestro fabricante de cornos Darin Sorley! Y por útimo tendremos a Andre Cazalet quien estará a cargo de nuestro artículo pedagógico.
En esta edición del "Corno y más" esperamos que encuentren algunas ideas que les puedan ayudar en sus actividades musicales, sobre el corno y más...
Saludos cordiales,
Jeff...
E-Newsletter November 2016 Introduction
Hola a todos,
Como músicos, somos atletas creativos, y al igual que con otros deportes, al hacer de la música una disciplina debemos estar consientes de sus aspectos mentales y físicos. Con el fin de compartir nuestra música de manera fascinante y convincente, nuestra preparación y posterior ejecución debe satisfacer tanto las demandas intelectuales y físicas de nuestro oficio. Esta no es una tarea sencilla.
Es éste nuestro tema para este mes en el Periódico Digital de la IHS.
En las siguientes páginas digitales, tenemos para ustedes:
- Un artículo y un video CORTO (lo prometo!) en donde hablo sobre el aprendizaje y sobre cómo conectar nuestra práctica con nuestro rendimiento en el escenario.
- Una entrevista maravillosa con "El Músico a prueba de balas" y profesor en interpretacion de la facultad de Juilliard, Noa Kageyama. Él se refiere al término "Músico a prueba de balas" como un sinónimo del músico que se "sumerge profundamente al realizar una obra"... y ahonda en este tema y otros enfoques valiosos para el entrenamiento y la psicología.
- El Dr. Peter Iltis comparte (junto con Eli Epstein) la investigación y propuesta de su "Proyecto de Archivo Internacional del Corno/Trompa con resonancias magnéticas". Acá ellos acostaron boca arriba a varios cornistas, nos metieron dentro de una ruidosa máquina de resonancia magnética, y nos hicieron tocar un corno natural de cobre por un rato. Gracias Pedro. Eso fue muy divertido! Jaja ... ahora soy testigo de que lo ustedes han hecho, vale la pena para todos!
- Vamos también a conocer este mes a nuestro fabricante de cornos Darin Sorley!
- Y por útimo tendremos a Andre Cazalet quien estará a cargo de nuestro artículo pedagógico.
En esta edición de "Corno y más" esperamos que encuentren algunas ideas que les puedan ayudar en sus actividades musicales, sobre el corno y más ...
Saludos cordiales,
Jeff
translation by Gabriella Ibarra - traducción de Gabriella Ibarra
Meet Your Makers: Darin Sorely
This month, our feature for “Meet Your Maker” is Indiana-based horn builder Darin Sorley. We hope you enjoy this look behind the scenes of a one-person horn shop!
Andrew Pelletier: What brought you to the horn? What is your horn back-story?
Darin Sorley: I began playing the horn at age 12 in the public school system in Indianapolis, Indiana. My older brother had played the horn a bit, so I knew how to get a sound out of it. My brother’s horn was also the beginning of my repair career starting with the bending back of the bell after one of us tripped over it. I was lucky in that the Junior High School I attended had a repair room and the band director allowed me to do basic maintenance on some of the school instruments, which sparked my interest in how things worked.
I do not have the “typical” career path of most horn makers in that I began my career as a band director. I attended Butler University and received a Bachelor Degree in Music Education and most importantly, met my wife of 30 years, Rebecca. I then taught instrumental music in grades 5-12 for the next 3 years in Indiana. During that time, I started taking lessons with Philip Farkas at his home in Bloomington in order to begin auditions for my master degree in horn. I was accepted into the Cleveland Institute of Music and began studies with Richard Solis, and after a wonderful two years at CIM and attending Cleveland Orchestra concerts, I received my Master Degree in Horn Performance.
After Cleveland, I returned to Indiana to teach for four more years before pursuing my Doctorate degree at Indiana University where I studied with Michael Hatfield. While at IU, I studied natural horn with Rick Seraphinoff, which eventually lead to my horn-building career. It was three years after finishing my course work at IU, teaching at the University of Evansville and then a one-year position at Southwest Missouri State, that I began my horn-building career.
After moving back from Missouri to Indiana, I started my freelance-playing career in the Indianapolis area. I had always had an interest in building a horn so I contacted the only person I knew doing it...Rick Seraphinoff. During the summer of 2000, I built my first (and only) natural horn, 3 crooks and 2 couplers all under the guidance of Rick. I like to tell everyone, that during that summer, I built my one horn and Rick made six!
Interview of the Month: Dr. Noa Kageyama
Many of you are likely familiar with Noa Kageyama’s blog, The Bulletproof Musician. In it, he offers insights and tips about how to get the most out of your practicing, how to maintain your focus under pressure, how to make the performance that comes out of your bell sound closer to the one in your head, as well as many other topics essential to mental mastery. We at Horn and More are most fortunate to have him to ourselves in this feature! I felt creatively nourished reading his words and know you will too. Many thanks to Jeff Nelsen for asking all the right questions. -KMT
Jeff Nelsen: How did you get into all this performance psychology stuff?
Noa Kageyama: Like most interesting things in life, my getting involved in performance psychology was partially just being in the right place at the right time. I was a first-year master’s student at Juilliard, and remember standing in the hallway on the second floor by the registrar’s office browsing through all the courses that were being offered. Mostly, I was looking for something that didn’t involve theory, history, or ear training, and the one that caught my eye was called “Performance Enhancement.”
The instructor was Don Greene, who was ex-military, and a sport psychologist who had worked with Olympic athletes. I’d never heard of sport psychology before, and I had no idea what to expect from the class, but it certainly sounded interesting. After a lifetime of inconsistent performances with way too many highs and (mostly) lows, I was intrigued.
So I signed up, and totally got hooked on the fact that there were concrete, specific skills I could work on to help me perform better on stage: anxiety management, confidence building, focus, and mental toughness. It wasn’t abstract, theoretical stuff, but actionable, research-based techniques and strategies that made a big difference in how I prepared for performances, how I approached performing, and how I felt about performing.
And since I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do when I finished my degree, and didn’t feel like I was ready to go out into the “real world” quite yet, pursuing a degree in psychology seemed like the most intriguing of my options at the time.
One thing led to the next, and as I kept following this area of natural curiosity, it gradually grew into teaching, writing, and working with musicians in a way that I never would have imagined.
