by Katy Carnaggio

Here’s Why Developing Expertise Is So Hard (and how to enjoy it more)

When we work to improve our skills, we’re trying to transform something that requires conscious effort into something we can do easily and automatically. Think about riding a bike: at first, you wobbled and focused on every little movement. Now, you just hop on and go!

But here’s the kicker: expertise isn’t about finding and sustaining ease. It requires continuous and systematic effort to stretch your comfort zone further and further. Expertise involves the aspiration to improve and is thus resistant to automaticity. If you settle in that place of hard-fought ease for too long, research indicates that your skills can start to slip.

The Common Sidequest: How to Stay Focused

Many people hit a satisfactory level of quality and automaticity and then get stuck. They find it hard to stay focused because the skill no longer requires much mental engagement. But zoning out leads to mistakes, skill deterioration, and even anxiety. So, what’s the middle ground?

Seek The Extra Mile

Expert performers develop increasingly complex mental representations to attain higher levels of control and awareness. It’s like increasing the power on a microscope because you're curious to see a more complete picture—finer details, nuance, and relationships.

When we are curious, focus comes naturally. It's not difficult to get lost in a good book or show—you’re eager to find out what happens next. That same curiosity can continually add clarity to your ideas, refine your skills, and help you avoid the traps of overthinking or mindlessness.

So if you’re struggling with focus or feel stuck on a plateau, try training your curiosity instead. There are, in skilled action, several levels of bodily consciousness that cannot all be reduced to deliberate thinking or reflection. Yet, curiosity evokes wonder, receptiveness, allowance, and awareness. It opens us up to the kinesthetic logic of our bodies, allowing more effective exploration than verbal direction.

How to Practice Total Absorption in Music

Try this the next time you listen to your favorite hornist perform:

First, take a moment to settle your thoughts. Then, as you listen to the music unfold, vividly imagine that you are creating the sounds you hear. Consider: “If I were to play like that, how would I? and how would it feel?” Notice how your body naturally adjusts in subtle ways from head to toe. You might notice differences compared to your habitual approach, as certain places become supple, responsive or open and others engage to stabilize and support. Consider the breath, sensing where it originates and how it energizes, fills, and rests.

Then, listen beyond kinesthetics to horn sounds. Turn that aural microscope up to a higher power and challenge yourself to find more details about which to be curious. What is happening during the fronts, middles, and ends of notes? What shapes, vowels, colors, contrasts, connections, emotions, and silences do you hear?

Listen beyond the horn to everything in and around the piece: texture, interaction, other voices, balance, twists, and synergy. Strive to hear the composer’s presence; ask, “Why did they choose that note over another?”

Your curiosity will naturally lead you to more questions that will expand your abilities and genuinely interest you. However, it may take a few tries to find it. Listening is a fantastic way to practice without the added complexity of the instrument.

Hone Your Edge Daily

Expert performance is more than just creating inspiring sounds with purpose and precision; it's about demanding more of yourself day in and day out. Expertise thrives on humility and a willingness to be amazed by something you've known for so long. Even on days when you're not feeling it, commit to searching for that spark of intrigue. Go deeper instead of mindlessly executing. Allow curiosity to lead you beyond "pretty good," beyond anxiety, beyond boredom, into skills that stretch and fascinate you!

by Josué E. Jocop Siney, FECOGUA Representative

Dear readers, the purpose of this article is to tell the story of a group of musicians, my colleagues and friends, who have decided not to remain silent as concern—generated as the institutions in charge of promoting music in Guatemala have suffered due to socio-political difficulties—grows. But before introducing our solution, I feel the need to first present some background information to put it in context.

Guatemala is a country located in Central America, long known for being the cradle of the Mayan civilization, for its lakes, volcanoes, mountains, jungles, and rainforests. In addition, Guatemala is a multicultural and multilingual country; four peoples coexist: Maya, Xinca, Garífuna, and Ladino (Mestizo). The nation’s history has had episodes as bloody as both the Conquest and the terrible internal armed conflict that subjugated its greatest treasure, its people, for 36 long years. It is incredible, then, to observe how colorful and artistic the towns in Guatemala are; you can hear the notes of the marimba everywhere, playing the rhythms of sones, danzones, waltzes, and many other genres that live on in the imaginations of Guatemalans. It seems that there are no economic, social, or political obstacles that prevent our people from expressing themselves in this most sincere, creative, and human way.

Guatemala has seen the birth of musicians and composers among whom I will mention: Eulalio Samayoa, one of the first symphonists in the Americas and founder of the Guatemalan Philharmonic Association in 1813; Jesús Castillo, ethnomusicologist, and author of the book La Música Maya Quiché which rescues, classifies, and studies the memories of pre-Hispanic music in Guatemala; and Maestro Joaquín Orellana, composer of contemporary music whose most notable contributions are the creation of his own musical notation system and of his “Sound Tools,” instruments he built, derived from the marimba and other elements.

After having broadly presented Guatemala and its people, I can tell you that the Horn Festival in Guatemala “FECOGUA” was born from the need of musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Marcial Symphonic Band, to create a platform which allows players to connect with each other and with the world to improve all aspects concerning the horn. In this process, collaborative efforts were made with institutions dedicated to teaching, as well as with music lovers, students, and international professors to bring together the largest possible number of instrumentalists in one place, teach classes, and create space for ensembles and concerts in which everyone may participate.

In 2018, the first Horn Festival was held, thanks to the support of the Spanish teacher Samuel Pérez. This was our first attempt to organize an activity of this nature. Teamwork with well-defined roles helped us realize that we could have a positive impact on and contribute to the comprehensive development of new generations of horn players in the country. The second Festival welcomed Mexican teachers as guests: Ernesto Miramontes and Esmeralda Pazos, both academics from the Universidad Veracruzana. This was very motivating for the participants because it broke, in some ways, with the model of the teacher as a being who knows everything, who makes no mistakes, and who remains distant. On the contrary, the teacher's role was that of a friend who makes it easier for you to get to know him or her and gives you tools to work on bettering yourself.

Against all odds, the year 2020 was very productive for our organization, despite the fact that the world faced the covid pandemic. Over the course of three months, 18 conferences were held with teachers such as Lucca Benucci (ITA), Keith Eitzen (USA), Edward Brown (USA), Luis Murillo (CR), João Gaspar (PORT), and Joel Arias (VEN), among others. It was very useful to have contact with so many professors, to learn their life stories, including the adversities they faced throughout their careers, and to receive valuable information in their masterclasses.

In 2023, the Festival was held with Joel Arias, representative of the region for the International Horn Society. Maestro Arias is an important figure for our festival since he has a lot of experience in pedagogy and interpretation. In 2023, the first student performance competition was held, and the winner performed Mozart's Concerto No. 3 with orchestra, the first time such an event was held in our country.

The primary purpose of this organization is to provide participants with the opportunity to attend masterclasses where they can receive the guidance needed to master the instrument, develop interpretation, and perform a piece accompanied by a pianist or an orchestra. This process offers a total of 30 hours of study which includes warm-ups, individual and group lessons, conferences, recitals, and collegiality. It should be noted that the Horn Festival in Guatemala is a non-profit organization and that all activities are carried out through negotiations with government institutions, donations from altruistic people, and now also with the support of the IHS.

by Layne Anspach

Hello musicians!

Ernő Dohnányi (1877-1960) was a Hungarian pianist, conductor, teacher, and composer. He was born in Pozsony, now Bratislava, where he was musically trained by the cathedral organist and his father. He finished his formal training in piano and composition at the Budapest Academy. Dohnányi quickly achieved recognition for his skills as a pianist, cementing himself as both a soloist and composer in Europe and the USA by 1900. This acclaim led to positions at the Hochschule in Berlin and the Budapest Academy. While at the Budapest Academy, he taught piano and composition, eventually becoming the director. Through the difficulties surrounding World War II, he eventually found his way to Florida State University as composer-in-residence from 1949 until his death. 

While bedridden with thrombosis for a few months, Dohnányi wrote the Sextet for Piano, Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 37, which was his final chamber work. The first movement, Allegro appassionato, begins with piano and cello providing the foundation for the opening. The other voices interject with the horn leading the first statement. While itself not overly bright, the opening theme is countered by a dark second statement in unison strings and piano. The piano cascades downward into another character, and all this occurs within the first minute. The entire movement can be described as tempestuous with only hints of calm and tranquility; the twists and turns warrant a close listen.

The second movement, Intermezzo, adagio, begins with a tranquil scene set by strings and piano. The serenity is broken with the introduction of a march, led by the piano. The tranquility of the opening returns, this time including the winds. The movement ends with the tranquil theme and a short interruption by the march. The third movement, Allegro con sentimento, features a loose set of variations. The clarinet presents the melody with string accompaniment. There is a definitive change at the Presto which emulates a scherzo. A lush section, Meno mosso, follows with all voices. Prior to the end of the movement, the horn presents the theme from the first movement, setting up an attacca into the final movement.

The final movement, Allegro vivace, giocoso, starts with a light theme in the piano, which is passed to the clarinet. The ensemble descends into a haphazard waltz seemingly by accident. After a few attempts to break away from the waltz, the ensemble finds its way back to the initial theme. Then, the theme from the first movement finds its way back as the movement comes to a victorious conclusion.

The reference recording features hornist Alec Frank-Gemmill.

by Vidhurinda Samaraweera

“Pa pa pa Paaa…. Pa pa pa Paaa” (pause).

I am certain that anyone reading this article will instantly recognize the motif illustrated. Yes, it is the opening of Beethoven’s well-known Fifth Symphony. This landmark work is likely being performed at multiple locations around the world as you are reading this or is, at least, programmed for an upcoming concert. Be that as it may, the last time Beethoven’s Fifth was performed in Sri Lanka was approximately 12 years ago by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) under the direction of German conductor, Dr. Hans Nagel. Unfortunately, the concert was not a success as had been hoped. Dry acoustics in the newly built concert hall and the technical inadequacies of some sections were likely contributing reasons. I was contracted to fill in as second horn for the performance as a young 14-year-old. Of course, I had an older player on first to guide me, someone who had played the symphony multiple times during his tenure.

Although Beethoven’s Fifth is considered a staple in an orchestral musician’s extensive repertoire, one would be surprised to learn that it is not frequently performed in Sri Lanka—or in this part of the world. Even though I have orchestral experience, having performed on the island for over 14 years, the 2024/25 Season opening concert of the Gustav Mahler Orchestra of Colombo, held on June 15, marked only my second time performing this masterpiece. (I personally do not know of other orchestral musicians around the world who would have experienced similar infrequent performances. This is one reason why I appreciate your feedback to my articles; they allow me to get a better reading of the global orchestral landscape.) The handful of orchestras currently operating in Sri Lanka having specific performance goals, and the irregularity of concerts is likely to have contributed to a lack of frequency. I must also note the tough economic circumstances with which most of our people are burdened, leading classical music aficionados to reconsider even the simple purchase of a concert ticket. 

Nevertheless, playing Beethoven’s Fifth on a modern instrument (for the lack of period instruments) was a pleasant experience. The 12-year hiatus caused us to savor the work that much more. As much as it is difficult to replicate the timbre of the natural horn—the alternating open and stopped or partially stopped notes on the modern instrument in the manner Beethoven would have imagined—treading the tutti parts while not upsetting the overall balance of a Beethovenian orchestra proved to be a delicate operation. The initial horn call which transitions to the second theme of the first movement was fun to play but, giving some “oomph” to the opening statement of the second half of the movement was even more satisfying. The second movement was particularly enjoyable, especially playing the heroic theme with the trumpets, all the while restraining ourselves so as not to overplay the orchestra.

(L-R) Jude Fernando and Vidhurinda Samaraweera, horns

My ever-loyal comrade on second horn did not let me down in the third movement where we led the orchestra to establish the faster tempo. I like to think that horns bring clarity during calamity in the third movement. The fourth movement is full of excitement, yet the pivotal role the horns play often goes unnoticed. The two fanfares which lead up to the presto, bolstering the piccolo, are both delicate and uplifting. To play alongside the fellow members of the brass section in the finale almost feels like the final fight scene in a Kung-Fu Panda movie!

The biggest challenge when performing Beethoven was the range Beethoven covered with the brass section. From the high-flying trumpets to the three-member trombone choir (featured in a symphony for the first time ever), covering the wide range was too much to ask since there was no alto trombone available on the island. Thus, the original alto trombone part was covered by a third horn player. Interestingly, there is a revised edition of the trombone parts to suit the modern orchestra where the alto trombone line is not notoriously high. The tenor and bass trombone parts were not different from the original and revised editions. The performance was, ultimately, a bringing together of new and old.

Why I focused on performing Beethoven’s Fifth is two-fold: first, to note some horn highlights in this under-appreciated work which are both glorious and subtly virtuosic; and second, to bring some perspective to readers of this Newsletter. I am aware that Horn and More is read by enthusiasts from different parts of the world. While we all accept that music is a universal language, we can also acknowledge that music-making is not the same for everyone. We live in different conditions depending on the part of the globe in which we live. Some of us have valuable resources—great teachers, vaster knowledge, cultural context, more orchestras, libraries, etc.—available, whereas in some communities, these can be hard-to-afford luxuries. In this beautiful month of July, I’d like to leave with you an important message: cherish your resources, regardless of how little you may think of them, and do not think twice to share with those in need.

(L-R): Dharmasri Jayantha, Nuwan Gunawardhana, Prasanna Kumara, trombones; Senira Prematillake, Jude Fernando, Vidhurinda Samaraweera, horns