by Ian Zook

Volume 4—Milan Yancich

With more votes cast on the Horn on Record website for this month's topic, we will visit a pedagogical recording from noted orchestral performer and teacher, Milan Yancich. Yancich is joined by Edwin McArthur on piano, and together they perform the complete collection of solo works he arranged and published for Wind Music, Inc. titled 15 Solos for French Horn.

This recording, from 1978 and produced by Helden Records, provides interpretative recordings of each selection from his volume of arrangements. These songs are derived from opera arias, and repertoire for both violin and piano, as well as one original composition for horn. In the preface of the printed edition (and also on the reverse album jacket), Yancich explains:

"The Mastersong solos found in this book represent some of the great composers in the world. Each bears the hallmark of genius and originality. Our goal is to stir the audience with emotion, and to do this the player must enter into the spirit of the text of the song or musical composition. He must understand the correct tempo and the constant modifications of tempo, dynamics, and special accents which are the life of the music."

Milan Yancich (1921-2007) was born in Whiting, Indiana and he studied at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. During his early career from 1946-1952, he played with Columbus Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. He began teaching at the Eastman School of Music in 1957 while performing with the Rochester Philharmonic.

He owned a publishing business, Wind Music Inc., for which he both composed pieces and wrote pedagogical methods. Many of these are still in use today, including his Practical Guide to French Horn Playing, Method for French Horn Volumes I & II, and his arrangement of Bach’s 6 Suites for Cello. His book, An Orchestral Musician’s Odyssey: A View from the Rear is an account of his life and that of many notable musicians of that era including George Szell, Erich Leinsdorf, and Howard Hanson, as well as a matter-of-fact exposé of a musician’s life in the orchestra.

Yancich was on the IHS advisory council for two separate terms (’81-’84, ’98-’01) and was honored with the Punto Award in 1997 at the annual symposium hosted by the Eastman School of Music. Yancich also collaborated with Alexander horns to create the “Heldenhorn” Geyer-wrap model, which was recently re-introduced in 2017 as the Model 1106. As if more proof of his musical influence was needed, look no further than his children who also became professional musicians: Mark is timpanist of the Atlanta Symphony, and Paul is timpanist of the Cleveland Orchestra!

Yancich’s 15 Solos was made as a companion recording for his collection of arrangements. The first ten songs are easily approachable for early performers, as the tempos, key signatures, meters, ranges, and brevity allow for one to concentrate on sound, phrase, and expression. As Yancich emphasizes in the preface, “All successful performance results in the power to stir an audience with emotion.”

The remaining five solos increase in difficulty considerably, incorporating lip trills, high tessitura lines, rapid technical passagework, and many opportunities for bravura interpretations.

Now, let's enjoy some samples of the music on this album!

The melancholy melody in Edvard Grieg’s Solveig’s Song is played with pensive mystery: 

Grieg Solveig’s Song

Another somber tune from Jules Massenet’s Elegy pairs Yancich’s round tone with his yearning interpretation:

Massenet Elegy

Yancich also played with humor in his arrangement of the Cavatina from Rossini’s Barber of Seville:

Rossini Cavatina

To conclude the album, Yancich dazzles with his rendition of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee!

Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumble Bee

Happy New Year to all, near and far, from Horn on Record!

by Frøydis Ree Wekre

When asked to give a lecture during the Lieksa Brass Week, I admit that I suggested this theme myself. However, the reason was not that I consider myself an expert—rather, the opposite.

However, I did want to take a closer look at this subject and find out more about it, and thus maybe find new ways for continuing progress as a musician (and brass player).

I am sorry to report that I found more questions than answers in my ‘research.’ Nevertheless, I think some of these questions are important and well worth sharing.

The world of performing musicians is a very sensitive one, and the general level of tension is rather high. In chamber music, the rehearsals usually include comments, feedback, and discussions; the more gracefully the members of the group can give and receive such messages, the better the progress and the musical result. Without having made any obvious ‘mistakes,’ a musician can also expect messages and critique from colleagues with different tastes and opinions.

In an orchestra, the individual member will receive feedback mostly from the conductor and from the principal player in his/her section—feedback based on their particular tastes. Comments from other colleagues may occur, but less frequently, unless you ask for them yourself.

But first, let me try to make the meaning of the word feedback in this context more precise. In Norwegian, this word is tilbakemelding, which would translate directly as “message back.” The first question then is: what kind of message, and back after what?

The message could be words or body-language signals from other people about a musical task that you just performed, or more generally about your playing, not in reference to a specific musical event. In other words, a response from the society around you as to how they respond to your music-making, whether they like what you are doing, or whether they like some parts of what you are doing more or less than other parts, not to mention the possibility that they actively dislike what they are hearing….

Sometimes, it will be YOU who gives these messages to the other musicians, for various reasons. For example, if you are a conductor or a teacher, it is your job to send out various messages to improve the musical result coming from your group or a singular student. But also, just as a colleague, it might be a natural thing to do occasionally.

Hence, I will start by discussing the GIVING of feedback.

WHO can give musical feedback to others?

• Teacher
• Conductor
• Principal or acting principal player
• Colleague/co-player
• Friend
• Enemy
• Audience/Fan/Music lover/Family

Since the teacher and the conductor are both professional feedback-givers I chose not to discuss their jobs here; that is a huge subject, though, for another discussion, another time.

WHY would you give feedback to others? (What is your motivation?)

• you were asked directly about your opinion and feel that you must answer
• you want to help to improve the musical result
• you want to help/encourage this person to become a better musician/brass player (out of love, friendship…)
• you want to be a very honest person (or you just talk before you think...)
• you want (or feel that you need) to defend yourself, and attack is often the best defense
• you like to belittle others
• you like to make it harder for an enemy (‘sweet is the taste of revenge’)
• you want to be everybody’s friend (and hand out praise only)

WHERE and WHEN could feedback be given?

• In an orchestra or bigger group:
  • Before, during or after rehearsals?
  • At the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, or last rehearsal?
  • Before, during, or after concerts?
  • On stage? Privately? On the phone? In the pub?
  • After being asked? Without being asked?
• In chamber music:
  • Mutual feedback is expected during chamber music rehearsals; it is, however, very important to find a good balance between give-and-take.
• Being a listener/part of the audience:
  • After a concert?
  • After having listened to a recording?
  • Being asked, or just offering your opinion anyway?
• During regular corridor/coffee break conversations:
  • Offering general negative remarks on national versus international levels of performance on a particular instrument.

HOW could feedback be given?

• without words, body language, sighing, shaking head, thumb, etc.
• by imitating, exaggerating, adjusting, parodying, showing...
• by words, and then you have a choice! (When in doubt, leave it out?)

Good teachers (and some conductors) know to find the right balance between [1] the positive and encouraging feedback, so necessary for self-confidence and bravery, and [2] the constructive critique, comments, or suggestions so necessary for progress and development.

While only dealing with good teachers, we live in a protected world. Out there, in the real world, the feedback does not always appear in a gentle ‘wrapping.’

When you yourself are the one who gives the feedback, you are in control—at least theoretically—as to the way the message is delivered, with what words, tone of voice, timing, etc.

RECEIVING feedback, especially, the kind that contains some suggestions to improve or to change the way you just performed, can sometimes be hard to deal with.

One example from orchestral life: a principal wind player performed a small cadenza in his part during a rehearsal. (It is necessary to know that this musician’s father happened to be a professional musician as well, playing the same instrument in one of the major US orchestras, and this father was also known to be considered a personal enemy by the son’s conductor.) The conductor stopped, looked at him very negatively and said with an arrogant voice, “WHO taught you to play it LIKE THAT?” After a few seconds of silence, the wind player replied calmly, “How would you like me to play this solo?” This musician chose to ignore the immature, childish part of the conductor’s personality, and just to listen to that part of the message which concerned the music; the conductor wanted to hear the solo played differently, and thus the musician’s job was to find out how.

It takes a true ‘adult’ person to control the reactions to feedback presented in such a negative way.

On the other hand, I have also seen extremely emotional and/or angry reactions to very careful and mild instructions or suggestions. Some people look calm and collected on the outside, while the inside is like a time bomb of nerves and insecurity.

Looking into the REASONS for such immediate, emotional reactions, there are many interesting possibilities:

• the suggestions are ‘wrong,’ or to be ignored because they came
  • at the wrong time/with the wrong words/from the wrong person
    • wrong person, because: he/she
      • is an enemy, trying to make it harder for me…
      • is a ‘weaker’ musician than me; has lots of own problems
      • has a different taste, I will not yield.

Also, some musicians with a very high level of inner stress feel that any kind of feedback might be devastating to their performance. Therefore, they choose to argue back, walk away, or ignore the message somehow in order to protect themselves.

And, of course there are times when it is really necessary for most of us to protect ourselves against difficult suggestions that occur at the last minute, or that demand skills that we simply do not have at that moment, due to fatigue or whatever.

Nevertheless, I think that the ability to react calmly and with dignity can be trained.

Nobody is perfect, neither the one who delivers the feedback, nor the one who receives it. We all make mistakes, whether in the actual performing of music, or in the way we deal with our colleagues/friends/students/teachers/conductors/family. Interesting and important is how we handle our mistakes.

A proverb says that the fool always makes the same mistakes; the smart always makes new ones.

When being told of a possible mistake, there is a choice on how to react: allow some time for cooling down, and then ask yourself, “Is there in this feedback a possibility to learn something?” To find out for sure, it might be wise to seek a second opinion from somebody else whom you trust.

If the answer to the question is NO, you will probably need to defend yourself mentally by ignoring the given feedback.

However, if the question can be answered with YES, do consider the comment! It might help your progress, maybe not right there and then, but hopefully some time down the road.

The art of receiving feedback—whether we asked for it or not, and whether the words, the timing, and the person delivering it were all wrong or right: by considering the content of the given feedback, you might be able to eliminate some old mistakes and start looking for new ones. And after all, it is boring to keep repeating the old mistakes…maybe being the only one around who is not even aware of them!

Lieksa, July 21, 1990
Frøydis Ree Wekre

From a collection of 42 Christmas Carols for Two Horns, please enjoy the two offered here as a gift to you this holiday season. These simple settings were originally written for my younger students with the idea that they would play the melody as solo training while I played the second part to support and encourage them. Merry Christmas! MH