by John Allred

In light of recent events with COVID-19, Soldiers living in Grafenwoehr and the 7th Army Training Command have started complying with local German provisions against the virus and actually anticipating changes as they occur to ensure Soldiers not only comply with local laws, but Army directives. This means a higher health protection level for Soldiers and their families. Day-to-day life has changed in a big way: Soldiers are working from home if considered non-essential, and families have been notified of the required changes. Most functions can be done digitally, so we have started using software that has allowed us to do the majority of work from our houses. Administrative measures are still seen to as we take measures against the virus, and Soldiers can still improve their physical endurance and strength.  

For me, working from home has made things easier in some ways, but harder in others. It has allowed me more time with family and to develop my musicianship. I am not an Army musician, but a Troop Commander in the 2d Cavalry Regiment. My musical education and training occurred before I commissioned 8 years ago, but I still seek out opportunities to perform.

I was approached about making music for a Public Affairs project to highlight how we at 7th Army Training Command are still part of the German community. I naturally agreed, and I persuaded them into the Freischütz for a few reasons.  First, Weber actually lived in Bavaria for a time before he wrote Freischütz.  Second, we work in a training area, so an excerpt from an opera about bullets and marksmen was deemed appropriate. And third, I didn't really see a recording of "Ein Prosit" as a message we wanted our Soldiers to receive during a time of isolation. The Public Affairs team used the Acapella recording I made and overlaid it with our Commanding General's message in front of the Grafenwoehr tower, which is a landmark visible for miles around the training area and the namesake of our garrison, "Tower Barracks."

Hello everyone, I am Angelo Bonaccorso, horn teacher at the V. Bellini Conservatory of Catania and 3rd Horn at the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo V. Bellini of Catania and Italian IHS representative.

The situation here in Italy due to the pandemic is really difficult. We still have many deaths a day and the government has rightly ordered us to stay home. Hopefully it will end soon because many families, who have lost their loved ones, are suffering and many doctors and nurses as well as losing their lives are sacrificing themselves daily to help others.

The positive side of this quarantine (in addition to spending more time with our families and especially our children) is that it is developing more stimuli in us for study and creativity. Every day on social networks we see many videos by musicians, singers, athletes, cooks, etc. Each makes a contribution to offer something to others, a sign of long-distance friendship.

Among these initiatives, with my Sicilian Horn Ensemble, we were among the first to publish our video montage (made by our colleague Salvo Visalli) in which we play a remote arrangement of the Jurassic Park soundtrack. The members of the group: Bonaccorso Angelo, Manuele Catalano, Sebastian Mulè, Fabio Chillemi, Matteo Leone, Salvo Visalli, Daniele L'Abbate, Lorenzo Scolaro, Riccardo De Giorgi, Luca Grasso, Emanuele Giunta and Chiara Zito, all Sicilian hornists who, for work reasons, live in various parts of Italy and abroad but, thanks to technology, we have been able to pay homage to coronavirus victims. You can visit our facebook page or simply click this link to watch the video.

These days we have many new videos also from other horn players, trombonists and trumpeters, a really great artistic production! Among these, the video of the horns of the Teatro alla Scala which have mounted a fantastic video with the Scherzo of the 9 Symphony of Beethoven should be mentioned.

Another youtube channel to mention is definitely that of the great jazz horn playert Giovanni Hoffer who is offering us beautiful videos during this quarantine.

This makes us understand that the music does not stop even if we are all imprisoned at home.
Here is another example of mine to keep the stimuli at home where I recorded the {modal youtube="TD2u_Q7zRco"}Homilius quartet, I hope you like it!

Another very important initiative I would like to talk to you about is that of my French Horn Magazine page which, with the collaboration of great Italian horn players belonging to almost all the Italian opera-symphonic institutions, is implementing a project to stimulate the horn students who at this moment are at home.
Each maestro is creating a video tutorial in which he shows his daily exercises and explains how to do the daily study with practical examples. We already have a nice list of videos that you can view on the Facebook page.

We also did a two-hour video conference where the students interacted directly with the teachers and it was a really great experiment. We will have new videos shortly. Many students have contacted me and thanked me for this project. I personally would like to thank all my fellow colleagues who are embracing this initiative because they are really showing their big heart and great professionalism. We will soon make some great new projects with this great family of Italian horn players.

We stay home and practice, but thanks to music we are united even if we are far apart.
Wishing you all well, I send you a warm greeting

Angelo Bonaccorso

by Marlene Ford

Teaching horn lessons via Zoom is a lot different.
Teaching horn lessons via Zoom is no different.

Many college and private horn teachers are seeing their students through some sort of online applications during this Coronavirus pandemic. It took me awhile, but Zoom turned out to be as easy as Tune-A-Day.

Once I was up and running, my students all showed up at their regular lesson times. With so much out of our control, this small routine of regular lesson times was comforting. What wasn’t routine, they missed. Driving to lessons, unpacking the horn and music, warming up and playing in front of the real me was a ritual missed.

The basic music work was pretty much the same: scales, etudes, solos, orchestral excerpts. I listen; they listen. I comment; they comment. Learning happens—sometimes because of me, sometimes despite me. Nothing changed there. I hadn’t considered that I could video record their lessons through Zoom. That was a boon for us all. On the flip side, we just couldn’t play together. No duets. There was the time delay and there was often distortion. Also, it didn’t make much sense to discuss sound quality as low notes sounded like barking dogs and high notes just disappeared.

Ah, what would horn playing be without a few laughs. Cherubini Sonata #1 is now played by the horns with an Italian villa background, one regularly has a gorilla as stand partner, and I’ve had the pleasure of my pedagogy being questioned by a student’s Google home device.

As we go into our third week at Zoom U., we are planning a studio class. If there are no recitals this semester, we can still play for each other. That will be a little different, but not totally different.