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.

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.

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!

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.