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!

What better way to start the new year than by announcing six more featured artists for IHS 55! All are well-known players and teachers from all over the world, and we are looking forward to meeting them, sharing with them, and, of course, listening to them play.

The BBC Music Magazine says of Ursula Paludan Monberg: “The Danish horn player..., thoroughly in command of her instrument, produces a miraculously smooth and agile line with secure tuning.”

Born and raised in Adelaide, Australia, Andrew Bain has held positions and soloed around the world, including across Australasia, Europe, and the United States where he settled as principal horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2011.

Since receiving degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and SUNY Stony Brook, Jeff Scott has enjoyed a career as a studio, chamber, and orchestral musician, performing in Broadway shows and with ballet companies, touring with various commercial artists, and recording for film, classical, pop, and jazz genres.

At the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019, Yun Zeng, at the age of 19, became the first ever gold medalist in the brass category and the first Chinese gold medalist in the instrumental categories. In 2022, he became principal horn of Staatskapelle Berlin.

Since 2017, Jean-Christophe Vervoitte has initiated with musician friends—members of Les Arts Florissants, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain—a collaboration of chamber music in the framework of the programming of the Philharmonie de Paris. Since their creation, these chamber music concerts have considerably enriched the range of themes offered, and the public has given these concerts an enthusiastic welcome.

A native of Vancouver, B.C., and our first Canadian featured artist so far, Allene Hackleman has been principal horn of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since 2004. Allene is a member of the Canadian National Brass Project and has performed with this group at the Festival de Lanaudière and at the Toronto Summer Music Festival. In 2015, Allene was invited to teach masterclasses at the Musikacademy in Belgrade, Serbia. She currently teaches at the University of Alberta.

You can read more about all the featured artists at www.ihs55.org/artists.

To register for IHS 55—and to take advantage of our early-bird offers—visit www.ihs55.org/rates-registration.

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

by Gabriel Betancur

Many horn players are unaware of the use of the body at the exact moment of playing the instrument. Awareness of what happens inside our bodies during playing (specifically, the function of the respiratory system, the muscles that form the embouchure, and the different possibilities for using the tongue) is a factor of great importance necessary to optimize articulation. We, as horn players, do not have the ability to directly visualize the activity of the elements which influence the production of articulation and sound (while a pianist, for example, can see in the position of the hands, posture, and other body movements and physical actions that may interfere with articulation).

We have, in general, two types of articulation: tonguing and slurring. To tongue, as required for performance, refers to the action of the tongue to separate individual notes; we can use the tongue to start or even stop the flow of air. To slur means to connect two or more notes wherein the first note is the only one which is tongued, and the remainder of notes in the slurred grouping are played with a continuous airflow without the interruption of the tongue.

The tongue is responsible for controlling the airflow (or output), whether fast or slow. Tongue position is an individual case, because different placements of the tongue generate different types of attacks, and tonguing has a great variety of effects.  When we use a thick (wide) tongue, the sound is warmer; if we use a thin (narrow) tongue, the sound is brighter.

Among the various ways we use the tongue, one of the most common faults is the method of tonguing between the lips. As the tongue draws back, it moves in the opposite direction of the airflow, and this use of the tongue prevents the most natural passage of air, thus losing sound projection, potentially creating strange noises in the sound, and resulting in unclear articulation. In such cases, the reaction of the tongue in a quick staccato is slow because it requires a long movement inside the mouth. To simulate this, say several times quickly the syllable "la;" then say quickly the syllable "thoo." We quickly realize the clumsiness of the syllable "la" and the lightness of the syllable "thoo."

The use of syllables depends on the interpreter and his language. Philip Farkas, in his book The Art of French Horn Playing, page 49, refers to the attack using the syllables "too" for a more marked attack and "doo" for a softer attack. David Bushouse in his book Practical Hints on Playing the French Horn, page 9, uses the syllables "toe" and "doe." In Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance, Douglas Hill says that, in general, brass players ought to use the most common consonants "t" and "d" to the beginning of the note but after the air is released we include the vowel quality of the tone such as "tah" or "dah," "toh" or "doh."

There is further discussion between some composers and horn players about what syllables should be used for attacks. John Humphries mentioned this in his book: “Punto recommends “daon” on a strongly tongued note, “ta” for staccato and “da” softly tongued notes in Adagios. Dauprat agrees with this in theory, but then points out that in practice the issue is irrelevant as tonguing and speaking are mutually exclusive. Domnich suggests “tou” or “dou,” but Gallay disagrees, saying Duvernoy’s “tu” is the only acceptable syllable."[1] 

To identify the position of the tongue, we take the two simple types of articulation, that of the soft attack where we use the letter "D," then "T" for a more pronounced attack. In the attacks with "D" and "T," the tongue maintains almost the same contact with the palate, the only difference being that the attack with "T" creates tension as the tongue touches the palate while "D" does not.

Analyzing the attack during music of a more leisurely tempo, we can see that it occurs when we remove the tongue from the palate, pulling it in a downward direction to allow the air to flow between the lips, using the tongue as a valve. To develop the attack as fast as possible, it is necessary to use a legato “doe” syllable which requires less time for each new attack.  

Another important aspect to consider in articulation is double- and triple-tonguing. Players develop multiple tonguing normally for groups of notes in fast tempos. This consists of using the normal “T” attack alternating with the pronunciation of the consonant “K” from the middle of the tongue. The principal reason for multiple tonguing is to allow the air to pulsate rapidly. The syllables we use for multiple tonguing are "tu-ku tu-ku," but for more fluency and better connections between each articulation, we can use the syllables "tug-gut tug-gut." However, this type of attack creates difficulty with the clarity of sound and, if not properly executed, also in executing the articulation. Douglas Hill contributes to this topic asserting, “The tongue going back and forth, rather than up and down, causes the k syllable to be too far back in the throat, while the t strikes [too] far in the front. This slows down the action and separates the articulations, which causes an uneven air pulsation at the aperture with the guttural k sound usually much less precise than the t.”[2]   

For a more specific discussion of the use of the tongue for articulation and control of dynamics while taking into account the correct management of air, we will briefly review nine common techniques regularly utilized in performance.

1 Staccato

We relate the attack of the note to the syllable "tuh," with the "h" used to create the resonance of the note. To articulate a consecutive group of notes, we use the top of the tip of the tongue to touch between the root of the teeth and palate, repeating this action only for the next note. The air flow is not stopped abruptly; it is only interrupted by the movement of the tongue upward and downward.

2 Staccatissimo

The action of the tongue is the same as in staccato, but we use the syllable "tu" and stop the air pressure immediately after a short puff of air, almost at the moment the note begins to sound, thus obtaining a dry sound. It is important not to use the syllable "tut" to get a good staccatissimo attack, since the "t" at the end closes the lips with the tongue, and results in an unclear sound and weakened projection.

3 Slur

The first note played after breathing is always articulated by the tongue. This is necessary to start the lips vibrating. The following slurred notes are controlled by the air and the continuity of the vibration of the lips. If air flow is stopped, the vibration of the lips also stops, causing a break in the legato. The lips are vibrated by the air column, and a good legato requires that the air flow never stops between notes. There is a very common problem associated with slurred intervals: as we make the jump to get to the next note, we push the air causing an accentuation of the second note. This problem is created by inconsistency of the air flow. For a good legato, we need a continuous air flow and consistent air compression to reach each note.

4 Legato tonguing

Here, the tongue is used in conjunction with the lips. When the slur is upward, the tongue should be in the bottom of the mouth for the initial pitch, forming the vowel "o;" and for the second note, the tongue moves to the position of the vowel "e," with this last position creating a smaller passage for easier air compression. For the downward slur, we employ the opposite order: the vowel "e" for the first note and "o" for the second. The air works just like in the slur, as explained above. Depending on the range or the distance of the interval, the vowels "o" and "e" vary in their position. For the higher notes, the tongue should be more arched and upward than in the mid-range.

5 Pianissimo

To develop a good pianissimo, it is important to understand that a smaller amount of air travels through the lips. The player should not breathe too deeply (as for a long phrase). But, of course, a constant air speed must be maintained, and the pressure against the mouthpiece should be controlled in order not to inhibit the sensitivity of the lips’ vibrations.

6 Fortissimo

The diaphragm must be supported with full intensity to give the necessary force to the air stream while embouchure tension contributes only a little to the process. A big fortissimo depends largely on the air capacity of each performer. If we try to exceed our lung capacity, pitch will be affected, and we lose projection and the center of the tone.

7 Sforzando

The sforzando attack is made by completely sealing the air column, with the tongue placed very near the aperture, maybe even touching the lips (but not protruding between them), and the diaphragm “shoves” the air while the tongue releases sharply.

8 Diminuendo 

The most important aspect of making a gradual diminuendo is the correct use of air. The speed is maintained so that the pitch does not drop, but the quantity of air should decrease. When we want to create a pianissimo decrescendo, we must avoid increasing the pressure of the mouthpiece against the lips so that the vibrations do not stop.

9 Crescendo

The player must increase air speed with the aid of diaphragm support to arrive easily at the volume desired. Embouchure control also contributes to the stability of the sound.

[1] HUMPHRIES, John: "The Early Horn: A Practical Guide," page 66.

[2] HILL, Douglas: “Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance,” p. 2001.