by David Griffin

Dale Clevenger and David Griffin together in Salzburg, Austria.
(photo credit Todd Rosenberg)

Many people will remember Dale for his epic Mahler and Strauss horn calls, his fearless rides into the stratosphere, and his endlessly long lyrical lines. Of course, those are all very true and memorable, but I will most remember Dale for his kindness and patience when I was a new member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra horn section.

Rather than pointing out shortcomings, Dale did whatever he could to encourage and welcome newcomers. Suggestions were few and far between, which greatly helped a new player feel comfortable in an unfamiliar situation. On the rare occasion when Dale addressed the horn section in rehearsal, he always phrased the request in the politest form possible.

After I had been in the CSO for about a year, I mentioned to Dale that he never seemed to be worried about anything. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “David, I’m a very good actor.” I suppose so, because his outwardly carefree attitude, during even the most high-pressure situations, demonstrated to the section that communicating the musical content took precedence over just hitting right notes on the horn. In my lessons with Dale, he spoke about “controlled abandon” as a goal for performances. Later as a colleague, what incredible joy it brought me to hear him up close in the orchestra, performing so fearlessly and with controlled abandon.

Dale’s spot-on imitations of conductors kept us laughing. Speaking of conductors, none ever rattled him. Rather, the occasional inexperienced conductor might quickly learn not to try and fix what wasn’t broken.

Everyone has their own favorite playlist of Dale’s greatest moments, on which I cannot improve. An interesting comparison, though, would be to listen to Mahler’s Third Symphony with then-Music Director Jean Martinon conducting the orchestra in a live performance from 1967, Dale’s “freshman year.” He sounds very good, but in hearing that recording, there’s no way to imagine the type of musician and horn player into which Dale would evolve. Given the chance to serve as CSO’s principal horn, Dale seized the opportunity and performed in a manner that raised expectations for all horn players in ways previously unimagined.

The 20th century is well documented with many commercial and live recordings of the entire orchestral repertoire. No one sounded like Dale prior to his tenure—although not long after establishing himself in the CSO, everyone was trying to sound like him. Dale was a pivotal artist who forever changed orchestral horn playing.

Some have described the first horn role as “either bored to death or scared to death.” Nothing could be further from the truth for Dale who lived for the finest details: smooth, legato lines with a clear sense of forward direction, an infinite variety of articulations, and the most dramatic dynamic level for the moment. He took equal pride in accompanying colleagues in a breathtaking pianissimo as in riding on top of the full brass section in a massive Bruckner chorale.

CSO horns section in St. Petersburg, Russia April, 2012. Clevenger, Jim Smelser, David Griffin, Oto Carillo, Sue Gaunt, and Dan Gingrich (photo credit Will Berndt)

Like his music-making, which was always moving towards a higher level, Dale became his best person in his golden years as evidenced by a selfless devotion to his students and a genuine care for others. I will miss Dale’s unexpected phone call just to check in on me and catch up on the news.

Thank you Dale! Your glorious horn playing and passion for great music making will continue to inspire me forever.

by Richard Seraphinoff

The horn world was saddened to hear of the passing of Lowell Greer on January 5th of this year. Lowell had a stellar career as a performer on both modern horn and natural horn, and he was known as a pioneer in natural horn performance, horn making, and scholarship. This tribute for Horn and More will focus on Lowell the mentor and teacher whom many of us in Detroit got to know in the 1970s. For a longer tribute in the May issue of The Horn Call, I’ll write about Lowell as those of us who worked with him in later years knew him and enjoyed both his artistry and personality.

I first met Lowell when I was in high school and needed to find a private horn teacher. At that time, in the mid-1970s, Lowell was assistant principal horn of the Detroit symphony, and he taught a small number of students, a few of whom went on to become professional horn players, including Rob Danforth, R.J. Kelley, and myself. The three of us were members of the Detroit Youth Symphony horn section, and Lowell was our coach. Studying with Lowell was much more than just having a horn lesson each week. It often involved recitals of Lowell and his students and the parties afterwards, for which Lowell would cook elaborate meals—with plenty of Dr. Pepper. It was like an extended family, with Christmas parties at which we exchanged presents, and sessions playing quartets and chamber music throughout the year. I still have, and use, a few horn making tools that Lowell gave me for Christmas as far back as 1974.

It was at this point that Lowell started to learn about the natural horn, and of course, he had to share his exploration with his students. At lessons, after playing a Kopprasch etude, Lowell would say “Fine! Now play it again on this horn.” Then he would hand you a natural horn made from a single F horn with its valves removed. The result was that we became proficient on both instruments early on in our studies with him. We didn’t think of the valved horn as the ‘normal horn’ and the natural horn as some exotic and difficult way to play the same music. They were two different but equally legitimate ways of playing the horn, and that’s how Lowell thought of them. I played second horn to Lowell for two seasons in the Toledo Symphony, and when playing his Alexander 107 B flat/high F horn (his regular instrument), I heard totally high-tech, clean, precise modern horn playing of the highest level; and when playing with him on natural horn, it was the same remarkable musicianship and the same distinctive musical personality, but done on an authentic low-tech horn in an authentic, well-researched way.

As we, his students, became more excited about learning the natural horn, the logical result, and the very “Lowell” thing to do, was to organize an ensemble of natural horns known as the Detroit Waldhorn Society (I still have one or two of the T-shirts). This group, which included his students and a couple of Detroit professional horn players, presented concerts around the Detroit area, and we even went as far as the Interlochen Arts Academy, where Lowell was the horn teacher, to introduce audiences to the natural horn. As Lowell searched out method books and 18^th and 19^th century sources and studied them, we all learned more and more about how the natural horn was actually played. This became the basis for much period instrument playing over the next nearly fifty years. Though there were other people playing natural horn in the USA at that time (and even earlier), what Lowell developed and taught became the basis of what might be called the ‘American school’ of natural horn playing. This became clear to me at the Naturhorn Festival which took place in Essen, Germany in 1993. Also in attendance were representatives of the German school of natural horn players, led by Hermann Baumann, and the English school, of which Tony Halstead was one of the founding players and teachers. French-speaking players such as Francis Orval and Michel Garcin-Marrou represented a French school, and Lowell was the mentor and master of our American school. Hearing the players from different countries at this festival impressed upon me that, already at this relatively early date, distinct national schools of natural horn playing had developed. Lowell’s clean, singing way of playing the instrument—as can be heard on his Mozart concerto recording with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and on his superb Brahms trio recording with violinist Stephanie Chase and pianist Steven Lubin—set the stage for how we all approached the natural horn in the United States. (Listen also to his assertive, noble playing in Va tacito from Handel’s Julius Caesar.)

My own introduction to horn making took place one evening in about 1974 when I brought an old flea-market horn to my lesson. At around 8 p.m., after my lesson, we descended into Lowell’s basement; at about 3:30 a.m., we came up the stairs again with my first natural horn—which I got to try out in a concert soon after in which Lowell and I played Handel’s Water Music with the Ars Musica Baroque Orchestra in Ann Arbor Michigan, one of the earliest period instrument orchestras in North America. We eventually played Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 1 and many other works with this group as I followed along learning natural horn technique, performance practice, and horn making from Lowell.

(L-R: Lowell Greer, Rick Seraphinoff, and Uwe Bartels)

I often wondered what drew Lowell to the natural horn. Was it the challenge of making nice music on an instrument that was more difficult to play? Was it the curiosity to understand how the music sounded to the composers and audiences of the time? Or was it an academic exercise of detective work to go back to the sources and figure out the horn technique of the distant past?

I was in Toledo this past week helping to catalog Lowell’s many instruments (and pieces of instruments), as well as his books and music, and his widow Patricia asked me, “What was it that made Lowell’s playing so distinctive and special?” It occurred to me, as I tried to give her an answer, that what made Lowell’s playing so special was a wide variety of colors that struck the ear like a human voice. I should preface this next statement by saying that I, like Lowell, am a total fan of the modern horn and think it’s one of the greatest instruments ever invented; but I believe that one of the qualities that intrigued Lowell about the natural horn is the subtle unevenness of colors and the vulnerability of its voice. The natural horn can be played with overly-closed stopped notes that can give it an ugly character, or it can be played, as the old treatises tell us, with only the most subtle differences between open and stopped notes, putting more musical tension on the closed notes, which are typically the non-harmonic tones in a melody. To instill emotion in the listener, those uneven colors, when skillfully managed, emulate the vowels and consonants as well as the emotional content that a singer or speaker can convey. This, I believe is the key to the magic of the wide palette of colors and emotions Lowell achieved in his playing—as one can hear in the third movement of the Brahms trio recording. This very organic way of expressing music on the horn, with its risks and with the imperfections we humans show when expressing ourselves, is what drew Lowell to the natural horn and made his playing draw us into the stories that he had to tell.

(at Kendall Betts Horn Camp)

by Michael Estrella

They are not just a group of horn players, they are a family who makes music together.

Dennis, Michael, Jovina, and Celso (L-R in the photo) constitute the horn section of the 96-year old Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO), one of the oldest orchestras in Asia, and the most active, living artistic institution in the Philippines. Although the players vary widely in age, their passion for playing makes it natural for them to keep learning and mastering their craft for the benefit of their section and, certainly, of the orchestra to which they belong. It is not just about playing their instruments; it is about tuning into each other and harmonizing with the music and the collective whole.

Let’s get to know the horn players of the Manila Symphony Orchestra:

Celso De Leon Jr. was born into a family of musicians and has been playing the horn for several decades. He started to play the instrument at age 10 under the guidance of his uncle, Virgilio De Leon, a clarinetist, and he is the third generation in his family to become a member of the MSO. Celso was one the pioneering members when the MSO was reorganized in 2001, and he is currently principal horn. Although Celso studied Business Management at the University of the East in Manila, music is his passion. He pursued his career as a horn player under the tutelage of Prof. Leopoldo Lopez and Danielle Kuhlman. Aside from his work in MSO, Celso has also been a member of the Manila City Band since 1987. 

Michael Estrella has been a member of the Manila Symphony Orchestra since 2014 and is currently assistant principal of the section. In 2020, he was named first runner-up in the Philippine Hornplayers Society’s First Leopoldo Lopez Horn Competition in which he performed Richard Strauss’ Andante for Horn and Piano. In the same year, he also won 2nd place in the individual French Horn/Mellophone Open Class in the Asian Virtual Championships, a well-known marching band competition. Michael was the principal horn player for the Bureau of Fire Protection NCR Marching Band in 2009. He was recently appointed to be a leader and teacher of beginner musicians of the marching band, Malabon Banda Cuatro. He remains active in chamber music (woodwind and brass quintets), and he is also a member of Philippine Hornplayers Society.

Dennis Cruz was also one the pioneering members when the MSO was reorganized 21 years ago. He was born into a family of musicians and started learning music when he was 10 years old. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in French Horn and Percussion at the University of the Philippines in the classes of Prof. Leopoldo Lopez (horn) and Prof. Leo Roque (percussion). Dennis has served as a percussion mentor for the Darangan Drum and Bells in 2016, Mabuhay Drum and Bells in 2018, and Dona Justa Guido Madrigal Drum and Bells from 2017-2019. He was a member of The Metro Manila Community Orchestra (2000-2001) and UP Symphonic Band (1994-1996). Along with the MSO, Dennis is also presently a member of Quezon City Symphonic Band and Binangonan Youth Band 83.

Jovina Francisco-Halcon’s love for playing the horn began when she attended a camp held by the Philippine Youth Symphonic Band in 2004. She continued to participate in the music camps, and this had a profound impact on her as it enabled her to develop her playing and so ignited her passion for the instrument that she decided to pursue a degree in music. Jovina graduated with her Bachelor of Music degree in French Horn from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, having studied with professors Leopoldo Lopez, Neptalie Villanueva, and Mahler Villanueva. While pursuing her degree, she was a member of the UP Symphonic Band and the UP Orchestra. Jovina joined the Manila Symphony Orchestra in 2015, right after her graduation.

As individual musicians and as a group, the MSO horns work constantly to cultivate their sensitivity to the sound of every note, practicing not only their orchestral pieces but also horn quartets to maintain the tightness of the section, and to improve ensemble playing and harmony with the rest of the orchestra. Following the lead of their principal and working collectively, they create a more melodic, cohesive sound that leaves the audience in a place of awe.

by Patrick Hughes

The “how-too” is an exercise first presented to me when I was studying horn with Doug Hill. It’s one of the regular high-range exercises I share with my students at the University of Texas at Austin. This exercise teaches a specific body rhythm when starting pitches in the upper range. Often, we start high pitches with a three-count approach (1=inhale; 2=close the throat and set tension in the lips; and 3=explode on the note). The “how-too” exercise eliminates count 2 where we tend to close our throats and overset our embouchures, basically creating tension before the note. So, the body rhythm is now a two-count approach: 1=inhale—letting go of tension in the upper body by inhaling “how” (this opens the back of the throat); and 2=the start of the note (or “too”).

The “how” releases any tension held in the upper body—it’s very “chill.” Conversely, the “too” is assertive and quick, and it happens at the moment our throat is most open, when we’re at the bottom of the breath. During the “how” inhalation, a deep breath really isn’t necessary, think of it more as a body relaxation rather than a taking-in of air—you’re only going to play one quick note, so you don’t need much air. Also, keep the mouthpiece “at bay” while inhaling/relaxing (“how”) and bring your lips to the mouthpiece as you say “how” (notice how your lips come forward when you shape the “w”). The “too” is a quick note with an open end at a comfortable dynamic. Be assertive with your “too.” Don’t hesitate! Articulate “too” before you think you’re ready to play a note. Most students find it easier to get the rhythm of the “how-too” by counting or setting a metronome to 4/4: inhale/relax the “how” on beat 4 and say “too” on beat 1. Be sure that your “how” lasts for the entire beat 4, and the “w” of how meets the “t” of “too” (as if you’re saying “howt—oo”). There should be no tension or stopping of the inhalation before the “too.” Follow through.

Pick a pitch higher than third space C and play five of the same pitch in a row with an intense focus on the approach (body rhythm) to the note rather than the note itself. Pull the mouthpiece away after each note, allowing the blood to flow back to the aperture, and so you can mentally reset to start the next one. Accuracy is not the point of this exercise—aim for a pitch but follow through and play whatever note comes out; don’t correct the pitch—let it be. Don’t judge! If the wrong pitch comes out, think, “Ah, very interesting! I think I’ll try that again!” Remember, the point of this exercise is learning a different and more relaxed body rhythm.

Start on a different pitch every day and ascend by half step through five pitches. Try for five good attacks in a row on any given pitch, but there is no need to practice more than ten. You’ve still rehearsed several great approaches regardless of hitting the desired pitch!

Special tips and reminders for the How-Too:

• Never correct. Just “how-too” and let the note be whatever pitch it is, whatever dynamic it is. Imagine the correct pitch before your play. If you get the pitch, add to your list of duties acquiring the muscle memory of getting back to that same pitch the next time.
• Don’t be in a hurry. You could hyperventilate if you go too fast. A relaxed approach is the key. Also, it won’t tire you out if you give your lips more off-time than on-time with this exercise.
• This is a great exercise in any range. This may also be effective in eliminating hesitation/stutter issues.

Tips on doing any high horn exercise:

• Practicing high range exercises with relaxation and effortlessness should be your focus!
• Work on all aspects of playing high:
  • moving into the high register with less tension;
  • starting in the high register with less tension;
  • slurring about in the high register with very little noticeable facial movement;
  • fast, relaxed articulations in the high register.
  Work on each of these areas separately, starting in a range that you can handle and have some success. Spend 5-10 minutes on them, or however long you can manage.
• Don’t force the issue. For most of us, it’s not that we’re trying to develop stronger chops to reach the upper register. Instead, tension in the face, aperture, neck, and shoulders are in the way of letting the air do more of the work; any tension we create above the lungs is inhibiting airflow which causes more tension, which inhibits more airflow, etc. So, go up there, do some work on playing in the upper register while maintaining control of extra tension in your body (or think of displacing tension lower, away from your head, neck, and chest) throughout the exercises, and stop while you’re having reasonable success. Then move on to something else in your practice—something different.
• Keep your right hand tight or compressed in the bell when playing in the high register; this helps to center the partials better.
• Pelvic floor breathing works GREAT in the high register, but we should be breathing down (i.e., throwing our tension down) to that muscle all the time!
• It’s not necessary to do every high range exercise every day. Put them on a rotation during your weekly practice regimen. Don’t play them all in a row. Don’t expect that you’ll have more success with these exercises at the beginning, middle, or end of a practice session. We should be able to play high, low, soft, loud, at any time, as long as we’re sufficiently warmed up.