Found in Translation - The Horn Call en español project
By Keith Eitzen
While originally created as an international organization, the International Horn Society was founded in the United States, and its early events and publications had an American focus. Sixteen of the first twenty IHS symposiums took place in the US, and twelve of the fifteen Horn Society presidents have been American. Before the internet and personal computers, English was the only viable option for international publishing.
The IHS is currently working to increase membership in Latin America, which has a vibrant musical culture and tremendous horn talent. Classical music plays much the same role in Latino cultural life as it does in European countries. Professional orchestras can be found in all the major cities. Venezuela´s El Sistema youth orchestra program is being copied around the world. However, geography has been a limiting factor in the communication between Spanish-speaking hornists. Mexico City to New York is half the distance of Mexico City to Buenos Aires. And while Spanish has the second largest number of native speakers in the world after Chinese, there is little material available about the horn and horn playing in the Spanish language.
At the suggestion of IHS vice-president Kristina Mascher-Turner, I have been working on a project to translate classic Horn Call articles to Spanish. As a non-native Spanish speaker, I have been working with my students Karla Aranely González Barrajas and Jana Elizabeth Navarro Antuna, as well as with my children Christopher and Nicole Eitzen Delgado, to create idiomatic translations of some of the best writing to appear in the IHS magazine over the last 50 years. The first published translations can be found here:
https://hornsociety.org/es/publications-es/horn-call/horn-call-archive-es
Having been a member of IHS since 1974, I have an almost complete collection of Horn Call magazines. When picking out articles to translate, several instantly came to mind as having presented important ideas in novel ways. I organized them in four categories.
Pedagogy - Play What You Know
by Tina Su
One of the most important things I have found in my career of teaching and playing horn is using positive reinforcement to help students build on what they already do well.
At some point almost every student I have worked with has said “Oh, that’s just my old habit” to excuse a tendency in their playing that is less desirable. Once they realize the tendency does not go away after a few attempts, they often jump to the conclusion that “it’s hard to break an old habit.” When I first started teaching I made it a priority to come up with the best way to help them to “break their old habits.” I was successful with some students who were already prepared to break their habits, but not successful with other some students, who worked equally hard, or sometimes harder, towards breaking their habits. No matter how many different approaches I tried, we would make little progress and the old habits would remain unchanged in the end. It finally hit me one day in a student’s lesson, when we were not having success changing the old habit, and I suggested that the student “try building a new habit instead of breaking an old habit.” With this new goal, the student had an easier time focusing on building the new habit.
Most of us are familiar with the power of positive thinking and how that affects our playing or life in general. I have decided to take this to the next level by reinforcing the elements in horn playing that the students already know and do well. In horn choir rehearsals, students often play with a timid tone when they encountered with a technical passage. I found it effective to help them identify what they already know first, which could be the scale patterns, intervals or rhythmic patterns, to establish the new/healthier habit, and then have them apply what they know with their best tone. By reinforcing what they know with the best tone quality they are capable of, students are more confident and are more likely to make the new habit stick. Tuning chords in horn choir rehearsals has also benefited from positive reinforcement. The quality of the chords is usually easier to identify when students play the chords with their best tone. I then proceed the normal tuning procedure by building the chords from the root following the fifth and the third.
I found myself saying “play what you know” and “play with your best tone” a lot more now in horn choir rehearsals and in lessons and the students responded to these comments with much more positive results in their playing.
A native of Taiwan, Dr. Yu-Ting (Tina) Su is Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Northern Iowa and directs the UNI Horn Choir. Prior to her teaching position, she was the third horn with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan. As an active chamber musician, Su is a co-founder of the Wonder Horns (Taiwan), a member of the Northwind Quintet and the Northern Brass Quintet. She studied with William Purvis at SUNY at Stony Brook and the Juilliard School, Verne Reynolds and Peter Kurau at the Eastman School of Music. Passionate about expanding the horn repertoire, Su has premiered pieces for horn and other instruments composed by Reynolds, Tsai, Lu, Schwabe, and Askim. She also arranged several volumes of art songs for horn and piano; the first volume, Three Bizet Songs for Horn and Piano, was published through Veritas Musica in 2011. Her solo album Watercolors:Art Songs for Horn and Piano was released in 2014.
Le concerto de Valery Kikta, une merveilleuse découverte
Hervé Joulain - Featured Artist, IHS51
English version
Participer au Congrès International des Cornistes de Gand (IHS51) en juillet prochain est pour moi très excitant et ce, pour plusieurs raisons:
J’ai connu le corniste Jeroen Billiet dans le jury de recrutement du professeur de cor du conservatoire Royal de Mons en Belgique en 2016, mais c’est à Muncie (Indiana) au 50eme symposium de l’IHS l’été dernier que nous nous sommes découvert artistiquement.
A partir de ce moment, nous avons commencé à communiquer, sans but précis mais sur de nombreux sujets, ce qui nous a rapproché. Lors d’un déjeuner, l’idée de participer au prochain colloque international est née, de par la présence souhaitable d’artistes représentants différents pays liés culturellement à la Belgique.
Le projet m’a de suite plu, et je venais juste de découvrir un concerto dont je suis immédiatement tombé amoureux. Rêvant d’une occasion de l’interpréter, j’ai adoré l’idée de le faire découvrir au plus grand nombre, grâce au retentissement international du workshop de Gand.
Avant l’été dernier, terminant l’écriture de ma méthode d’études supérieures pour cor, j’ai recherché quelques informations sur internet et découvert par hasard le concerto pour cor et orchestre à cordes de Valery Kikta, compositeur Géorgien vivant a Moscou. Il m’a fallu le contacter, ses proches, ses éditeurs, avant de trouver finalement la partition d’orchestre grâce à un corniste russe. Malheureusement, seul le score existe, aussi j’ai fait réaliser la partie de cor puis bientôt la réduction pour piano.
Si ma proposition d’oeuvre à été de suite acceptée par le comité de Gand 2019 (IHS51), il n’a pas été possible de la jouer lors du concert avec Brussels Philharmonic le 5 juillet, à cause de la différence d’instrumentation par rapport au reste du programme. Le concerto de Valery Kikta sera donc joué lors d’un récital cor et piano, après le Larghetto d’Emmanuel Chabrier, concert partagé avec Bill VerMeulen le 2 Juillet.
An Exciting Discovery - Valery Kikta’s Concerto for Horn
By Hervé Joulain
Participating in the International Horn Symposium (IHS51) next July is very exciting for me for several reasons:
I met Jeroen Billiet on the jury to select the horn professor for the Royal Conservatory of Mons in Belgium in 2016, but it was in Muncie (Indiana) at the 50th IHS symposium last summer that we discovered one another artistically. From that moment on, we began to communicate on many different topics, with no particular purpose in mind, bringing us closer together. Over lunch one day, the idea of my participating in the next international symposium was born. This fit the desire of the hosts to feature artists from countries with a cultural link to Belgium. I liked the concept straightaway, and as it turned out, I had just discovered and fallen in love with a new concerto. Dreaming of an opportunity to perform it, I loved the idea of introducing it to a wide audience due to the international exposure at the workshop in Ghent. Before last summer, while finishing up writing my method of advanced studies for horn, I was doing some research online. Totally by chance, I discovered the concerto for horn and string orchestra by Valery Kikta, a Georgian composer living in Moscow. I had to contact him, his family, and his editors before finally finding the orchestra score (thanks to a Russian horn player). Unfortunately, only the score existed, so I prepared a horn part and piano reduction myself.
Even though my proposal was immediately accepted by the IHS51 artistic committee, it was not possible to play it during the concert with the Brussels Philharmonic on July 5th due to differences in instrumentation with the rest of the program. Instead, Valery Kikta's concerto will be played during a piano and horn recital, after Emmanuel Chabrier's Larghetto, a concert I will be sharing with Bill VerMeulen on July 2nd.
In order to promote the event next July, I already included the concerto of V. Kikta on a concert in Paris on December 1st. I must say that I had a great time introducing this masterpiece to an enthusiastic audience! The piece is complex and rich in its form and musical language. Indeed, both the different parts of the concerto (in a single movement) as well as the different elements of his writing for the horn are a marvel to me. The concerto requires a command of many different technical elements (staccato, a wide range, intonation in the low range, various special effects, etc...) but all to serve the music, not just to embarrass the player, or hear him suffer! In this sense, the piece is similar to Olivier Messiaen’s Appel Interstellaire, a truly inspired piece of music. I hear many influences in Kitka’s concerto - Shostakovich, Tchaikowsky, Britten, Prokofiev - in short, noble sources of inspiration for a work for horn! The musical language is in turn emphatic, melodic, sustained in the bass, rhythmic, chromatic, heartbreaking, contradictory; then the piece revisits all of these elements in reverse.
In the near future, I wish to offer an “up-to-date” version of this little gem for all horn players to enjoy. Music must be shared; it’s not the sole property of any individual.
Ghent 2019 will also provide me the opportunity to teach. I have given master classes in 22 countries, but never in the land of my Francophone neighbors! A Belgian horn player, after having ordered my method book, told me he has already registered for my class...
Jeroen Billiet also asked me to play a beautiful Belgian piece for horn and orchestra by Prosper Van Eechaute (1904-1964) entitled “Poème Nocturne” as well as “Collages” by James Horner.
Exciting moments await us in early July in the beautiful city of Ghent. The horn players of the European continent have no excuse to miss this tribute to our noble instrument as seen through the eyes of these very sensitive Belgian artists, because this year there is no football World Cup!
A sampling of some unrealeased live performances of Hervé Joulain:
Hervé Joulain has appeared as soloist with 120 orchestras, performing in France, Canada, the United States, Russia, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Georgia, Germany, Ukraine, and Spain. As a chamber musician he has played with Paul Tortelier, Vadim Repin, Gidon Kremer, Natacha Gutmann, Pinchas Zukerman, Yuri Bashmet, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pierre Amoyal, Michel Dalberto, Alisa Weilerstein, Renaud Capuçon and many others, in Europe, Canada, the United States, and Israel.
He was named principal horn of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France at the age of 20, and then with the National Orchestra of France. He has also performed with the orchestras of New York, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Milan, Cologne, Brussels, Oslo, Stockholm, Munich, Boston, Seoul, also with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe,led by many of the great conductors of our time.
Joulain has given masterclasses in many French cities, as well as in over 20 countries around the globe.
English translation: KMT
Translation of artist bio: Nancy Fako
Pedagogy Column: Horn Playing and Teaching in Portugal
by Bohdan Sebestik
A few weeks ago, I was asked by Ab Koster to write an article about horn playing and teaching in Portugal. Here are a few words about the issue from my experience, knowledge and view. More complex information would require deep study. Portugal is a beautiful country situated on the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula, with an ocean, mountains, and valley, as well as a Mediterranean lifestyle. Its history is long and rich - from the struggle for independence from Spain, wars with Moors, to impressive world discoveries and conquests at sea. It is breathtaking, the way Portuguese sailors navigated their boats to Africa, India, South America, Japan etc. Here the Portuguese already demonstrated their great capacity and potential to achieve high goals, and it continues to this day.
When I came to Portugal in 1988 from what was then Czechoslovakia, it was 14 years after its revolution (1974). I could still see the consequences of the dictator leadership for a long time, affecting the economy, health care, education and culture in the whole country.
There were only two orchestras in Portugal, one in Lisbon and one radio orchestra in Oporto. I started my work in the 3rd orchestra in Lisbon Nova Filarmonia Portuguesa (a new international chamber orchestra). After a year and a half, I won the audition for a new international orchestra in Oporto, after the old radio orchestra was dissolved. During this time I already started teaching privately due to lack of teachers. Later I started teaching at professional music schools (sort of secondary schools or colleges for music ). After Portugal joined the EU in 1986, it began to receive financial subsidies to improve its economy, roads, culture and also education. This contributed to the creation of a new professional music school. At the time I was asked to teach at three professional schools, where I started almost from scratch. There was enormous potential to create new future secondary and university students, future players and teachers. In 1995 I started teaching horn at the ESMAE in Oporto (Superior School of Music and Performing Arts), where I could fill an educational gap, preparing students for national and international competitions, jobs in orchestras and future teaching engagements. At that time in Portugal, there were only 2 universities offering studies in the horn, in Lisbon and Oporto.
In the beginning it was not easy to teach horn in Portugal. It was considered a second-class instrument, known more for bands. The first-class instruments were piano, violin, cello etc. It was good to teach and play in the orchestra at the same time, to be active as a musician, playing great repertoire with world-class soloists under excellent conductors, as well as playing chamber music. Thus it was not only possible to invite my students to listen to the concerts, but also to be able when necessary to integrate the best students into the orchestra on their road to becoming professionals.
Interview - Jeroen Billiet, Host, IHS51
Kristina Mascher-Turner: Hosting a symposium is an enormous time commitment. During this past year, how many hours a week would you say you spend working on IHS 51? How have you had to adjust your schedule to fit these demands?
Jeroen Billiet: It’s difficult to say exactly as I have never counted working hours, but I would say between 5 and 7 hours a day, so at least 30 hours a week. As an artistic assistant at the Ghent School of Arts, I fortunately have a lot of freedom to organize my work. I try to make sure that the students aren’t neglected by this excess of work, but my research activities are at the moment mainly focused on things that are useful for the symposium. And of course, it means that every night and weekend has long laptop sessions (not the most popular person in the house at the moment.)
I mainly cut a lot of playing hours, which is bad. However, I get a lot of support from my wife Nina who is charged with the coordination of the symposium, our master student Eline who helps us with communication and practical organizing, my colleague and co-host Rik Vercruysse, our dean and the entire Ghent School of Arts team, which is good. The backing of a large organization such as the Ghent School of Arts is a big relief!
KMT: It‘s always a bonus when the symposium comes to a spectacular city, and Ghent is amazing. What are some of the things visitors from far away can look forward to experiencing there?
JB: Ghent is a very important place for the history of the horn: our conservatory was founded by one of the most important horn players of the early 19th century (Martin-Joseph Mengal). It was also the place that Philip Farkas’ teacher Louis Dufrasne studied!
It is, as you say, a spectacular scene with its canals and splendid historical buildings. Our conservatory itself is housed in premises dating back to the 14th century….Don’t miss the Unesco Heritage altarpiece by Van Eyck in the Cathedral across the street from the conservatory! And of course there is good food, chocolate and great beer in this friendly and open-minded city. Ghent was named ‘Belgium’s best kept secret’ by the Lonely Planet guide, with good reason. We will have plenty of outdoor activities, concerts and flash mobs during the week. Since our venue is in the heart of the city, you won’t need to make a special effort to see a lot of Ghent during the week.
KMT: Tell us about the Historical Horn Conference taking place Wednesday-Friday alongside IHS51- how did the idea to bring the IHS symposium and this event together arise?
The Soul of the Bukkehorn
by Sissel Morken Gullord
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| photo by Cecilie Owren |
One of the oldest instruments in Norway, if not the oldest, is the bukkehorn. It is the horn of the billy goat, in use since the Stone Age.
Setra, the summer mountain farm, is where farmers take the animals in the summertime so that they get enough to eat in the pasture. In the old days, budeia, the milkmaid, took care of the cows and the goats there; she milked, made butter and cheese. Her instruments were the wooden lur and the bukkehorn. She used them for scaring and calling: scaring away the predators - wolves, bears, lynx - and calling the cattle and the goats. To emphasize - playing on animal horns is a human, world-wide tradition, not unique to Norway.
Anywhere in the world where people have animals, in any culture, I guess that they have taken up a horn and wondered if they could make sounds from it.
At all times, man has used horns to warn, to give signals, to scare, and to call. To communicate. They have been used in wars and conflict, as well as in religious ceremonies.
Horns from a ram or a cow, a buffalo or an antelope sound different than goat horns. In Norway, the billy goat is the main supplier of horns.
I focus on the Norwegian bukkehorn: this is my heritage, so few people are playing it, and the culture of budeias’ use of these instruments is not that far in the past.
It was not the historical facts or the strange instrument itself that evoked my passion for it. It was the sound. I was moved by this sound and got myself a horn, ready to explore the instrument. As a horn player, I of course have some advantages, like the lip technique and a way of playing that always searches for the tones to “ring”, to feel the richness of overtones in a way not all non horn players could. Another advantage I have as a natural horn player is a trained ear and practical knowledge of the natural tones, as well as the flexibility to “lip” tones upwards and downwards when necessary. And perhaps also the experience (or ability?) to let the instrument lead the way, not always fight against it.
Eliz Erkalp Interview
IHS Vice-President Kristina Mascher-Turner interviews IHS 51 Featured Artist Eliz Erkalp (in French with English subtitles).
