Deep satisfaction and happiness overcame me when I was challenged by my dear Prof. Ab Koster to give my contribution to the Pedagogy Column of the IHS Newsletter. Standing out as a brilliant idea, this column has presented very interesting and inspiring articles, It demonstrates once again the IHS’s role and what a truly International Society it is. Without dwelling too much on the matter, I would like to share with its readers some of my main ideas about the horn and about playing it.

The way to success is very complex and depends on a variety of interconnected aspects. As with anything in life, it requires balance and stability. On this occasion I should, however, point out a few factors which I deem to be crucial:

1 – SOUND

This is, in my opinion, what distinguishes the horn most from all other instruments. It is certainly what makes us hornists fall in love with it and what delights the audience. There will always be more powerful instruments than the horn, which might be more virtuoso, produce more high notes, lower ones, and so on. But few instruments are capable of giving delight with just one simple sound and to touch any soul. Take some of our most acclaimed orchestral solos, such as Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (4th horn), Mendelssohn’s Nocturne from ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 , and so on. Although these might not be the best examples of virtuosity, they represent outstanding moments of the orchestral repertoire which any audience is likely to surrender to. Why? For no other reason but the instrument’s sound capacity. To sum it up, the first fundamental is, in my opinion, sound quality. It should be something that identifies us, our voice and our soul. Regardless of the different concepts of sonority, what matters to me most is that sound is centred, clear, and that it projects itself. Embouchure, the position of our hand in the bell and the way we breathe and use the air play a decisive role in the quality of our sonority.

2 – EMBOUCHURE

Embouchure is crucial and defines our essence as hornists. A strong and stable embouchure is fundamental. The objective is to play competently the whole of the horn’s register and to be flexible while preserving the quality of sound and tuning. I recommend practising lip vibration every day, with and without the mouthpiece. Studying long tones is very useful as it strengthens the embouchure and improves resistance and the quality of sound.

3 – AIR

Air has to be flowing all the time so as to ensure horn playing is a natural action, not a forced one. It is important to apply the appropriate quantity of air for a given musical sequence, the speed of air necessary to avoid vibration disruptions and ensure enough expertise and support for the high register or intervals to not cause any problem.

4 – TECHNIQUE

Individual technique should be practised every day. I consider it important to start exercising it already during the daily warm-up period. The better and more complete our warm-up is, the better will we be prepared. It is essential that we are fit and that every technical aspect is covered. In case of difficulties in organising one’s studying time, I recommend using a table where the type and the amount of work done every day and/or week can be specified and followed. Anything we practice less will be more difficult for us to accomplish.

5 – PERSONALITY

In music, as with any other form of art, the personality of each performer influences their work. When working with my students, I try to share my experiences with them, my knowledge and my ideas, and I try to encourage them to be individuals and to add their personal touch. I have learnt to appreciate, respect and admire different ideas and concepts. Uniformity allows for predictability, but it reduces creativity and interest. Musical choices and options should be grounded and understood in order to be credible and consistent. Nowadays it is very easy to have access to information, to travel the world physically or virtually, to discover different traditions and concepts. It is for us to observe and absorb what we have learnt and to create our cultural background. A musician is an artist who transmits a message or feelings to someone listening. For the message to be successful, it has to be felt and personified. We need to be courageous enough to take the risk of being different and unique.

Much more could obviously be said. I have shared some of my thoughts and some of my main fundamentals of horn playing. Horn is something we fall in love with, either as a listener, or as a performer or professor. The will and the fun involved in discovering and learning more are a daily tonic. Enjoy it all!

J. Bernardo Silva April 2017 (Translation: Filipe Costa)

J. BERNARDO SILVA

He has been member of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, in Portugal, since 2000. He is horn professor at the University of Aveiro and the Espinho Professional Music School.

He has presented himself in several countries across Europe, as a solo performer, chamber musician and orchestral player. He performed as a guest artist in several brass and horn festivals and symposia, including of the International Horn Society and Lieksa Brass Week, in Finland. He has been a very active chamber music musician, is a founding member of the horn quartet Trompas Lusas.

He was awarded the First Prize in the Philip Farkas Competition organized by the International Horn Society in Lahti, Finland in 2002.

His discography has several solo works, chamber music and as an orchestra member.

J. Bernardo Silva is a Dürk- Horns artist.

www.jbernardosilva.com

English version

Foi com grande satisfação e alegria que recebi do meu muito estimado Prof. Ab Koster o desafio de dar a minha contribuição para a Coluna Pedagógica da IHS Newsletter. Esta Coluna é uma ideia fantástica e tem apresentado artigos muito interessantes e inspiradores. É mais uma demonstração do papel da IHS e de como é uma verdadeira sociedade internacional. Sem querer ser demasiado exaustivo, gostaria de partilhar com os leitores algumas das minhas ideias principais sobre a trompa e sobre a sua prática.

O caminho para o sucesso é muito complexo e depende de muitos aspectos que estão interligados. Como em tudo na vida tem de haver equilíbrio e estabilidade. No entanto, nesta ocasião, gostaria de destacar alguns pontos que para mim são fundamentais:

1 – SOM

Na minha opinião é aquilo que mais diferencia a trompa de todos os outros instrumentos. Certamente é o que, a nós trompistas, nos apaixona e o que encanta o público. Haverá sempre instrumentos que tocam mais forte que uma trompa, que serão mais virtuosos, que tocam mais agudo, mais grave, etc. Mas poucos instrumentos têm a capacidade de encantar com um simples som e de tocar qualquer alma. Olhemos para alguns dos nossos solos orquestrais mais admirados, como por exemplo a 2ª Sinfonia de Brahms, 5ª Sinfonia de Tchaikovsky, 9ª Sinfonia de Beethoven (Trompa IV), Nocturno de ‘Sonho de uma Noite de Verão’ de Mendelssohn, 1ª Sinfonia de Mahler, Sinfonia Alpina de Richard Strauss, etc… Não serão certamente exemplos de virtuosidade, no entanto são momentos fantásticos do repertório orquestral e capazes de deixar qualquer plateia rendida. E porquê? Certamente pela capacidade sonora do instrumento. Em suma, no meu entender o primeiro fundamento é a qualidade sonora. Deverá ser algo que nos identifica, a nossa voz e alma. Independentemente de haver diferentes conceitos sobre sonoridade, para mim o mais importante é que o som seja centrado, claro, e projectante. A nossa embocadura, a posição da mão dentro da campânula, a forma como respiramos e usamos o ar têm um papel decisivo na qualidade da nossa sonoridade.

2 – EMBOCADURA

O papel da embocadura é crucial e definidor daquilo que somos como trompistas. Uma embocadura forte e estável é fundamental. O objectivo é tocar de forma competente em todo o registo da trompa, conseguir ser flexível mantendo a qualidade da sonoridade e afinação. Recomendo a prática diária de vibração labial, com e sem bocal. O estudo de notas longas é muito útil para o fortalecimento da embocadura, resistência e da qualidade sonora.

Andrew Pelletier: What is your horn story?  What brought you to the horn?

James Patterson: I started the trumpet in junior high band camp but switched to the tuba to play in the advanced band. Later in high school while working on the Wilder trio for horn, tuba and piano, the sound of the horn caught my ear. So, I switched to the horn in my sophomore year.

-What brought you to the craft of building?  Did you come to it via repair and customization?  Did you apprentice with anyone?

I've always had an interest in how things work, especially musical instruments. While in junior high school (middle school) I regularly took home various instruments, cleaned and oiled them and tried to learn how they worked. I re-padded a flute and a baritone sax and whenever an instrument needed repair, I volunteered to take it to shop where I watched the repair tech and subsequently learned about instrument repairing. While in college I did repair work during the summers, and after my University experience I was offered a job working for Robert Atkinson. This was the first time I worked as a specialist building and modifying horns. After that I got a “real” job working in the aerospace industry. I worked my way up the ladder and ended up as a manufacturing manager with 29 people in my department. Of course, I continued playing the horn, doing some recording work and freelancing. After ten years, I really wanted to return to the music business, so I started working as an independent contractor at Bob Malone’s Brass technology shop. I quickly became the top horn specialist in LA; that was where I honed my skills and began to think about my own designs.

-When did you make the shift to horn builder?  Was it a moment in time, or did it evolve gradually?

When I left the aerospace job, I started getting a lot of performing work, especially recording. But the industry was shrinking quickly, leaving me with a lot of time and opportunity for horn design. I started spending more and more time working on horns. I was the go-to guy at Bob Malone’s Brass Technology in Van Nuys, CA.  There was definitely a day when It became obvious that I needed to open my own shop. So, In the mid 90's I parted ways with Bob Malone's shop and began Patterson Hornworks. One of the first things I did was to take a class on natural horn building with Lowell Greer where I learned the skills needed to make my own horns. Initially, I focused on building natural horns, complete crook sets and sheet metal mouthpieces. I really enjoyed making these horns and was able to perform regularly on the natural horn in the LA Baroque Orchestra. I was also doing a lot of horn rebuilding and customizing as well as mouthpiece making.  As I continued to learn the fine points of horn design, I developed my own leadpipe and first branch tapers. From there, it was an easy transition to building the whole horn.

by Stefan Blonk

For a long time, recording a solo CD was on my bucket list. In my years as solo horn in the Gelders Orkest (Arnhem, Netherlands) I made many recordings of the large orchestra repertoire: Mahler 5 and 6, Tchaikovsky 5, and many others. Furthermore, I recorded the horn concerto by Mercadente with the Amsterdam Police Band for the Molenaar label. But a solo CD didn't come at that time, mostly because I didn't know where to start and which pieces to choose.

In 2013 I quit my job. It wasn't going well with my orchestra because of heavy budget cuts, and it wasn't going well with me. I wanted something different. I took a sabbatical, and through the medium of the Millereau natural horn I had purchased from Lowell Greer, I found my way back to the joy in music. Soon my calendar was full of natural horn engagements. I found myself playing with fantastic groups such as the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Apollo Ensemble, Anima Eterna, and many others. I also got an expanded position with the conservatory in Zwolle and started another project I'd been thinking about for a long time. I wanted a company where enthusiastic natural horn players could find a good selection of historical instruments.

During a rehearsal of the Brahms Horn Trio (on natural horn), the violinist said to me, "We really should record this!" And thus my old wish emerged once again in all its enthusiasm! I thought it over, did some research on crowdfunding platforms, and calculated the minimum amount the whole thing would cost.

The pianist, Riko Fukuda, had access to a variety of magnificent historical pianos. Her husband is Edwin Beunk, owner of fortepiano.nl.

To make a CD these days is fairly simple, as long as you have the budget for it. I had to keep it as cheap as possible without sacrificing the quality I had in mind. For the crowdfunding, I set a realistic goal: 5000 EUR - not enough for everything, but definitely a good start. I simply wanted to try it and see if it worked. I did a lot of advertising on social media, especially on Facebook, and wrote several emails to friends, family, and acquaintances. When you are asking for money, you have to be ready for rejections; you'll receive a lot of them. But there were also surprises. A rich friend pledged a large sum, and through that, the crowdfunding was already a success in advance.

You're asking people to support a project before it's even started. As a reward, you promise a CD, a concert ticket, both, or whatever else you can dream up. Of course, you have to be able to deliver what you promise! On top of that, the project has to be interesting. In my particular case, I called the project "The Natural Horn in the 19th Century." I started with the Beethoven Sonata from 1800, then the Brahms trio, and at the end the Rossini Prelude, Theme, and Variations. This last piece hadn't been recorded very often on the natural horn.

Contact was made with a technician and recording engineer. Edwin Beunk made his space available and took care of the pianos (for each piece a different instrument!) Riko Fukuda and Frank Polman played for free; they were also keen to record the Brahms.

Meanwhile, I got in contact with the record label with whom the Apollo Ensemble also worked, Centaur Records. They were interested in hearing the recordings once they were finished. Afterwards, they approved the recording, and I sent the photos and text for the CD.

We had three days to record. That wasn't very much time. You have to bear in mind that before even one note is recorded, you will have already played a lot. I was in good shape and had prepared well, but at the end of each recording day I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Recording is tiring work. The Beethoven and Rossini recordings went fairly rapidly. The Brahms is much more difficult to record. You need a lot of time and a sound engineer with super ears. In my case, I was short on time, and the sound engineer was sitting too close. That's something to learn from for next time!

A CD label doesn't pay you or invest anything in the project. The risk is too great for them - the classical CD market is saturated, and fewer and fewer people are buying CD's. Even at Centaur records, you have to take on at least 200 CD's at $6 apiece. On top of that, you have shipping costs and European customs fees. You should therefore be fairly sure you can sell so many CD's to justify the costs. In my case, I can sell them on my website, through a colleague, or at various instrument builders whom I visit frequently through my business. I play a lot of chamber music, so I can sell my CD's at concerts. On top of that, they count as promotional material and are therefore tax deductible. Through the purchase of an historical instrument, I can throw in a CD for free.

This is how I hope to make some of my investment back. The crowdfunding brought in 5000 Euro, and the crowdfunding platform cost me 600 Euro. Recording and taking 300 CD's cost an additional 2400 Euro. I was so lucky to have each and every person who helped out - otherwise the project would have been a lot more expensive.

Last week, we played the Rossini and Brahms alongside the violin sonata by Schumann. And the CD was lying there - I was happy and proud! August 4th is the official launch date from Centaur Records. Soon afterwards, it will be available on line.

If you're a horn player whose bucket list includes recording your own CD, I hope you've found something useful in this article. Go make it special!

You can hear Stefan’s virtuoso natural horn playing on YouTube

www.stefan-blonk.com

Translation: KMT