The Birth of a YouTube Channel
By Steve Park
Some of the most amazing things that happen in your life come as a total surprise. That is exactly what the success of my YouTube channel has been. As of this writing, I have over 5500 subscribers and almost 2 million views! I have received emails and other correspondence from all over the world.
As a horn player, I am a late-bloomer. I graduated with a Music Education degree in 1980, and, although I was always first chair and had a full-tuition music scholarship, I had no desires to play professionally. In fact, after college, I put down my horn completely and worked in the financial services industry for almost 10 years. I was lured back into the music world through an invitation to play horn in a pit orchestra for a church production of “The Sound of Music”. (A serendipitous event!)
Soon after, I left the world of high finance to becomes a public-school band director and community orchestra horn player. The first midi accompaniment I made was of the first movement of the Hindemith Horn Sonata to help a student prepare for a school district “Solo & Ensemble” festival. This proved to be very helpful for her and she received superior ratings at both the district and later, the state level. This lead to the making of additional accompaniments for myself and my students.
In 2000, I decided to make a CD of some of my favorite music for family and friends. Some of the pieces are a part of the horn literature, like Ravel’s Pavane or Franz Strauss’ Nocturno. But many of the pieces were arrangements of church hymns and Christmas choir music. I called the CD “Love Songs and Lullabies”. It was very well received. Several people told me it was their favorite CD. Others asked me if they could buy copies to give to their friends. (If you are interested in a copy of the CD, send an email to stevehornguru@yahoo.com)
The making of this CD improved my playing dramatically! I discovered, for example, that as I held a long note and got softer, I would go slightly flat right before the release. Recording gave me an opportunity to listen in a very critical way to how I sounded and to work to perfect my playing.
Low Horn - Just 3 Things
Jeff Nelsen talks about low horn playing. Click to play the video.
The Technician – Process – How
The Person – Purpose – Why
The Musician – Product – What
In this video “Low Horn – Just 3 Things” Jeff gives you three ideas for each of the above factors of performance. He’s sharing general concepts and approaches to them, through which some discoveries and growth can be found. Experiment freely with these concepts, and contact Jeff through email anytime with your questions. Download the accompanying PDF here.
Three of my Top Berlin Philharmonic Low Horn Memories (so far!)
by Sarah Willis
My audition
In the third round I was asked to play the Shostakovich 5 low excerpt again "this time louder, please". Thank goodness I had practised it louder and still had a bit of forte in reserve!
The first Beethoven 9 with Simon Rattle
My first concert after getting tenure was Beethoven 9 - a no pressure, small concert.... live TV in the Philharmonie! All rather terrifying and funnily enough, I felt more under pressure to play well so as to show my new orchestra they hadn't made a mistake by giving me tenure than I had during the trial! A scary concert. But it went well, and I remember being so grateful at the end of the 3rd movement that Beethoven had written us low horns such a wonderful solo.
Taking over 2nd F Wagner tuba
When Norbert Hauptmann retired, I took over the job of 2nd F tuba. I hadn’t played much Wagner tuba before - one always hears what beasts they are to play...- but from the very first notes on the Berlin Phil Wagner tuba (it had been played in by the late, great Manfred Klier) I absolutely adored it. I love being the bass of a chord and am always happy when I see Bruckner on the schedule. I usually have to do some breathing exercises before... those ends of the 2nd movements need a lot of air!! (And good nerves... unfortunately I never know in advance whether it's going to be a good nerve day or a bad one...but that's life as a horn player, isn't it? :-)
Interview of the month: Charles Putnam
Kristina Mascher-Turner: Can you tell us about your early training - when did you first become fascinated with low playing?
Charles Putnam: My early training was similar to most young horn players in the states - high school band and community youth orchestra; I was lucky enough to have great teachers and conductors. I also participated in summer music festivals (Eastern Music Festival was a highlight). My low range growing up was not very strong. Like most young players, I concentrated on playing high horn. I participated in a local horn club in Gainesville, Florida that introduced me to high and low horn playing. Everyone seemed to either want to play the first part or the fourth part. At university, we were always involved in large horn ensembles or quartets. Playing second horn on duets is very important for students in order to learn how to match articulation and intonation with the first player. When I started playing professionally, I played only high horn. It wasn’t until I went to Italy and Germany that I was exposed to playing low horn in an orchestra. I always enjoyed being part of a team, of a horn section that enjoyed playing together. I was involved with other European horn quartets early on so I had plenty of experience playing low horn in horn quartets before joining the AHQ.
KMT: In your daily life as an orchestral player, your position is that of “Wechselhorn” - playing both high and low. How do you keep up your high and low chops at the same time?
CP: All professional horn players, no matter their position, will be required at some point to play high and low. The problem with the “Wechselhorn” position (2nd and 3rd horn) is that there may be times where you have to play third horn on some Strauss or Wagner opera and then the next night, have to play the same piece on second horn. When playing 3rd horn, you need to have a strong high range to support the solo horn player in some passages and play with brilliance in your sound. When playing second horn, you need to be able to support the 4th horn player with solid low notes and a good core sound and volume. It is a tricky balance, and I feel that sometimes one of those two aspects will be compromised. Either you will have a stable and strong high range with an adequate low range or a strong and stable low range with an adequate high range.
I am always looking at my playing schedule in the orchestra to see what pieces are coming up and adjusting my warm-ups to either strengthen my upper range or strengthen my lower range.
KMT: Tell us about the early days with the American Horn Quartet. How were you asked to join, what were some of your earliest projects, when did you realize you were part of something big?
Pedagogy - Takeshi Hidaka
English version
IHSニュースレターをご覧の皆様こんにちは。今回アプ・コスター教授より、寄稿する機会を賜りましたこと、深く感謝申し上げます。
私は現在、東京藝術大学に勤めています。ホルンを通じて才能豊かな学生達と音楽を学び、楽しんでいます。東京藝術大学は藝大（Geidai）という略称で愛され、創立１３０年目を迎えます。私たち日本人が本格的に西洋音楽を教育機関で体系的に取り組み始めて１３０年過ぎたということになります。その前まであまりなじみの無かったクラシック音楽を知るために、沢山の日本人が海外に留学しました。今ではインターネットも普及して、情報を得ることが簡単になりましたが、音楽家はやはりライブで直接音楽に触れることや体感することが最も大切だと、近年より一層感じるようになりました。
これまで沢山のホルン奏者の皆様からニュースレターに寄せられた寄稿文はとても重要で、内容が豊富です。深く感謝すると共に、なるだけ重複しないように努めたいと思います。
ホルンを演奏する上で、仲間と一緒に室内楽を通じてアンサンブル能力を高めること、様式感などの音楽の基礎を学ぶことはもちろん大切ですが、楽器の響きをつかむことが重要だと考えています。
それに加えて、音の響きを自分の耳で良く聴いて、うまく共鳴するポイントを見つけ出すことが上達への一歩だと考えています。
楽器の「凹み」が音響学上正しい音程や響きを阻害することは明らかにされています。ロータリーの動きの良し悪しや位置のずれが響きに影響することから、私たちが楽器の構造やメンテナンス方法を勉強することは大切です。
演奏家からの音楽的なアプローチと並行して、国家資格を持った理学療法士を大学にお招きして、理学療法アプローチも導入しています。
演奏する際の姿勢（体位：Postureと構え：Attitude）は「呼吸」と深い関係があります。
私たちが演奏する際にスムーズに呼吸ができることで、身体的のみならず精神的にも良い影響を及ぼします。
Pedagogy - Takeshi Hidaka
by Takeshi Hidaka
Greetings to the readers of IHS digital newsletter. It is a privilege and I would like to express my appreciation to Prof. Ab Koster for the opportunity to contribute the article.
I currently work for the Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) and I teach and learn horn and music together with the talented young people. Geidai, celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, meaning 130 years have passed since we, the Japanese, have started to move forward with full-scale implementation of western music into our Japanese educational system. Until then, many Japanese studied abroad to learn classical music, which was not familiar in Japanese society back then. With the spread of the Internet, we are able to access to any information easily; however, I strongly feel it is essential for musicians to encounter live music and feel music in their hearts. I would like to extend my gratitude to fruitful articles written by horn players in the past, and I will try my best to provide new information.
When playing the horn, I believe improving one’s ensemble abilities with other musicians through chamber music and learning the basics such as musical styles are important; moreover, I feel it is essential to develop vibrancy of the sound. In addition to this, listening to your own sound with your ears and finding the right point of resonance are the necessary steps to improve horn playing.
Acoustically speaking, we all know how the "dents" on our instrument and its structure prevent us from playing the right pitch and sound. The movement and the position of rotary valves affect the vibrancy of the sound, and we all need to be aware of both the structure of the instrument and the maintenance methods. Parallel to the musical approach to the horn, I invite and work closely with a licensed physical therapist, implementing a physical therapy approach to horn playing at the university.
There is an important relationship between the breathing, posture, and attitude, when playing the horn. When we are able to breathe smoothly as we play the horn, it has a positive impact both physically and mentally.
In order to acquire knowledge of basic medicine, we learn from kinematics, physiology, anatomy, posture, circulation (heart) and respiration (lung), sensory system, etc. Surprisingly, there are many students who are not aware of the right position of the diaphragm and/or how it moves. In our classes, students learn about the position and center of gravity responsible for balancing our bodies. The students not only learn from texts and figures, but they actually feel their bodies by moving their bodies through exercise and stretching. Somatic sensory awareness plays an important role in order to realize the relationship between the body movements and center of gravity.
Somatic sensory awareness is one of the most important elements in order to control and keep the good posture, and I believe that developing somatic sensory awareness is very important when playing the horn. This physical therapy approach is very simple, reproducible, and universal. We also learn about “self-care,” which helps musicians to care for themselves in order to continue stable performance.
Through the classes I have given in the past two years, changes of students’ postures and attitudes are seen with improvements of the sounds and techniques. By developing the somatic sensory awareness and forming the good habit of listening to the vibrancy of sound, the level in which students realize and feel the quality and color of sounds seems to increase greatly. I strongly believe that working on educational research, not only from the musical approach, but also with a special team of physical therapists and instrument makers, are inevitable for the future improvement of horn performance and expression.
Takeshi Hidaka studied economics at Nagasaki University and horn in Tokyo and Maastricht. His teachers include E. Penzel, W. Sanders, Kozo Moriyama, Makoto Yamada, and Yasunori Tahara. He joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2005 and became acting principal in 2008. Since 2013, he is associate professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts and has had a distinguished solo, chamber music, and recording career.
http://hidaka.conmoto.jp
Life on Second Horn
by Yasushi Katsumata
私の子供の頃の将来の夢はプロ野球選手になることだった。当時、日本の偉大なバッターの王貞 治氏が、メジャーリーグのハンク・アーロン氏が持つホームラン世界記録を塗り替えるという偉業 を達成していて、日本中に大フィーバーが巻き起こっていた頃である。5歳の時の私の日記には「僕 は将来、王貞治選手になる！」と書いてある。小学校に入る前から父親と野球の練習を始め、7歳 頃から地元のクラブチームに所属し、小学校での休み時間も含めてひたすら日々の生活の中心は 野球一色だった。来る日も来る日も野球の練習に明け暮れ、それなりに力をつけてきた頃にはチー ムの中でも中心的役割を担うようになっていた。
ある大会での決勝戦、私は序盤にスリーランホームランを放ちながらも途中で逆転され、相手に3 点差をつけられて最終回2アウト満塁で回ってきた打席においても走者一掃のヒットを打って同点 とし、結果的に自分がサヨナラのホームを踏んで逆転優勝となったのである。7対6で勝利したそ の7点のうちの6点を自分のバットで稼いだのだ。その試合の模様は新聞に載り、記事は今でも保 管してある。この時がまさに自分が野球選手として最も輝いていた瞬間であったと思う。それは まるで自分らしくないと言えるほどの活躍ぶりであった。なぜなら、元来自分はそのように脚光 を浴びるタイプではないからである。たくさんの人に褒めていただきながらも、もちろん嬉しさ はあるのだが何となく落ち着かないような気持ちでいた事を覚えている。
守備においては全てのポジションを経験したが、最終的にキャッチャーとしての適性を評価され、 自分でも好んでその位置に定着した。主役として試合を牽引していくピッチャーの調子や心理状態 を推し量り、最適と思われる球種を提案し、それをもって三振に取った時などはとても痛快であっ た。このポジションを通してサポートする喜びを大いに学んだ。
From The Munsters to the New York Philharmonic
I have played 4th horn professionally in 4 different orchestras for almost 45 years now. I didn't start out meaning to be a low horn player. My horn teachers never steered me in the direction of being a high or low horn player. It just happened that my first successful audition was for a 4th horn position. I believe I was fortunate to have found my niche.
When I was around 12 years old and had been playing for just a couple of years, I was having a horn lesson when all of a sudden my teacher asked me to play the theme from "The Munsters". This was a popular TV show at the time, and I was completely mortified. I had been playing it at school while warming up, and another of my horn teacher's students had heard me and went to my teacher, wanting to know why she wasn't teaching the "The Munsters" to him. I thought I had done something wrong by playing something not assigned, but I guess she was glad to know that I could pick something up on my own.
Playing in the New York Philharmonic horn section is like meeting up with your friends every day and having a great time. I can't believe it's a job. (Don't tell the management). You get to make music with your friends and their wonderful artistry makes your playing better.
Howard Wall has been 4th horn in the NY Phil for 23 years after playing in the Philadelphia Orchestra for almost 19 years. Before this he played 2 years in the Phoenix Symphony and 1 year in the Denver Symphony. He also plays in a duo with his wife former MET concertmaster Elmira Darvarova.
