A Lifelong Dance with the Horn
“Music may not always feed my pocketbook. But it always feeds my soul” – a lifelong dance with the horn
by Laurie Heidt
"Long enough to know better . . ."
That's my usual quip when folks ask how long I've played the horn, because it wasn’t my original instrument of choice. I’d been a trumpet player, like both my parents and my grandfather, for 6 years when a horn was thrust upon me at the end of 7th grade.
But during junior year in high school, my passion for playing the horn burst forth due to an epiphany. For the first time, I saw a live performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. That opening fanfare, that splendidly heroic timbre that I had known and loved from my parents’ vinyl record collection since I was two years old, was played by a section of HORNS! The very instrument I held in my hands had that power hidden somewhere inside, under layers of after beats, and I was going to find it…
From that very moment I knew the horn would be in my life forever.
As if winning an audition to play with the All-Northwest Band in Portland, Oregon - and hearing that Tchaikovsky from the All-Northwest Orchestra – wasn’t already exciting enough for a high school kid from Butte, Montana,there were more thrills to come that year. I’d also won a scholarship to the 4th International Horn Society Workshop in Bloomington, Indiana. And in June, I found myself surrounded for a week by 400 horn players from around the world. I was completely awestruck by the performances and coaching by legendary hornists. Memories of hearing Konzertstück for the first time played by the Chicago Symphony horns and our massed horn choir playing Hansel and Gretel still give me chills to this day. I joined IHS on the spot. It was as if fate wanted to make sure the horn would always be a part of me.
From then on, 44 years ago, my passion for the horn grew stronger with every twist and turn life brought me. I played, and soloed, with the Butte Symphony, where Mom, Dad, and I comprised over half the brass section. I owe my musical genes and a debt of gratitude for unwavering support to my parents and family. And I owe my initial musical foundation to five years of lessons with band director Ardith Palmerlee, a trumpet player herself. During high school, Mom drove me long distances to my first horn lessons with Terry Reynolds in Bozeman, who established my solid groundwork for horn playing. Later, I studied for a summer with Nancy Cochran Block, the horn professor at U of M in Missoula.
Kumamoto Horn Ensemble and Earthquake
From the newsletter of the Japan Horn Society
国際ホルン協会のニュースレターをお読みになられている皆様、はじめまして。私は熊本ホルンアンサンブルの萩坂と申します。今回の平成28年熊本地震を被災したものとして、地震直後から現在の状況をまとめましたので、ご一読願えればと思います。
4/14（木）前震
自宅で息子が風呂に入っている時（21：26）に最大震度7の地震（前震）が発生しました。妻と無我夢中で風呂の息子を助けに行きました。東日本大震災を福島県で被災したホルン吹きの友人からの助言を元に、とりあえず浴槽に水を貯め、念の為妻の実家に避難しました。妻の実家に泊まるのは初めてでしたが、地震による緊張感でほとんど眠れませんでした。また、熊本県のシンボルでもある熊本城に大きな損害が出たことも報道で知りました。
Horns A Plenty Christmas
By Donald Krause
HAPC started about 15 years ago. Before that, we just had some horn players showing up to play Christmas music for 5 years. We started in downtown Appleton at a shopping mall with a three-story open area. The first few years, we had maybe 8-12 horn players perform and were supplemented by the Lawrence Conservatory horn studio (with James De Corsey.) He provided master classes for a few of my students, and then Bruce Atwell from the UW-Oshkosh horn faculty joined us for more classes. Bruce and I discussed making our own book, so he did that - we performed out of it for a couple years. The second time we were in Milwaukee, I asked Cynthia Carr to come and do a master class. She said that since we had no Jewish music, she wanted to redo the book and add some additional selections. Our first out-of-the-area guest was Jeff Nelsen. A couple years later, Geof Winter came to town with more performances and classes for my studio. He also arranged a version of the Cherry Tree Carol that is a favorite with our horn players.
A major revelation happened in the early 2000’s. I had contributed a personal check to a graduating senior horn student from the Fox Valley Youth Orchestra when the board invited me to come to a meeting to discuss something. The Youth Orchestra board said I could no longer make a contribution to a graduating horn senior: I could continue the fund, but they would decide which graduating musician would get the scholarship. I thought that since the entire horn section came from my horn studio, I could decide who would receive the money. That year (about 15 years ago) I decided to change how things were happening…thus Hornsaplentychristmas was born. We also did some HAPC events in the afternoon at the downtown mall, and then we all went over to the new Performing Arts Center to perform on the huge balcony for the audience waiting to watch the Nutcracker. I had done a little research about Guinness records and did not find any about horns, so in 2007 we had 85 horns plus myself to set a Guinness record.
IHS 2016
Our 48th Symposium is in ITHACA, NY!
MORE INFO AND REGISTRATION
You want to be there June 13-18!
Register now for the world’s biggest gathering of horn players, sellers, builders, composers, arrangers and more…
Register before May 18 and bask in the beauty of Ithaca, NY and THE HORN!
A Lesson from Young-Yul Kim
English version
좋은 연주를 위한 몇 가지 잊기 쉬운 간단한 조언들
- 키를 누를 때 불필요하게 높이 움직이는 왼손가락
여러 해 동안 학생들을 가르쳐 오면서 왼손가락을 필요이상 높이 많이 움직이는 학생들을 보아왔는데, 그 중 많은 수의 학생들은 왼손으로부터 시작해서 온 몸이 경직되어 빠른 패시지의 연주는 물론 호흡까지도 힘들게 되어 혀의 텅깅과 손가락이 조화가 안되어 어려움을 겪는 경우를 보아왔다. 그런 학생들에게 스케일을 아주 천천히 슬러로 연습하며 왼손이 항상 키에 붙어서 움직이도록, 마치 피아노 연주자가 올바른 손 자세로 피아노를 연주하듯이, 하여 편하게 숙달되게 되었을 때 학생들의 연주가 많이 유연해지고 호흡도 많이 향상되는 것을 보아왔다
본인도 유학시절 레이놀즈 선생님께 같은 지적을 받았으며 심지어 느린 스케일을 왼손가락을 키에 테이프로 고정시켜 안정될 때까지 연습을 하여 몸의 경직완화와 편안한 호흡까지도 얻게 되었던 경험이 있었다. - 귀에 들리는 본인의 거친 연주소리에 익숙하자
.호른의 가장 멋진 매력은 아름다운 소리라고 생각한다. 일반적으로 많은 학생들은 자기 귀에 들리는 본인의 거친 소리보다는 오른손으로 막아 부드러워진 소리를 듣기 원한다. 그것은 마치 청중이 호른소리가 무대 벽과 또 연주회장 벽 및 바닥에 반사되고 흡수되어 부드러워진 소리를 듣듯이 본인의 소리를 일찍 부드럽게 만들어 연주한다는 것이다. 본인의 연주소리가 본인 귀에 거칠게 들릴 때 청중들은 좋은 부드러운 소리로 들릴 것 이며 본인 귀에 부드럽게 들릴 때 청중은 이미 답답한 소리를 듣고 있을 것 이다. - 메트로놈과 녹음기를 유용하자
메트로놈과 녹음기는 음악가들에게 가장 좋은 선생님이라 생각한다.
학창시절 내가 새로운 곡을 연습하며 해결 못하는 어려움에 처했을 때 메트로놈으로 느리게 연습해 어려웠던 곡도 이해하고 또 성공적인 연주를 했던 기억이 있다. 우리는 가끔 선배 음악가들이 즐겨 사용했던 메트로놈과 같은 유용한 도구의 사용을 잊곤 한다. 그와 마찬가지로 연주 전에 녹음을 해서 들어보면 음정이 불안한 곳 또 템포가 흔들리는 부분들을 알게 되고 그런 부분들을 시정하여 더 좋은 연주를 할 수 있게 된다.
한번은 이스트만 음악학교의 얀치치 교수께 렛슨을 받던 중 선생님께서 “영률 이 렛슨비로 녹음기를 사서 녹음을 듣고 연습하면 일년 내내 좋은 렛슨을 받을 수 있을거야”라고 하신 말씀이 생각난다.
호른을 사랑하는 모든 학생들, 연주자들이 우리의 이 멋진 악기 “Horn”을 즐기면 연주하기를 바랍니다. 서울대학교 음악대학 교수 김영률
Rainbow Symphony Cologne
by Sherry Wegner
As an amateur musician, I often play my horn for fun and have many unique opportunities to play with a variety of groups. I have been living in Bonn, Germany for 8 years and have had many opportunities to travel with a few different orchestras to places like China, France, Ireland, Austria and Germany.
I would like to talk to you about my experiences playing with the Rainbow Symphony of Cologne in Cologne Germany. I was asked to play with the RSC because they needed a few more horns, and a friend of mine asked if I would be interested. I said..."I'm not gay." She said that they are also a gay friendly orchestra, so if you support the gay community in any way, you should play. I have many friends in America that are gay and have always felt very comfortable around them - so I figured why not.
The RSC has about 35 members. They play just a few times a year in which they get together and have a rehearsal weekend and play a concert. We have members from all over Europe. Our percussionist brings her own timpani all the way from Basel, Switzerland. The Harp player comes from Paris, and we have a few string players from other parts of Germany as well.
Lesson from Young-Yul Kim
A few simple suggestions to help you play better, yet easy to forget
- Left fingers flying on the keys
- While teaching the horn for many years, I have met quite a few students who play the horn with “flying fingers”. They often have great tension in their left hand and in their whole body as well. As they play, often there is no cooperation with tongue and fingers. They also have difficulties mastering a fast passage safely.
I ask students who have a flying fingers problem to play a scale slowly while slurring. They should concentrate on the finger position of the left hand over the keys until they feel comfortable. Once the left hand fingers are on the keys like a pianist would play on the piano keys correctly, the students usually become much more relaxed and their breathing is enhanced.
While I was a student of Verne Reynolds, I did not recognize my left fingers flying once. Mr. Reynolds suggested to me to practice my scale slowly with left fingers taped to the keys until I felt comfortable playing scale without flying fingers. I still remember how that helped me a lot to relax and breath well when I played the horn.
"Meet Your Makers" - Engelbert Schmid
The story of how I came to the horn is a funny one. It shows how tiny incidents can alter the course of a life. My father had played trumpet in his local brass band. Though he was a war invalid and didn't play any more by the time I was small, he told me, “My boy, when you get bigger, I’ll buy you a trumpet!” Simple and clear – it was decided! But a few years later, when I was 11, he died, the plan for me to play the trumpet dying with him. I don't know why.
I was born in 1954 in the village of Mindelzell in Bavaria, the third son on a small farm – too small to make a living from, but just big enough for our family to live off. Since my father was wounded in the war, we 3 sons had to do all the work, together with our mother. We all had to toil hard to make ends meet. It was a hard but happy childhood, full of lessons for life!
When my older brothers were big enough to work alone, our village teacher insisted on sending me to high school (Gymnasium in German,) a boarding school 50 km away. Since my father couldn't afford the 150 Deutschmarks for tuition, the director agreed to take half of the fee for 6 months, pending my exam results. I was top of my class and received a scholarship up till the age of 16. After that, I made my living playing the horn.
But what brought me to the horn? At the boarding school, there was a tradition (still is) that every pupil had to learn an instrument. By the way, this is the St. Stephan School in Augsburg, and the school orchestra travels to the USA almost every year on a concert tour. The music teachers at that time had all studied piano and violin, and they made the good singers study those instruments too. I was a bad singer, so to my great good fortune, was allowed to choose an instrument for myself.
Why was I a bad singer? I sang a lot before I went to high school, and many professional vocalists tell me I would have been good, based on my speaking voice. Our teacher, however, was of the opinion that only girls could sing well. She was rude to the boys, so we boys didn't like to sing. And when a boy would enjoy singing, the others would beat him after school. So I unlearned how to sing. This was the luckiest thing that happened to me, as it turns out.
