Thoughts From Frøydis, Part II: Feedback Among Musicians
by Frøydis Ree Wekre
When asked to give a lecture during the Lieksa Brass Week, I admit that I suggested this theme myself. However, the reason was not that I consider myself an expert—rather, the opposite.
However, I did want to take a closer look at this subject and find out more about it, and thus maybe find new ways for continuing progress as a musician (and brass player).
I am sorry to report that I found more questions than answers in my ‘research.’ Nevertheless, I think some of these questions are important and well worth sharing.
The world of performing musicians is a very sensitive one, and the general level of tension is rather high. In chamber music, the rehearsals usually include comments, feedback, and discussions; the more gracefully the members of the group can give and receive such messages, the better the progress and the musical result. Without having made any obvious ‘mistakes,’ a musician can also expect messages and critique from colleagues with different tastes and opinions.
In an orchestra, the individual member will receive feedback mostly from the conductor and from the principal player in his/her section—feedback based on their particular tastes. Comments from other colleagues may occur, but less frequently, unless you ask for them yourself.
But first, let me try to make the meaning of the word feedback in this context more precise. In Norwegian, this word is tilbakemelding, which would translate directly as “message back.” The first question then is: what kind of message, and back after what?
The message could be words or body-language signals from other people about a musical task that you just performed, or more generally about your playing, not in reference to a specific musical event. In other words, a response from the society around you as to how they respond to your music-making, whether they like what you are doing, or whether they like some parts of what you are doing more or less than other parts, not to mention the possibility that they actively dislike what they are hearing….
Sometimes, it will be YOU who gives these messages to the other musicians, for various reasons. For example, if you are a conductor or a teacher, it is your job to send out various messages to improve the musical result coming from your group or a singular student. But also, just as a colleague, it might be a natural thing to do occasionally.
Hence, I will start by discussing the GIVING of feedback.
WHO can give musical feedback to others?
- Teacher
- Conductor
- Principal or acting principal player
- Colleague/co-player
- Friend
- Enemy
- Audience/Fan/Music lover/Family
Since the teacher and the conductor are both professional feedback-givers I chose not to discuss their jobs here; that is a huge subject, though, for another discussion, another time.
WHY would you give feedback to others? (What is your motivation?)
- you were asked directly about your opinion and feel that you must answer
- you want to help to improve the musical result
- you want to help/encourage this person to become a better musician/brass player (out of love, friendship…)
- you want to be a very honest person (or you just talk before you think...)
- you want (or feel that you need) to defend yourself, and attack is often the best defense
- you like to belittle others
- you like to make it harder for an enemy (‘sweet is the taste of revenge’)
- you want to be everybody’s friend (and hand out praise only)
WHERE and WHEN could feedback be given?
- In an orchestra or bigger group:
- Before, during or after rehearsals?
- At the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or last rehearsal?
- Before, during, or after concerts?
- On stage? Privately? On the phone? In the pub?
- After being asked? Without being asked?
- In chamber music:
- Mutual feedback is expected during chamber music rehearsals; it is, however, very important to find a good balance between give-and-take.
- Being a listener/part of the audience:
- After a concert?
- After having listened to a recording?
- Being asked, or just offering your opinion anyway?
- During regular corridor/coffee break conversations:
- Offering general negative remarks on national versus international levels of performance on a particular instrument.
HOW could feedback be given?
- without words, body language, sighing, shaking head, thumb, etc.
- by imitating, exaggerating, adjusting, parodying, showing...
- by words, and then you have a choice! (When in doubt, leave it out?)
Good teachers (and some conductors) know to find the right balance between [1] the positive and encouraging feedback, so necessary for self-confidence and bravery, and [2] the constructive critique, comments, or suggestions so necessary for progress and development.
While only dealing with good teachers, we live in a protected world. Out there, in the real world, the feedback does not always appear in a gentle ‘wrapping.’
When you yourself are the one who gives the feedback, you are in control—at least theoretically—as to the way the message is delivered, with what words, tone of voice, timing, etc.
RECEIVING feedback, especially, the kind that contains some suggestions to improve or to change the way you just performed, can sometimes be hard to deal with.
One example from orchestral life: a principal wind player performed a small cadenza in his part during a rehearsal. (It is necessary to know that this musician’s father happened to be a professional musician as well, playing the same instrument in one of the major US orchestras, and this father was also known to be considered a personal enemy by the son’s conductor.) The conductor stopped, looked at him very negatively and said with an arrogant voice, “WHO taught you to play it LIKE THAT?” After a few seconds of silence, the wind player replied calmly, “How would you like me to play this solo?” This musician chose to ignore the immature, childish part of the conductor’s personality, and just to listen to that part of the message which concerned the music; the conductor wanted to hear the solo played differently, and thus the musician’s job was to find out how.
It takes a true ‘adult’ person to control the reactions to feedback presented in such a negative way.
On the other hand, I have also seen extremely emotional and/or angry reactions to very careful and mild instructions or suggestions. Some people look calm and collected on the outside, while the inside is like a time bomb of nerves and insecurity.
Looking into the REASONS for such immediate, emotional reactions, there are many interesting possibilities:
- the suggestions are ‘wrong,’ or to be ignored because they came
- at the wrong time/with the wrong words/from the wrong person
- wrong person, because: he/she
- is an enemy, trying to make it harder for me…
- is a ‘weaker’ musician than me; has lots of own problems
- has a different taste, I will not yield.
- wrong person, because: he/she
- at the wrong time/with the wrong words/from the wrong person
Also, some musicians with a very high level of inner stress feel that any kind of feedback might be devastating to their performance. Therefore, they choose to argue back, walk away, or ignore the message somehow in order to protect themselves.
And, of course there are times when it is really necessary for most of us to protect ourselves against difficult suggestions that occur at the last minute, or that demand skills that we simply do not have at that moment, due to fatigue or whatever.
Nevertheless, I think that the ability to react calmly and with dignity can be trained.
Nobody is perfect, neither the one who delivers the feedback, nor the one who receives it. We all make mistakes, whether in the actual performing of music, or in the way we deal with our colleagues/friends/students/teachers/conductors/family. Interesting and important is how we handle our mistakes.
A proverb says that the fool always makes the same mistakes; the smart always makes new ones.
When being told of a possible mistake, there is a choice on how to react: allow some time for cooling down, and then ask yourself, “Is there in this feedback a possibility to learn something?” To find out for sure, it might be wise to seek a second opinion from somebody else whom you trust.
If the answer to the question is NO, you will probably need to defend yourself mentally by ignoring the given feedback.
However, if the question can be answered with YES, do consider the comment! It might help your progress, maybe not right there and then, but hopefully some time down the road.
The art of receiving feedback—whether we asked for it or not, and whether the words, the timing, and the person delivering it were all wrong or right: by considering the content of the given feedback, you might be able to eliminate some old mistakes and start looking for new ones. And after all, it is boring to keep repeating the old mistakes…maybe being the only one around who is not even aware of them!
Lieksa, July 21, 1990
Frøydis Ree Wekre
Mike's Carols
From a collection of 42 Christmas Carols for Two Horns, please enjoy the two offered here as a gift to you this holiday season. These simple settings were originally written for my younger students with the idea that they would play the melody as solo training while I played the second part to support and encourage them. Merry Christmas! MH
default While by the Sheep(54 KB)default Of the Father's Love(63 KB)
IHS 55 — Just in time for the holidays!
Dear fellow horn players,
We are so excited to announce that registration for IHS55 is now open! So far, we have announced 7 featured artists: the American Horn Quartet, Katarina Javurkovà, Victor Prado, Ursula Paludan Monberg, Jeff Scott, Yun Zeng, and Andrew Bain…what a line up! And we still have 12 more featured artists to announce. We feel incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful horn players coming to Montréal next summer.
To find out more about IHS 55, the featured artists, contributing artists proposals, and to register, visit the website at www.ihs55.org.
- Early bird offers will be available until April 1, 2023.
- Contributing artists proposals will be accepted until February 1, 2023.
To celebrate the holiday season, four of our team members—Louis-Philippe, Maude, Marjolaine, and Xavier—have recorded a short holiday quartet. It was arranged by another team member, Eric, and it contains a few hidden horn excerpts. Can you identify them all?
We wish you all a wonderful holiday season!
—Your IHS 55 Team
Pedagogy Column —
Improvisation: How Do I Begin? Harmony? Modes? Licks?
by Victor Prado, IHS 55 featured artist
One of the questions I get most from horn players and students is: I want to improvise, but where do I start?
My first quick answer to this question is to keep an open mind, get out of your "automatic" and standard mode for a while, look around for what is new, listen to different genres of music, and learn from them.
I often say that 60% of the process of improvisation lies in what you do without your instrument. If you are an open-minded artist, great, that is already a big step!
Now, going deeper into the question, I have various answers rather than one exact answer that works for everybody. However, some common ideas can help all people who want to start improvising. Let’s start with these.
Elements such as harmony, modes, ready-made phrases, rhythm, articulations, and effects are indeed extremely important for improvisation in any musical genre. However, you should not necessarily think of these as the main elements of improvisation when you want to start exploring this world.
When we focus our improvisation only on techniques and harmony, we are automatically assuming that only those who already have some prior knowledge of improvisation can do it, and THIS IS NOT TRUE. From beginners to the most advanced professional horn players, everyone can improvise.
So how do you start your improvisation practice in a more natural way? Answer: start from wherever you are today. You can and should draw on everything you have already learned about music and the horn.
Now, get to work!
Do you like duets? How about trying to do some duets with Milton Nascimento, Lester Young, Beyoncé, Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, or Alice Coltrane? That would sound great, right?
Start experimenting by playing along with recordings, without the notion of playing something right or wrong, but rather of just being part of the music, doing it together with the recording artist. This kind of practice can definitely help you enter and understand the world of improvisation.
Start by finding the key, trying major or minor scales, and even copying the little phrases you hear. Then try to modify the phrases by changing notes and rhythms. After doing this for a while, you will begin to feel more comfortable playing without any music written out. Do this as much as you think is necessary! Of course, this applies to any genre of music. Try not to stick to just one style of music unless you want to master just one specific musical language.
After you feel comfortable playing duets with your favorite recording artist, add more features such as bends, glissandi, vibrato, and whatever other musical effects you can think of.
Put aside the concept of right and wrong; the important thing is to feel good and free!
Improvisation can help you rethink certain concepts. It can be difficult to detach yourself from the idea of right and wrong in your horn playing, but in improvisation anything and everything can be right. Improvisation teaches you to let go. It is a world of spontaneity and surprises, so absolutely everything is valid! Every improvised note you play will serve as a stepping-stone to your future, so do not worry.
Forget for a while the "standard" way of practicing scales and arpeggios with a metronome. Choose a recording with a rhythmic feel that attracts you and play scales starting from different notes, accenting the notes in unusual places, playing whatever you feel. Make it fun.
I need to learn about harmony and patterns!
Take your time. The process of internalizing harmony is a long one, which means that you will not master everything in a year or two. The idea is to start slow and try to understand what you are doing. And you probably have already mastered the major and minor scales in all keys; you know how they sound and how each one feels.
Something important to consider in the study of harmony in improvisation is the sensation (rather than the rules). We must be able to feel how a diminished scale or a sharp-9 Locrian mode fits into the music. At first this may seem too strange or unfamiliar, but trust me, in time, by listening and playing, you will learn to create these feelings; this is very important in improvisation. When you are improvising, there is often no time to think precisely about the scale or the chord or the mode you are going to use, so this feeling of the harmony will be the most important tool at hand. As time goes by and you become more comfortable, musical feelings get stored in your subconscious mind and will be available for use when the right moment arrives.
Improvisation certainly does not happen by magic; you must work hard at it but have fun with it. What I always advise is that you start creating small phrases with the scales and arpeggios you are practicing. You can start with just two notes and some different rhythms. Then gradually increase to three, four, and five, until you feel comfortable with as many notes as you want.
You will see that the possibilities are endless. You will kindle a desire to go to new musical places, to create new musical gestures, to play phrases that are more challenging. And all this will be stored in your head as you create an improvisational vocabulary.
Jazz improvisation methods can also help a lot in this process. All the "tricks," such as transcribing solos, playing everything in all keys, coming up with licks and patterns, for example, can definitely guide you. However, you can explore many other more personal musical places as well. And remember that in the world of today, there are many kinds of music that we can fit into as horn players.
Composer Spotlight — Shanyse Strickland
by Caiti Beth McKinney
Hello everyone!
This December, I want to shine the spotlight on the incredibly talented and versatile composer and performer, Shanyse Strickland. While horn is her primary instrument, she also plays and records music on flute as well as on other wind and brass instruments. Strickland has a unique musical voice, incorporating elements of rhythm-and-blues, jazz, and other genres into her works. (Definitely check out her recording called Horn Vibes on which she performs an amazing horn-centric RnB track!)
Originally from Akron, Ohio, Shanyse has degrees in Horn Performance from Youngstown State University and Duquesne University, as well as an Artist Diploma in Jazz French Horn from the University of North Texas. Now based in New Jersey, she frequently performs in a wide array of genres, including rock-and-roll and neo-soul.
To date, Strickland has published four original compositions for horn in a variety of chamber configurations. Moods, written for horn quartet, seeks to represent what Strickland describes as “everyday feelings,” which, to my ear, manages to capture moments of joy, melancholy, and peace throughout the work. In contrast is her work A B.O.P. – Beats of Power! for trumpet, horn, and trombone/bass trombone. This piece pulls from Black-influenced genres such as jazz and disco to create music with “multiple vibes.” Another of Strickland’s powerful compositions is I Would…and I WILL for brass quintet, which she describes as “a portrait of the heart of black women during slavery,” based on a quote by heroine Elizabeth Freeman, an enslaved black woman who won the first successful freedom lawsuit in the United States. Not to be missed is Strickland’s piece For Your Love, “an RnB, hip-hop, and contemporary mash-up that symbolizes the passionate journey that two lovers go through while sharing life with each other.” Combining flute, horn, spoken word, and electronics, this piece embodies the new genre of what Strickland calls “Classical-Pop.”
For more information or to purchase her works, please visit Strickland’s website: https://www.shanysestrickland.com.
Fearless Performance — Ritual
by Jeff Nelsen and Katy Webb
Has anybody told you today that you are AMAZING? And we mean absolutely amazing. We don’t care if things are messy, challenging, frustrating, or not working as planned…well, we do care, but what we REALLY care about is that you remind yourself that, no matter the messiness, you woke up today and said, “I’m going back at it!”
Even when things don’t go as planned, you’re still going. You believe in yourself, your music, and your students enough to say, “Here I am! Let’s do this! Let’s keep moving forward!” Not everyone will do that. So, here’s your little reminder that, yes, you are amazing.
We’d love to help you show up to your daily practice a little readier amidst the messiness, so here’s a quick-start guide to create a renewing, fail-proof practice ritual. Greg McKeon says, “A ritual is a habit with a soul.” This 10-to-25-minute ritual is designed to give you space to renew your musical soul so that you can walk into the new year feeling accomplished, fulfilled, and eager for future opportunities.
Pull out your calendar…yes, right now!
Mark which days you want to practice and which days you want to take off.
Make it a date!
Find a 10-to-25-minute block of time you can commit to on most practice days. Then, complete one of these sentences: “I will start my practice ritual at [TIME] in [LOCATION]” or “After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will start my practice ritual.”
Fill your ritual with things you love.
This is YOUR time, so use it to explore your sound in a way that is renewing for you. We’ve used our time to play quality tones along with a favorite show, to meditate on simple, beautiful melodies, and to improvise along with favorite tracks on our play lists. (And don’t forget a nice candle, an inspiring poster, and a yummy drink for after, too!)
Social proof it.
Build your accountability pod. Get a text chain going so you can check in, swap your creative practice ideas, or pick a challenge to do together. We’re on a "prevail the scale" kick! We’ve been loving Nathan Cole’s Scales: The Road to Repertoire and have been exploring books of scales written for different instruments. If you don’t have an accountability pod, join ours! DM or tag us on Instagram with your scale wins and discoveries.
Effective practice is anything that helps you gain knowledge about yourself, your instrument, or your music. Can you imagine how it would feel to have spent most days this month exploring music from a place of enjoyment? You CAN make little adjustments to approach this holiday season from a sustainable place of well-being as you keep your skills in top-notch shape!
If you’d like even more ideas, we’re hosting a free, live training session for players of all levels next week called How to (Consistently) Prepare for Your Performance: 5 refreshingly motivating techniques to drop the distress and perform your best amid final exams, final rounds, and final countdowns to the holidays. Register here!
Cheering you on!
Horn on Record
by Ian Zook
Volume 3—Meir Rimon
Through popular vote, our latest edition of Horn on Record will journey to Israel to listen as hornist Meir Rimon and pianist Bruno Canino perform works by Arcangelo Corelli, Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss, and Yehezkel Braun.
Released in 1981, this recording was made in the studio at the Jerusalem Music Centre (JMC) under its iconic Yemin Moshe Windmill. JMC was founded in 1973 by violinist Isaac Stern and serves as an institute for the advancement of young musicians across the county and as a concert venue for both national and international artists. Additionally, its recording studios are renowned for both their state-of-the-art equipment and exceptionally designed acoustical spaces.
Hornist Meir Rimon (1946 – 1991) was born in Vilna (Vilnius), the capital of Lithuania, which historically served as a spiritual and cultural center for the Jewish people in Eastern Europe. Moving with his family to Israel at age 10, Rimon studied horn with Horst Solomon who had been principal horn of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since its inception in 1936 under Arturo Toscanini. (Prior to 1948, the IPO was known as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra.)
Rimon joined the Israeli Army Symphony Band at age 18 and, following his discharge, performed with the Jerusalem Radio Orchestra. Rimon traveled to Europe to study with Herman Baumann and Alan Civil, and to the United States to study briefly with Dale Clevenger and Myron Bloom. He then auditioned for Zubin Mehta and was appointed principal horn of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra where he performed from 1971 until his untimely passing in 1991.
In addition to teaching at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Tel-Aviv University, Rimon taught at Indiana University for 18 months between 1982-1984. He was elected to three terms on the Advisory Board of the International Horn Society and then served three consecutive terms as Vice President. Rimon was considered an effusive “good will ambassador” for the IHS, as his touring with the Israel Philharmonic took him across the world where he passionately shared the virtues and benefits of membership.
Rimon’s playing is marked by a velvety and sonorous tone across the range of the horn, a dedication to full-length articulations, and an unflagging sustain of tone throughout the dynamic spectrum. His preferred instrument was a triple horn made by Paxman of London, and one can marvel at the absolute consistency of his sound knowing that he likely used both the Bb and high F horns liberally.
This record features two works which have been recorded infrequently, an arrangement of the Sonata in F by Arcangelo Corelli, and the Sonata (1969) by Israeli composer Yehezkel Braun. One can read about Braun’s Sonata on the album jacket which notes that the overall melodicism of this through-composed work is influenced by “ancient Hebrew cantilation,” and the horn acts often in character as a Jewish shofar. Here a few examples from the album:
The Prelude from Corelli’s Sonata shows Rimon’s evenness of sound and broad connectivity of his phrasing:
Later, in the concluding Gigue, the fleet passagework in the piano dazzles alongside Rimon’s easy athleticism:
The Sonata by Yehezkel Braun begins with a plaintive melody, played with an intense, searching sostenuto:
Rimon plays the following section in recitative style, as if it were an invocation:
Later, a playful lilting theme is introduced. Rimon drifts through the syncopations and scalar runs with fluidity:
Braun’s Sonata ends with music imbued with the gravity of the opening melody. Rimon and pianist Canino have given us a beautiful interpretation of this wonderful and neglected work:
Special thanks to Jeff Lang of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and former colleague of Meir Rimon in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, for sharing personal anecdotes. And thank you as always for reading Horn on Record!
