by Randy C. Gardner

Like ripples from a pebble dropped into a calm lake, the impact of teachers radiates through our lives. Words and actions of parents, mentors, and admired adults carry an enormous weight in our development, creating ripples that can profoundly impact the course and quality of our lives, and perhaps those of generations to follow.  

In this article, I will honor three special teachers who had an enormous impact on me during my formative years, without whom I would not have enjoyed my dream career. In addition, I want to applaud teachers everywhere who inspire their students to learn and serve as exemplary role models. They are heroes. 

The teachers spotlighted below were inspiring possibility thinkers who passed along their passionate love of music and encouraged my growth as a hornist. They shared aspirational performances with me, offered strategies to improve my technique and musicianship, acknowledged my improvement, and made learning fun. Their instruction was positive, encouraging, structured, and illuminating. I am very happy to say that none of these teachers ever remarked, “The horn is the most difficult instrument to play.” Nobody planted seeds of doubt in my brain. 

Jack Gordon, my jr.-sr. high school general music teacher and band director, was a young teacher overflowing with enthusiasm and love of music. He made general music class exciting and was a superb band teacher who made band time fun. A clarinetist, he played the horn quite well, and he was a skilled pianist who accompanied me for a performance of movement one of Strauss’ first concerto. 

Mr. Gordon was a consummate music educator who always treated his students equally and fairly. His goals were to motivate his students and ensembles to reach their full potential and to make students feel successful on their way to achieving that goal. He set a high standard for our band, taught us listening skills, and gave us the tools to succeed. A man of great Christian faith, integrity, and positivity, Jack Gordon was an outstanding role model who saw a germ of musical talent in me and encouraged my growth. Following 15 years in public school education, he enjoyed a long career as a church music minister.

In our small town near the steel city of Gary, Indiana, where we had no school or youth orchestras, Jack Gordon opened his students’ ears to the magical world of orchestral music by taking us on field trips to attend Chicago Symphony Orchestra youth concerts. What fantastic experiences those were! I still vividly remember the hauntingly beautiful English horn solo in Dvorak’s New World Symphony on one of these programs. He also shared recordings of Dennis Brain performing Strauss and Mozart and introduced me to Copland’s Third Symphony with me. Jack Gordon inspired me to love classical music, and I looked forward to following in his footsteps as a music teacher.   

I studied horn with John Nelson, an excellent player and teacher who had studied with Max Pottag in a Northwestern University studio that included Lowell Shaw, during my junior and senior years of high school. Nelson played an instrument crafted for him by Carl Geyer. After receiving his Masters’ degree, he played for several years as third horn in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, all while having a professional photography studio in Atlanta. Following his time in Atlanta, he became a public-school music educator in northwest Indiana. A dog lover, he rescued seventy-two St. Bernards during his lifetime.

Mr. Nelson worked with me to solidify my embouchure and build a full horn tone. His tone was beautifully full and resonant. He was a demanding teacher who guided me through Pottag tone studies, Kopprasch etudes, fundamental exercises, and Mozart and Strauss concerti. While having high expectations, Nelson had a positive manner and used creative analogies along with humor to make his points. He was devoted to his students and to the arts.

John Nelson offered me my first professional orchestra experience (actually my first orchestral experience of any type) playing fourth horn in the Gary Symphony, for which he was principal horn. My first concert included the New World Symphony, a transformational experience for me. Mr. Nelson modeled high standards of both artistry and professionalism.

I spent my first two years of college in the music department of Valparaiso University. Horn Professor John Little, Sr. had come to Valparaiso on a one-year sabbatical replacement appointment during my freshman year. His primary teachers were Verne Reynolds at Indiana University and New York Philharmonic hornist Ranier DeIntinis while he was a member of the First Army Band. Prior to Valparaiso, Little had developed successful public school music programs throughout northern Kentucky. After earning his doctorate, Dr. Little enjoyed a long tenure on the faculty of Berea (Kentucky) College, where he also taught philosophy courses.

John Little guided me through Kopprasch, Gallay, and Kling studies, modal scale patterns, and various solo works, and he introduced me to major orchestral repertoire. He asked leading questions that taught me to self-analyze and find my own technical and musical answers. He frequently required memorization. He taught me one important lesson in an effective way that really annoyed me at first: after I performed a challenging passage well, he would often say, “OK Randy, show me it wasn’t luck. Play it three more times just like that.” Thank you, Mr. Little.  Years later, I had the privilege of teaching his son, hornist John Little, Jr., at Philadelphia’s New School of Music. 

In a very real way, I owe my professional career to John Little asking me if I had ever considered a performance career. Until that moment, I had no idea that a person could earn a living as a professional horn player! He lit a fire in me that completely changed my life. He believed in my potential and pointed the way. Words are powerful. That one question opened a whole new world to me. He inspired me to be a performer and supported me along my journey with the horn.

Teachers have the truly awesome opportunity to help myriad young people develop into the best versions of themselves, for their benefit and for the benefit of society as a whole. They inspire students to love learning and think creatively, applauding their successes and reminding them that failures are opportunities to learn. They provide structure, teach problem solving techniques, offer enrichment experiences, listen actively, and open students’ minds to possibility thinking. These three special teachers of mine fit that mold perfectly. I am sincerely grateful for their impact on my life. Ripple effects from teachers continue on and on and on...

This reflection is dedicated to the memory of my brother-in-law, John Bradford, a fine hornist and inspiring educator who touched hundreds of lives during his decades of public-school teaching.

Randy C. Gardner is retired Second Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Artist-In-Residence at Temple University, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

by Layne Anspach

Trygve Madsen’s Trio, Op. 110, for violin, horn, and piano, is the focus of this month’s Chamber Music Corner. Trygve Madesen (b. 1940) is a Norwegian composer. He started music-making at a young age, writing works for piano by age 7. His formal training took him to Vienna where he studied at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst. His compositions have been performed around the world, from Argentina and Columbia to Australia and Japan. Many of Madsen’s works were commissions including a few of his operas and his horn concerto.

Op. 110 has three movements totaling approx. 17 minutes of music. The first movement, Allegro moderato, alternates two sections: the opening Allegro, followed by Andante. Allegro moderato starts with horn melody and piano accompaniment. Once the violin converges with the horn, the piano assumes leadership into the initial Andante which begins with sustained pitches in both violin and horn while the piano plays a smooth, soft melody. Violin and horn provide intriguing lines in support of the piano until all three arrive at the second allegro moderato. This time, the violin presents an abbreviated melody prior to the piano taking over. Fragmentation of the initial melody on a repetitive dotted quarter-eighth rhythm increases the intensity. The familiar held notes in the violin and horn tease at a possible re-transition to the Andante, but the horn melody interrupts to frustrate this. The second andante finally returns with the piano leading the way; but instead of a full ensemble transition back to the original tempo, the piano softens into the third and final allegro moderato. Here, a restatement of the melody with violin and horn together leads to a strong conclusion.

The second movement, Andante con moto, starts with a methodical monophonic melody in the left hand of the piano. The horn and violin present the theme in turn. Poco più mosso finds the theme slightly altered for the first time. The original tempo returns, along with the first theme thickly harmonized in the piano, while the violin and horn play in octaves. The movement concludes, as it started, with piano alone.

Each movement showcases a different member of the ensemble presenting the melody, so the final movement, Allegretto, starts with violin. Poco meno mosso opens with a rhythmically elongated section which leads to a piano solo marked Poco adagio. Horn and violin add melodic fragments from previous movements as the piano continues. A startling Allegretto is an iteration of the first movement melody which dissipates via the long, held notes, also from the first movement, blending to the Allegretto third-movement material. A short iteration of the Poco meno mosso reappears before a tempo indicates the conclusion. The energy grows to the finish; the peak is four measures from the end, followed by a chord sustained in all parts.

The reference recording is from Works for Horn: by Trygve Madsen (*1940) (Genuin). The hornist is Christoph Eß.

Originally from Houston, Texas, Jaksen Vargas is currently an undergraduate student at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University where he studies with Professor Elizabeth Freimuth. Prior to attending Rice, he was a student at Interlochen Arts Academy where he spent two years studying under Dr. Lauren Hunt.

While at Interlochen, Jaksen was a finalist in the Interlochen Arts Academy Concerto Competition. His chamber group, the Interlochen Horn Quartet “Best Friends Quartet” were invited to participate in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. While on tour with the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, under Cristian Măcelaru, Jaksen had the privilege of playing principal horn on the premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Concerto for Cello, featuring soloists Yo-Yo Ma and Tommy Mesa.

Mr. Vargas has had the privilege of attending Interlochen Arts Camp and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He was the 2026 Interlochen Orchestral Scholarship recipient and received the full scholarship for BUTI for both the 2025 and 2026 season. Jaksen is honored to be the 2026 John Hawkins Memorial Scholarship recipient and would like to thank the family, friends and mentors who have guided him thus far.

by Mike Harcrow

The recent Messiah University choir tour—we just returned on May 27—took our outstanding Concert Choir and Chamber Singers to Finland, Estonia, and Latvia for nine days. With all four members of the university horn quartet also serving as members of the choir, and with a subsequent request for me to travel as valvoja (chaperone) for the tour, a series of wonderful events began to take shape for the horn students. My “100% on-board” colleague, Director of Choral Activities, Dr. Joy Meade, prepared chances for the quartet to play with the choir while I contacted IHS Advisory Council member Tommi Hyytinen in Helsinki to pursue opportunities for them there.

Dr. Meade chose a largely a cappella choir program while using the quartet as accompaniment for two pieces, including a stunning premiere setting of Be Still My Soul (the hymn-tune set to Sibelius’s moving Finlandia chorale) by Paul Cohen. The quartet—students Annie Rizzo, Nate Winton, Oliver Paris, and Mimi Weller—also performed prelude music prior to each concert.

Helsinki Music Center, photo by Nate Winton

Meanwhile, Tommi Hyytinen provided tickets for the quartet to hear a concert by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto (Augustin Hadelich, soloist) and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony. The next day, the horn students enjoyed a masterclass at the Sibelius Academy where Professor Hyytinen heard them play solo movements and orchestral excerpts in addition to a movement from the Franz Strauss Quartets, and he coached them with techniques from his excellent method book, Playing from the Core.

Performing in The Rock Church in Helsinki and in “old town” cathedrals across the Baltic in addition to learning from a master hornist like Tommi Hyytinen combine not just as simple memories: these are formative experiences that have sparked permanent and positive changes in the musical lives of these outstanding students who eagerly worked to make the most of the opportunities.