Found on Flickr via an anonymous tip.
Puss in Boots’ Secret Revealed
Puss in Boots – obsessed with the hunt by nature –
caught red-handed in secret sideline career!
From the Mailbag: Trumpet to Mellophone–an Easy Switch
I was recently contacted by a parent who had a child that had been asked to switch from trumpet to mellophone for marching band. The youngster is an incoming high school student, and had an audition coming soon on mellophone.
In short, it won’t be very hard for a student at this level to adjust from trumpet to F mellophone. The pitches sound in a different position (lower) but the fingerings are exactly like trumpet in relation to the printed music.
The key, brief suggestions for the audition would be to have an instrument for at least a few days first if possible and don‘t play it on a trumpet mouthpiece, the tone will be very harsh and the instrument won‘t play as well as it should. Any handy trumpet music will work fine for initial practice. Welcome to the middle brass!
From the Mailbag: Bore Sizes and French Horns
Another recent question that came in had to do with bore of horns, as in what is actually meant when people say a horn is large bore?
Where this gets confusing from the start is that most horns are about the same bore. Most horns today are either .468 inch, 12 millimeter, or a size between the two, the metric tubing size being slightly bigger. Usually European horns are metric so in reality an Alexander 103 actually has a larger bore through the valve section than a Conn 8D.
What is usually meant when the term is thrown around by players has to do with the size of the throat of the bell. A large throated bell is most easily perceived as being large bore in the area where our hand would fit in the bell. Thus, in common usage in our horn world, a large bore horn would be one with a large throated bell and the 8D is much larger bore in this area of the horn than the Alexander.
My own primary double horn for many years was large bore and is a model I have always been curious why it has never caught on in the USA as it really is a great horn. The horn in the photo is my Paxman 25AND. The “A” is for the American bell throat which is their largest model, “N” for nickel silver, “D” for detachable bell. The 25 model designation is for a dual bore double horn where the tubing through the B-flat horn is normal, conventional bore size and the tubing through the F horn valve slides is noticeably larger, full half-inch tubing! The result is a horn that is free and easy blowing with a big, orchestral sound. What I have noticed is it seems to be a horn that if you are not used to how free it feels it does not seem to test well on first impression. If you are used to it however what a great horn. I do keep coming back to it for my own playing.
The other area where the bore of the instrument will vary significantly is at the smallest point of the leadpipe. This varies at right around the size of the average pencil so if you compare several leadpipes with pencils (clean the leadpipe first!) you will see that some are larger and smaller than others at this point. Older Conn 8D horns for example typically have a rather small bore at the smallest point of the leadpipe but these are again not considered to be small bore horns.
In any event, I try to use the term bore in the correct, specific way and keep focused in on the cylindrical part of the horn, through the valve section, which again on most horns is either .468 inch or 12 millimeter. In reality though makers have used sizes that are slight variations on these dimensions, depending on suppliers and such, and players will probably keep right on thinking bore mostly relates to the size of the throat of the bell.
From the Mailbag: Hollow Valves
I was recently asked a question about what exactly is meant when a horn has “hollow valves.”
To understand the term in a general way you first need to know how rotary valves are made. Normally the valve itself is turned and machined from a solid rod of brass. The valve itself is one piece of metal and very solid. This has been the standard way to make the interior part of a rotary valve for years and years.
A hollow rotary valve is also machined and turned from brass but it is made from a valve blank that has been fabricated from several pieces of brass tube, sheet, and rod stock. The inside part of the valve that you can’t see is actually hollow. What this means in practical terms is the valve should have a lighter, quicker action as the valve has less mass.
Hollow valves are not seen that often on horns. The first triple horn I owned was an old Paxman and it had hollow valves. My current triple however has titanium rotors. These are solid but have less mass than they would have if they were solid brass.
Hornmasters: Merewether on Right Hand Position
Richard Merewether, as a horn designer, has an interesting perspective on hand position in The horn, the horn….
In the day-to-day activity of assisting players of many nationalities and every stage of attainment in the choice of an instrument (whether of our own or other make), PAXMAN are in a unique position to have observed over many years exactly what is involved in moving from one type of horn to another. Most noticeable are the widely-differing modes of right hand placement in the bell-throat … and the striking effect this can have upon a player’s performance when moving from a small-bore to a larger, or from a conventional instrument to a Descant-horn.
From this observation has emerged the clear fact that, whereas a sketchy or … non-existent hand-presence may serve for the smallest-throated bells, ALL instruments perform better, in tone and intonation over their widest range, with the use of one particular method—that traditionally employed by the great XIXth-century hand-horn virtuosi. PAXMAN make no claim to have discovered this—only to have confirmed its efficacy and importance by establishing the acoustic reasons for it.
Traditional hand position
I also base my hand position on that used on the natural horn. This type of hand position is effective on all sizes of bells: Merewether used this illustration, reprinted from the Kling method, and further explained,
This represents the hand-position for normal ‘open’ playing, but note that it is also an ideal starting-posture for instantly closing the bell, merely by bringing the heel of the hand over to the nearer side while the nails and backs of the fingers remain against the further wall of the bell; this is essential for a good hand-stopping technique. Observe also that no part of the thumb other than the nail and top knuckle—certainly not the base of the thumb—is held against the metal…. It should be noted too, that the thumb-tip must be consciously lifted up to the base of the forefinger to close any gap there, and not merely be suffered to lie alongside it. Unfortunately some illustrated Methods are published seemingly condoning this fault, which will almost certainly bring the entire side of the hand (all of the forefinger and thumb) into contact with the bell-wall, and the consequent difficulties of intonation for many types of horn.
Larger bells, and overall stability of your instrument in the high range
The larger bell instruments he observed were more sensitive to an incorrect hand position than were small bell instruments, and that any gaps between fingers and “floating movements” of the hand in the bell do have an adverse effect on the high range. He gives the following as an example that may be used to show the validity of this theory of a correct hand position producing a more stable high range.
Consider the horn played with a careless hand-placement (or none whatever) which will nonetheless give reasonably-centered notes at least as far up as the twelfth harmonic …. the addition of further harmonics up as far as the 24th, through a studied and exact right-hand position, must add greatly to the stability all over the range, besides enhancing the horn’s timbre by bringing in all its high-frequency potential as available and evocable overtones.
The ‘real world’ may not be so bad
A typical story for post-graduate musicians these days:
[Ivan] Trevino is a percussionist who just graduated with his master’s degree from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
The employment prospects for new graduates are grim. It’s a tough job market in most fields, but for musicians the options are always limited. For any given instrument, there are likely to be only three or four openings at orchestras across the country.
What is the alternative to getting a mindless job in fast food? Musicians get entrepreneurial. They build, pursue and manage several careers at once in order to keep playing and paying the bills.
I did this myself. Having paid off a 20-year loan just a few years back myself, I can also empathize with the need to pay bills.
Trevino says juggling all of this stuff is just how life is if you want to be a full-time musician and pay off your student loans.
“You know you gotta be able to do a lot of things,” Trevino says. “Play and do the music business thing too, so you have to make yourself as well-rounded as possible. I think that’s the way to go.”
Trevino says he has to be an entrepreneur. But he doesn’t have the luxury to go long periods of time without making money. His bills for $60,000 in student loans will start showing up in November.
This is just one story in a series at NPR called “Setting Out: New Grads’ Quest For Work” that is very pertinent to graduates and those that are about to graduate.
Following your dream is good for the economy
One item of great news that stood out from the NPR series was from economist Heidi Shierholz, that…
…when people like Trevino — who started drumming in his family’s touring gospel band as a little kid — follow their dreams, it’s better for the economy.
“There’s no crystal ball; we don’t know what’s going to be the winner industry going forward. But what we do know is that as an economy, if young people are going into things that they enjoy and that they’re good at, that’s how the economy will work best,” Shierholz says.
Read the entire series here.
Entrepreneurial tips
- We might all learn something from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about entrepreneurship.
- Occasionally taking a free gig is a good thing to do.
Long Before Farkas: Horn Mutes and Other Advice for Brass Players from 1813
Way back in 1813 a comprehensive method book with sections on all the instruments was published, the Vollständige Theoretisch-pracktische Musikschule [Complete Theoretical-practical Music Method] of Joseph Fröhlich. The various instrument methods published inside this work are reasonably well known to scholars (they were also published separately from the full Musikschule), but as described in the 2009 issue of the Historic Brass Society Journal in an article by Howard Weiner, Fröhlich had a most interesting three page foreword to the section on the brass instruments which contains additional practical advice for brass players.
I got to reading this article finally last week, catching up reading while getting new tires before a road trip! The article in the HBSJ includes the full German text and an English translation with excellent commentary from Weiner. His article is titled “Trombone Slide Lubrication and other Practical Information for Brass Players in Joseph Fröhlich’s Musikschule (1813)” and not only does answer the question of what Fröhlich recommended for lubrication (information not included in the portion that is the trombone method) but other general and specific information of use to all brass players.
For the big picture of these materials be sure to check the full article by Weiner, who has excellent summaries of the contents. For horn players Fröhlich has some very specific advice on horns and mouthpieces in the section of “General remarks on cup [-mouthpiece] instruments,” suggesting that players have two mouthpieces with the same rim, one for high playing and the other for low playing, and offers a very specific description of a horn mute of that time period.
The mute for the horn comes in various forms and various materials. It usually consists of a hollow sphere of cardboard or another material, whose diameter measures approximately six inches, on which there is an open tube or cone that fits into the lower part of the horn near the bell. Through the insertion of this mute, the horn sounds as if it were heard at a great distance, and a piano can be reduced to the slightest whiff. So that the hornist does not lose the advantages of stopping when using this mute, however, there is fixed within it a wire with a leather-covered ball attached to it, by means of which the opening of the tube can be covered. This wire comes out of the bottom of the sphere and has a loop by which it can be grasped in order to carry out the stopping.
In other words, the type of horn mute described was for the natural horn and could be used to produce open and stopped notes. This would have been exactly the mute that Beethoven for example had in mind in his works.
The perhaps more entertaining information is found in the section of “General remarks on wind instruments on the whole, and reed instruments in particular.” For these it is hard to improve on this portion the summary by Weiner, quoted below, where Fröhlich relates a variety of items including several life threatening dangers for the brass player.
- Protect the lungs; therefore avoid excitement, vigorous running and riding, and excessive consumption of fiery drinks; that is to say, lead a moderate life conductive to good health and playing. Neglecting this will weaken the lungs, making breathing difficult and depriving the player of the capability of playing entire phrases in one breath.
- Do not practice too long; better more often than too much at one time. Conductors who put wind players through their paces in rehearsals of four to five hours without pause are ignorant of the instruments and are guilty of driving the players prematurely to their graves.
- Do not play after eating or while digesting. The scheduling of rehearsals in the afternoon or even immediately after meals is extremely misguided.
- Do not play when ill or suffering respiratory problems–the lungs will be harmed or even ruined for the rest of one’s life.
- Do not drink immediately after playing when the lungs are still warm (the cause of many a premature death). If the mouth is dry, which is disadvantageous for the embouchure, it is best to rinse the mouth out with an alcoholic liquor, which provides invigoration and new strength to the lips.
- It is easier to play if the instrument is good. Frugality is out of place when buying an instrument.
Some unusual advice to be sure, but that last point is one to live by. The whole article is a fascinating window into a time long before Farkas.
The Historic Brass Society Journal is a journal that deserves to be known better and is certainly one that horn players should check out more, and clearly there is information for the horn player to be found even in an article on trombone slide lubrication.
Finally, for those wondering the to answer the burning question of what players used on their trombone slides in 1813, Fröhlich suggested high quality olive oil. It certainly did the job back in that day, but we do have better lubricants today.
Quotes from Milan Yancich
You’re like a wild stallion – all talent and no discipline!
The most influential teacher in my career was without a doubt Milan Yancich. With a lifetime of experience and a good spirit he instilled basic values that I still hold as true.
I came to Mr. Yancich a bit raw but with lots of youthful energy. In year one of private lessons we focused solely on basics and fundamentals.
He wisely knew that I needed to learn how to practice. His book, the Schantl method and the Pottag Preparatory Melodies were the methods.
This was the therapy that I needed at the time.
Mr. Yancich made me keep a notebook in fact and every week jotted something in it, much like a doctor prescribing medicine.
Sometimes I was a rebellious patient, wanting to work on orchestral excerpts – that was what I was hearing all the time in the practice room halls from other horn players.
In response, the quotation up top was what Mr. Yancich would say. It was usually at a raised humorous pitch, given in good spirit but absolutely true. A disciplined practice routine was exactly what I needed.
“You can’t play an excerpt if you can’t play a decent scale,” he would say with a grin.
Thank you Milan, and thanks for saying this more than once.
Auditioning for the Berlin Philharmonic
The Noble Viola has recanted an interesting dialogue at Polyphonic.org where Berlin Philharmonic hornist Fergus McWilliam gave insight into the BP audition process.
The dialogue begins with what more-or-less amounts to a mission statement:
1. The vacancy belongs to the orchestra. In no way is it the property of the public domain. The orchestra is not obligated to fill a position once it has been advertised and we reserve the right not to select anyone at an audition. In my time we have more than once taken over eight years to find the right person.
2. We, the members, know pretty well what we are looking/listening for: we know our collective sound, our musical language, our collective artistic personality. The audition is not therefore primarily a contest between competitors for a gold medal. Much more importantly, we search for the “right” musician, not necessarily only the “best” player.3. The orchestra decides who is chosen – all musician-members vote on the basis of one musician – one vote. Neither a select audition committee, nor principal players, nor the concerned section and certainly not the conductor controls the audition decision. Tenure is also granted by the orchestra membership alone, based on a secret vote.
It offers a glimpse into an interesting mindset from a few years ago … perhaps some old ghosts are in there?
Read more here.