Home Blog Page 151

Echo Horn and the Villanelle

John Ericson
-
2

The second of two posts on performing Dukas Villanelle, posted on 10/7/05 in the original Horn Notes Blog. The first article is here.

A couple posts ago I wrote about the Villanelle and the natural horn request found in the International/Chambers edition of this work. Another spot that has an element of “controversy” about it is the echo horn effect requested in the Mason Jones edition (found in Schirmer, Solos for the Horn Player) but not found in the International/Chambers edition. Chambers changes this effect to stopped horn.

First, let me say between the two I prefer the Jones edition if for no other reason than all the French terms are translated accurately. Both editions have plusses and minuses. Visually the International edition matches the original 1906 Durand edition except for dropping in a few changes. There is no notation to be found in the original for example to play the opening “without valves” as requested by Chambers. I don’t know where this notation came from, perhaps it is authentic, but it is not in the Jones edition or the original.

On to our topic of the moment. The passage that starts on the last stave of page 2 in the Durand and International editions is marked Sons bouches (En echo) in the Durand edition and (stopped) in the International edition, with Mason Jones marking the same passage echo. So what is it, stopped or echo?

Stopped horn is performed by transposing down a half step and closing the bell fully and echo horn is performed by transposing up a half step and closing the bell nearly fully. It is an effect related to the way you would perform closed notes on the natural horn, while stopped horn is purely a valved horn effect. They are two different effects; while sons bouchés is properly translated as stopped, Mason Jones I believe is reading the meaning of the original term correctly by notating it only as echo horn.

So what should you do if you perform the work? I always explain the notation to students and suggest that they try echo horn but reality is it is more difficult to play echo horn in tune for most players. In the range of the Dukas solo it is OK for many with practice. But realistically, from the audience and at the volume level requested, there is virtually no difference in sound between echo horn and stopped.

I am as I write this [2005] working on another French work that requests echo horn, Cantecor by Henir Busser (GREAT WORK!) and will most likely in performance next weekend play the echo horn passages stopped. The notes requested are lower in our range and easier to play in tune stopped, and, realistically, the difference between the two effects is pretty subtle at low dynamics.

So in that sense Chambers is right, stopped is probably a better way to perform the passage (tuning is certainly more reliable/predictable), but be idealistic and give echo horn a try too.

UPDATE: For more on the topic see this article.

UPDATE II (2017): And, based on the comment sheets I just read from my students, if you enter the IHCA you better play it echo horn as several judges are extremely idealistic about this and must literally be watching the fingerings as you play. I really don’t think though, again, that from an audience perspective anyone can hear the difference at the low dynamic involved.

In my own performances of this work I have only done the echo horn as echo horn one time, and for that one I used a piston valve Selmer with a very small bell. The small bell is much better for echo horn than a modern instrument, another reason to play it stopped now…

 

Dukas Villanelle and the Natural Horn

John Ericson
-
1

The first of two posts on performing Dukas Villanelle, posted on 9/18/05 in the original Horn Notes Blog

Villanelle by Paul Dukas is certainly among the top 20 solo works for horn. I frequently work with students on this work, and recently I heard a number of students perform the Villanelle at the International Horn Competition of the Americas as well.

One aspect of this work that can be very confusing for students [and teachers!] is that in some editions of the work there is a notation to perform the opening on natural horn without valves.

[NOTE/UPDATE 2024: The context of this article, and the meme added with this update, is I had just been a judge at the IHCA competition, and some judges really wanted the opening on natural horn. I don’t think it a good idea, for the reasons below, but if you are entering be aware that some judges probably will really be looking for natural horn technique in the opening, and if you play it that way, make sure it sounds good!]

I have played a lot of natural horn but I suggest actually ignoring this notation in modern performance of this work. Why?

  • Phrases disappear. This is probably the biggest complaint. The opening is a beautiful, reflective section but for the student not extremely well versed in the natural horn this section becomes bland and musically colorless. I see this all the time when students are learning to play natural horn; it is such an “un-natural” technique to them that every phrase that might have been there disappears [the same thing often happens when learning to transpose on valved horn as well].
  • Weird sounds you have to explain to an audience. Second, the audience is going to be confused as to what is going on exactly with the mixture of open and closed notes. This can be helped somewhat by speaking about the work or putting this in program notes, but frankly even for a room full of horn players I feel sure a percentage will be really mystified by the resulting “shades and nuances” of color. They will not see them as being artistic but instead will consider them to be odd.
  • Probably badly out of tune. In addition to being bland and colorless with odd shifts of tonal color, it is probably also out of tune because…
  • Natural horn does not really work out well on a modern size horn bell. Even the smallest modern bell is bigger than the largest bells used on the natural horn. The instrument Dukas is thinking of was essentially a natural horn with valves, much smaller than any modern horn in its internal dimensions. Of course, you could switch horns and play the valved horn stuff on a modern valved horn and the opening on period natural horn but in reality…
  • You can’t switch back and forth between natural and modern horn and have it make any musical sense in this work. This is the bottom line. They just sound really different and this is not what Dukas had in mind.

My sense of it is Dukas wanted a retrospective mood that for listeners of his time would be enhanced by the natural horn writing. But for modern audiences outside of practically a lecture-recital format at a horn workshop this just won’t work, there is just too much to explain and even if you explain it fully it can be lost on the audience why this was interesting or desirable. My advice is to play the opening with the valves and make beautiful music that anyone can enjoy.

Continue to the second article, on the echo horn notations.

UPDATE (2017): The one point of emphasis I would add is the opening, it needs to sound like a beautiful impressionist painting. It may be worth experimenting with playing the opening on natural horn, and I encourage all horn students to spend some time with the natural horn (even writing a book on the topic!). However, unless you have a very high level of expertise on the natural horn you won’t achieve the level of beauty and nuance required to make the opening sing. Based on IHCA judges comments recently read some out there would disagree, but I strongly suggest playing the opening as beautifully as possible on the modern horn. I think your audience will appreciate that.

Podcast on The Brass Gym

John Ericson
-
3

The episode of The MelloCast for this week, episode 46, focuses on The Brass Gym for horn, a comprehensive book and CD for warm-up and technical development. I worked with authors and tuba vurtuosi Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan to “translate” the original version which was for tuba/euphonium for the horn. I describe in the podcast background on how the authors conceived the exercises and also how to effectively use them for horn (and mellophone).

One question they asked that I have been asked several times is am I on the CD? The answer is no, the players on the CD are Sam and Pat. This was by design; use them as a great pitch reference and work on the ear when warming up.

Another question people always wonder is does it include breathing exercises? The answer is no, for those you have to buy The Breathing Gym, but they do work on breathing a lot in a sense in The Brass Gym by the method of subliminal messages! You hear them breathing long and deep on the CD, and you imitate it naturally. Also, many of the exercises as printed require very large breaths, something you must insist on in all your practice.

Check out the podcast, it came out well. And check out The Brass Gym for horn, it is a great publication.

Silver and Gold: A Full Circle to HornPlanet.com

Bruce Hembd
-
0

Planets and horns.

When I was a graduate music student at Arizona State University back around 1995, I became fascinated with this new thing called the “World Wide Web.” The concept of any Joe Schmoe like me publishing information online for the whole world to see blew my frickin’ mind.

It still does.

Back then, web pages were very simple, mostly text and uncolored, gray backgrounds. Since the ‘net was still in its dial-up infancy – remember this sound? – this was about all that it could take. Images and extensive graphics on web pages were virtually unheard of as bandwidth and upload times were a major design issue to be concerned with.

Before the high-speed phenomena, people actually had to wait anywhere from 5-10 seconds to several minutes to view content (gasp!).

HornPlanet and beyond

Nevertheless I saw the potential and began an earnest project to promote my mentor Thomas Bacon utilizing this new medium. Through a long process of experimentation and exploration I learned the basic code of the ‘net – HTML – and hand coded my first web site using free university web space.

Over the next few years the ‘net exploded and we found ourselves riding on top of the wave. The project moved off-campus and over time evolved into “HornPlanet.”

Adopting a “WYSIWYG” web editor, Tom eventually learned how to do most of the work himself, and I moved on to other startup web projects, including sites for Osmun Music and for the International Horn Society.

Supply and demand

Fast forward ahead about 10 years and 50 client projects later to fall 2007. A recent project that I had the pleasure to be involved with, was one for Dennis Houghton at houghtonhornsllc.com.

I met Dennis’ son Mark – a fabulous horn player – while doing some freelance music engagements with the Phoenix Symphony. After Mark had moved on to a new position with the Fort Worth Symphony, he contacted me about a unique project in conjunction with his father.

The Englebert Schmid horn (especially the triple horn) has gained a wide popularity with horn players in America. However, distribution has been a major problem. Horn players interested in trying out a new Schmid horn before buying one had few choices: go to an IHS symposium; try out a friend’s Schmid; buy one second-hand; fly to Boston and try one out at Osmun Music; or fly to the Schmid plant in Germany.

Mark and Dennis saw an opportunity and wanted to fill this void. They found financial backing and developed a much-needed service where a regular supply of Schmid (and Hoyer) horns are kept in stock ready for people to try out and purchase.

They needed a web site, so Mark – knowing me from Phoenix – contacted me. The site launched about 4 weeks before Christmas 2007. This, and the AZOOMA site, are among my most recent projects.

Back to the Future

A lot of time has passed since I have worked with Tom Bacon and although his web site remains one of the premier resources for horn players online, some updating was needed. Recently, he asked me to help redesign HornPlanet, and the first phase has recently been launched – his online store.

Incorporating a simple PayPal account, I have completely overhauled his store with a more simple, concise and clean layout.

Over the next year, there will be many more redesign phases for the HornPlanet. Each area will be systematically overhauled to bring them into the 21st century.

With this return to HornPlanet, my web development career has in effect come full circle. Looking back, I have to say that it has been an incredible journey. With every project, I learn more and more about web development, and become more and more excited about the web’s future.

How Loud is too Loud?

John Ericson
-
1

This post is from the original HTML Horn Notes Blog; this particular post dates to 8/6/05, and was from the end of a summer of performing Principal Horn and teaching at the Brevard Music Center.

Today is our final performance of the summer at Brevard, Mahler 6. Playing this work again has been interesting in terms of dynamics both for myself and the students involved.

I performed in the Nashville Symphony for five seasons, have played a good bit elsewhere (National Repertory Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, etc.) and believe that I have a good handle on a wide range of dynamics on the horn. Frankly it does not get much louder or softer than the levels I can produce.

In short, my perception is on this concert today I will be playing soft dynamics either literally or below printed levels and louds that are often right up at my maximum dynamic, one to two levels over the printed dynamic. I am not sure what the students in the section make of this as on one hand our conductor is asking us in words to play F only F but then upon hearing that dynamic immediately asks for the same spot to be clearly louder and more aggressive than printed, at least in the horns.

I feel sure that if you dropped me back in the Nashville Symphony section playing as loud as I am today I would get fired! I would stick out like a sore thumb, way way over the top. But here, it is never loud enough for our conductor in the big spots.

There are several “why’s” as to why so loud today. One element is the hall is semi open and has no real ceiling, just fly space for opera props, so as a result the horns don’t normally project well ever. On top of that, while normally we sit in front of the timpani, due to numbers of people we are sitting on the floor in front of the trumpets who are on risers in front of the timpani. We might as well be sitting in a hole; I believe this alone cut horn projection towards 20%, but we get no sympathy. On top of that, our conductor just likes loud horns and is constantly asking for louder, uglier sounds. At one point in a rehearsal he told us at 4 after 105 to sound like “vomit” for example. The section has 7 college students in it, not all of whom can produce a loud enough peak dynamic for our conductor, which puts more burden on me. Finally, we have to try to balance a trumpet section on risers that he also likes to hear a lot of that is projecting out very easily where again, we just don’t project.

The concert will come off fine, and I will try to lead at the dynamic he wants. Orchestral playing is not only an art but also a craft, and part of the craft of orchestral playing is playing what the conductor asks. For situations like today you have to have the dynamic ready that is the one you use when the conductor keeps asking for loud. Mentally you have to think something like “loud, you want loud? I’ll give you loud!”

At the same time, some conductors just don’t want loud. I am sure the current [now former] director of orchestras at ASU has a chamber orchestra sound in his head even with the large orchestra, so he basically never wants the horns to open up. Back in the National Repertory Orchestra certainly the conductor there did not want a lot of horn. In Nashville our conductor had been a fine trumpet player and generally liked a lot of brass but, again, if I was playing as loudly as I will today generally I would not have received tenure. In orchestra you have to gauge what you do to what they want. Sometimes I think it would also help to have psychic powers, but with conductors I guess too part of it is they want to keep you guessing as to what they want.

Part of any choice of dynamic level is the size of the orchestra and the size and acoustic of the hall. The world you work in impacts your choice of dynamics to be sure, and this comes in as an element at auditions more than students might expect. For us today, we are in a large orchestra in a large hall where horns just don’t project well, so if this was a full time year round job the ideal hornists would have iron chops and crazy loud dynamics to compensate for the hall.

Also, of course, volume relates to the importance of the line you are playing and balancing the other instruments you are playing with. In orchestra on horn you constantly encounter many woodwind quintet like groupings that must be balanced carefully with very gentle “louds” followed by many full brass section passages that require a whole different approach. But if a conductor is telling you to play louder or softer to a point you just have to trust that they are looking for a balance and you just do it.

In terms of today, I would love to put this in a good concert hall and see what out conductor thinks of the dynamics then. He wants loud, aggressive horn playing but I believe that he would be very surprised at just how loud and aggressive we really are playing, but in the hall we are in he just can’t hear it.

In short, try to hear the balance around you and follow the markings but ultimately in orchestra too loud is when the conductor tells you it is too loud.

Siegfried Horn Call – The Back Story to a Famous Horn Solo

Bruce Hembd
-
0

A while ago, I had the pleasure to perform the complete Ring cycle several times with Arizona Opera, with Joe Berger as principal horn. I cannot say enough great things on how amazingly solid Joe is as a musician.

In performing the Siegfried Horn Call, it is good to understand the back story. The horn call signifies a youthful Siegfried trying to communicate with a bird by using his horn (!?).

He manages to wake up something much larger and more dangerous.

This video provides an excellent synopsis of this scenario in 6 minutes – check it out. (Ignore the advert at the end.)

Top Ten List: Advice for Conductors

Bruce Hembd
-
0

A top-ten list for conductors from a musician’s view.

INTRODUCTION
Having been a professional musician for around 25 years now, I have seen my share of conductors – the good, the bad and the ugly. I have performed with groups around the world with a variety of conductors at the podium and have some specific beefs and gripes with a few, but overall I empathize with the challenges of leading an ensemble of musicians.

Besides performing with the groups like Arizona Opera and Phoenix Symphony, I also am a long-term substitute music teacher in the Phoenix metropolitan area. A “merry band” (or orchestra) of junior high or high school students can be very judgmental crowd, and over the last five years I have learned a lot of things while at the podium.

Of course, there are huge differences between a school ensemble and a professional group. Yet, the lessons I have learned as a public school conductor (in addition to being an experienced player) have given me insights into the art of leadership. These lessons I believe transcend the differences between a professional and student group. They are applicable to any level.

I have already blogged a newbie musician list, and a discussion at Polyphonic.org has inspired me to also create a top-ten list for conductors. Rather than making this a list of rants against the megalomania and narcissism I sometimes witness both in schools and in the field, I am hoping to offer helpful advice for conductors – and players – to think about and ponder on.

THE LIST
These are in no specific order:

  1. Avoiding saying “just one more time” from this spot, or “from this spot, just a little bit.”
    Inevitably most conductors that say this end up going from “that spot” several times and for much longer than “a little bit.”
  2. Be sure that your preparatory upbeat is in time with the music to follow.
    In this vein, using a verbal count-off (“one, two, ready, go…”) to start a group playing encourages musicians to not watch the stick and bury their heads in their music. Avoid count-offs for this reason.
  3. Verbally repeat starting points for rehearsal purposes more than once.
    Some musicians in the back may not hear you correctly the first or even second time. Be sure to look up from your score and see if the musicians understand and are ready to go before starting.
  4. Resist the urge to “name drop.”
    Naming famous friends or colleagues (or other gigs) can telegraph an air of pretension. This is especially true if the group has no personal connection to the name being dropped.
  5. No matter how terrible or ineffective a predecessor, a guest conductor or a musician is or was, do not bad-mouth colleagues while on the podium. While it might feel good to vent, negative personal comments can backfire and haunt you later.
  6. When a musician hits a sour note, presume that it was a mistake and not intentional.
    Professional musicians are generally a smart bunch and are well aware when they make a mistake. Student musicians, while perhaps less aware, need guidance not chastisements. Conductors with good leadership skills acknowledge bloopers with a glance or even a smile; conductors with weak skills will scowl or even make disparaging comments. A smile acknowledges the error but says “I trust that you will get this next time” whereas a scowl or a negative comment will only make a musician anxious, less focused and likely to make more mistakes not less.
  7. Resist the temptation to stop at every little concern and make comments.
    Sometimes it is better to trust the musicians and let them play it out. Put a post-it note in the score as a marker and address it later.Along this line of thought, be very clear as to what is a small spot to rehearse and what is a lengthy passage to run without stopping. When you do stop, make it clear why you stopped. Making an ensemble of musicians repeat a passage without a clear (or any) explanation will elicit audible groans from a young group and silent anguish from a professional group.
  8. Be a colleague to the musicians.
    While the conductor is technically the boss, approaching rehearsals as a collaborative process yields stronger artistic results; mutual respect will inspire musicians to play better for you – no matter what the level of their (or your) ability is. Also, for musicians this approach is much more rewarding than just following commands.
  9. “Beat one” in any metered, conducting pattern is always a straight, vertical, downward motion.
  10. In general, try not to talk too much – talking should be done with your hands.
    When you do make comments speak clearly and keep it concise and to the point. Conductors that babble, repeat themselves or talk too fast get ignored. Avoid talking and making comments while the music is playing; not only will the musicians in the back not hear you, but the musicians intently focused on the music will be confused by the distraction.Respect not only the “zone” of concentration required to play an instrument but also respect the music itself. Talking over a group while it plays interferes with the greater flow.
* * *

See also Robert Levine’s “Notes to Young Conductors.”

On Learning the B-flat Horn Fingerings with Louis Stout

John Ericson
-
0

A topic that has come up in several lessons recently is that of learning B-flat horn alternate fingerings in the middle register where I would at least normally us the F horn. It is important for horn players to learn these fingerings in this range, which is one reason I philosophically prefer as a horn teacher B-flat marching horns to F mellophones–those students will learn those fingerings well. In short, though, every advanced horn player needs to knuckle down and learn these at some point.

The late Louis Stout, of Holton and University of Michigan fame, was a big advocate of B-flat horn fingerings and had a method he used to teach them. Basically what I have been told is that if a student did not know them well enough he would take all the F horn slides off their horn, put them in a drawer in his desk, and they would just have to use only B-flat horn fingerings until they knew them well enough to get the F horn slides back.

I don’t think any horn teacher would do this today (I would not, anyway!) but it does communicate the importance of getting these fingerings worked out.

Louis Stout was a fan of the single B-flat. This horn is one he helped a student purchase, a Holton single B-flat with an F extension. Just the horn for Mozart if you studied with Prof. Stout.

The Horn of Franz Strauss

John Ericson
-
0

As I mentioned to the horn repertoire class today at Arizona State, it is not very widely known but the horn used by the great nineteenth-century hornist Franz Strauss actually still exists! A single horn that he must have primarily used in B-flat, it was manufactured around 1867 and was restored in 2001.

This photo is linked directly from the description of this instrument in the Hans Pizka website. For much more information on this instrument please visit  http://www.pizka.de/fstrau3.htm and also be sure to look around the rest of the site, there is a great deal of interesting content presented in this huge resource by Professor Pizka.

French and German Musical Terms and the Horn Player

John Ericson
-
0

Years ago, I worked out a handy, one page document that is a list of French and German musical terms based on words encountered in leading solo works for horn (Hindemith Sonata, En Foret, etc.). That PDF list (Updated 2025) is at the link below:

It is really worth the effort to understand the clear instructions of composers!

Unfortunately, many horn students come into a lesson without looking up or understanding various terms in various works. I must also have done this as a young student, but by the time of my advanced studies I certainly did not. One teacher in particular — Verne Reynolds — if you did not have the terms all down you could expect at least a “pencil drop;” it was not OK. Which I can understand, too; he was also a composer and marked everything in his music with great care, wanting you to follow each instruction.

Guessing can be good, or bad

Especially with German, some terms are cognates to English words, and some mean very different things. For example, vorwärts does mean forward, but breiter means broadly. You should try to guess, but be aware that the term may mean the opposite of what you thought.

Print resources?

At one point I had it in my syllabus that students were recommended to purchase the Schirmer Pronouncing Pocket Manual of Musical Terms, a very handy book that has almost every common term in it. And also there is a good list at the back of the Arthur LeBar horn excerpt book.

Online resources? Be careful …

And now people, of course, use Google Translate for many terms … which has dangers. It can give “unusual” translations that don’t get at the meaning. For example, “keck” is a very important term in Mahler 5. Google Translate at one point would tell you that meant “pert,” and looking it up today as I update this article in May of 2025 it says of all things “cheeky.” But the best translation for our musical purposes is “bold.” You should always double check meanings, especially if the translation you find does not make sense.

Allmählich lebhafter and more

To close, there really is no excuse to not know what allmählich lebhafter means if you are working on taking Till to a high level. Look up the terms; don’t let any one be a mystery.

UPDATED 2025

1...150151152...156Page 151 of 156
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv