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Auditioning for college in the age of COVID

John Ericson
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Any reader looking at auditioning for college music programs right now knows that they are looking at a changed scenario due to COVID.

Before this cycle what was normal was you would (ideally) go to the school and do a live audition — but this year that is not the way it will be. Most, if not all, schools have shifted to versions of a hybrid audition scenario. You are still required to perform an audition to be considered for a music major, but recorded auditions and virtual interviews will take the place of a live audition and interview for the 2020-21 admission year.

In the case of ASU and horn, what we require is for the prospective student to submit recordings of their main selections, and we have an additional Zoom interview scheduled where I hear you sight-read, etc.

Officially what we are looking for in a recording is “The recorded audition will be evaluated for technical and musical proficiency.” To more specific suggestions, it is critical that the recording/video reflect your very best playing, and it must be made with care. You want the recording to stand out for the right reasons! Things that will help:

  • Use as good a space as you can for the recording, visually and acoustically
  • No need to dress up, but don’t look too casual
  • Find a place with a relatively neutral background for the video, to focus attention on you and your playing
  • Listen to it critically, and have others listen critically
  • Allow plenty of time to redo the entire recording several times
  • Missed notes held to a minimum! We have to assume this was your best take

The other element, which will be new for everyone, is the virtual Interview. In the interview you should be prepared to

  • Discuss your recorded audition
  • Perform short excerpts of audition materials that you submitted in the recorded audition
  • Play scales at the request of the horn professor
  • Sight-Read on your instrument
  • Ask any questions about the horn studio

This system of a recording and an interview is (in my opinion) vastly superior to an all Zoom live audition, as with the recording you have the opportunity to present a more complete picture of your playing in terms of dynamics, articulations, and phrasing than is possible in Zoom, allowing us to then learn more about you and your playing in the virtual interview.

The overall good news is that for college auditions the potential you demonstrate is the most critical element, so none of the above factors is a true deal breaker. But still, those that give the best impression will be the ones that show the most potential. Good luck!

I would also mention that in spite of everything, I think this is a great time to be starting study, as by the time you graduate the job market should be sorting out again in a post-COVID era.

It would still be a good idea though to attend a program that will not weigh you down with a great deal of debt. In regard to that, my final point is that if you are still looking for schools, consider Arizona State! We have a strong (and affordable) brass program worth your time to check out. More general info may be found here.

Tip: Building endurance in the age of no ensembles

John Ericson
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With COVID, most horn players are finding themselves in an unusual situation, they have no ensembles to play in, and have not played in an ensemble in months.

One consequence of this is that, even if practicing regularly, endurance has suffered for many brass players. There is a type of endurance that is built up by regularly playing in large ensemble rehearsals and concerts. And really there is no substitute for those rehearsals and concerts, not only for endurance but also for dynamics and articulations.

But I was intrigued this week on pulling out my copy of the Standley Routine, published in 2002 but dating to the 1960s. The interesting thing is Standley presents not only the typical scale and arpeggio patterns, as he also has specific exercises in every key intended to build (or enhance) endurance. Musically they are not as interesting as etudes, but the overall concept is an important one to consider, one that could help in developing some new focus on in your practice.

I would also mention another vintage publication, Exercises for Flexible Horn Playing by Ward Fearn. Published in 1965, I wish he had explained further his actual goals, but clearly he has some ideas toward airflow and connections. Some of the exercises also generally resemble the Standley endurance studies, but with more musical interest, so it might also be worth a specific look for variety in your practice and to build endurance back up. I have at the least enjoyed exploring this book these few months, I had never looked at it seriously until I was well into the present COVID era of practice at home.

On a practical level, you can duplicate the effect of the Standley endurance studies with longer etudes with few rests by any composer. Hopefully also, just knowing that you should be playing some studies that are designed to build endurance on a daily basis might help keep your playing on better track as we hit the winter months of the year of COVID horn practice.

COVID and innovation in brass chamber music at Arizona State

John Ericson
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We are doing something different than normal this semester for brass chamber music at Arizona State.

During the summer our large ensemble directors began exploring an online DAW platform called Bandlab. We were having weekly brass meetings through the summer as well, and the idea that came up was to organize all of the ASU brass students into brass quintets that would record works using Bandlab, and to also as much as possible develop videos as the final product. By the end of the summer we made this video to test the concept:

All the audio was recorded and edited in Bandlab. The overall project was designed to use technology available to students for free through ASU. What you see on the video for example is pantomime done separately on Zoom in front of a green screen. Trumpet professor Joe Burgstaller did the final video production.

With that video launched, we went forward with the students, putting them all in groups of similar ability. Then we did a further tweak of the concept and moved all the groups to focusing on works by BIPOC composers, arranged by Luther Henderson. This also included having composition and musicology faculty speak (on Zoom) to the brass area about the music of the era and Luther Henderson and his career. Wednesday this past week all the groups shared their audio, and this has exceeded our expectations. The next step is for groups to make videos to go with the audio they have recorded.

For another viewpoint on our project, from a bigger picture, see also this article:

From the article,

Burgstaller and his colleagues spent the summer figuring out how to fully leverage the technology and use it to their students’ advantage. As an example, the brass faculty released a video of their virtual performance of the “Love Theme to Cinema Paradiso, ” produced using only resources that are free to ASU students, such as BandLab and Adobe Creative Suite.

“COVID is not decelerating your learning process — it’s reordering it,” Burgstaller said. “We’re in this situation where we can make a lot of difference in helping students learn technology skills that are usually acquired later or once musicians are out of school. In my era as a student, these are all skills I learned on my own and use intensively.”

This has all been part of a larger push since 2019 to revitalize our brass chamber music program, and again it has been exciting to see the results obtained by looking for opportunities rather than looking at the difficulties presented by COVID. Around the end of the current semester there should be a whole group of videos from ASU brass students

Going forward, next semester the plan is a similar project, but all the quintets will be playing and recording movements or works by women composers. Ultimately I believe that after COVID we will continue with a robust live quintet program, yet another reason to consider ASU highly for brass study. For more information visit:

It is time to use some new etudes (with samples to try)

John Ericson
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Especially in this time of COVID teaching, it is time to try some new materials. The same old, tired etudes seem especially old and tired in Zoom lessons. With more lesson teaching moving to live lessons, some new materials will brighten your teaching and your practice.

Back in June I introduced 30 Modern Preparatory Etudes (more here), a brand new publication. Having now used this book more fully this fall I can say with certainty this is a collection that works great with a variety of students. I have been gratified how well these have worked in lessons.

It is also a very affordable publication, available worldwide on Amazon in print and Kindle editions. Unfortunately, the book preview on Amazon has no pages of music visible, so you do not have a way to see what you get, and of course, the best way to know how they might work for you is to try them!

In response to that, two of the etudes are below, try them yourselves and with your students. This collection is one that fits well with the needs of the contemporary horn teacher. You will not be disappointed.

For more information and links to purchase visit www.hornnotes.com

DeRosa and Almeida: The Intimate Bach [UPDATED]

John Ericson
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A great recording that is not much known by now several generations of horn players is The Intimate Bach, Vol. 2, which includes a side featuring Vincent DeRosa and Laurindo Alemeida playing the Partita in Bb. On the hundredth birthday of DeRosa (born Oct. 5, 1920) it is an excellent day to look back on this classic recording.

DeRosa has been called “the most recorded horn player in history.” Beyond his extensive studio work in Hollywood, turning to the Wikipedia,

DeRosa was also an accomplished classical player. He was the hornist on the album The Intimate Bach which received a Grammy Nomination for Best Classical Performance – Chamber Music (1962). Music critic Alfred Frankenstein wrote of DeRosa’s performance on this record, “This is the most astonishing example of virtuosity on the horn I have ever heard on records…To play as lightly and speedily as a harpsichord, right out in the open with a minimum of support, is to give an incredible performance.”

I first stumbled upon this recording as an undergrad, and have always loved this recording. I have a copy of the LP, and also recently was able to obtain a copy of the sheet music. It is part of a series of recordings by Alemeida (1917– 1995), a Brazilian guitarist in classical, jazz, and Latin music, a crossover artist before that was common. There is so much clarity in the guitar playing, and they both exhibit artistry of the highest level on this album.

Jim Patterson offered the following background on the recording.

Vince told me that he had been contacted by Laurindo Almeida in advance and was sent the part but was so busy he hadn’t really had a chance to look at it. So he was pretty much sight reading at the session…. They had Vince in a small isolation booth, with a bunch of padding and close mic’d. He remembers having to play very softly, while the Guitar had to play as loud as possible. There was only a small window to see each other through. Vince listened to the playback when they had finished and was not impressed at all. He thought they should dump the whole thing! In retrospect, if they had let the horn play in the large room and put the guitar in the isolation booth, the sound would have certainly been much better. From a technical aspect, the playing is extraordinary.

So, now that we have your attention, how can you hear this recording today? This is why people collect LP records, as the DeRosa/Alemeida recording is so far as I can tell not available today in any other format. This is really one worth asking around for among older horn players that have LPs, I highly recommend giving it a listen on a good stereo.

[See UPDATE at end for an exciting piece of news!]

But you can get some sense of the classic DeRosa/Alemeida recording in this more recent release by James Thatcher. What Thatcher does is play his own version of the work a fourth higher than DeRosa, and with piano instead of guitar, so it has bit different feel – but is also highly impressive horn playing. So after enjoying the below examples (the first two movements of the work, the first being the same as the musical excerpt above, and the second being the most technical movement), work on finding the original by DeRosa, it will be worth your time.

Finally, for a bit of DeRosa from the same year as the Bach recording, check out this famous theme:

UPDATE: In November of 2020 Dylan Skye Hart and Andrew Synowiec released their version on Youtube the of J.S. Bach: Partita No.1 in Bb major, BWV 825, from the original parts! Wonderful playing! Take a listen below:

Watkins, Schuller, and Barrows — Temptation, 1962

John Ericson
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Following up on the recent post on jazz horn pioneer Julius Watkins, I made an effort to buy a couple more of his recordings off eBay. One that is fascinating is French Horns for My Lady, a 1962 release on the Phillips label.

There is a Wikipedia article on the album here, but one key piece of information would be the horn sidemen involved on the project: Gunther Schuller, Bob Northern, James Buffington, and John Barrows. Of the four, I think the first and last names listed are easily recognizable still, Schuller had a long career as a composer and more, and Barrows is associated with all the Wilder works and taught later at Wisconsin.

[A quick aside on the cover — it is a bit cringe for us today — but is what was used. The record does feature a wordless female vocalist on several tracks, which is hopefully what the cover is supposed to relate to.]

The opening work is Temptation, which may be found in a decent YouTube version embedded below. I say decent, as it loses some depth of sound for sure compared to my stereo LP copy on good speakers. When you listen to this, be sure you can hear it in Stereo; it is very 1960s, with crazy stereo effects.

Wow! Some great playing and production, Watkins has a great solo break about half way through and then there are all the sidemen doing their riffs. And how about that last note? It is a bit of a novelty album in a way, but totally worth seeking out.

If you go to Spotify and look for this work, searching Temptation Julius Watkins, you will find a very different recording by Watkins with Charlie Rouse on tenor sax. Much more relaxed, along the lines of club jazz. Of course, that version is also on YouTube, as below:

For actual listening, it is the better version: if you have a way to search it out, check it out too. There is a lot of great horn music out there.

Julius Watkins, jazz French horn pioneer

John Ericson
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Talking with colleagues recently, a topic that came up was how some great players of the recent past are unjustly neglected today. In terms of horn, whenever a discussion turns to the French horn in jazz, soon you recognize that Julius Watkins (1921-1977) literally created the genre, and is very worthy of a closer look.

Watkins has been the subject of scholarly research, but before looking at that, let us look at Watkins in action. While you are listening to this 1960 performance below, observe how effortless it all looks for him, and also make a mental note of what exactly are the highest and lowest notes he performs?

His discography is extensive and can be easily accessed for reference in the Wikipedia article on Julius Watkins.

Patrick Smith, in his 2005 dissertation “Julius Watkins and the Evolution of the Jazz French Horn Genre,” offers this on why Watkins choose the horn, a story which many readers can relate to easily.

Julius was nine years old when the horn6 lured him away from the saxophones, trumpets and drums; instruments which were significantly more popular than the horn amongst beginning bandsmen. He was considering tutelage on the guitar or trumpet when Francis Hellstein, Principal Horn in the Detroit Symphony, presented a guest performance at Julius’ school. He finalized his decision upon hearing the horn’s call. “I liked the sound,” said Watkins. “I don’t know exactly why, and I still can’t explain it satisfactorily. But I fell in love with the sound and with the instrument.”7

Watkins was later able to study with Hellstein, and had his foundations in a traditional horn background. He attended a technical high school, which allowed him besides playing in the orchestra to take courses in harmony, music appreciation, and piano. Smith states that as part of his studies with Hellstein “Certainly Julius was familiar with Mozart’s four horn concerti along with Richard Strauss’ ‘First Concerto.’” But then Smith relates that, in recognition of the difficulty of developing an orchestral career as an African-American,

By the summer of 1937, Julius had determined that his musical career path would be different from that of any other performer of his instrument up until that time. “I wanted to be a soloist,” said Watkins in an interview with Downbeat Magazine. “There is very little repertoire in Classical music for solo horn. So, I learned to jazz.”13 Known for being a stubborn individual,14 Julius was obsessed with becoming the first great jazz horn soloist ever. His thirst for listening to jazz and playing jazz was unquenchable.

The Smith dissertation gives extensive background on his life after he left high school, at which point he started his career in Detroit and then made his way to New York.

To continue this concise look at Watkins, we now turn to the liner notes for the CD Next Mode by Vincent Chancey. I would especially like to highlight this CD for two reasons. One, it is a wonderful CD! I’ve listened to it hundreds of times. But also this CD, so far as I can tell, is not on YouTube, Spotify, etc. You really should track down a copy, and Chancey still has it listed for sale on his website. Chancey shares that

Next Mode is a contemporary extension of a group that existed in the mid-fifties called The Jazz Modes or Les Jazz Modes. Julius Watkins was the musical director as well as French hornist. Charlie Rouse played tenor saxophone. The Jazz Modes were a quintet that used various rhythm sections. According to a conversation I had with Charlie Rouse, they recorded seven albums; one master was lost, so only six were released.

Of course, Julius Watkins was a big influence on me. I first heard him at the age of 15, after which I collected any album that had his name on it. He played and recorded with many people other than The Jazz Modes….

Upon receiving my degree in music, I moved to New York to find this incredible jazz pioneer of the French horn. After much hesitation, Mr. Watkins accepted me as a student. He had not taken any students before then, probably because nobody was interested, but after that he did. He imparted some very valuable information to me about playing horn in jazz. Things like alternative fingerings to use for different instrumental pairings, one with strings, maybe another with brass or woodwinds. Also how to project in large ensembles. This may include choice of register or note voicings. We would have lengthy conversations about his career as I battle to begin one myself.

With the recording Next Mode Chancey was attempting to recreate the sound of The Jazz Modes. The first track is a work composed by Watkins for The Jazz Modes, Linda Delia. Below is Watkins performing this work.

I personally really enjoy the entire Next Mode CD. As noted earlier, this is only available now in hard copy, but if you go to the Chancey sales page you can hear the beginning of his version. The call to action here being, if you still listen to CDs (and you should!), buy a copy! Only one of his four recordings as a leader are currently on Spotify, a reminder that there is a lot of great music out there if you put in a little extra effort to find it.

Finally, for a more recent performance set from Vincent Chancey, this last video is also well worth an extended listen. I have not posted on jazz much in Horn Matters, but in reality I am a big fan, and will be looking at the topic more than normal in my teaching this fall.

 

Making the most of your [COVID] horn playing, and a brief review of a bell cover

John Ericson
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Before getting to the brief review, I would like to open by noting that, as of the fall of 2020, COVID protocols are all over the map for schools and ensembles.

I think the setup we are using at Arizona State is as good as anywhere, in terms of being a good learning environment and relatively safe. The basic initial protocol we have for brass playing in a practice room is that after a practice session the room has to be empty for an hour. There is an online sign up system and so far it is working well. Students are also responsible to clean the room after their session, and only certain rooms are allowed for brass/wind/voice practice.

My office has the same basic restriction, after a lesson where a student plays the office has to be vacant for an hour after the lesson. I am starting the semester rotating students that want live lessons (not all do) through the last lesson slot of the day. When it gets cooler outside I will open up another live lesson slot before lunch a couple days a week too, when I can vacate the office for an hour after a lesson (eating lunch outside, or taking a walk). There is also an air purifier, and we wear masks when not playing. In addition, my office is big enough that I am sitting a full 16 feet away from the student! We have space.

What is great about this from my perspective is I can get an accurate feel for the playing of a student live in a room. This is all that made the spring work, really; I was very familiar with all the students before we shut down for COVID. Rotating live lessons with the Zoom lessons will help me a lot as a teacher, as will students being able to practice in practice rooms.

[Also, note in the photo my spittoon! People are concerned about our condensation, and I have collection of condensation covered in my office.]

Ensembles here are starting online with recording projects, hopefully moving live later in the semester. Not to give away too many secrets, we are making use of the Bandlab platform to do collaborative recording projects at ASU. If you are looking for something like this to enhance a teaching or ensemble experience, this one is worth looking at.

As our ensembles are starting online, the topic of bell covers has not been an issue yet. However, I did get one, from Houghton Horns, purchased on my own without thinking I would review it, but it is a product of current interest. In terms of horn playing you hardly notice it for sound or feel of the instrument. What you do notice is that your hand in the bell gets warm; the hot air of your breath is held back to some extent by the bell cover. I do not know how much it really works, but if health protocols require it in your situation it has no negative impact on your playing.

A final note being you can make tons of progress as a horn player this fall! Do not give up without trying for sure; you can make much good use of your time if you choose to.

Review: The Versus M1T mellophone mouthpiece. The one everyone has been waiting for

John Ericson
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A new product on the market, and a game changer, is the Versus M1T mellophone mouthpiece.

Mellophone is, sadly, a hugely polarizing topic of the horn world, but certainly a reality that is here to stay. Among the biggest typical complaints for the horn player is the mouthpiece. Marching mellophones come with a mouthpiece that resembles very much a trumpet mouthpiece, with a trumpet rim, small inner diameter, and a shallow cup. As a result, the experience of playing an instrument with one of these is more like playing a trumpet than a middle brass instrument (such as a horn or an Eb tenor horn).

In addition, of course, marching band directors are not fond of using a horn mouthpiece with an adapter on F mellophone. Perception is that it does not sound as good, and intonation is worse.

I have long advocated for the development of something that blended a horn rim and cup into a backbore and shank that fits right into a marching mellophone receiver. These have been produced, but only on a limited basis. I am thinking specifically of the horn/mellophone hybrid mouthpiece supplied with the Jupiter Quantum mellophone (reviewed here, and also mentioned in the 3rd edition of my mellophone book) which so far as I know has never been offered for separate sale.

Finally, on the market for easy purchase is a mouthpiece of this type, the Versus M1T mellophone mouthpiece, sold by Houghton horns. I was sent this mouthpiece and the companion M1H (which is meant for Bb marching French horn, but would work fine F marching French horn or any horn really) for review, at no obligation.

I especially like the M1T on my King mellophone. Sound wise it hits a nice place, some color to the sound but with depth. The cup of this mouthpiece is shallow for a horn mouthpiece, and provides nice focus and articulation. The rim is comfortable and supportive, wide but not overly wide like a trumpet rim.

For those more interested in the nuts and bolts details, my example of the M1T mouthpiece has a #9 bore, while the companion M1H has a tighter bore at #17. Inner dimeter perceptions will vary with any rim depending on the shape, but I would put it in the 17.75-18 mm range, which should produce a big sound out on the field. The shallow cup seems to me to be a great acoustical match to the high F horn. It plays easily.

I also think this might be the first mouthpiece of this type that has been offered for separate sale.** Finally! This is such a game changer. If you are a horn player who marches mellophone, or a horn teacher with students who march, give this model a look, priced very affordably at $89. For more information on this new product, check the Houghton Horns website.

**Another mouthpiece some might think of is the Moosewood T-Rex. This was a hybrid mouthpiece intended for horn players to use on the Eb tenor horn, which is so far as I know off the market now. It is deeper yet, with a larger bore, and not very suited to the mellophone.

Lessons in Vienna, part IX: Lasting Impact on a Career

John Ericson
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This series of articles expands on notes taken by Nicholas Smith in lessons with Roland Berger in 1977. This is the concluding article.

Most players would probably not believe that I could remember the above experience from almost 40 years ago. For me, the experience working with Berger will be burned into my psyche until I die. That, plus all the notes I took after each lesson allowed me to have such vivid recall. I still feel working with Professor Berger all those years ago, to be one of the most, if not the most influential experience of my musical life. I only hope anyone reading this narrative might have a similar experience in their own musical lives.

Sooooo, I can hear people wanting to know if I always used Prof. Berger’s suggestions in my own playing and the answer is both yes and no. There is no way I could get away with telling any conductor that I wouldn’t do the acceleration in the opening calls of Till Eulenspiegel. Besides, that accel. Is almost a universal technique. I did incorporate some of his musical ideas into the Tschaikowsky 5th solo which weren’t a terribly big change from what I had already been taught.

Berger’s use of an assistant on Ein Heldenleben, especially from Reh. # 107 was especially helpful when I had to play the work less than a year after his coaching. And then there are the Brahms excerpts. Even when I was in the “prime” of my playing years, I never had the lung capacity to follow his directions for the extended phrases he recommended for the solo in the third movement of the Third Symphony. I continued to use the breathing directions of Mr. Farkas for that one and the other Brahms works as well as for some things in the Tschaikowsky 5th Symphony solo. While I have never advocated for students to work with as many different teachers as possible, I do believe an occasional lesson beyond their regular teacher can often open the student to new “break-throughs” in their playing. However, students should be advanced and mature enough to be able to make a judgement as to which suggestions work for them and which won’t. Hopefully, readers of the above narrative will be able to use at least some of Professor Berger’s ideas for their own playing.

—

Many thanks to Dr. Nicholas Smith for sharing this article with Horn Matters readers.

For a bit more, there is a very nice video on YouTube where Berger talks about Vienna horns and more, it may be viewed here.

Author’s Biography

In 2016, Nicholas Smith retired after a forty-five year career teaching and playing at the university level. Forty-two years were spent at Wichita State University where he was Professor of Horn, as well as Principal Horn of the Wichita Symphony. He was also a member of WSU’s Wichita Brass Quintet and Lieurance Woodwind Quintet producing that ensemble’s highly regarded three CD’s for the Summit Label. He also held the Principal Horn positions of the Oklahoma City Symphony, the Madison (WI) Symphony, and the forty piece American Sinfonietta. He has also performed with the Kansas City Symphony, and as Assistant Principal Horn of the Rochester Philharmonic. His summer festival activities include the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, Brevard Music Festival, the Bay View (MI) Music Festival and the Bellingham (WA) Music Festival. He has been a frequent soloist and lecturer at regional and international conferences of the International Horn Society and hosted three regional conferences for the society in 1991, 1996, and 2006. Publishing includes several articles in music education journals as well as a historical contribution to the Horn Society’s former juried publication, The Horn Call Journal. His book “Don’t Miss!” was written to help improve accuracy on the horn and has had world-wide sales. Dr. Smith’s former students occupy positions in many orchestras and military bands throughout the US, Europe, and the orient. Several former students occupy teaching positions at the university level including the editor of Horn Matters/Horn Notes, John Ericson. In recognition of his teaching accomplishments, Wichita State University named Dr. Smith to its Academy of Effective Teaching in May of 2004. He also served WSU in several administrative positions including a five year stint as the Associate Dean for the College of Fine Arts. A native Kansan, he earned degrees at Pittsburg State University (BM) and the Eastman School of Music (MM, DMA, and Performer’s Certificate). Principal teachers include Verne Reynolds, Philip Farkas, and Roland Berger. Smith shares his retirement with his wife Cheryl in mid-Michigan where they continue to serve music performance and teaching as members of several area musical ensembles.

Return to Part I of Lessons in Vienna series.

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