by Andrew Pelletier

I was very honored and a little amused that Mike Harcrow and the Horn and More team wanted to do a “Meet the People” feature with me—I'm always stunned when anyone shows interest in what I've done and try to do with the horn, believing that there are several thousand horn players more deserving or interesting than myself, but I'll try my best....

I was born and raised in Maine, in the Northeast of the USA, and started playing the horn in sixth grade. I quit through junior high school (I could not afford a horn and the school didn't have one for me to borrow) but picked it back up in senior high and have been trying to perfect it ever since. I attended the University of Southern Maine (GO HUSKIES!) for my undergraduate studies and found myself, at 18, playing in the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Maine's only professional orchestra. I played with the PSO for 5 seasons (undergrad plus one gap year), before heading to Los Angeles for graduate study with James Decker at the University of Southern California, earning my master’s degree in 1998 and the Doctor of Musical Arts in 2001. While in L.A. I was super lucky to freelance quite frequently, including for television and feature film studio recording sessions. I also played principal horn for the Santa Barbara Symphony and taught at a few community colleges. In 2004, I moved to Bowling Green, Ohio, to become the horn professor at Bowling Green State University. In my time at BGSU so far, I have played principal horn in Ann Arbor, Michigan (for 11 seasons), and principal horn for the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit (for 16 seasons), and I have been a frequent substitute player with the Toledo Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, in Columbus, Ohio. BGSU named me a Professor of Creative Arts Excellence in 2020, and I was elected the Chair of the Department of Music Performance Studies in 2023.

Now, my deep love and care of the IHS goes all the way to the very beginning, leafing through my former teacher's collection of old issues of The Horn Call. I was (and am) so excited by the history, the traditions, the personalities, and the music of our great instrument. I attended my first IHS Symposium in 1997 at the Eastman School of Music (bravo, Peter Kurau!), thanks to the Jon Hawkins Memorial Scholarship, and I was hooked. The IHS kindly gave me a platform to experiment as a solo artist, usually bringing new pieces I'd commissioned, and I've been lucky to perform at 12 Symposia (thus far—see you in July!) and have commissioned and premiered over 60 works for our instrument. I've made lifelong friends through the IHS, and I always come away from IHS events charged up to learn more, to try new things, to experiment. One of the greatest honors of my life was when I was elected President of the IHS, starting in 2018. It was a challenge to keep the Society healthy and moving forward during covid, but thanks to the extraordinary staff, volunteers, and the hard work of the Advisory Council, I feel like we escaped the pandemic in a good position for growth. I've been involved with the IHS for almost 30 years, now, and although I am currently enjoying a bit of a break in official duties for the Society, I know that this won't last forever, and I look forward to any opportunity I may have to help it grow and prosper, and help to inspire and develop horn players and teachers the world over. I am immensely proud to be an IHS Life Member, and I am always thankful for what the IHS has done for me.

Israeli Horn Day

by Aviram Freiberg

Jörg Brückner and pianist Raphael Skorka

On Friday, March 29, 2024, hundreds of Israeli horn students, professionals and amateurs of all ages and levels of playing gathered at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel-Aviv, home of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, for the bi-annual Israeli horn day. Due to the covid pandemic, this celebration had been postponed but finally took place after a hiatus of several years. Luckily, even the war outbreak last October couldn’t hinder this special event.

The Israeli horn day was organized by Mafte’ach (key) program, run by the IPO, whose aim is to allow children from the geographical and social periphery the opportunity to play musical instruments, and to learn and experience music. The program is held in collaboration with IPO members, and its concerts are named in memory of the late Ruth Gottesman.

The day opened with a recital by our special guest, Jörg Brückner, collaborating with pianist Raphael Skorka. Their program, fabulously executed, included Dukas’ Villanelle, followed by an Israeli piece for solo horn by Yitzhak Yedid, Lament in Memoriam of Ora Boasson-Horev, and it was brought to a rousing conclusion with Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro. The recital was hosted by IPO hornist Michal Mosek. As an encore, professional Israeli horn players joined Mr. Brückner for a moving performance of Ha’Tikva, Israel’s national anthem. After the recital, participants divided into different groups, according to age and level, to participate in various lectures, workshops, and playing activities. Among these events was a conversation with Jörg Brückner, hosted by IPO hornist Hagai Shalom, as well as workshops held by IPO assistant principal horn, Dalit Segal, and other leading Israeli horn players and teachers, including Ruti Rozman-Varon, Chezy Nir, Tsviki Moran, and Barak Yeivin, who conducted a play-along session for young players. A yoga class for horn players was conducted by IPO violist and yoga instructor Gili Radian-Sade and hornist Gal Raviv.

The finale was a concert by some of our professional players. Ruti Rozman-Varon, accompanied by her daughter Gal Varon on bassoon as basso continuo played a Telemann concerto for horn and flute (recorder) on the natural horn. Also participating were players from the IPO, ISO (Israeli Symphony Orchestra), leading pedagogues, and retired professionals like Tzippi Cheryl Pellat and myself. IPO trombonist Micha Davis conducted a horn choir of all participants to conclude this very special day.

Finale Concert

The horn day was an excellent opportunity to promote the IHS and its activities, and we even recruited a new IHS member, Aviad Meitar!

Ruti Rozman-Varon and young participants

I truly hope this day was significant for the young players, who, as one can see in the photo, are mostly very young beginners. I had seven of my own students participating, and they all had a wonderfully inspiring experience.

by Ian Zook

Volume 15—Adriaan van Woudenberg

This issue of Horn on Record will explore an often overlooked and vitally important piece of chamber music, the Wind Quintet, Op. 26 by Arnold Schoenberg, recorded by Dutch hornist Adriaan van Woudenberg and the Danzi Quintet. Schoenberg composed his Quintet in August 1924, and it was premiered the following month. This recording of van Woudenberg was released by Philips in 1961. 

Adriaan van Woudenberg (b. 1925) was the solo horn of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam from 1944-1985. His studies were all with Richard Sell, then solo horn of Concertgebouw, and van Woudenberg was appointed as second horn in the orchestra before his final exams were completed at the Conservatory. Once he moved to the solo horn role after Sell, van Woudenberg played under Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, and Bernard Haitink during their tenures as chief conductors. Across his career he taught at the Sweelinck, Tilburg, and Maastricht Conservatories, and also the Musikhochshule in Trossigen, Germany.

Van Woudenberg was also a longtime member of the Danzi Wind Quintet, founded in 1956 by flutist Frans Vester. This quintet was formed specifically to perform the Dutch premiere of Schoenberg’s Wind Quintet in 1958 at the Holland Festival–the culmination of 107 rehearsals since the quintet’s inception! Known for their expertise in contemporary music, van Woundenberg’s Danzi Quintet subsequently toured Italy, Germany, Russia, and America, and performed at the World Exhibition in Montréal, Canada, and had works written for them by Rob de Bois, Ton de Leeuw, Misha Mengelberg, Peter Schat, Josef Tal, and Jan van Vlijmen.

The International Horn Society recognized Adriaan van Woudenberg’s influence at the Symposuim in London in 2014, making him an Honorary Member.

Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg was a dynamic figure in 20th century music history. He transitioned from an early compositional career saturated in the post-Romantic harmonic style with works like Verklärte Nacht (1899) and Guerrelieder (1913) to his methods aimed at the democratizing of the tonal system through atonalism. In the early 1920s, Schoenberg introduced his “twelve-tone row” system, where a set of the twelve discreet pitches of the chromatic scale serve as the “key” of the work and can be written successively as a melody or motif and simultaneously organized harmonically. This tone row can be further manipulated from its original form by means of transposition, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion.

After introducing this tonal landscape in his Piano Suite, Op. 25 in 1925, Schoenberg launched into the first large scale work using the dodecaphonic method with his Wind Quintet, Op. 26. This is a groundbreaking work for both woodwind quintet and chamber ensemble writing, and it is extremely difficult in every possible respect for all performers. Schoenberg not only uses a unique tonal language, he also compositionally structures “developing variation” throughout: these brief motivic cells transform through intermixing degrees of rhythmic, melodic, or pitch contour and can do so in rapid succession and across an expanded scale. This can be challenging to listeners as there are few concrete “tunes” to grasp on initial hearings; however, repeated study and score review are illuminating exercises. Thankfully, performers benefit from Schoenberg’s use of notating primary and secondary voices with indications of Hauptstimme and Nebenstimme in the score!

With the amount of rehearsal the Danzi Quintet clearly invested in their pursuit of this quintet, we are the beneficiaries of a recording that not only pulls attention to the needed prevailing voices, but offers nuance of phrase, impeccable intonation, and masterful interplay of instrumental timbre. Van Woudenberg’s performance in this recording is truly inspiring—he deftly covers the entire range of the horn, dances through wicked chromatic figurations, and can bury his tone within the woodwind texture or proclaim his presence authoritatively, often in consequent musical moments.

Our listening begins with the closing moments of the first movement, where van Woudenberg zips through fiendish passagework, cycling through the tone row (E♭, G, A, B, C♯, C, B♭, D, E, F♯, A♭, F) with practiced ease and efficiency. The flute recapitulates the movement’s opening motive, and van Woudenberg’s gentle melodic tone and pin-point threading of large interval leaps bring the movement to a close:

The second movement, labelled scherzando, demonstrates the Danzi Quintet’s wonderful interplay of sound and texture, weaving their lines and articulations to create a dance-like feel, even if the tonal language doesn’t easily cooperate. Van Woudenberg binds everything together, carrying an almost Mahlerian scherzo tune, with a few added high-octane outbursts:

The etwas fliessender section of the third movement intertwines a supple triplet figure through the winds, with the horn taking some beautiful lines. The music then dissolves into a quirky waltz:

Our last excerpt is the ending of the fourth movement, rondo, in which van Woudenberg unleashes his mighty orchestral sound, honed for the Concertgebouw, and the ensemble bursts with energy to the final cadence:

If you are curious to discover this fascinating chamber work by Arnold Schoenberg, then I urge you to go to Discogs and put your own copy on the turntable! The dedication of the Danzi Quintet to bring this piece to life is remarkable and a grand testament to their desire to invest in the musical creativity of Schoenberg’s dodecaphony. Thank you for reading Horn on Record!

Second International Horn Festival in Mexico

by Mauricio Soto

The Second International Horn Festival was held at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico from March 24-28, 2024. With the participation of more than 100 students and teachers from 18 Mexican states, the Festival featured recitals, lectures, group warm-ups, and more. We welcomed the participation of Ernie Tovar (Philadelphia Orchestra) and 13 distinguished teachers who live in Mexico. Compositions by Mexican composers Carlos Chávez, Rodrigo Lomán, Alexis Aranda, José Luis Guzman Wolffer, and others were performed. Performances of music from other parts of the world included works by Jane Vignery (Belgium), Ida Gotkovsky (France), and the world premiere of Marigold Fields for 8 horns by composer Aaron Bartos (USA).

by Inman Hebert

So You Think You Want to be A Music Professor….

As students, many of us work with college professors who mentor us through our development as horn players. As we progress on our journeys, we look at potential careers to pursue after graduation. One excellent option is following in the footsteps of our mentors and becoming teachers ourselves. In this exploration, what should horn students consider before choosing to pursue the collegiate career path?

If interested in becoming a music professor, searching for and analyzing job announcements can help inform one’s decision process. The search will yield results from conservatories to private and public institutions, both liberal arts colleges and universities, that are not always close to a metropolis or existing family connections, and distance can be crucial in the decision-making process for some.

Often, the types of jobs available do not match our ideals. Non-tenure track lecturer and instructor positions with contracts that typically span one to three years far outnumber tenure-track positions with ascending ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. While some positions may be less than full-time in conjunction with performing, adjunct instructors, by definition, are part-time positions hired to fulfill a particular and limited role. Though success in a performance career may supersede some requirements, most announcements list a minimum requirement of a master’s degree while many dictate a terminal degree such as a DMA.

If these initial job searches do not dampen one’s interest, then what must a horn student understand about becoming a professor? By reading biographies of music professors online and talking with those in the field, students will discover that the path to becoming a music professor is a unique journey filled with many twists and turns. The path is rarely a straight line but one that is often a pursuit of passion with dedication. In addition to being extremely competitive, it may involve multiple steps, often beyond our initial expectations, and will often take more time than we may currently imagine. While no single path exists, our adaptability and receptiveness to any and all opportunities start now while we are students.

A professorship encompasses a broad range of duties far beyond the requisite education and the proficiency to play the horn at a high level of accomplishment. Students must ask themselves if they desire to teach and mentor others. Those who respond in the affirmative must invest the time to develop their communication skills. Not all students learn in the same manner, and professors with empathy and understanding will meet students where they are in their role as mentors to communicate in a way that is helpful to the students in their development. The ability to communicate well manifests not only in lessons but also in lecturing, advising, recruiting prospective students, and interacting with colleagues. Early in their education, students should seek opportunities to observe and internalize what succeeds in master classes, private lessons, and studios, while more experienced students should be provided opportunities to start working with others.

For many musicians, writing is an undervalued form of communication that students can work to improve. Whether promoting yourself in a curriculum vitae and cover letter for a position, writing about your research, or advertising on your own or on a college website, writing can be an asset that provides a first impression as a candidate and shows that you are knowledgeable, credible, professional, and organized.

While college professors must maintain a commitment to teaching, skills needed may extend to finding and recruiting students, administrating a studio, teaching private lessons, conducting ensembles, developing music history or pedagogy or other courses, mentoring students beyond lessons, maintaining an active research profile, and performing. More and more, professors are also required to serve institutions in governance (like committee work, particularly at smaller liberal arts colleges), assessment, state and national accreditation processes, department-oriented administrative work (such as budgeting, planning and scheduling, etc.) and/or administrative roles (department chairs, deans, etc.), implementing DEI initiatives, creating new degrees or altering existing ones, and so on. Much of this comes as on-the-job training for which students pursuing a professorship must be aware but also agreeable to learn. These unexpected aspects of a teaching career are challenging but also educational and enriching.

Those seeking to become a music professor should excel on the horn and enjoy all aspects of music. The diversity of the students and the roles performed will be as varied as the mission of the position. Applicants can never know what will get a search committee’s attention, so they should take advantage of any opportunity which can broaden their skill sets. Search committees are looking for a peer who can perform service and contribute to the success of their music program. As students, we must decide if we have the interest, adaptability, and dedication to pursue this career path.

Northwest Horn Symposium

by Martin King

The 2024 Northwest Horn Symposium was held April 12-14, 2024, at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, hosted by Assistant Professor of Horn Martin D. King. This is the first time that WSU has hosted a regional symposium. The symposium welcomed featured artists Bernhard Scully, Charles “Skip” Snead, and the US Army Brass Quintet. Over 100 high school students, university students, avocational players, and professional players from around the region attended the event, and we hosted eight vendors as well. We hosted a regional artist recital, presentations on everything from jazz horn to the transition from natural horn to valve horn, a mass ensemble, and an after-concert featuring a jazz jam session coordinated by Mike Simpson. There was a high school solo competition, university solo competition, orchestral mock audition, and a quartet competition. The WSU Horn Ensemble and the Central Washington University Horn Ensemble both performed at this event.

by Marty Schlenker

Dear Fellow Amateurs,

It’s been several months since I devoted a column to my journey in resuming lessons in middle age. So…how’s it been going? 

In previous columns, I’ve shared the advice that helped me the most the fastest, including repositioning my tongue farther back and reshaping my air column to be narrower and rounder, as if it were a straw that I was holding between my lips. Making these changes has enabled the fronts of my notes to be less percussive with the tongue, and they have made it easier for notes to speak. 

I alluded to but didn’t really describe other guidance which I know will be good in the long run but which was really challenging at first. It was said in several different ways, but the common concept is that I was exerting too much of my whole body in the attempt to get notes, especially in passages containing large interval changes. This manifested in small ways (eyebrows) and large (clenched shoulders), but fundamentally, it was a substitute for work that should have been done by facial muscles within the mouthpiece ring.

The advice, “keep still outside the mouthpiece ring, no matter what the register or interval” has proven quite difficult, especially right after travel-induced practice breaks. The “hefting” I was doing was only delaying the development of a broadly capable embouchure. Quelling this movement made sense, but it took a while to find any kind of substitute.

Practice breaks…. My business travel slowed down significantly in March and April. The circumstances of my employer weren’t great, so this wasn’t planned; but the silver lining was the longest continuous stretch of practice days since I resumed lessons. With daily conditioning rather than a couple sessions a week, it became easier to summon air from my lower torso, and I could start to make melodic jumps while maintaining a more relaxed upper body. 

That’s not to say that this is a resolved issue. Far from it. I would estimate I’m not even a quarter of the way to the embouchure strengthening that I think I need. But it’s a start. Here are some of the “case-in-point” passages newly attained (most of the time, anyway):

Mueller (ed. Chambers) Vol. 2 #23:

Kling #4, in the style of Rossini:

There’s lots more to report that will have to wait until future columns: I acquired another horn and have some things to say about it. I was invited to conduct a trombone ensemble and overcame some self-doubt. I attended the world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s oratorio Saul and made a playing adjustment inspired by the horns of the Harrisburg Symphony.

Fellow amateurs, have you resumed lessons? Are they helping? How? Please write and share your stories; this column will be better for it. marty.schlenker@cavaliers.org

Your servant and kindred spirit,

Marty Schlenker, Amateur Hornist

by Layne Anspach

Hello musicians!

Johannes Matthias Sperger’s Cassation No. 3 will be the focus of this month’s Chamber Music Corner. Sperger (1750-1812), a double bassist and composer, was born in Feldsberg (now Valtice), Czechia in 1750. His earliest training was from an organist in Feldsberg, but he went on to study with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger in Vienna. Considered a leading double bass player of his day, Sperger was employed in a number of courts but worked longest at the court in Ludwigslust from 1789 until his death in 1812.

Sperger’s compositional output is extensive, including 45 symphonies, 18 double bass concerti, and many chamber works. His Cassation No. 3 is also cataloged as Divertimento in D Major, M.C II:21. The work is for horn, viola, and double bass, and it is closely related to the trio for flute, viola, and double bass, M.C II:20.

The work is in four movements. The first, Moderato, rotates the primary melody between each instrument in a typical classical style. There are sixteenth note runs that add flourishes to the movement as well. Andante poco adagio begins with a horn melody which is passed to the viola. The double bass assumes the melody in the middle section before the opening material returns once more to close the movement.

The third movement, Menuett and Trio, begins with the viola leading the melody, then passing it to the horn with the bass continually supporting. The roles in the first trio are reversed as the horn takes the lead first followed by the viola. After a return to the menuett, a second trio features the bass (no doubt showing off Sperger’s own skill). The final movement, Andante con variazioni and Allegro, starts with the melody in the horn before the viola takes over in the first variation. Not surprisingly, in the second variation the bass takes over the melodic presentation. The third variation sees the return of the theme, carried by the horn, supported by active triplets in the viola. The work ends with the Allegro in compound meter and is propelled by the viola and bass with the horn as the supportive participant.

The reference recording features hornist Ab Koster on the album Rarities for Double Bass (Christophorus, 2007).

2^e Congrès de l’Association des Cornistes de Suisse Romande

in English
auf Deutsch

par Christophe Sturzenegger

Le deuxième congrès de l'Association des cornistes de Suisse romande a eu lieu les 2 et 3 mars 2024. Un bel événement, dont on retrouve ici quelques éléments marquants! 150 étudiants, dont la moitié avaient moins de 16 ans, venus de trois pays (Suisse, France, Belgique) et de plus de 20 écoles de musique différentes. Émissions de télévision et de radio, conférences…. Le concerto de Reinhold Glière, interprété par Matias Piñeira et accompagné par l'Orchestre du Conservatoire de Genève (direction: Gabor Takacs), a été un triomphe. Les 150 cornistes inscrits ont également pu assister à des ateliers sur les cors de chasse, les cors des Alpes, la physiothérapie, des master classes pour petits et grands et la facture d'instruments. Les autres concerts ont également été très appréciés notamment celui des cornistes des orchestres de la région, tout comme deux créations des compositeurs genevois Alexandre Mastrangelo et Christophe Sturzenegger. Lors du concert final, il y avait près de 200 cornistes sur scène! Ce grand week-end autour du cor a été orchestré par toute une équipe, dont Pierre Burnet, professeur de cor au Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. Nous attendons avec impatience le 3ème Congrès en 2026! Restez à l'écoute www.acsr-cor.com.

Ein Waldhorn Lustig

by Caiti Beth McKinney

Hello everyone!

Sometimes finding biographical information about the composers I research is easy; in such cases, they will have Grove Dictionary entries, fleshed-out Wikipedia articles, or websites dedicated to their work. More often, data and historical records are scarce and near impossible to find beyond surface-level detail. Such is the case with this month’s featured composer, Annette LeSiege (1947-2012). In remembrances after the composer’s passing, colleagues and students from her positions at Wake Forest University and New Jersey City University alike described her as a warm and caring educator with a passion for pedagogy and composition. Her catalog of over 70 pieces encompasses a variety of genres, ranging from works for full orchestra to solo and chamber works, several of which feature the horn.

Much of LeSiege’s music, luckily, is fully published and available for purchase—which is not always the case with underrepresented composers. Among her works is a fantastic piece for solo horn entitled Shadow Dancer, a short but profound work featuring extensive muted and stopped passages. The piece feels like a conversation between the muted and open horn, growing increasingly emphatic without any sense of aggression. It ends with a held concert E-flat with instructions to fade “to nothing….” Perhaps the referenced dancer is returning to the shadows?

LeSiege also composed a piece for horn and piano called Airs and Dances, Burgundian Suite for horn and vibraphone, Hoops and Angles for horn and percussion, and other chamber pieces for slightly larger forces including brass quintet, woodwind quintet, and other mixed ensembles. At the time of this writing, none of these works has been recorded, despite the ready availability of sheet music. If Shadow Dancer is any indication, any player who takes the time to learn LeSiege’s unrecorded pieces will be well rewarded!

Recording Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jku10CZTt34 (Shadow Dancer starts at about 26:10 in this recording; the hornist is Horn on Record columnist Ian Zook.)

by Mike Harcrow

To articulate is to make distinct, more so or less so in music as the style and other aspects of a performing situation (acoustics, number of players, etc.) may require. A very basic articulation diagram for musical styles of the Classical and Romantic eras might look something like this:

How wind players accomplish these (and other) indicators is considered a function primarily of the tongue. If we think more thoroughly about what really happens as we articulate, however, we will discover at least five articulation activators: the tongue, the fingers, the rotors, the lips, and airflow.

THE TONGUE

A horn player’s tone is distinctive, in great part, because our bells face away from the audience and we have our hands placed in them for functional purposes (the subject of another discussion), including tone control and manipulation…not to mention playing nearly into our own concert attire and, possibly, into curtains! These factors contribute to some disadvantages in performance, most notably (in light of this discussion) to a loss in the clarity of tonguing.

Most horn players use a letter “T” as their articulation consonant—and occasionally a letter “D” if a more lyrical passage is made more beautiful by using the softer articulation. I was once, however, quite shocked and disappointed in listening back to a recording of myself in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in which all the repeated pitches in the famous solo were so unclear because of my choice to tongue softly that the measures [mm. 11, 15, 19, and 23] sounded like long tones rather than distinct rhythms!

Tonguing must not be mushy; neither ought it be harsh or explosive. The default concept for tonguing should be clarity.

THE FINGERS

Tonguing is quite often done while fingering different notes. If the tongue and fingers are not perfectly coordinated, the effect of articulating is that of popcorn popping. We must develop an ergonomically comfortable left-hand position that is relaxed—remembering that the hand is attached to the wrist and the wrist to the arm, in order to avoid any possibility of developing carpal tunnel syndrome or any other repeated stress injury—while maximizing our ability to move the fingers quickly in synchronization with the tongue. “Fly-away” fingers or fingers flattened onto the rotor levers are not efficient in their movement, so a grip which can hold an overripe tomato without rupturing it is most desirable. The fact that a majority of horn players have a dominant right hand, moreover, means that most of us have a bit more to overcome in developing the best facility in finger-tongue coordination. The easy solution is to practice single and multiple tonguing daily in conjunction with valve work (starting with scales).

THE ROTORS

Closely related to the fingers as articulators are the instrument’s rotors (or valves), since these are what the fingers operate. What really needs to be said here is that rotors must work well. Rotors must be well oiled so that they are quick (light oil) and quiet (more viscous oil). Linkages, mechanical or string, must be in excellent repair. Neoprene, rubber, or cork bumpers must be placed and trimmed so that the rotors open and close with the best possible internal alignment, and they should be neither too squishy nor too hard.

THE LIPS

Most of us will agree that every single pitch we play has a different and distinct “buzz.” The generation of sound by the aperture is how brass players create pitch; placement or positioning of the pitch in the buzzing aperture is how we accomplish note changes, with or without valves, and, to some extent, pitch control. I recall sitting in the front row in a small concert hall in Seoul, South Korea, to watch a very famous colleague conduct his own performance of a difficult modern horn concerto played from memory. In getting the chamber orchestra started, he completely mis-fingered much of the challenging opening passage yet still got every note right! That is the power of the buzz.

AIRFLOW

None of the first four articulators work their best without optimum airflow. Indeed, there is no buzz without it; but we must also use a copious amount of air for both power and nuance. Our entire torsos function as big air pumps. Additionally, as we read in chapter 2 of the well-known Yogi Science of Breath (made known to American brass players by Arnold Jacobs), “breath is life,” that is, oxygen makes every functioning part of our bodies work well. How much do we need the focus and concentration to multi-task as performers, the energy for the creation of sound and for stamina, and generosity of tone and beauty! We are generating little tornados in our horns every time we play well. Air is foundational to what we do; air gets us—as articulation masters—and the music going.

by John McGuire

Calling all horn players! Are you in the market for a new horn, mouthpiece, mute, accessories, or music to perform? Make IHS 56 in Fort Collins, Colorado, your summer destination to meet and network with exhibitors from all around the world. The exhibit hall will be open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. throughout the symposium (July 29-August 2), so you will have plenty of time to test out different horns and equipment, ask questions, talk with horn makers, and peruse solos and etude books. All exhibitors, performances, and lectures/presentations will be housed at Colorado State University’s beautiful University Center for the Arts facility, making it easy to visit the exhibits every day.

Also, a quick reminder: regular registration pricing for participants will expire on June 30. Make sure to head to our website, www.hornsonthehorizon.com, to register now and save some money that you can later put toward purchases from our amazing vendors. Start making those shopping lists!

If you have never had the opportunity to visit Fort Collins, Colorado, you are in for a treat. Between beautiful mountain views and easy access to hiking trails, being Colorado’s largest producer of craft beers, and strolling through the Old Town Historic District, there is something for everyone to enjoy. To learn more about Fort Collins you can visit visitftcollins.com. Don’t forget to add a visit to Andy Warhol’s signed Campbell’s Tomato Soup Can to your itinerary, conveniently on display right outside of the University Center for the Arts!

IHS 56 Exhibitors

IHS 56 would like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank this year’s symposium sponsors. Without your very generous support, events like this would not be possible.

If you are a vendor who would like to join our esteemed list of exhibitors and/or sponsors, it’s not too late. Email exhibits@hornsonthehorizon.com for more information.