In the past week four horns from the Charlottesville Municipal Band sat in with our community band for two rehearsals and two concerts. I continued to play 2nd horn and sat with 1 and 2 on my left and 3 and 4 on my right. It was even more fun than the last time this happened.
For one thing, having an idea of what to expect left me in a better position for more critical listening. Before when this happened, experiencing for the first time what being in a horn section sounds like had such a powerful effect, details got lost. I also had more opportunities for conversation and all four of the players were gracious and very informative in their responses, and were very good about letting me look closely at their instruments and mouthpieces.
My main takeaway was just how good they are. I was extremely knowledgeable about the music, having struggled for two months trying to play my part close to adequately. On their first read through they didn't make any real errors, but some of the bits I'd had trouble with weren't as smooth as the rest. What amazed me was how quickly they improved. We went through the program four times, and every time their playing was significantly improved and more musical. For them, the technique is there, it's just a question of mentally inhabiting what the score and the conductor want. Made me realize just how rudimentary my technique is.
What I enjoyed most was hearing them interpret all the expression and articulation markings in the music. Having grown up playing piano I don't fully appreciate what those marks can mean, especially on the horn. I kept having the thought that they were sculpting shapes in the sound of the music. So much of music making is the mental space you have of what's possible, and anything you can do to increase that is beneficial. I may not be able to be as expressive as they are, but hearing what they did shows me the way.
Something else that I kept noticing was a quality to the tone that I'd missed previously. I could hear 1 and 2 a lot better, and 1 had a new instrument and that might be part of it. Words are going to fail me here, but what I heard from time to time was that point midway between brassy and mellow, an amazing urgency within glorious tone. I had an involuntary emotional response to the "call" of the horn. I can't ever remember having such a visceral response to a musical tone quality.
They all had mouthpieces with nicely rounded rims - none approaching the thinness of the Farkas VDC. One player loaned me a Schilke 31, which is close to a 32, which I think I'm going to get one of. Big cup, large diameter opening, and comfortable rim.
It still amazes me how unsettled the horn is as a physical instrument. They all had different wraps and ways of draining condensation.
I've seen occasional mentions of a sort of stereotype for horn players - very nice people with a bit of eccentricity thrown in. These four players certainly have the being nice people aspect down - they drove something like a total of 200 miles without remuneration to play with a group far less accomplished than their band. They could not have been more helpful to me with my questions. As to the eccentricity, if that is the case, for me that's not a bug but a feature, being a somewhat biased observer on that issue.
Words are going to fail me here, but what I heard from time to time was that point midway between brassy and mellow, an amazing urgency within glorious tone. I had an involuntary emotional response to the "call" of the horn.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely description! That sounds very much like the kind of tone I was trying to achieve at the climax of the solo in Brahms 2 I mentioned a while ago.
As for "sculpting shapes in the sound of the music", I also agree entirely. It can be done on the piano to some extent, but it is harder since no matter how you strike the keys the sound always dies away. But with the horn, even during a single note the sound can grow and fade, the tone colour can change. You have all this expression available to you, if only you realise what can be done, master the instrument to the point where you can do it, and most importantly, decide how you are going to use it in interpreting and performing the music.
Jonathan - Wouldn't be as far along as I am without all the help you've given me via the great comments you've made here over the past year. Thanks very much.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing occurs to me. by the sounds of it, the Charlottesville horns are probably pretty good at sightreading. The effect of this is that even the first time through, they can read the notes and still have enough mental effort left over to look at some of the dynamics and expression marks.
ReplyDeleteEach additional time they play through, they have already got set into their minds what they worked out the last time, and so have the time and effort now available to notice something else.
You were doing exactly the same thing in the 2 months in which you were rehearsing before, but because your technique isn't as advanced, you don't learn it as quickly. As a result, what they are doing seems to you to be almost magic, but in fact it is just a difference in degree - they have spent more time becoming more accomplished.
So with music that is well within their "know how to do this" range, they can pick up the nuances very quickly.
The way to approach their standard is simple. More practice, more technique, and work at your sightreading. (It's simple - I didn't say it's easy!)
Playing in a section like that is fun! Especially if the horn parts include some juicy tunes!
Jonathan - Well said, particularly, "they can read the notes and still have enough mental effort left over to look at some of the dynamics and expression marks".
ReplyDeleteI have a glimmering of a notion that the way the brain is set up so as to maintain and coordinate various activities simultaneously when making music, there might be other examples of abilities of nature and/or nurture freeing up the mental space to go after deeper musicality.