Keeping it below the stave on the first Low Horn Hangout…Denise Tryon (4th Horn Philadelphia Orchestra) and David Griffin (4th Horn Chicago Symphony) discuss the low horn tricks of the trade with Sarah Willis in Berlin live on May 10th, 2013
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream, expect the occasional robot mishearing.
Hi horn hangout world it’s great to see you all again good afternoon from Berlin good evening from Tim in Melbourne and good morning Denise and Dave in the states hi you guys good morning it’s great to see you I’m sure you all know exactly who I’ve got here on the chat Denise trian forth horn Philadelphia and Dave
Griffin forth horn Chicago Symphony Orchestra it’s so fantastic to see you guys this morning it’s great to be here Denise how how what time is it nine o’clock nine o’clock and Dave uh it’s 8 in the morning here in Chicago it was supposed to be nice sunny day and uh the picture was look really great in my sun room but instead it’s a kind of cool rainy day here
H sorry about that um is 8 o’clock in the morning a painful time for you on a weekday no because uh kids get up for school um so I made my daughter’s lunch and helped her get out the door and all is well okay great um I think ladies first so I’m going to introduce the the horn hangout world to
Denise although most of them know her already Denise what have you done this morning uh this morning I I got up I ate breakfast and I warmed up so just in case we’re doing anything fun and exciting okay that’s cheating because I didn’t warm up I’ve had the morning off Dave did you warm up already well if you count five minutes of noodling on my horn warming up then that that counts that counts
Denise you’re in your studio in Philadelphia I am yeah I have this great room in my house that is dedicated just just to be my studio so I can teach and practice whenever I want you’ve got some quite special things in your studio that you showed me when we were doing a test the other week I do what happened to the
Strauss Memoir can you show me that so the uh the the thing thing on my wall is that what you’re asking also Al also I was the the the thing that sort of does this and it’s yes right so uh there was it’s a small story that goes along with this before I show it uh I teach
Peabody conservatory and I tend to when I go there I tend to teach very long hours so I was teaching a class at the very end it was about 11 hours of teaching that day so I was a little bit tired which usually means I’m a little bit silly and uh there was a little drawing on a chalkboard of h a little donkey or a little dog a horse something it was hard to tell and we were working on a particular excerpt and not what
I’m getting ready to reference but we were working on something and uh and I was saying that the the Rhythm and everything that we were working on should be you know similar to donkey hot and then I just happened to look over at this chalkboard and I said you know like donkey hot and the class went crazy for that so uh so then at the next horn party they got a pinata
I wasn’t able to go to the horn party they got a pinata that was a donkey and they named him donkey hot and uh as a souvenir after they uh got the goods out of the pinata they gave me its head I have I have donkey hot’s head in my studio so that’s to inspire your students you also have something hanging on the wall to inspire your students that you show so forgive as
I start to move the camera here okay I really believe I’m sorry it’s worth it yes so let’s see if I can do this well okay A coage a day keeps the stink oh come on keeps the stink away yes Dave are you a CO Rush uh practicer uh I I do a few of those udes it’s been a while since
I pulled them out but maybe I should stink you better keep that stink away yes Denise um Al has just written on the chat saying you ate bacon I love bacon and everyone who knows me knows that I love bacon so yes I ate bacon this morning okay and who is Al uh Al is uh a student of mine he knows that you eat bacon every morning yes yes absolutely
Denise you’re fourth horn in Philadelphia do you have a a a do you play second as well or are you are you literally is foror your official job or how does that work well foror is my official job uh but I am always available to play second if we need some rotation if somebody goes down Sick uh if somebody needs a week off so
I I play second a few times a year um but mostly I I play fourth okay Dave how about you how does that work in Chicago it sounds very similar to what Denise just just described um our second horn player loves to play everything so even though I might you know play occasional conero or Overture or mul
Sy he likes to be on stage and play rather than sitting backstage so um mostly I play fourth unless Jim has an entire week off but Dave I saw a photo last week of you playing second horn with the most amazing conductor oh yes your brother Alister he was fantastic yeah we had a great week with him uh for those you who don’t know
Sarah’s brother Alistair Willis is a a uh he’s music director of the Springfield uh Illinois Symphony and he’s one of our regular uh guest conductors with the Chicago Symphony and a super nice guy too I didn’t pay he has the same smile has the same smile oh oh no he was conducting there last week and I saw a picture of you of him on stage and you were playing second so that’s how
I knew that um you guys wouldn’t believe it the um the questions are coming in fast we we have people watching from Macedonia Las Vegas Mexico Russia Sweden um all over the states I mean it’s really quite quite incredible Dave where are you right now um I’m at my home uh in the back of the house we have a room called the sun room and if it were a nice bright sunny day like
I was hoping it’ be it would be great room for this uh uh video chat uh my studio is down the basement but the the wife connection is not so good there you guys are lucky to have studios in Berlin we all live in apartments and and and recently the the people either live on the fifth floor and my neighbors on the first floor said um
I’ve been living there for over for for years and years and years and I really didn’t think they could hear that far and my neighbors on the first floor said the other day oh we like that Blues piece you were practicing the other day and I was doing some bending exercises but uh I was horrified that they could hear me practice so we basically practiced here in the philon um listen should we get to some of these questions because
I mean the the question I’m sure you to have been asked more than any anything else and this is what I get always when I do masterclass people say to me um why did you become a low horn player and I I find this question I mean I I giggle when I hear that because did either of you plan to be become a lwh horn player
Denise did you plan no definitely not I was a high horn player for forever and uh and I had a good low range and I loved playing low uh but then the first job I won was fourth in Columbus and that’s that’s how it started and I just stayed from there youo right I I would uh caution anyone uh especially students trying to specialize in either low or high because you just don’t know uh where your job opportunities going to come up in in a symphony orchestra you’re like
CSO forth horn plays lots of high notes too uh with all the repertoire that we go through um so I I can’t say that I just you know that would be U neither say that Dave your CD certainly shows that you do not specialize in the low range I was looking everywhere at home I have it but in my chaos
I didn’t I was going to show it in the in the camera and say that everyone has to go out and buy it because it really is great we can’t we can’t specialize in the low range can we we have to have those high notes yeah it’s true to be a professional musician you have to be able to play all over a high horn player you have to be able to play low so you need to be able to do everything how does it work in the states how do you have students specializing in this um do you teach um
Dave do you have students that just specialize in lwh Horn from a young age or or do you encourage them to be able to do everything until the first job comes up right some of them get to college and they think well there’s no way I’ll ever uh be a high horn players I’m going to do is low and
I uh really advise against that so I would try to steer them towards repir that would uh really Peak their interest and just give them a chance to play more high it’s really a matter of either having the opportunity or finding the opportunity to play uh some different things outside of your comfort zone that will um you know help build you more completely yeah yeah no
Denise add in there I mean I feel like a little bit like a talk show host today um because this is the first time you guys that we’ve had two guests and two different places I mean it’s really very exciting to be able to do this it’s just a little bit difficult to manage with Google hangout because if we all speak once then all you’ll see is hey try it you guys let all just talk at once and see what
Google picture okay I have no idea what that caused but that’s what will happen so behave ourselves and be at least we’ll behave ourselves for a while um so did you then start changing everything around was it something you could do right from the beginning it was something I in the beginning uh and I’ve always had a good low register uh which is great um sometimes in college when
I wanted to be playing a little bit more first I was kicking myself that I had a good range because I wanted to be doing more than just playing some low Parts but eventually that that around uh so when uh when I got the job Columbus I just kept doing what I had been doing and maybe did a little bit more practicing but not by much
I um I second horn in the in the schotel burn I hadn’t planned on planned on being a low horn either uh although I’m very very proud to be one now and I even wore my low horn earrings for see that nice yeah they’re low because they’re facing around the wrong way that’s whys um but when I got the the the job
I officially got here when I joined was foror now we have a rotation system which is great because it you know Keeps Us fit um easier it’s better than practicing playing moart symphony is better than practicing so that’s how we stay fit um but to the fourth horn audition to win that audition I really went into lwh horn bodybuild training like literally playing a lot of loud stuff in the low range a lot of um a lot of blast and then doing a lot of really quiet slows but everything like really low a lot of tuuba exercises and
Studies tuas have some great studies out there um Dave when what was your first job uh my first job was second horn in the Rochester New York fermic okay so we all um yeah we all started off actually on a lower position and to win the job in Chicago did you have to Did you sort of turn it down you not after after
Rochester I had two first Tor job associate principal Montreal and Associate principal do apologize I did Google you I did read that so it was a little bit of a trick preparing uh the lwh Horn uh things up to real but um I just find having a good low range is just part of being a complete horn player can’t turn one off and and uh all of a sudden have you know a better opposite range it’s it’s but you came you came from leading a section to being the fundament of the section so did you do people want people are asking they want to know
Um what sort of exercises did we do that okay I do exercises and drills I think they’re important and they’re helpful but I think it’s way more important to find some really compelling music that you’re interested in I love the Bach Cello Suites um low range book uh just just finding beautiful Melody and playing them down register so if
I I really believe if you have a a song in your head then this your Ure will figure out how to achieve that so yes I do exercises and drills and they’re helpful but they get tedious after a while I’d rather spend time uh playing some beautiful Melodies down the low range you know what happened recently I was at my my best flute player and
I was visiting her and her daughter and I didn’t bring any music with me asked her if she had any flute books and I thought I’d transpose them so she gave me a beginner’s book for flute players and they were all Opera Melodies and I just thought that’s the flute players and horn players for beginners the flute players start with
Opera Melodies and start with you know so if we all played more Melodies at the beginning I think it might might do exactly what you say Dave it might get us away from all this put your left tooth here put your wisdom tooth there and this lip down it might get us away from that because if you’re playing the melody and you’re playing it beautifully is working right as well amen well we can go we can all go off and have coffee enough that’s all there is listen we’ve had some interesting things on the chat
Paul has said dear all um I’m curious and what your careers has allowed you to focus on L answer that um but I wanted to read you this thing because he’s just one second horn with the Illinois ballair yay Paul that’s great that’s great and Dean Foley and I studied with in London he’s asked a great question he wants to know
I’ll let you guys answer this he wants some tips on playing Fast and Loud in the low range Denise oh you me on that one because you have the best hair yeah well you know uh I had to get up extra early to work on that uh say that how long does that take uh it depends how tired
I am this morning it took me a little bit longer but you know really only about five to 10 minutes not long cool Dave I mean yeah yeah I won’t ask you how long it you took you this morning back back to lohorn yeah so loud uh loud are we talking articulation or slurs or so fast and loud in the low range let me see what does he say uh oh
I’ve lost him he’s gone there’s much so many messages um what did he say uh Fast and Loud in the extreme register I think he means just generally so um yeah both yeah well I think starting off with some loud long tones just so you can start to feel how the air works and how it be supported and then
I would just start with some nice chromatic work go and then again feeling how the air works and then add the tongue into that if it’s a tonging path uh but I I think the the more you focus on how you’re using your air the better everything will be in the end yeah any tips of any more anything else to add to that
Dave uh practice opposites too if if you have a articulated passage in the low range do it all Legato and maybe transpose it down a step or uh you know a couple steps uh so that when you go back to the original key uh it will feel relatively easy uh I I just think it can set in very quickly if you do the same thing over and over again so find ways to uh practice the same passage just a little bit differently um that’s really helpful for me yeah
Paulo has just joined the chat Paulo Munos Toledo Ola paito he’s in Switzerland um and I asked him to join the chat because he’s answering the questions in Spanish so thank you very much Fergus is on the chat as well so good morning to Fergus I tell you this is great there’s everyone out there um hi Fergus thank you for everything you’re answering um olle from
England has asked how do we keep up our heart changes and that that’s a good question it’s a bit for me it’s a little bit of a of a struggle to have um to keep practicing I play in the Berlin field brass Ensemble and you know what that’s like I’m the only horn in a 12 priest bass
Ensemble the guys say I’m only there for decoration because no one hear me anyway um but uh thanks guys um but to it’s coming up it means really like hours of of highh horn practice of doing there there’s no getting around it but I get bored doing that so I the Brand number can share to slowly and quite loudly and that’s a bit more fun than doing exercises um but for me it’s it’s that you have to spend a lot of time doing that sadly
Denise yeah I I make sure that I practice uh because if I don’t practice High every day I as much of it obviously in my job as I do in the low register so I need to practice that every day so I just be sure that I do some a2s or something up in that register um loud and soft because everyone has something that they’re better at so if
Forte is playing Forte then play some soft stuff so that you’re covering basis of your horn playing every day yeah AB I absolutely agree with that practice you can’t do because great for the for the for the self-confidence every day we should play something we can play but what’s the point in practicing the same thing every day if if you can do it you know and if horn concert coming up then you know there’s no way around it
Dave how do you cope with that just find things that are are fun and interesting to play like pick out a few of the really soft passages of the Brams horn Trio and the third movement and play those over and over again uh all the Mozart can charity have some great uh scales that go up into the uh do those several times and maybe transpose them too um you know
Peak your your musical mind and uh it will help your your ambusher develop Dave um I’m I’m not quite sure how to pronounce his name sorry tranos tros know your name you’re on the horn Hangouts a lot but I’m not quite sure how to pronounce it but he ask you Dave what kind of horn do you play on uh
I have Steve Lewis horn made here in Chicago and the belf flare is an Alexander belf Flare from a a des Alexander desk can I have at home one day I just tried the Alexander belf flare on my Lewis and I liked it even better Denise what kind of horn do you play we’re getting really nerdy here
I love it yeah I I play a Ral I have two rals I’ve had one for about 15 years and the other one for close to 10 uh and I am so not an equipment geek I don’t try anything out if I find something I like with it that comes to my next question Kendall gray also a huge horn hangout um supporter hi
Kendall he said I think he’s in Chicago right yes so he’s just down the road for you Dave um how if at all did your equipment change when your job became a lwh horn emphasis I can agree with Denise I’m the same I’m so absolutely not a mouth geek at all in that respect in the in the respect that
I love horn and I love lwh horn but um as it comes equipment I’ve been playing on piece for I think over 20 years um uh and didn’t even change it when I change down to lwh Horn it’s Fergus McWilliam 1 with a Paxman for if it works don’t change it um did you have to change anything
Denise when you started emphasizing uh I’ve only played in in my lifetime I’ve only played three mouthpieces and when I got the job in Columbus playing a Holton farcus medium cup just about as down the middle of the road as you can get and uh through my time in Columbus I started uh the principal horn was working on uh the prototype for his mouthpiece and so he would have me try those out and
I really fell in love with it so that’s what I play now I’ll get it now for a second he mouthpie yeah so I have this is a jean Stanley Lo that comes from Hower and it’s got a black rim I think everyone can see that uh and the mouthpiece itself is made out of stainless steel so for anyone who has allergy is you know if you have really severe
I don’t I just like the feel of it so the rim is a Julie L um 1875 and then I play with a weight yeah thing I’m so I so so know nothing you guys Fergus is on the chat so if you have any specific piece questions ask Fergus because he’s designed a great range ask Fergus on the chat but can you just tell me what that is there this this weight uh goes on the the shank of the mouthpiece and
Dan Dan Ral made it for me so it goes goes on the shank of the mouthpiece and it sort of helps for me solidify articulation sort of deaden some of the higher pitches that I was getting on the horn on the mouthpiece and I mean I mean overtones so for me it really made my sound nice and
Rich for some people it makes their sound too dead but for me it also just really solidifies articulation so I love it Dave she’s saying she’s not a mouthpiece I swear I’m not iar right you’ve got a heavy weight you’ve got a black rim you’ve got this and that you had something built for you yeah right yeah but look how cool it is look how cool
I so the black doesn’t come from eating too much bacon in the mornings I swear it do okay all right Dave your turn to be a mouthpiece nerd uh I changed to a Scott lasy 725g uh shortly after I joined the orchestra and it’s really the first piece that I played that the it actually is it feels great there’s such a nice cushion to the show it to us yeah on you guys
I’ve got to take a screenshot of this everyone show me their mouthpieces great thank you so that’s tell reason why I changed felt like the Legato was even better uh the slurs more voluptuous um sounding and at the same time it really it almost feels like your lips are getting massage because of the way the the rim
I just love it um now in terms of equipment no one asked me to change equipments I already had a horn when I joined the Symphony but one uh kind of funny story is after I joined the orchestra Dale as he was coming on stage would kind of sneak up behind me and he would take my hand and just open it just so that’s kind of an equipment change okay that’s something that’s something to is this hand position but um
I just that that’s exactly what Ken Pope is watching you guys know Ken um Ken Pope hi nice to see you um and he said did any of changes when we started our jobs the big jobs I didn’t I had to I but I had to open but if you can count the hand as equipment I stayed on the same mouthpiece and the same horn um and
Dave you said to open your hand a little bit any other equipment changes that went on no no no okay Denise uh yeah it’s interesting um in Philadelphia we play quite a mix of horns and tradition Al 15 20 years ago they all played con con ads uh and that has slowly been change changing as different people come in our principal horn she she plays a con and a
Ral so she fourth uh our second horn only plays a con and and we have other people who have horns and will bring certain instruments in to get a different sound not been asked to change um and I only I only play my Ral uh they do it’s it’s a slightly darker sound here than what I typically play so um when
I’m playing by myself be that Beethoven 9 or a recital or something like that I play with a quite an open hand but then in the orchestra I have to play with a slightly more covered hand okay um Celia from Melbourne hi Celia I know her I she got something here Celia to show everyone that you g that you gave me show you guys in a minute said could you repeat
Dave’s mouthpiece type now I’m I paid so much attention that I forgot what it was Dave Scott lasy L A ke y 725g story about that is Scott kind of came out with this new mouthpiece and he took me you know that g stands for Griffin and then I also heard that he talked with our uh associate principal horn player
Dan gri and he said well you know that 725g the stands for gri [Music] very funny but listen I want to show you what s Celia is an amateur horn player in Melbourne who I met last time I was there you guys know this as well as I do lwh horn used to be the thing that the high the people who couldn’t get the high notes had to lwh
Horn never had really any culture and that’s why I adore you to so much because you know you’re out there making it into a true a true culture and Celia made me this oh because it was very cold in in Melbourne when I was there s sir I bet you’d look good in that thank you it’s water bottle cover thank you where where was
I supposed to wear it on my head let’s not maybe your iPad could fit in it that’s actually that’s I’d get it’d get more used um I just want to talk about the hand okay hand position and everyone who’s watching who’s not horn play I but this is really what we do we love to talk about this sort of stuff um the hand position is a really important thing for me because uh when when
I started playing horn in Germany um the Germans play much open anyway play like that because it hurts my thumb but he was the first person I heard on lwh use it use the hand as much as possible um to the lower you go but you guys are Americans and um I was just wondering whether you the same sort of hand technique or because you play on your leg a lot of the time players play more not muffled but darker over there
Denise uh well it depends on where in the country you are there are some areas of the country that play exclus on the leg and with a much more covered sound and there are areas of never play on the leg and play with a very open Sound uh I personally don’t like to play on the leg uh mostly because
I find it it stops me being able to facilitate horn I need to do a little bit of pivoting as I move through the registers but I like an open hand position uh and in fact since we’re doing yeah I’ll take my candy out of my bell I’m glad what was that what was it it was my shammy all right okay so
I like to play with my thumb actually on top of my finger it’s hard to so it’s yeah can I just interrupt you just for one second Gail Williams is watching hi Gail hi Gail and she just said that that that that position we get back morning G thanks I put my thumb yeah sort of yeah and then
I like Dr yeah so it’s quite pointed yeah like that so all the way on the side but quite open that’s hard to see and sometimes I actually play with my hand straight the middle of the horn okay so that there sound coming out on either side like especially if we’re playing selia six and seven with your boss right now with
Simon I know my love yes and he sends his love right back uh so and there are a ton of pedal G’s in that so I’m playing right down the middle of the bell for that so that I’m getting a little bit more sound yeah so Dave Dale your hands secretly and um how do you guys do that there
I think very Sim to what Denise has described uh sometimes an extreme low register really open up uh quite a bit but it’s it’s a rare like maybe those low pedal concert A’s in the shastovich fifth they seem to a little bit more uh when my hand is really open the problem with uh you know ination can suffer if if your hand is totally pulled out so instead of just pulling out pretty far in and then just you know open the door as far as possible so
I think it’s really important I think the hand is a much neglected piece of equip depending on what’s going on next to you and uh at least I think you do and on the pieces you’re playing horn players um I think it’s really something that everyone can experiment with um deal sound I’m not saying that one hand position is right and the other one is wrong of course not we’re not saying that but that’s why we have three different people here with all three different um experiences but um you know everyone experiment with what what they like best or what their horn section like best
Um Gail has actually written a question that leads me on to my next question um Gail asked if we have any favorite solo works for lowhorn apart from the bagatella now Fergus immediately wrote I hate the bagatella and pauloa although I’ve heard him played a million times Dave do you have any favorite solo Works uh for lwh horn it’s a tough one there’s not a lot out there yeah let me think about that okay you can think about that because
Denise is now going to tell us about her project yes uh so I’m in the middle of a project of commissioning uh who works for lwh horn right now I’ve got yay mostly with piano although I am in talks with someone and since it’s um finalized I can’t really say who it is but I am in talks with someone about an unaccompanied piece for lwh horn but right now
I’ve already had one piece written for me that I’ll be summer at a couple of uh events that I’ll be at by uh Brett Miller and it’s a piece for horn and piano it’s about six minutes long and uh I’ve got coming in one by Andrea Clearfield which will be about a 10-minute long piece and another by
Pock who is a member of the Quadra horn quartet so I’m also looking you know I’m in talks with other people I’m hoping for five to seven New pieces over the next two to three years so that’s fantastic because the boredom does set in if the only thing you have is the no a a low horn coner by
Rosetti well I didn’t find it and sent it to me and when we did the double horn coner CDs with valindor um I got the lwh horn kerto on one of those I didn’t even know it existed and I tell you something it’s not something I want to play in public it’s really hideously difficult um I’ve got um a lwh horn piece coming out
Richard Bissell has written me a piece and sent it and I said oh Richard you know we got to make it a little bit more more you know more exciting and more impressive and he said the second version and I am really struggling with it every time I corn room all they’re hear hearing is lwh horn acrobatics um so
I’m hoping that um Dave any thoughts well in in recitals I’ve done let’s say three movements Bello Suite one doesn’t have to play the whole entire Suite uh you know or three movements of it you you’ll certainly have a lot of Great lwh Horn moments and um know they they work very nice in the middle of a recital too it’s the sort of thing where it’s length uh it doesn’t really fatigue you in terms of your overall end th this is before
I ask you about the recitals bob l l La La from Pittsburgh says hey Dave and Denise he’s watching I asked him if he got up early in the morning he should join in so it’s great or hear you thanks for joining us um so uh this recital thing you two both stand up there and do recital if you’re playing
I find if I’m only playing lwh horn only playing Lorn in quotation marks um you sort of forget to that much because you’re concentrating on the person next to you which means whenever you have a solo um like one note one note can be harder for me than the end of hen Laban on first horn because the whole evening listen to your sound and be getting used to playing solo and then you have one note like the
Baro Symphony F fantastic ah Dave like your your your section Global horn greeting long notes was so cool but don’t you find that these these Orchestra can be totally stressful because we don’t have too much to play beforehand yeah it’s someone once described it as uh having one very precious egg in your basket and whatever you do don’t drop that egg it’s hard when when you’re fourth horn you have one solo every three months so uh you tend to
I love that analy I love it got a solo coming up and then as you get closer and closer to it like here’s my one solo and so it it we tend to blow it way out at uh importance uh what I lately uh generally we get four weeks off in the end of August and September and
I’ll do a recital in the middle of September it keeps me practicing when I’ve started the season I’m starting on a high note um you know I’m in shape and then I can do it but Dave that’s amazing doesn’t it terrify the pants off uh I actually look forward to it it’s it’s fun for me that’s amazing that’s just
I have to say though the one hour before the recital I’m why am I doing this but then when things get going it’s okay how about you you do a lot of recitals too I do uh I I took about years off of doing recital so after I got my uh undergraduate degree I was like thank thank goodness
I don’t have to do any more recitals and then as time went along I okay wait a minute I’m getting too not used to hearing my own sound you know it’s like when you then you get that one note and you’re like wait that’s what I really sound like over the orchestra so maybe I should do something to try and get out of this cycle so
I gave yeah my first recital in 15 years about five years ago and I tried to give uh two or three sometimes they’re half recital sometimes they’re full recital throughout the year and uh it’s yeah about the hour may maybe two hours before I’m why why did I choose to do this what am I doing why did
I pick that piece but it’s I I always find that I’m a much better player afterwards than I was before so that’s why I continue to do it total all of you both because I haven’t done a recital in years because basically I’m terrified of doing them but uh as you said said the other day Denise I could start doing them in a nursing home or some somewhere to just sort of build it back up again it’s not that that um
I don’t believe I can play the Hornets that I’m scared of getting back up there and playing alone with pi reminds me of my traumatic student days you know um all those terrible out there and play in front of all your peers and a horrible SAR Sarah you do horn ensemble and Berlin brass Ensemble so you’re out there doing a tough uh outside playing from orchestra that kind of achieves the same purpose that’s true that’s why
I do the brass Ensemble because there are lots of solos in that you do have to have a you know good chops for it but I’m still totally impressed with you two at doing this piano and Horn thing because that’s something that I can I Dave uh Gail wanted to know in the bar do you use horn pitch
Bas Cliff or concert uh I use the Wendel hos version just because I had I’ve had that a long time and I think it’s it’s uh very well for the range of the horn um I I don’t really necessary to do it in the original key uh first of all pitch the pitch Center was much different in box time and um you know
I just think one should find a key an arrangement that’s most flattering to the horn and I think that’s a in the wend hos Edition for at least for me that’s why I stick to it yeah me too Denise I complely agree I I I play out of the wend hos book and um I believe it’s much more hornis it just suits us a lot better it still shows off a fantastic low range and you can be and beautiful in that range and uh it’s actually become quite popular to ask for the boach in its original key for here and
I I I sort of struggle as to why why that’s being asked that way I why not in the Wendel hos key I just feel like it shows people off in such a better light yeah okay Denise what are your favorite lwh horn exercises well I have one that uh I do every day that I based off of just the last three notes until so um but
I start up I start up of fifth so I start on a horn G and uh I do this is going to be hard to describe but I so I do the G D and G I could play has anyone played on one of these yet uh no it might I don’t know what the sound be like it might distort horribly um anyway because
I play it loud yeah I I practice loud I played a few low tones for Tim um before we started and he was like thanks Tim was late it is late at night in Sydney and he’s all alone with his beer in the in his office so well you think the beer would make it sound better you probably might think it’s by now so anyway anyway so
I do I’ll do a g a d and then an G and hold that out and then I will and that’s all loud articulated sort of held notes and then I’ll do um a broken arpeggio coming up all slurred GB g d g g g and then I’ll reverse it and then uh and then I just go down chromatically absolutely as low as
I can go so that I’m down into the fundamental range uh and I’m just trying to play it as loud as I can that’s my favorite exercise for low how low can you go how low can you go I I can hit the on I I can say probably 10 times in my life so far I’m hoping that that number goes up
I’ve hit the very lowest note the low FP uh I can on a daily basis get the G right above that but usually the f is just fumes Which F Which F shop you mean you mean r f sh G you got to play this now you can turn away from the microphone Simon Simon in the UK is playing saying please play
Denise please play hold on I’ve got some Plumbing issues [Music] here yes is that distorting you guys tell us if it’s distorting and we’ll shut up it’s not to me it was very quiet [Music] but of course I’ve been sitting for however long but yeah so that was the a it was probably just fumes over there but and then
I can get the F below that but again only 10 times in my life so I can’t get that Dave can you get that no no terms like what exercises I do every day I would just I I’ll tell people I’m a Shameless copycat if I hear something that I like I steal it like one time I heard uh
I heard ignatio Garcia doing a Great lwh Horn uh uh warmup and he’s a fantastic High horn player but he works on his low range too and I heard what he was doing he studied with Norbert hman and Norbert hman made him play fhorn all the time oh okay so my point is if you hear something that other people are doing that seems like it might help you go ahead steal it yeah yeah um
Denise would did you would you like to play us yours it wasn’t aor I thought it sounded great okay well that was so I’ll just play it at a a Meto dynamic because that was pretty Meto yeah so yeah my favorite exercise is um is that distorting no no not just normal low horn Distortion and then I would go on to
FP and F and E and I would that that whole thing takes me you know five six seven minutes to I’m going to do that one Dave I like that should we copy it definitely and you sound very warmed up that’s really not fair um uh someone called uh BL bloa sorry if I’ve said it wrong um
I’ve seen your name a lot but I don’t I can’t really vas vasilki I do apologize if this wrong but they want us to play our Orest favorite orchestral solo um mine would be this that’s I took that from from Jim that was Baro Symphony fasti end of the slow movement um that’s quite a nasty solo though isn’t it um yeah do you have any favorites
Denise you don’t have to play it don’t worry favorite solo boy uh or most hated solo most hated solo is also my my least favorite uh the solo that actively displeases me uh would be uh Don Juan that’s a real bummer that one that that little thing is so twiddly yeah and we almost always take it on tour always it’s getting up there isn’t it yeah
I don’t know why Dave any tips for that one uh just make sure you’re switching between the F side and the B flat side as much as possible yeah yeah it really helps Gail’s just asked if you still use Norms EX sizes Dave yeah I would say I do maybe not every day but uh they’re they’re in the rotation yes what what are they uh trying to make play something here but you’re not biting just harmonic slurs uh you know up and down the range of the horn and uh just just great uh slurs into the low range yeah it’s just
I’ll make you play your favorite High horn ex exercise if you don’t play as your favorite lo I would rather tell you my my least favorite fourth horn moment is yes tell me Elgar Enigma Variations first variation at the end of it there’s just a little line for the fourth horn and it seems like I need three different amatures to play how does that go again
I should know that I I a low a and then it moves to a b and then a CP and then you end on a d that could yeah yeah and that goes through your breaks yeah okay how do you I find that if I don’t practice for a few days my my very high notes are okay my very low notes are okay but it’s the middle range that just and all the break the around the brakes now
I don’t think it’s bad to have movement I don’t think it’s bad to have many breaks I don’t really like this the you know huge break on one note uh you know or just between between two notes I mean you know what I mean yeah I sort of what I mean um a huge move movement between one and then the next note
I think it’s better to sort of iron it out a little bit that’s just my opinion but that’s what goes first so that’s what I have to work on the most um every day I make sure I do these middle range exercises but I I know exactly the one you mean Dave that that’s that’s a really nasty little bitty thing do you uh
Denise and Sarah find that practicing hand stopping is good for the middle register absolutely AB I love working on stopped horn down into uh into the what you would start to call possibly the low register because if you can get the good air to get that to actually speak solidly then you’re doing something right yeah absolutely it saves time also when you’re practicing because there’s more there’s more um you know more it’s harder work to play stop and you know in the farcus warmup he uh not in the warmup it’s somewhere bit later he has a a good exercise for for um for that break
Area it sounds very simple but I do it hand stop it’s probably going to sound hideous here but it’s just like it goes on like that and lower because when you get to when you get down to there um you have to play I didn’t play it too loud now it’ll dist store but if you practice that really loud it’s going to wobble like heck but uh it really does give you a lot of strength playing hand stopped in the middle and low range yeah and then you can play the chai chaikovsky [Music] then that’s no problem we do make some rude noises um how
Would you say um Pierre says lwh horns are very hard to hear in the audience in his opinion too quiet and bassoon like in most cases so how would you um combat that Denise if you had a a low horn solo well I wanted to bring this up when we were talking about hand position I I I think it’s been a common practice or maybe not practice it’s just what’s happened that lwh horns tend to hide a little bit and and
I actually want to I’m very proud to be a lwh horn player and I want people to hear me and I uh so the ear hears the high register a lot easier than it does the low register so a lot of times if I’m playing octaves with someone I actually will play a slightly higher Dynamic than what they’re playing so that it sounds equal out in the audience and
I think the clearer we can make our sound and instead of being muffled that also helps so that it sounds equal because just by Nature it’s going to sound more muffled down in that register so I personally bump up a lot of the Dynamics and I try to keep my hand as open as possible so I can be clear yeah
I agree Dave I really can’t add anything to that uh you I just try to judge everything on a case-by Case basis uh how important is your line relative to the horn section relative to the orchestra and also what the Acoustics are like uh one time we were playing a concert in Tokyo and uh because where the horns were sitting the horns were just covering the whole
Orchestra and we we we had to play Everything I’d say between piano and metso Forte and people said it was still very loud yeah yeah no that that really is Miguel has just asked Miguel horn he’s asked this question a couple of times so I I must ask it he said what’s the most expected thing that a lwh horn player has to do to impress a jewelry at least
I think that’s what you meant um for people who are auditioning what what would you want to hear from a lwh horn player in an audition Dave uh beautiful melodic lines in in the low range and a good criteria is does it sound easy yeah and you you don’t want it to look too difficult too either do you know there’s not so if it’s basically if it’s sounding good it’s usually looking good but
I get a little bit worried when I see incal um a bit of movement is fine but uh the this sort of I don’t know Denise maybe this is a different a different aspect because you do like this remember we we compared we compared fish faces when we had the yeah that’s the one look at that yeah you look like what what would you call them from
The Muppet Show yeah Beaker from The Muppet yeah or a good sturgeon whatever you want to call it uh see and and I agree with you that it would be nice to As you move through your break range to be nice and smooth and steady and just nice gradual change uh if I had six months of no
Orchestra and I could iron that out in my own playing that would be great but I have a severe break you know severe shift and I can play a lot of notes on my low and or my high in my break range but I need to be in one or the other so for me I find that uh to play in the low
I have to have my jaw jutted out I have to have really good contact here and I have to be somewhat uh and everybody’s a little bit different but have somewhat of that Beaker sad face action yeah um we’ve got so many questions coming in and we we haven’t got too much too much longer because poor Tim in
Melbourne it’s midnight there I’m gonna come ask him to come in and say hello in a minute um but it’s midnight so we can’t go on all night although it’s fabulous I could talk to you guys for hours so I’m just gonna shoot a few more questions at you that are coming in Fast and Furious um before a question um
Dave Mike lellan is watching and says thinking of the great times that you two had in Civic Orchestra of Chicago so that can come in I’m going to send you copies of the chat afterwards so you can see all the great stuff people are writing out there olle in the UK has asked another question when you’re playing low and very loud how do you keep the notes sound round and not too brassy
Dave uh a lot of air support there and sort of sometimes in the orcher you can forget how you sound because there’s so much noise uh going on around you you have to have a memory kind of like a feel a a sensation of where that line is that you shouldn’t cross and uh and then know where that is and you can just stop right before you get there because a certain amount of brassiness in the low range
I think is a good thing um you know you do but there there is a very very fine line between and there a very fine line how often have we heard that I might have played that a couple of times I don’t know no no no no no um Denise a quick question for you Kendall has asked and this is a question
I wanted to touch on but we got to keep it short sadly but he wanted um to you to tell us quickly about your audition school yes uh so I have a a seminar that I run every summer it’s a week-long seminar with my former colleague col Carl Pitto who’s principal in Detroit and it’s all about uh how to take orchestral auditions for horns so we a high horn list a low horn list we do mock auditions at the end we do master classes all week long and uh we also work on keros and performance anxiety all of those things so
I’m trying to keep it short but yeah it’s it happens usually every July uh this year it’s happening in Baltimore at Peabody so yeah it’s a great place can people uh sign up online for it or how does that work yes yeah so the camp is called audition mode and the website is audition mode and there’s an application there that you can fill out and send in online okay
I think that would be another good uh chat to have on a hangout sometime with you guys because um auditions are very different in different countries and um I was talking to Fergus about this the other day and we agreed that we think that here in Germany anyway especially for our Orchestra because um there’s no screen or anything it’s more like an interview here and in the states behind the screen it gets to be more of a competition for
Perfection because you can’t see what you’re getting um and it’s just the sort of preparing maybe for these different things I don’t know Dave what’s your how does how do you do it in your Orchestra well anyone who wants to come and audition Kim we don’t look at a resume and tell somebody they’re not qualified uh but it’s not uncommon for a player to be dismissed after two or three minutes most people get closer to five or seven minutes for the preliminary round uh and that’s that’s the closest we can do to being uh making it perfectly fair and it will never be perfectly fair
But we call it equally unfair to everybody okay three last questions first one I will uh ask both of you quickly Hazel Dean Davis has asked if any of us have had problems with a stutter or hesitation when starting low notes Freud has talked about how she dealt with it in the upper register on one of the
Hangouts um any thought in a hesitation problem in the low register for example starting variation eight in Donkey hotti that fits everything fits today donkey hotti because you’ve got donkey hotti in your studio Denise you can answer that one okay so donkey H says uh yeah for a hesitation tongue I like to I like to do a lot of air attacks and be sure that the
Air Attack isn’t coming out as a pop that it’s just starting naturally and if you can then get really used to what it’s like to take in the air and put it right back out and then just add an articulation to that same air stream so that the air is following the tongue instead of the tongue getting up to the teeth too early and that being in control so
I always like to have the air be in control for me yeah no absolutely um now someone asked down here uh any tips yeah Lisa in Jackson Mississippi asked if any of us have any tips or tricks for playing the horn stopped in the low register my special trick is to think of not only stopping the hand here but also pushing a little bit with your left arm it’s good for your for your arm muscles and having the feeling of literally pushing the horn squeezing it together like not just stopping but going like that and
I find that secures the especially in the low range that gives you just a more compact sound Dave any tips on that um I think you have to over articulate too you’re your normal articulations probably won’t be enough so at least for practicing practice uh in the low-range stop with almost like a sportando articulation on everything and then you can once you once you can do that you can round it out a little bit for whatever application a quick question for you um totally no l lwh horn
Luke zyla ask how many do you expect to audition for the principal horn in CSO uh we have uh five days set aside in July for that and probably they’ll hear uh 30 people every day so maybe I say 150 or 200 amaz because we have a principal horn audition going uh coming in June and and we’re very strict we’re inviting maybe
I don’t know maybe uh at the most 20 people um so that you are very kind um but we we have the auditions between rehearsals or in the morning of a concert or something so so wow you guys looking for anyone Denise uh no we’re all we’re all full in the in the section but we did just have second trumpet auditions and and uh we heard 85 prelims and then had invited a number of people to the semis so uh but
I I believe we had something like 300 resumés come in yeah wow wow that’s that’s really impressive it’s you know you guys it’s a really tough world out there as horn players and we just you just never know what’s going to hit you whether lwh Horn’s going to come in low horn job or a high horn job so if you’re studying the best advice we can give you is practice it all you know really practice it all and then see where the jobs are and once you get a job then then maybe start to specialize but don’t you don’t you guys think really completely agree
And the for me the best principal horn are the ones that have great low registers as well well Dave you were a principal horn so yeah oh gosh there’s so many it’s always the same at the end everyone’s very polite at the beginning and then the questions come flooding in the minute I say we’re going to finish soon we have so many questions what do you guys think maybe we should just come back and do another one um very soon because
I really don’t think we can get all of these now Tim has to get to bed you guys have got to get to your rehearsals I have a concert tonight um there’s so much so much stuff um yeah and James P just asked a quick one quick one what do you do to get the really stuffy notes between low
C and G I’d say get your hand out of the Bell um and then they’re not stuffy that would be my quick uh quick thing um what are your different approaches to particularly role of the second and fourth horn player always adjusting to the higher horns and can you teach that skill what do you think Dave uh you can learn that skill it’s mostly listening and it has a lot to do with your use of
Dynamics too the people at the end of the section will make the section sound better if they’re playing just a little less loud than one two and three except in octaves I agree with jise the octaves I really if we have a solo octave like in in the Mozart Symphonies or or whatever the bottom octave needs to be a bit more what do you think
Denise can you learn that that skill absolutely absolutely I think it’s it’s uh playing a lot of Duets you know if you’re in school Play Duets and switch parts and uh try to see what those different roles feel like yeah no absolutely at this point you guys I’m really sorry we haven’t got to all the questions but
I am definitely going to do another lwh horn hangout because I just adore it um yeah Dave I can see what you’re up to KN um we might just yeah not yet don’t give anything away let’s ask Tim to join us here Tim are you still there or are you asleep in Melbourne where are you there you are
Tim can I I can’t ah there you are hey everybody for those of you who haven’t met Tim this is my absolutely wonderful Web Master who is actually responsible for setting all this up Tim in Melbourne um I can only see you only there you are you Areo there you are um what time is it midnight just gone midnight yeah and you’re ready to go home do you have any anything that helped the evening go down a bit better there oh there’s a few things a few things a few drinks of water oh great this this is what my
Web Master does when horn Hangouts are going on because actually Tim is a tuba player um and so but this a loh horn hangout Tim what did you think some interesting stuff going on there I feel like I’m becoming a better tuber player just by listening to this is that you got to get your hand out of the
Bell that’s the most important thing I think that’s been my problem this whole time yeah so dear horn hangout viewers um it’s I’ve had some amazing guests on the Hangouts and um I’ve never had two guests that are so technically up toate that they are able to play around with Google+ Tim and I have often tried this out um ladies and gentlemen should we switch to the head wear we just wanted to show you what sort of fun one can have right one two three yay okay all change please nice so what do you think of that your
Tim you don’t deserve a Halo because you are drinking so I am going to go underwater um like all good horn players should uh Denise Denise you had some pretty clever facial hair didn’t you okay hold on don’t take mine that was [Laughter] randomized but the best part is this oh I want to try that wait oh
Tim you’re where’s your facial hair I’m working on it I’m working on it yes nice so dear horn hangout friends um this has actually nothing to do with lwh horn except the the biggest motto of oh let me take off that oh yeah we need some screenshots can you guys take some screenshots of this out there in uh horn hangout land and send them to me on
Facebook because whose birthday is it hang on I don’t I hit randomized and it just went up there I don’t want a beard anymore there we go that’s good oh Tim you took mine okay or maybe the horns the horns are quite good or the kitty cat face without the horns ah now that’s good I say the cat the kitty cat face and the eye patch
I like that to for school right now please take some um anyone want to show their horn then we can take a really good screenshot with horns oh I like that that’s still there oh jise you left your hair oh no what’s Happening Here we can’t we can’t have my hair be okay are we ready for a screenshot
Tim are we ready one two three screenshots and I hope all you guys at home are doing some great screenshots because we don’t do this for everyone and whoever’s going to be my next guest on the Google Hangouts is probably shaking in fear that he’s going to have to wear a cat hat or a or a pair of earphones um the other thing we can do with this is give yourself a round of applause okay um day everyone’s taking their head headsets off except for
Tim that’s good Tim you can keep it there um thank you Denise thank you Dave Tim get rid of the facial hair thank you suited you actually i’ I’ve seen you have the real stuff sometimes even um Dave and Denise thank you so much for joining us really you two are such Heroes and I love the way that you’re turning lohorn also into a into an art and not just something one does because one can’t get the high notes um so thank you very much
Dave have a lovely day thank you Sarah you more than anyone have done so much just to uh bring the community of horn players together so thank you thank you and thank you for organizing that wonderful video um for the global horn greetings it was fantastic I’m looking forward to the next one already Denise thank you as well it’s great what you’re doing with all the um all the the the commissions for lwh horn and and your video was quite astonishing for the horn for the global horn greeting um
I was sorry we couldn’t include the whole thing you can see the whole thing up on YouTube I think can’t you yes we had to cut you down a bit but um the whole thing is up there it’s really very special so thank you thank ABS thanks for having me and Tim from all everyone in the horn hangout world thank you for everything you’re doing for us pleasure fun now you you’re welcome to go to bed you actually shaved for this horn hangout
I’m impressed special occasion the hair okay so I’m adding my horns and I’m saying um bye to the horn hangout world and thanks for watching and um I’m going to be in melbour very soon so Tim and I are thinking up some um that’s not fair we want some head head head wear on for the goodbyes okay um we’re thinking out some live things we can do if you have any ideas let us know and um yeah keep watching and practice your low tones right guys absolutely
Dave no hats oh bye guys have a great day
Horn Hangouts are created by Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic. Brassbanned is a proud long-time collaborator and streaming partner.
