This is where it all began. On 25 September 2012, at the Melbourne International Brass Festival — an event Brassbanned was on the ground live streaming — horn star Radovan Vlatković sat down in front of a webcam, Sarah Willis dialled in from the other side of the world, and the very first Horn Hangout went live via Google Hangout.
More than a hundred Hangouts later, the series has featured the greatest brass players on the planet. This is the historic episode that started it, recorded the morning after Vlatković’s live-streamed Melbourne masterclass — which Sarah confesses to having watched over breakfast in Berlin.
In this conversation
- The first ever Horn Hangout, live from Melbourne
- Vlatković’s busy life as soloist, teacher and chamber musician
- The Melbourne International Brass Festival 2012
- The accidental birth of a legendary interview series
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream — expect the occasional robot mishearing.
let me just explain um to everybody watching ravan is in Melbourne at the Melbourne International brass festival and yesterday he gave a master class which was live streamed and I woke up very early in the morning to watch it and he accompanied me you were playing while I was eating my M my musle and oh what A noise um ravan tell me you do so many master classes around the world I mean you’re you’re you’re everywhere you play solo concerts everywhere but your master classes do you find I was watching yesterday do you find that people always ask the same things um I do encourage the colleagues the young horn players to ask me questions but actually there was very limited time yesterday we only had about 90 minutes for four young colleagues and they played marvelously and um it was just we we spoke to them before the master class how we should go about it so we decided that they should do some playing but there’s only very little time to uh maybe comment generally on pieces to give an introduction to the repertoire then to maybe just give a suggestion or two it’s more of a musical encounter and we didn’t have very much time to go into depth but if the questions come then it’s interesting to to maybe concentrate on one point per person and talk about that in general because uh to to work on someone’s playing and details we would just simply need more time I find sometimes when I’m doing a master class I go out a little bit frustrated because you want to help so much and you want to give everything but there’s such a short amount of time and do you feel like people people go out and sometimes I’m worried that they take what I’ve said and then they they think that’s like the law but it’s not you know there’s so many different opinions out there and I’m sure you agree with me it’s up to the student to take what he wants he or she wants and pick out I think it’s important to talk about your first and immediate impression that’s for sure and on the other hand the situation of a master class is somewhat delicate because on the one hand you have to concentrate on the particular person’s playing and they’re music making on the other hand you have to sort of entertain your audience there uh now and online yes wasn’t actually aware of that maybe better but I think it’s it’s it’s important to make maybe some general points which are interesting to most of the people hopefully what are your what are your most sorry if I interrupt um what are your most interesting what are your most main points what do you find you bring in really every Master Class what do the people want to know the most I mean from you I know for me it’s always low notes yes uh I don’t know if there’s there’s one one question or one topic which comes up more frequently than others for instance we have a lovely Hall here the Town Hall in South Mel a beautiful place where I understand that melin Symphonies to make a lot of recordings it has a gorgeous generous acoustic and for instance one thing I noticed that the the choice of tempo and the articulation was an issue here because it’s such a big space that you have to really take uh um attention to every detail of playing and that’s something maybe uh needs to be talked about a little bit because we spend a lot of time in practice room you have a very nice generous big practice room behind you but that’s not always the case when you’re a young player so just the possibility to play in a bigger space and and know how to relate with it and there I just mention our experiences you know from theater from actors from opera singers who do you know know how to use that space and sometimes you know exaggerate sometimes uh just just uh do less it’s like acting in front of a camera and acting for the theater so you have to know what you’re doing in time and space well that would be the one thing that you would advise people to really use the space because they come out of small practi SS a lot of the time I totally agree with you and what would you say for people that are because I have people a little bit they coming in there they’re nervous you know I’m the one that’s usually nervous for them but but they come in and they’re quite they’re quite on edge and and and how can people combat that the best because we hear it all the time we all struggle with it you know people think just because we’re grown-ups and soloists and orchestral players we don’t struggle with it but I know I mean I well I’m speaking for myself I I certainly do um but what would you advise the student students before coming into a master class how can they combat this nervousness it’s a very good question and I think we could talk about that I know that’s why I asked you hour is on end I just came from Scandinavia and my wife K was there with me we were giving a master class together at Thea in Mal close to Copenhagen and we had wonderful students both from Copenhagen and Malo as well as gothenberg and my wife gave a lecture an introductory lecture on several different mental techniques which can be used in order to cope with a situation of of being nervous before during or after a performance and there she mentioned a number of different things which you can do she mentioned the fact that you have to practice this preparation on a regular basis and not expect miraculous results when you know about something and want to apply it for the first time just before the coner so whether it is yoga whether it’s Alexander technique whether it’s Feld in Christ whether it’s Pilatus if you like whether it’s stretching any kind of uh um I think mental and psychological technique which can help you is something that needs to constantly be done so I think uh it’s it’s interesting to explore to find out what what suits you best and then to learn that without the instrument first you know if you learn I don’t know relaxation yobs you just learn how to gradually um relax muscle groups along your body and then therefore become a little bit calm but the first most important step is just to acknowledge that there is this uh nervousness and not to fight against it but but to use it to our um advantage and by that that I mean first not to try and eliminate it completely and that means that you just get more accustomed to the situation even if it doesn’t feel comfortable in the beginning and then to understand that this can actually enhance your performance a little bit of nervousness doesn’t disturb if it make know more special more more nervous more energetic and I think that’s the first step but it’s a long story so it’s it’s a too large minutes maybe I can get your wife back on here someday and we can talk about it in detail that would be really good I would be very interested in knowing about this that’s would be really great there seem to be almost two types of horn players the ones that sort of go like this you know and are really you don’t need seem to suffer at all and the others which seem to die a thousand deaths it seems to be rarely something in between that’s yeah I think we all we all get excited and and nervous about a performance we just listen to a lovely jazz concert and it be so liberating you know uh to hear how how directly they make music it’s it’s inspiring to hear so that’s also another source of inspiration to have fre they because they improvise uh they’re not um playing from sheet music you know as we do and it’s wonderful to I love jazz although I can’t play it myself but I love to listen to it and it’s another source of inspiration I think I think all horn players would benefit from learning Jazz I’m speaking as a total nerd I I couldn’t improvise to save my life I wish I could but I think all horn players should learn it because it would really lbody yes I have after you no no no it’s just wonderful to also have the experience of being to able to improvise even a little bit when you’re Outdoors let’s say in the words or playing even an out corner so it’s just fun to do that and and know your own sound know your own voice be connected with nature and everything so I think that’s a nice good feeling uh to to feel good with your own instrument and feel it as if it were an extension of your own body all right event two horn nerd questions I’m sorry but you know what that we all want to know the same thing two two two questions that have appeared quite a lot because people are chatting online and I’ll have to go back and look at it now because I haven’t worked out how to look it but sorry guys we’ll work this one out I promise and I’ll be back online very soon and we will we will answer all these questions that you’re chatting um but M radan what mouthpiece do you use no I have a Bruno tilt’s mouthpiece uh but the story is funny because I only had a day’s time to go from Berlin to CL where where til’s uh Workshop is and we didn’t have time to actually uh what’s it called Silver Plate it so it stayed there in pure brass which is probably not a very good and healthy thing to to play on and chew on on for many years um I when I was a student I used a French mouthpiece it was a Selmer mouthpiece you don’t see those around anymore and I played indeed a Selmer piston valve instrument when I was a student so when I came to Germany was time to uh also look into a possibility of using a different instrument so I chose the pman horn and my old French mouthpiece didn’t fit into the instrument it was too wide so I I had a copy of this French mouthpiece made first except the inner RM was not uh very sharp it was rather uh soft and roundish which made Legato playing easy and then after that we sharpened that and I think my attack um got a little bit better also important thing in the orchestra But to answer your question directly it’s not a model which which uh is um any standard model so I just have properties made of it and maybe someday just it’s everybody wants to know everybody wanted to know they want to know what mouthpiece you play on I also play on a strange mixture of mouthpieces it’s not a standard mouthpiece it’s no secret but I don’t recommend it widely because it’s not particularly easy to play I like the sound of it sound it’s not easy to play in the high range for instance and uh that’s why I don’t necessarily uh recommend it to my students but uh I do have a two companies made from time to time I show it okay and the other question that people want to know about is how do you keep in shape on tour when you’re on the road all the time in hotel rooms you know and and hanging out and airports and changing planes all the time how do you keep in shape yeah that’s a very good question I think I haven’t found the answer yet but here in Melbourne for instance we have the opportunity to do warm-ups together so there’s quite a number of young horn players here and we spend the first hour and a quarter or so together I show them some of the exercises which I do on a daily basis and uh since we play alternately and don’t play all the time it’s you don’t get quite so tired uh during this first hour and I think that’s a nice way to begin the day sometimes you won’t have an hour or an hour and a half to do all of these exercises you can do a short program you can just do a sort of how do you feel about hotel rooms it’s such a pain to practice in hotel rooms don’t you think yes I I don’t feel comfortable practicing in use do you use a silent brass and no I do do try that but I don’t much uh actually practice with MS so I try to go to the venue and um usually I’m quite lucky if I announce that I’d like to practice so the truth is that actually I have more time to practice on tour than I than I do when I’m at home when I’m teaching so actually it’s easier to stay in shape on tour for me at least so you teaching in salburg you’re teaching in Madrid uh do you have any other professorships or are those two your main you’re at the Academy wer you yes no I also do teach in in at the hul uh in Zurich and I’m a guest professor at bu Academy in London so I spend a few days every turn there in I remember our concerti we had a great time in London last year that was so much fun honestly I your your mouthpiece didn’t sound like it was hard to play high then I tell you that’s another mie that one I just use for tricks and for high notes yeah okay you heard it first here online tell me um do you miss playing in the orchestra um sometimes I do when I hear a beautiful orchestra playing fantastic bre I do but I’ve actually accepted to play for 5 days at the end of October so I’m going to be doing some work in the London Symphony Orchestra we’re going on tour to New York and then in December another short period so uh the answer is yes I do miss it and that’s why I’m going to play a little bit of Orchestra yes when is your concert here you’re being serated in the background by some jazz musician and when is your concert here we have a recital tomorrow at 4:30 uh Melbourne time that’s going to be a recital program uh casan a wonderful polish pianist whom I met here and also I’ll be performing on Friday night with M Symphony Orchestra that’s get shot so two I’m sorry sounded like someone just got shot at the Melbourne Town Hall we’re all very nice in Australia we don’t use guns here um ravan I have someone that wants to say hello to you and someone to say hello to all you guys online too I have two people that want to say hello to you come on in you’re live online hi good to see you rob good to see you Andre our new boy we hi hi so you’re away in Australia wow I am I am hopping along in Australia yeah great time and you see here you guys right in there there are loads of horn players oh hi all you horn players out there all around the world from all sort country all around the world horn players unite I think this is the coolest thing we’ve tried in the long time I hope you guys agree we’re about to do a rehearsal of Schuman concept you’re going to Russia spying on the internet yes you’ve been spying on us ah well I was spying on you today so hang on can you see guys wait wait wa wait wait wait wait make sure that our heads are in the get the head because he has such a nice head you have to make sure his head I hope I hope we have some time in the future to play tennis again with Stephan he’s a phenomenal tennis player among other things do that again yeah Andre plays tennis to top um okay well uh we’ve got a rehearsal you guys online um I really wish I could see your questions right now I’m so sorry um R I’ve asked him the ones I want to know I will collect all the ones you want to know maybe I’ll mail them to him and um and ask him to answer them sometime you’d like that wouldn’t you ran Stan you’re out the picture okay yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah we got to get you the picture um when is your concert again on Friday uh Friday in the evening I’m not sure it’s 7 or 8:00 p.m.
8:00 P.M yeah 8m 8 and where do you go on after melbour all back to Europe yes on Saturday when will you come back to Berlin Berlin no plans for Berlin right now okay Stefan what would you want to ask ravan blaskovich what would I want to ask him uh how going are you well how’s the family how’s the weather there no no we’ve got all these horn players watching online you know what would you have to ask something horny I mean I mean horn player wise why did you decide to play the horn all instruments horn well I was staying in the states I lived in the states for two years with my parents in the 60s and my father who was a scientist he’s a chemist met a young horn player at the time studying at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and he became my first teacher so it was coincidence by chance it wasn’t my choice it the horn came to me before I could even think well that’s okay well it seems to have worked out quite well I I ain’t complaining and what would you ask the Meister the summer we just we just met in Slovenia before the the short vacation that I had so I had a lovely time we went to the Adriatic and we did some sailing with the family we also did have time to play tennis and do some swimming and Diving so it was a wonderful summer how was yours good yeah I got to tell I’ve got to tell our viewers Andre has just become a father great congratulations a beautiful baby girl Amma Emma Emma ma she’s absolutely so these things were important in the horn world too um so rent when you come back from when you come back from these holidays don’t worry we’ll let you go quite soon but I just wanted to ask when you come back from these holidays like sailing in the summer with Andre how do you get back into shape M slowly step by step and you don’t get oppressed when nothing works for the first couple of days uh actually we went sailing with another friend who’s a trumpet player so uh uh we just started practicing together very very slowly after that it takes time it’s frustrating but you just have to expect that nothing’s going to work when you come back and then how many hours a day do you put yourself through this oh uh I try to practice in short sessions and and not not make it too to different how long are short sessions heard fromr Linberg that he practices in 24 minute sessions so that 24 minutes 24 minutes at a time and then have a break no um I I try to do an hour maybe but but really easy and and not rushing the routine so that I so it feels good there will be a moment when it doesn’t feel good but you just have to take it as it comes and get enough rest and gradually get back into it do you still like practicing after all these years I’m not a passionate practicer but uh I feel good when I’ve done it so so it is worth the effort and uh I have to say that I feel less nervous on stage if I did my homework that’s for sure Stefan I would tend to agree like like practicing I actually enjoy uh practicing uh because if I don’t practice then I I don’t feel comfortable when I have to play something and I I hate that feeling of going on stage and not being prepared and not having the chops to get through whatever I have to play so I would rather uh you know suffer and practice you know basic things uh you know farus warm up scales uh playing notes until I you know feel I’m ready we we’ll get Stefan back online for all you guys with all the questions I promise we’re going to do some some serious horn sections with my my dear horn boys Andre Andre loves to practice but he’s a new boy so he he has to practice right Andre everyday six hours yeah right those are the easy days those are his days off well ravan it’s such a pleasure to see you thank you so so much for joining us we were hoping for one last guest to come in and say good morning I bet you can’t guess who that might be he still might appear I don’t know where is he he’s not in the horn room he taking he’s taking lucky for a walk I think that’s probably I mention no names but he’s taking lucky for a walk you can either hang out with us here till he comes or Stefan could play you his warm up I think I have to get going because I have to get my horn into the apartment and there’s a concert tonight with a what a coincidence one minute Oho fun and here are the horn the horn players of this world good on everything okay I’m fine yeah we’re having a lovely time here in spring in Australia and it’s very nice here yeah Stefan came to the Melbourne bras week he flew to Melbourne how many days were you there from three days he he flew from Berlin for three days to melbour mons that was just the airplane three days didn’t have time to get into the jet lag yeah yeah just stayed onlin time yeah yeah okay you guys it’s almost finished it’s almost finished and we have we have to rehears I yes we better we we are rehearsing Shan coner for our concert in Moscow so you guys we got the h on b I will see you in second here okay okay ran thank you so much for joining us fun don’t work too hard don’t work too hard no no have a wonderful concert in Melbourne on Friday I want I don’t know if it’s being live streamed I hope so but if not then uh then I’m sure it’ll be a huge success okay thanks very much for the interview Take Care thank you for joining us we really appreciate it was a really big honor thanks bye bye he [Music] [Applause] [Music]
Horn Hangouts are created by Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic. Brassbanned is a proud long-time collaborator and streaming partner.
