I had to work part-time to earn spending money and to pay for my horn lessons. Vinnie talked to his dad and he gave us both jobs as Vermin Control Assistants at the landfill. This required us to shoot the rats with .22 caliber rifles as we were not old enough yet to carry handguns. Sal would pay us a nickel a rat. There were also a lot of seagulls and we were allowed to shoot them too but Sal wouldn't pay us for those as they were not as dangerous and filthy as the rats. One Saturday morning we had started work at dawn since Prof. G. was coming to pick us up to go camping for the weekend and we needed $5 each to pay for our expenses. We needed about fifty more rats to make this when we ran out of ammunition. We were just getting out our switchblade knives to continue the job manually when Prof. G. arrived in his '57 Volkswagen Microbus to pick us up. We told him our problem and he said, "Don't vurry. I vill take care of dis for you". Expecting him to get some kind of weapon out of the bus, we were really surprised when he got out his horn. He started to play the Siegfried Long Call. This startled the seagulls into flying and the rats were scurrying everywhere from out of their dens. During the soft middle section, the animals all calmed down and even seemed to be listening to his glorious sound. He started the last section. It was exciting! Faster and louder! Faster, louder and higher! When he got to the high B flat at the end (remember he played everything in E flat), he hit the sixth valve and played the loudest, edgiest and sharpest note I have ever heard on a horn! All the rats dropped dead! Half the seagulls fell from the air! The other half flew away in terror never to return! What a sight! Sal was really mad that he had to pay us close to $1000 that day. He even counted the dead rats twice. His anger was tempered later when he was awarded the first ever New Jersey State Cleanest Landfill Award by the newly formed NJEPA. He got a free trip to Trenton by limousine and shook hands with the governor and even got his picture in the Philadelphia newspapers. Prof. G. gave us all the money even though he had done the work. I went to Vincent Dell'Osa's shop and bought a used Kruspe, my first double horn. Vinnie found a nice '53 Cadillac and then rebuilt it with stolen parts so that it looked like a '59. Prof. G. was really interested in our development as individuals as well as horn players. He would take us to Philadelphia to show us the culture of the city and we would watch wrestling, boxing or hockey and then go to Pat's Steaks for a cheese-wit. Once, he even took us to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra when Mason Jones gave the North American premiere of the Gliere Horn Concerto. That was a glorious performance! The wonderful string sound coupled with Mr. Jones' warm horn sound and perfect execution of the solo part are still vivid in my memory. I did not understand Prof. G.'s comments in the car afterward when we were going home at all, except for his complaints about Mr. Jones having played the piece in F instead of E flat. "Dat schtoopid Hungarian Conductor! Vhy doesn't someone in dat orchester put him to flight! Vhy, I vould even loan dem my horn to do dat!" I had no clue at the time, but I was learning another important lesson in professionalism. Prof. G. would also take us camping once a year so that we would learn how to appreciate natural beauty and learn personal independence and resourcefulness. We would go to E.I. DuPont State Park in Carney's Point. It was a beautiful location and had a campground, nature trails, a wildlife preserve and a shooting range all with a view of the Carney's Point Plant where my dad worked as an explosives hazards engineer. We would set up camp and then hike the trails and enjoy the peace and quiet which was only occaisionally interrupted by the explosive testing going on at my dad's lab. Then we would play horn ensemble music until our chops were sore and memorize some excerpts. At night, after dinner, we would sit around the campfire and Prof. G. would tell us stories about Otto Fisch, and stories that Otto Fisch had told him, and stories about putting conductors to flight, and all sorts of other wonderful insights and observations about horn playing and life in general. We would also smoke cigarettes, drink beer, swear a lot and tell jokes. The real highlight of the trip would be our instruction at the firing range. We would shoot all sorts of weapons including pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Prof. G usually had a nice assortment of pictures of conductors to use for targets. What great fun! Then, he would take his horn out and amaze us with the strength of his embouchure. He would tape the 6th lever down and play only on the second bell. Waiting quietly for a bird to fly by, he would lift the mouthpiece to his lips and play a really loud high C and the bird would fall from the sky! Then, he would look for a squirrel in a tree and, just like lightning, kill it dead. He could do this from a hundred yards away and never miss the animal or the note. He would then sight a chipmonk or rabbit and, with great sensitivity in his embouchure, just knock them senseless for a few hours instead of killing them. What a humanitarian! What a great horn player! What an artist! Then, he would let us try his horn and practice killing birds and small animals. None of us ever succeeded, though, even at twenty-five or thirty yards, but we were learning valuable lessons that would serve us for the rest of our lives. My junior year, I went off to Interlochen Arts Academy and I gradually lost touch with my horn mates of those previous years. Occasionally I heard reports of their whereabouts and doings. Jeff Longton stuck with his horn and also got interested in composition and musicology. He then earned his PhD and is now a college professor in Ohio. Ted Kranzhammer finished his degree in music performance and took several auditions before returning to school to study computer programming in the early 1970's. He went on to a very successful career at that with several big corporations and the government. He now owns his own software development company in San Jose, CA. I know all this because he called me a few years ago to inquire about my horn camp saying that he was interested in playing again. I told him that it was our wonderful experiences and training with Prof. G. that inspired me to found the camp and he got very excited and said he was coming. I have not yet received his application. Dick Muffelstone studied music for a while and then switched his major to art. He then moved to San Francisco in the late 1960's and played in a rock band. Later I heard he that he had joined some kind of organization that required its members to wear orange clothing and chant a lot. The last I heard, he had left that group and had become a professional photographer in Los Angeles on the staff at Playboy Magazine. My best friend, Vinnie Cannoli, moved to Newark after he dropped out of school and since he had experience as a Vermin Control Assistant gained an entry level position as a corporate limousine chauffeur and apprentice marksman with a large, diversified, world-wide corporation involved in transportation, pharmaceuticals and entertainment. Unfortunately, he was arrested and convicted for stealing a '67 Corvette and served a two year sentence at Trenton State Prison. It goes to show you how well our justice and criminal rehabilitation system works since when Vinnie was released he was rehired by his former employer! The last I heard, he was very successful with them and owned or part-owned several casinos and other adult entertainment venues in Atlantic City. So, now you know a bit more about my teacher and me. Merry's and Happy's to all! KB
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