[Hornlist] re: Pizka and Hypochondriacs
Prof. Pizka writes, in response to Valerie, regarding her medical difficulties: And, isn´t it much better, not to speak about ones own very very particular problem, which cannot be places upon the entire community ? We can learn nothing from it. It is more important, than outing oneself, to report on problems which influence a greater number of people ??? players ??? And there we find a lot of hypochondriac people. There are several answers to this question. First, the person involved may be trying to find out if anyone else has had a similar problem, and how they dealt with it, or where they found help. One benefit of a forum such as this one is that there are hundreds of people who follow the discussions, and may be able to help with information they have. Second, while Prof. Pizka is unquestionably a tremendous authority on playing the french horn, he tends to assume that that expertise extends to other areas of life -- but it doesn't. Now he acts like a psychologist or psychiatrist, apparently blessed with the psychic ability to ascertain that apparently a very large number of people he deals with are hyupochondriacs. While such people do exist, they are not in anywhere near the numbers that the Prof. claims to run into. Third, the professor's logic fails here as well, stating: to report on problems which influence a greater number of people. But how will someone know if a problem affects a great number of people unless they ask? The prof. would do well to open his mind on occasion, to acknowledge that there are things he doesn't know, and that people are in fact different. Just because he has not had a particular experience does not mean that other people are faking their problems. Why should it be difficult for semi-pros lay musicians. What Valerie unquestionably meant was, first, that there are far more semi-pro and amateur horn players than professional players -- I would image the ratio is probably at least 40 to 1, and probably much higher than that, judging by my experience in the Seattle-Tacoma area. And second, the fact that a person is having a significant problem physically that affects their horn playing makes it all the more likely that the person was not able to become a professional horn player. Please, Prof., stick to what you know, and stop your campaign of insulting people different from you. ** Great Deals on Dell Laptops. Starting at $499. (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/10075x1217883258x1201191827/aol?redir=http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;211531132;33070124;e) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] The ECONOMIST on I Found My Horn
Re: Then there is the astonishing difficulty of consistently hitting the right notes, let alone making music. This reminds me of a story, perhaps apocryphal, that someone told me about Phillip Farkas. In a master class, Farkas was presented as the master of the horn. Farkas humbly responded, no, rather its servant. Ross Taylor Tacoma Washington ** Life should be easier. So should your homepage. Try the NEW AOL.com. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dpamp;icid=aolcom40vanityamp; ncid=emlcntaolcom0002) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] The ECONOMIST on I Found My Horn
I just ordered the book on Amazon; they have it new at $16.31. Ross Taylor Tacoma, Washington ** Life should be easier. So should your homepage. Try the NEW AOL.com. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dpamp;icid=aolcom40vanityamp; ncid=emlcntaolcom0002) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Christmas, religious music, other questions
In my tremendous ignorance of too many things about the horn world, I request assistance on the following matters:\ (1) Due to a modest inheritance from a comfortable, rather than rich, uncle, I have the funds to buy a leadpipe. I play a 1968 Conn 8D. Once in the past, about 8 years ago, for about a week I played another Conn 8D with a Lawson leadpipe and found that my accuracy was much better than with my horn (but my horn was also then in need of valve reboring, as they were as much as 10/1000 out of tolerance, and the reboring helped my accuracy quite a bit.) (I played the other horn quite by accident -- I grabbed his horn case by mistake after a rehearsal, and noticed that it greatly improved my accuracy). I posted this general question about a year ago, but the people who were kind enough to answer were obviously extremely knowledgeable music theoreticians -- and what they said went WAY over my head. So my simple -- or perhaps simple-minded -- question is, is such a leadpipe likely to improve the accuracy of my playing, assuming all other factors remain roughly the same? I don't want to spend $600 or more, then find out that I went in a wrong direction. And, again in layman's terms please, are other aspects of horn playing or sound that are improved by a lead pipe? And last, are there any besides Lawson that are worth looking at, in terms of improving accuracy? (2) Are there any good sheet music web sites for french horn that anyone can recommend? I have come across some web sites for sheet music that claim to offer hundreds of horn pieces, but it takes forever to wade through, and a lot are just the horn parts for ensemble pieces. (3) Is anyone familiar with any good church music for horn and piano, or unaccompanied, ideally a book or it -- meaning traditional church music, rather than the praise type music? (4) Is anyone familiar with any good Christmas music for horn and piano, or unaccompanied horn? (5) Has anyone run into a brass quintet transcription of the Carmen Dragon arrangement of America the Beautiful? I've always loved the horn obligato towards the end of the orchestral and band arrangements. Thanks for any help anyone can give me. Ross Taylor Tacoma, Washington ** Life should be easier. So should your homepage. Try the NEW AOL.com. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dpamp;icid=aolcom40vanityamp; ncid=emlcntaolcom0002) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Romance Languages
Re Prof. Pizka's statement correcting someone's alleged misuse of the term Romance. Romance language - yes, these languages (Italian, Francais, Espanol, etc.) are best suited for romances - what a nice term, but you meant Romanic or Latin languages as they derive from the languages of the Romans the LATIN. While I cannot speak for British English, in American english, romance and romantic are acceptable synonums for Romanic. In fact, in 56 years of life, having read thousands of books, and tens of thousands of articles, etc., I have never before seen the word Romanic. So the writer's usage was absolutely correct. Ross Taylor ** Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop000301) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Re: What happens when you slack off?
I found out the rather hard way two years ago. I had not practiced much at all for a period of three to four months. Then I got a call telling me I was HIRED to play in a local church Xmas extravaganza called The Singing Christmas Tree. It paid $880, which *doubled* my lifetime professional earnings. Since I wasn't playing until mid-December, and was called in late September, I had plenty of time to build up my lip. But then I got lazy, thinking hey, there's plenty of time left. By mid-November, I figured I'd best get to it. So the first day of practice, I went at it. My lip was feeling great. I ended up going over two hours. Even at the end, I felt pretty good. But the next day, and the next 2-3 weeks, my lips were too sore to play. I was only able to get back to it four days before the job began. But even so, I was hired to play fourth part; how tough can that be, even with 2 2 hour shows a day? I found out. The conductor of this group loves horns, and especially, it seems, horns in pairs, or even better yet, in unison. IN the next three weeks I learned a great deal about what lip balms work best; the importance of taking ibuprofen before starting a session; and ice cubes on the lips to help keep down the swelling. Now when I have been lazy, I spend a week or so working up to an hour of practice. So when I was called just three weeks ahead of time last year, I resisted the urge to practice too long. I built up more gradually, and it went much better. P.S. To give an idea of how taxing the playing was, a week after the run was over, I attended the alumni gathering of the Tacoma Youth Symphony. I'm always by far the oldest there; the rest are usually in their 20's. In any event, we sight-read the Brahms 2 and the Beethoven 5. I played the first horn part on each, and my lips were not nearly as tired as they were from playing the show. Ross Taylor ** Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop000301) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Hallelujah chorus
Re: And here is how it should be done! _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSVn2ymmMZY_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSVn2ymmMZY) Cheers, Lawrence lawrenceyates.co.uk Did they have to go so slow?? Seriously, the tape almost looks sped up, but the voices and instruments sound about right. Did the conductor have too many lattes? Ross Taylor ** Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop000301) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Lead pipes for Conn 8D
A few years back I accidentally borrowed another player's Conn 8D (since the cases looked identical). When I played it, my accuracy improved significantly; probably 30% fewer missed notes. His horn differed in two ways from mine -- his valves were recently redone, and he had a Lawson lead pipe. My horn's valves were way out of tolerance at the time. My friend said fixing my valves would be a better, more economic fix. At the time, since fixing the valves was cheaper, I had that done, and that did signicantly improve my accuracy (my father bought it in 1967, it was played from then through 2007, sat in the closet for 20 years, then I resumed playing 8 years ago, and the valves had never been redone). But my friend said that the lead pipe replacement also improves accuracy on the Conn 8D, well-known for its wide latitude in pitches. But I had no money then. Now, with a small inheritance, I do. I am an amateur player the vast majority of the time (my lifetime professional horn earnings, all in the last five years, are under $3,000!). I am a reasonably decent amateur player -- to be distringuished from a large number of players in the Seattle-Tacoma area that I categorize as underpaid professionals. Can anyone offer any input on the advantages of a replacement lead pipe? And I understand that Lawson is not the only type of replacement lead pipe available. What are the relative pluses and minuses of the lead pipes offered by the different companies making them? Thanks for any help. Ross Taylor Tacoma, Washington ** Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop000301) ___ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Eldon Matlick former student Jeff Fahre (sp)
While not on any particular topic, I have seen Eldon Matlick's name on postings many times over the last three years or so. I ran into that name again about 3 months ago. I play in a community college orchestra in Tacoma, Washington, and our soloist for our winter concert was Jeff Fahre. Jeff is the new (as of last fall) assistant first with the Seattle Symphony, following three years as principal with San Antonio. He played a Mozart; I think it was the 2nd. By the time he did the concert, he had already rehearsed for five hours with Seattle that day. But you couldn't tell from his playing -- tremendous sound, and at times his playing reminded me of the Brain recording. We were fortunate to get Jeff -- he and his wife were good friends of our director's son and daughter-in-law at Juliard, where Jeff got his masters degree. His wife also performed with us this fall -- a fabulous violist. So congrats to Mr. Matlick. Ross Taylor Tacoma, Washington ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] Wagner's anti-Semitism
Herr Professor Pizka asks: Seriously, why do so many of you point on Wagner as an anti-Semite (he was, off course) not to his perfect dramatic music The reaction the Professor refers to is almost instinctive with me as well, because Wagner presents an ethical challenge. Looking at his music only, as the Professor states, Wagner produced incredible music -- music that at times is almost rapturous. But as a human being, Wagner was horrific. He was not only anti-Semitic, but also cuckolded several friends in the course of his frequent adulteries, and he skipped out on his debts numerous times. So the question is, how can such beauty arise from such slime, such utter filth? Is there no connection between the beautiful and the ethical? Certainly not with Wagner, at any rate. The Professor also states: His anti-Semitism has nothing to do with his operatic creations. This statement is more problematic. The Britannica states that evidence of anti-Semitism in his operas was increasingly documented in the late 20th century. Others disagree. But the sagas, and particularly the Ring, contained German folklore, about the alleged origins of the German peoples, and to Wagner, that definitely excluded the Jews. Moreover, of course, the Nazis found a spiritual father in Wagner's music. That should not be too surprising, especially considering that Wagner is credited with coining two of the most horrid of expressions ever to befoul human language: the Jewish problem, and the final solution -- by which he meant the disappearance of Jews and Judaism. There are also his vile writings on Judaism. In a Das Judenthum in der Musik, Wagner wrote that Jewish music lacks all expression, is marked by coldness and indifference, triviality and nonsense. The Jew, he claimed, has no true passion to impel him to artistic creation. The Jewish composer, according to Wagner, makes a confused heap of the forms and styles of all ages and masters. To admit a Jew into the world of art results in pernicious consequences. Wagner spoke of the harmful influence of Jewry on the morality of the nation, adding that the subversive power of Jewry stands in contrast to the German psyche. He spoke of the involuntary repellence possessed for us by the nature and personality of the Jews, so as to vindicate that instinctive dislike which we plainly recognize as stronger and more overpowering than our conscious zeal to rid ourselves thereof, and said Jews were freaks of nature. All these ideas, together with the ultranationalistic character of his operas, especially The Ring, provided a seedbed for Nazi ideology and cultural ideas. It is also difficult to separate the music from the anti-Semitism, because Wagner considered himself a philosopher first, and a composer only second. There is an inconsistency on this issue -- Wagner was not the only rabid anti-Semite among composers. Bruchner and Chopin were also. Carl Orff was a a self-declared, card-holding Nazi. Carmina Burana was composed in 1937 expressly for the leaders of the Nazi regime. Richard Strauss in his actions was anti-Semitic, although perhaps more out of an amoral pragmatism. Appointed head of the Reichsmusikkammer in 1933; in his two years there he managed to get all performing Jewish artists removed from public view. At the same time however, he apparently was willing to work with a Jewish librettist, Stefan Zweig. He also refused the Nazi authorities when they asked him to rewrite the Midsummer Night's Dream, which they wanted in order to rid it of its composer's Jewish name. Orff, by contrast, agreed to do it (but it wasn't done, in the end). This less-than-fully vigorous approach to anti-Semitism also distinguishes Strauss from others such as Von Karajan. Von Karajan became a Nazi early on, in 1933, and promptly excluded all Jewish musicians. But it was Wagner's music that the Nazis enthusiastically embraced; it was Wagner's music that accompanied the Nazi horrors. And since music touches the emotions so strongly, it is difficult to separate our emotional reactions to Wagner as a person from Wagner solely as a musical composer. Ross Taylor Tacoma, Washington ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
