Dear Ross, if you got this problem, it seems to me, that you used a lot of pressure. And, why did you probably play everything at the maximum of the dynamics ?? This is not necessary. It is not cowardly to leave an afterbeat out here & there or two three unison measures. And the conductor ? If he loves the horns & likes to hear them all time in front, give him shit by playing just a moderate forte but with a red face. They are so easy to be convinced (ans betrayed !).
============================================================ ============================================================ === -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 8:47 AM To: horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: [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=aoltop0 0030000000001) _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka. de _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
