Tuesday was another wonderful day of rehearsals, discussions, and practicing for the group. We began the day working on the Brahms Trio Scherzo. All of our coachings have stressed the importance of exaggerating the phrasing so that it is clear to the audience and we spent that time in the morning finding the right places to do just that. At the end of this rehearsal we also spent time counting measures(probably should have done that a long time ago).
The morning's masterclass featured works by Mozart and Cherubini. We did not play on this one, but I found it very informative. Watching Rick work with each player and also listen to the natural horns from the back of the hall showed me how easily the articulations can be buried in the low range of the horn, particularly when playing with a modern piano.
We had lunch at a Chinese/Japanese restaurant across the street and then came back over to practice individually for a while. Thanks to the many activities between the workshop and the trio, this was
actually my first opportunity to sit and practice on my own. I used it to grow more comfortable with the G crook, the primary crook I play on in our Dauprat Sextet group. I cannot recommend these pieces highly enough to everyone! Dauprat, horn professor at the Paris Conservatory, wrote this Grand Sextet for horns in different keys. This creates a veritable orchestra of horns with each hornist playing in a different tone color, using different stopped notes from those around them, and playing chromatic music that would have been unimaginable without this technique.
After my practice session we had a baroque horn lecture/discussion. The discussion became quite lively thanks to the inauthentic practice of using ventholes to correct intonation. I believe John Manganaro and Rick summed it up best when they said that they choose to play with the hand outside the bell and use ventholes in order to maintain an authentic sound. The fact of the issue is that modern listeners have such highly trained ears that playing out of tune and still finding work would never happen in a modern era, therefore, using ventholes allows us to continue to find performances and provide the distinctive sound that comes from having the bell up in the air.
Opus 40 then spent the afternoon listening to recordings from our previous practice sessions and coachings. This was productive, we were able to identify a variety of issues in balance, phrasing, and intonation, but it was also encouraging to hear how far we have come since we first began working together.
That evening the horns gathered for our Dauprat Sextet rehearsal and then headed out to dinner at Upland where they have a delicious buffalo burger. I highly recommend it, especially with the sweet
habanero sauce I got with it last night. Then it was time for bed. It doesn't get dark here until 10 PM in the summer because despite how far west it is, Indiana is still on Eastern time. Talk about a long day!
Thanks for reading these blogs, I hope they are enlightening.
Brad
The morning's masterclass featured works by Mozart and Cherubini. We did not play on this one, but I found it very informative. Watching Rick work with each player and also listen to the natural horns from the back of the hall showed me how easily the articulations can be buried in the low range of the horn, particularly when playing with a modern piano.
We had lunch at a Chinese/Japanese restaurant across the street and then came back over to practice individually for a while. Thanks to the many activities between the workshop and the trio, this was
actually my first opportunity to sit and practice on my own. I used it to grow more comfortable with the G crook, the primary crook I play on in our Dauprat Sextet group. I cannot recommend these pieces highly enough to everyone! Dauprat, horn professor at the Paris Conservatory, wrote this Grand Sextet for horns in different keys. This creates a veritable orchestra of horns with each hornist playing in a different tone color, using different stopped notes from those around them, and playing chromatic music that would have been unimaginable without this technique.
After my practice session we had a baroque horn lecture/discussion. The discussion became quite lively thanks to the inauthentic practice of using ventholes to correct intonation. I believe John Manganaro and Rick summed it up best when they said that they choose to play with the hand outside the bell and use ventholes in order to maintain an authentic sound. The fact of the issue is that modern listeners have such highly trained ears that playing out of tune and still finding work would never happen in a modern era, therefore, using ventholes allows us to continue to find performances and provide the distinctive sound that comes from having the bell up in the air.
Opus 40 then spent the afternoon listening to recordings from our previous practice sessions and coachings. This was productive, we were able to identify a variety of issues in balance, phrasing, and intonation, but it was also encouraging to hear how far we have come since we first began working together.
That evening the horns gathered for our Dauprat Sextet rehearsal and then headed out to dinner at Upland where they have a delicious buffalo burger. I highly recommend it, especially with the sweet
habanero sauce I got with it last night. Then it was time for bed. It doesn't get dark here until 10 PM in the summer because despite how far west it is, Indiana is still on Eastern time. Talk about a long day!
Thanks for reading these blogs, I hope they are enlightening.
Brad
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