Lectures
Classical Improv Workshop by Jeffrey Agrell
Players interested in improvising as classical (i.e. not jazz) musicians will have a chance this week to take part in daily improv sessions led by Jeffrey Agrell; the sessions will be based on games taken from his new book, Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians (GIA Publications). No improv experience is necessary, just the willingness and curiosity to try something new.
Pedagogical Pearls by Douglas Hill
If it weren't for our teachers, how well would we play? If it weren't for great players, how well would we teach? If it weren't for innovative thinking, how could we ever know? If we don't tell each other what we know about how we tell about how we play and about how we teach, how will we ever improve? Come listen and share your thoughts at the first ever "Pedagogical Pearls": Four varied panel discussions on teaching and learning. Professor Douglas Hill will moderate the sharing of ideas by guest artists, teachers, and audience members on philosophies, theories, and the practical concerns of building and running a successful horn studio filled with talented and enthusiastic students.
Holy Horns, Batman!; Getting paid for a Church Gig by Lowell Greer
Use of the Liturgical Horn(as a way to find more employment opportunities).
Recital Preparation and Performance: An Interview Project by Bruce Atwell
In the Spring of 2007, I interviewed six outstanding horn soloists, asking them about how they prepare for and perform recitals at such a high level. At this session, I will discuss their answers and add a few of my own from my 10 years as a university horn teacher. I found the discussion fascinating and provocative.
Interviewees were:
John Cerminaro, David Ohanian, Froydis Ree Wekre, Eric Ruske , William Vermeulen, and Gail Williams.
These extraordinary hornists have performed hundreds of successful recitals and solo performances. Find out how they did it!
The Horn Gym by John Ericson
"The Horn Gym" is a group warm-up session utilizing materials from The Brass Gym, a new, comprehensive brass workout developed by tuba virtuosi Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan. This session will work through these materials as a warm-up and will focus on using these materials to improve intonation and technique. Bring your horns!
Playing the Wagner Tuba by John Ericson
All advanced hornists must become familiar with the repertoire and performing techniques of the Wagner tuba. Constructed to use a horn mouthpiece, this small tuba is performed by horn players in major works by Wagner, Bruckner, Strauss, and others. This session will focus on practical aspects of performing the Wagner tuba with topics including instrument models, mouthpiece choices, notation systems used by composers, and intonation concerns for B-flat tenor and F bass Wagner tubas.
Jazz Clinic: Starting at “Ground Zero” by Jeffrey Snedeker
In general, Horn players rarely have the same early experiences that other instrumentalists do in learning how to play in a jazz style and then how to improvise in a jazz context. This hands-on clinic introduces some basic exercises that help individuals to develop a vocabulary for playing in a jazz style, and then provides some jazz “licks” and other practical advice on how to make improvising on a jazz tune more tangible. Bring your horns!! All participants will begin in a group performance (“safety-in-numbers”) setting, in hopes of making enough progress for each person to feel more confident about the possibility of performing a simple improvised solo.
Overtone74 by Todd Harris Sheldrick
Overtone74 is the horn-based, electro-acoustic improvisation machine. Todd Sheldrick created Overtone74 in the summer of 1999 in a desire to blend the art of composition and performance into a new concert experience. Based on the horn’s vast pallet of tones and colors, Overtone74 branches off through many auxiliary instruments and vocal techniques to provide a rich kaleidoscope of sound.
Fueled by a deep interest for free improvisation, throat singing, western art music, and modern pop, ambient noise, and nature sounds, Sheldrick synthesizes all these to create sonic tapestries of vastly diverging styles, anything from the terrifying to the sublime, from fragile to funky.
Overtone74 was premiered in Tempe, Arizona in the spring of 2000 and has since been heard in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Oporto and Lisbon, Portugal; and Edinburgh, Scotland.
What's in a Name? by Ken Pope
In this session we will challenge hornist's preconceptions of horn makes, designs and sounds. Soloists will play a selection of horns behind a screen and the listeners will try to match the sounds with the manufacturers of the horns.
Does a Conn 8D really sound bigger and darker than a medium bore horn? Will a student model sound worse than a professional horn? Is it the player or the horn?
You be the judge, and learn about yourself at the same time.
The Horn and Folk Music Traditions Featuring W. Marshall Sealy and Horn Song
Come experience interactive folk music traditions as presented by W. Marshall Sealy and performed by world music ensemble, Horn Song.
This exciting presentation will include participation from the audience, along with demonstrations and descriptive explanations of specific folk music selections.
Horn Solos with Band: An Overview by Brent Shires
The repertoire for the solo hornist accompanied by wind band is not well-known to many. Most directors and players turn to transcriptions of Strauss and Mozart orchestral concertos when the opportunity arises. This lecture will help uncover the hidden gems originally written for the solo horn with band, with excerpts performed with piano reduction. A brief history of the genre will be included as well.
Brent Shires, Horn Professor at University of Central Arkansas, has spent the last fifteen years researching works for solo horn and wind band. He is currently completing his doctoral project at the University of Illinois, which is titled "An Analysis of Three Selected Concertos for Solo Horn with Wind Band Accompaniment," which approaches the works by Ralph Hermann, David Amram, and Kazimierz Machala. Terrie Shires serves as Piano Instructor and Accompanist at UCA, and is assisting with the presentation.
Buzzing Techniques for All Ages and Levels by Jennifer Sholtis
Is lip buzzing important? Is mouthpiece buzzing important? Jennifer Sholtis, Michelle Stebleton, Frøydis Ree Wekre, and Gail Williams say, “Yes it is!” This clinic demonstrates how lip and mouthpiece buzzing, when used effectively, can improve tone, intonation, tonguing, flexibility, accuracy, and endurance (the list goes on) faster and more efficiently. Each clinician presents and demonstrates techniques they consistently teach their students. Come to the clinic and find out more information!
Film, Television, Phonograph, Jingle and Videogame Recording on Horn by Brian O’Conner
Recording music for recording studios is a very interesting, challenging and rewarding occupation for horn players. All music is handed out to the recording musicians after they show up to work. The music is sight read, often while being recorded during the first sight read, and many times there are very significant parts that need to be performed instantly. What are the required techniques, skills and thought processes demanded of a horn player that leads to successful performances in the recording world? This discussion will cover all the areas of playing horn successfully in the studios.
The Horn in Opera by Richard Chenoweth
"The Horn in Opera" is a survey and discussion of the differences between playing on stage and in the opera pit by a 35-year veteran of the Santa Fe Opera, and the horn soloist on recently-released CD, "The Horn in Opera". Special attractions of this session include discussions of style, repertoire, audition strategies and operatic conventions. In addition to the above, Richard Chenoweth's presentation will include performances of major operatic repertoire as well as a question and answer session and information about opera resources. This presentation will also include a hand-out of essential operatic repertoire and some recorded performances.
Brass for Every City by Kathy Brantigan
Kathy Brantigan, Executive Director of The Denver Brass Inc., presents an outline for establishing a successful brass chamber business with a local rather than touring focus. Effective marketing, management, development, and program design can win over a city and position
Alexander Technique by Heidi Brende
Start your day with a series of enjoyable, relaxing activities designed to increase awareness and decrease tension. Group games and individual hands-on Alexander Technique work will help you learn how to prevent yourself from tightening in response to stress. Discover how preventing the “startle reflex” can help you breathe and play with greater ease. You may come to any or all of the sessions. If possible, bring your horn and a blanket or yoga mat.
Effective Approaches to Teaching and Learning to Play the Horn by Randy C. Gardner
This presentation will move from general principles of teaching and learning to very specific thoughts on how to effectively address particular physical, musical, and psychological aspects of horn playing with hornists from beginners to the most advanced. Powerful practice techniques will be discussed, along with effective approaches to diagnosing and improving areas of weakness in the simplest possible manner. Specifically targeted techniques will also be suggested to improve many fundamental horn-playing issues.
A Singing Approach to Horn Playing (Becoming a Better Musician) by Bernhard Scully
This class will address a few ways that can improve playing, and more importantly, musicianship. By focusing on the areas of the importance of buzzing on the mouthpiece, tone production and sight singing, we can better develop our musical concept and our own musical personality. Along with these benefits, we will be developing good technical fundamentals. We can learn to effectively practice AWAY from our instruments by internalizing the music. The class will explore ways in which we can connect all of these areas of playing, helping us to become a more complete musician who happens to play the horn!
Audition Bootcamp by Bernhard Scully and Jesse McCormick
As more and more students graduate from great music schools all over the world, competition at auditions continues to increase every year. The "Audition Bootcamp" lecture series will cover a broad range of topics aimed at assisting musicians develop the "skill" of auditioning including:• Preparation before practicing excerpts
• Achieving and maintaining focus throughout the audition
• Covering the basics- rhythm, intonation, tone quality, etc.
• Excerpt preparation
• Audition day tips
• Dealing with performance anxiety
Often at auditions you have less than 10 minutes to "sell" your product. Learn how to be a more effective salesperson for your playing.
Non-formal brass education in South Africa and the development of professional musicians and the development of professional musicians by Sean and Pamela Kierman
South Africans in the Western Cape did not historically have access to formal instrumental music instruction in the apartheid era due to the huge educational disparities as a result of the segregated school system instituted in 1958. As a result, much brass instruction took place in church communities and in various outreach projects. This lecture will provide a brief overview of the important role that community music has played in ensuring that music education is accessible to all and the role it has played in the development of professional musicians.
