Well by that logic, why would Mika Häkkinen (F1 driver) ever test drive other cars? I'm sure he enjoys driving other cars every now and then. We all do.
When I go to a symposium to play other horns, I'm not going there to find the holy grail, I'm going there to try out other instruments to see how they play. Some equipment fits people better than others. While I do get annoyed at people who try to overblow in my ear when I pick up a new instrument, I don't get too worried about it. I'm there to do my own thing and I don't compete at those things anymore, anyway. I'll admit, a lot of people ARE looking for that holy grail, that magic bullet, that heal-all amphora, or whatever. That doesn't mean everyone who tries out different horns is. For me, since I've got a good job and good income, it's fun to try out different 'toys' for a while because there isn't much of a chance to do that outside of workshops and symposiums. It also begs the question that if you are a good player and can make any horn sound good, why NOT try different horns? Not everyone drives the same car. No matter how good of a player you are, no horn is right for everyone and no professional that I know of would say "I don't care what horn I'm taking to this gig", because they usually have one or two horns that they play on, or one specific wrap/brand, and that's it, and they spent a while looking for those instruments and they are used to them. I've not known many professionals to change horns every six months, or even six years. It's usually on the order of 10-15 years or more, if they change at all. Unless anyone knows of any contrary examples? -William -----Original Message----- From: Jonathan West <jonathanwes...@googlemail.com> To: The Horn List <horn@memphis.edu> Sent: Fri, Aug 26, 2011 4:51 am Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Accuracy On 26 August 2011 08:47, Ralph Hall <ra...@brasshausmusic.com> wrote: > > I'm intrigued whenever I go > to a horn festival/gathering that most of the amateurs arriving to > participate have better instruments (at least younger!) than I've got > and that they are the same who are earnestly trying every instrument/ > mouthpiece on display looking for the Holy Grail that is unattainable > without a basic ability level and the self-help, imagination and > diligence to exploit it. > I suspect that the amateurs who agree with you don't often turn up to these sorts of events. Those who act as you describe are something of a self-selecting sample! > The common thread in the sensible advice coming from certain postings > is that accuracy is unachievable without maximum concentration. There > are no specific etudes that will do this for you and no concentration > switch that turns it on for a performance. Therefore, the only way to > train yourself to concentrate when it's really necessary, is to > concentrate all the time, from mouthpiece buzzing, through warm - up, > practise and rehearsals. How you play the horn matters much more than which horn you play. A good player can pick up almost any horn with almost any mouthpiece on it, and get a respectable sound out of it. Because he is less familiar with the foibles of that particular instrument, the tuning and accuracy might not be quite up to his normal standard. nonetheless, a listener would almost certainly be able to recognise the sound as being characteristic of the player rather than the brand of instrument. > Farkas says that to achieve anything as a > player you have to have spent at least a monastic 6 months dedicating > yourself absolutely to the horn and its mastery. For most, it seems to > be mystery not mastery. It's quite simple; it doesn't matter what > you're playing and which mouthpiece or instrument you're playing on - > make every note count as if your life depended on it. > I think it is possible to be a bit too literal about that. Two things are necessary for accuracy - concentration and familiarity. If you have an awkward passage that you need to get accurate, all the concentration in the world is not going to help unless you have taken the trouble to practice the passage properly - i.e. slowly enough to get used to getting it right. Only when it is familiar can you then make use of that familiarity to get the passage up to speed. > Eventually you will reach that euphoric state of 'relaxed > concentration' that is necessary to survive the rigours, both mental > and physical, that are an inevitable adjunct of playing to any sort of > respectable standard. > More importantly, you get to the state where the whole of your concentration is not taken up with the technical aspects of getting the right notes, and you can start devoting effort to the even more important issue of expression and phrasing, so that you can start playing *music *as opposed to a mere sequence of notes. Regards Jonathan West _______________________________________________ post: horn@memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/valkhorn%40aol.com _______________________________________________ post: horn@memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
