Well, Mahler first without (sans) assistant ? No problem, young colleague. We in Europe, we are not used to play with an assistant, no matter in the amateur, the brass band or the professional orchestra. But if there is no assistant, there is another assistant present already. Listen to the other voices in the section. There is a lot of doubling of the parts. Here and there "lowering speed" & let the third & fifth do the heavy duty tutti stuff. If you are not so experienced, get the score & mark the things in your & your partners parts. It works superbly & the horns will not sound so brutal. If the horns are loud, they should be loud + elegant.
And about the preceeding piece (Appalachian Spring): why not letting the assistant play first & you assist him or her ? So you have a good warm up during Appalachian & you can serve energy by shortening your personal warm up before the concert. And now a personal question: how about the strings in your youth orchestra ? Do you have that many good violins ? Or do you play it in a band transcription ? Anyway, don�t take it wrong, a high school & middle school orchestra playing Mahler no.1, may I express some doubts perhaps ? Isn�t that some kind of megalomania by the responsible for the orchestra, or some megalomania by the conductor ? Off course, "tschinderassabummm" makes fun special if all the members of the orchestra be involved. And for you, young friend, again. You can fool the conductor at the introduction to the trio, you know: thaaah - thaaah -- thaaaeeeaah - thaaeeaah. Set the first two notes with a wonderful bell like accent, well separated, longer separated from the third measure much softer and the fourth measure again much softer & a bit retardando like a question mark. He will like it & not realize you fooled him. This will give you some feeling of superiority (if you do it well). Yes the rapid staccatos upwards, never with double tongue, as you cannot hit these rapid eights at full power when using double tongue: just ta-ka-ta-ka-ta ` ta-ka-ta-ka-ta� etc. Do not overblow the choral during the finale. The most beautiful thing is the passage of the two horns in piano dynamics. Do it like in a dream, very romantic, very light, - but perfect in pitch & phrasing. Good luck for the performace. Remember: power is nothing without the right technic & the right strategy. Hans Pizka At 02:36 AM 3/2/2003 +0000, you wrote: >Hello > >My youth orchestra(entirely high school and middle scholl students) is >currently playing Mahler's First Symphony. I am principal horn and >because we >only have seven horns, I do not have an assitant. I am looking for any >suggestions on how to play the symphony sans assistant horn after playing >first on Appalachian Spring (with assistant) and with enough lip left to play >a concert with a different orchestra- the program includes Wagner's Good >Friday Spell and the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde among >others. _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans.pizka%40t-online.de _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
