When people meet me during rehearsals and after concerts and find out that I've only really started playing horn a couple years ago, they tend to have a lot of questions. One of my favorites is...
Well, to answer this we have to go back to 3rd grade when I first picked up the trumpet. I played that almost all the way up to high school in band and the Colts Cadets. Then in high school I still played trumpet in marching band my freshman year and I played it jazz for a couple years. The big problem I noticed though was that our school had three very good trumpet players that I thought I could never beat. On the other hand our school had no French horns so this much less competitive.
To show what I was up against this first year, a flute player transfered over the horn and would turn her chair around so her bell pointed the audience and thought the thumb trigger was an octave key.
To show what I was up against this first year, a flute player transfered over the horn and would turn her chair around so her bell pointed the audience and thought the thumb trigger was an octave key.
By no means was I good and I didn't pursue the French horn at all my first two years of high school. Towards the end of my sophomore year I started thinking I wanted to improve my horn skills, especially when I got my Colts contract and after we got done playing "Song for Lyndsay," by Andrew Boysen, which really touched me. Over the summer with the Colts on mellophone it was becoming very apparent I would need to work on my playing when I got back to real life.
When I returned I started taking lessons with Wendy Hinman on French horn, and at first I had the goal of making All-State... didn't even get a recall. Now I knew I needed to buckle down and practice so I wouldn't be embarrassing myself on the horn anymore. I kept practicing and doing honor bands, and it seemed like I was starting to get better!
What led me to continue on my study of the horn is when I learned how diverse it was compared to any other instrument. With hand horn, stop horn, lip trills, and endless other cool "tricks" I've always found it fun and excited when I learn something new about the horn. I consider like an adventure through music, and yes, sorry for the cheesiness.
No comments:
Post a Comment