My son is attending the San Diego Summer Music Institute this week and I got to attend the opening lecture/performance by Jeff Nelsen, a French Horn player who played with the Canadian Brass, probably the most famous brass quintet in the world, for 8 years. He was a very inspiring speaker and I learned a lot from him that I can apply to my music. He started with Gershwin's "Summertime" and played an arrangement that included segments of Beethoven's "Fur Elise" that I may be stealing. He finished the night with an unaccompanied performance of "Nagy's Happy Blues" complete with chords created by singing while playing Ala Wade Schumann. In between was a lot of good advice on music, practice, goal setting, etc. that made me wish I could attend the week long camp at SDSU. I am very glad my son is getting this opportunity along with about 165 other high school and middle school students.
Here is a TED talk Jeff did a few years ago.
Last Edited by STME58 on Jun 26, 2016 10:40 PM
Here are a few concepts I heard from Jeff last night that I think pertain very well to harp players. I have to admit, Barbecue Bob came to mind when I heard Jeff say the first one :-) :
When asked to play louder, most wind musicians just blow harder, and tone and intonation suffer. Think of what impact is needed, and how you are going to achieve that in a musical way.
I’ve missed notes in ever audition I have done, not many, but I have missed them.
Don’t wait to work on the musicality until you have all the pitches and timing down, those will change when you play it differently from the way you learned them in order to add the musicality. Think about the story you are trying to tell from the beginning and incorporate this into your practice.
I am certain that lecture was a gold mine of information. Anyone at the top of their profession has something of value to share and if their profession is music, which instrument is secondary.
