Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Horns in the Air

Spontaneous concert of duets by Jacques-Francois Gallay played
on natural horns, on a plane, in Brazil.


 Gallay and the large volume of music he composed for horn were the subject of my dissertation.  This is an example of the type of horn I play on occasion.

(h/t Bruce at Horn Matters)

3 comments:

  1. Compared to the piano, the only instrument I (used to) play, is the horn difficult to learn? And by that, I mean, how many years before you get beyond the likes of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?"

    FWIW, I started playing in first grade, and played a simple Haydn concerto by Sixth grade, and Mozart concertos and Beethoven sonatas in Ninth grade.

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  2. Hey, sounds like you were playing some good stuff when you were in school. The vast majority of my piano students are not nearly as precocious as you or I were at that age.

    But if you were my horn student, I would have you out of "Twinkle, Twinkle" in short time. :)





    (btw, I never can seem to remember what FWIW means. It took me from when I first read your comment two days ago to just right now for it to translate. FWIW=for what it's worth. And if I'm wrong, please let me know.)

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  3. No, you are right, FWIW is For What It's Worth. It 's just one f the shortcuts I choose to use to make typing easier (not to dumb me down.)

    I was taught by the nuns in Catholic school. I was the only one in first grade who took private lessons. Actually, I think I was probably the only one who got private lessons for several years. They usually grouped the other students my age, and put me in with the groups once in awhile so I wouldn't seem to be singled out. At least that's what I think.

    When I got to high school, they paired me with another girl in my grade and we played Mozart concertos together at the recital. Mozart didn't write duet concertos - One of us got the piano part, and the other got to use the orchestra lines to 'make up' the other part. Great fun (not so much) - the other girl was better than I was, but probably because she practiced more seriously than I did.

    By the way, I heard that she has been supporting herself (since her divorce) by teaching piano lessons. And here, I can't even play anymore because of numb fingertips. Alas. Also, I don't have a piano anymore - my brother sold it without telling me.

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