Under siege
For about 10 years now, I have been faithfully using custom musician ear plugs whenever a rehearsal dynamic exceeds 90 decibels. I do this in order to protect my hearing.
While it is not ideal – the plugs do take some getting accustomed to – it is a better alternative than foam plugs or hearing loss.
Meanwhile, in Bavaria:
They had rehearsed the piece only once, but already the musicians at the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra were suffering.
Their ears were ringing. Heads throbbed.
Tests showed that the average noise level in the orchestra during the piece, “State of Siege,” by the composer Dror Feiler, was 97.4 decibels, just below the level of a pneumatic drill and a violation of new European noise-at-work limits. Playing more softly or wearing noise-muffling headphones were rejected as unworkable.
So instead of having its world premiere April 4, the piece was dropped. “I had no choice,” said Trygve Nordwall, the orchestra’s manager. “The decision was not made artistically; it was made for the protection of the players.”
(More.)
Buried by snow
The Milwaukee Symphony musicians donated their services to promote tourism in their state.
When Joshua Phillips signed on this season as a French horn player in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, he had no idea the job description included taking a snowball to the head.
“I was trying to do what I was told,” he explained.
(More.)
Be sure to check out the video. (Too bad that a few frames got reversed and we get backwards French horns).
Random pictures and stuff
Review of a groovy new publication
Bruce Richards gives an enthusiastic thumbs up to a new publication from The Golden Horns.
I took a chance and ordered a new book devoted to horn solos, duos, trios and quartets by The Golden Horns from Finland. It has to be the most innovative, fun, and groovy book for horn ever written. I am stunned by the concept and the amazing insight they have brought to horn chamber music and the introduction of rock, “world music” rhythms, jazz, etc… to young horn players.
(More.)
Getting Mahlered
Conductor Gustav Dudamel (aka the “Dude”) will be conducting all the Mahler symphonies within the span of three weeks.
Over slightly more than three weeks, Dudamel will conduct the nine symphonies Mahler completed plus the opening Adagio movement of the unfinished Tenth with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolivar Orchestra. Each symphony — the short ones can last an hour — is an emotionally charged epic, simultaneously a window onto the world at large and an aperture into a complex and often conflicted composer’s soul. Each symphony is a draining physical and spiritual experience for musicians and audiences alike. Each symphony is, like life, a little (and some more than a little) crazy.
(More.)
Random videos
Here are a few of Steve Park‘s latest videos – first, the second movement of the Gliere concerto. Looks like he is playing on a new horn, a Holton Merkermatic.
Second, a fun video of Lowell Shaw’s Frippery Number 14.
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A nice feature and interview of soloist Radek Baborák. Be sure to hit the Closed Captioning (CC) for translating the dialogue into a language you can understand.
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A short animation titled “Fish and French Horn.”
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“Space Taxi” by The Golden Horns
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A nice tune with a pop, contemporary feel. If the title on this video is to be believed, the horn playing is constructed from digital sampling. Sounds pretty good for a computer horn player, if that is the case.
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