Welcome!
I’m writing this blog with all my trials, tribulations and triumphs to provide some insight to all of you re-learning (or starting) the horn. Hopefully it will help you realize that it can be done to some level of success defined by you and all the problems, heartache, misery, etc., (I can go on and on) that has happened to me and will probably happen to you really isn’t so bad. There will also be days of awe, pure joy, delight, happiness – i.e. success – that will more than make up for the bad days. In the beginning I had way more bad days than good days but the tide seems to be turning. Everyone says the horn is one of the most difficult instruments to learn. Yup, that seems to be true. It is also one of the most rewarding instruments to learn and one of the most beautiful sounding instruments. My opinion of course but if I didn’t think that why would I bother to learn to play it? The triumph of getting it right, whatever the ‘it’ is for that practice day, rehearsal, audition, performance, or whatever, is worth all the bad days.
This is the 1st blog I’ve written and I’ve discovered that blogs are posted newest to oldest. That makes sense unless readers should read the oldest first. That’s the way my story of starting the horn again should be read since my story started about a year ago. I highly recommend reading this blog starting with my post, “The Beginning” and continuing oldest to newest.
Please leave comments, good and bad. That way I can learn from you and hopefully you can learn from me. Finally, this story isn’t necessarily limited to aspiring hornists. Learning any instrument takes time and there will always be ups and downs. I think you will find parallels even though much of the story – method books, embouchures, horn buying and such – is horn specific.
I also want to thank the members of the Yahoo Horn Group for their advice without which I would have been lost more often than not.
Sincerely,
Tina Barkan
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Tina,
There are many musicians who have started back after a long time away from their music instrument. I have so many stories to tell regarding starting back that it would take days of typing to relate.
I started back at age 52, nine years ago, after 33 years away from the horn. I had played in middle school and high school and one year in a university wind ensemble and symphony orchestra. I quit at age 19.
I had no intention of playing horn again, but I saved my new Conn that I used for only two years, thinking that someone in the family might want to play it. I still play on this same horn, a series C 8D that is in nearly new condition.
What coaxed me back to playing was a series of events: a life tragedy; a work colleague who was a horn player; and the existence of many amateur bands and orchestras in my area. I started to attend some of the local concerts. After attending the concert of a nearby amateur symphony orchestra one night, I was walking to the parking lot and was just behind a very senior looking violinist in his tuxedo. The two of us struck up a conversation for a few minutes as he put his violin in the trunk of his car. He told me that he had just returned to playing violin after being away from it for 60 years; he was 79 years old. Well, that made an impression on me, and was another step along the way toward the day for starting back myself.
I started practicing 30 minutes a day in that first year. A year later I was playing in that same symphony orchestra that I just mentioned. I have been at this now for nine years. I am still improving; in most ways I am a better hornist now than I was as a youth. This has been a rewarding experience. I wish I started back sooner than I did.
Larry
Its so encouraging to read these posts. I too took up the horn late. Its a great thing to fill your time with such a worthwhile activity. I f youre retired you have the time and for older people there are wonderful health benefits esp keeping the respiritory system fit. Good luck and enjoy music making on this great and beautiful instrument.
Eric
You are very brave to embark on your horn journey.
With its rich history and diversity I remain memorized and amazed by the versatility of the Horn. It is a happy challenge every time I play to increase my ability. Often rewarded with beautiful music.
Enjoy yours
Eric
This is a great idea–if it’s a blog where people returning to the horn after many years can communicate with each other and share accounts of their return and encourage others.
I returned after 67 years, after being diagnosed with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and having lost almost a third of my lung capacity. It started with wondering if I could make any sound with the horn, given my diminished lung capacity (I was forgetting that the horn itself is just an acoustic amplifier–and glorifier–of the sound you make with your lips and the mouthpiece).
I told my doctor of this “crazy idea,” and he immediately shot back, “It’s a good idea” and explained why: the disciplined breathing required. That was 2 years ago, and it hasn’t been easy, and I haven’t been able to return to my original level of ability (if indeed I had any ability), but I have a far better teacher now than my second teacher back in 1949 or ’50: a stern taskmaster who was impatient if I didn’t get a new exercise right the first time. My current teacher is a paragon of patience.
(I’d better quit now, before I ramble on even longer than I already have. But thanks for creating this blog!)
Hi Walter – Thanks for your comments! I hope that my blog will become a place where ‘back to the horn’ folks come to share their experiences. It would also be a great place for discussion about dealing with all the medical things that plague us as older hornists. Just the fact that you have mentioned returning to the horn with COPD may encourage someone out there to give it a go.
My teacher is also a paragon of patience. A stern taskmaster wouldn’t have made it past the first half hour.
Sincerely,
Tina
A medical–or medical related–note: When my primary care physician told me that I should take up the horn again, he also recommended I get a teacher and stick with the horn and lessons for at least a year. This was savvy advice, because there were many times when, thoroughly discouraged, I wanted to quit and would have quit, but didn’t because I had decided not to until that year was up. By that time, I was hooked.
Not because I had made great progress; I hadn’t. I was hooked partly because I knew the breathing discipline that I’d learned would probably disappear if I quit, and partly because my love of the horn had increased ten-fold in the year. I think anyone who has played the horn before and didn’t dislike its sound would be hooked by the end of a year. It’s that kind of instrument.
I like the website. Maybe Tom Greer would like a plug on the links section.
Dave and the dog – meanest music critic in Colorado
Glad you like the website! I have added Tom to the list of links. Good idea.
I am 86 years old, having played the horn in the following years: 13-19, sporadically 20-30, regularly from 52-82, all as an amateur. While in college,( U of Chicago)I met my wife, who sang in the chorus for the 19th century German operetta “Der Waffenschmied” where I played in the college symphony. When I was 52, it was she who encouraged me to take it up again.
Although I have recently quit playing in our local town band, and donated my horn to the local school system,my pulse still quickens at the sound. I have met (briefly) several of the star performers, often at meetings of the IHS.
The book by Farkas was a godsend when I took up the instrument again in 1952.
Tina, I played horn for two years in high school and then picked it up again on my 38th birthday. I have been taking lessons ever since (now 9 years), and I play in a community band and orchestra. I am always the only one in the group who isn’t a teacher of some sort, but I dig my heels in and keep playing. Good luck!
Tina, started playing at 55-56. Didn’t know a C from a B from a D….and didn’t know how difficult the horn would be!
Still playing and enjoy your blog.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5512/
Very out-dated family website. Kids married, dog is gone, but wife and horn are still with me:-)
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment!
Where in Long Island are you? I’m in Miller Place.
From reading your website it looks like you started back in 1998. How are you doing now? Did you get into the community orchestra?
Hi Tina, how funny that my friend and pro horn player suggested I check out your blog…. and here I see you every week in band!!! My story is the same as yours; played in high school, laid off it for 25 years, then picked it up again about 5 years ago. Very frustrated, almost gave it up several times; took lessons for two years. Just recently had a huge breakthrough with a change in embouchure, so have found much more enjoyment playing lately with more progress in the last 4 weeks than in the last 4 years. Looking to do some horn quartet stuff; interested??? I’m in Center Moriches. How is the new horn treating you??? See you Monday night. Jonathan Penney
Hi John,
Yes I am very interested in playing quartets. The new horn is wonderful but I am struggling through a mouthpiece nightmare. I’m going to be blogging about it (again) in the next day or two. See you Monday.
This certainly falls into the small world category.
Tina
Tina- What a great blog, just what I have been looking for, cohorts who have joined in the pain and joy of coming back to playing the horn after a long hiatus. I played in high school, didn’t play again until I was 35 in a local community band that was outstanding. It had lots of talented people and we played great stuff. Got my chops back and thought I was doing pretty darn good by the time 6 years of playing roled around. Then had another 15 year hiatus (to long to explain why)and started playing again with U of Alaska Ensemble here in Anchorage. Been at it 5 years, but I am struggling this time. My counting is a disaster sometimes and I can’t always get the brain and fingers working together to play the fast stuff. Thought of quiting again, but thought I’ll be damned if I will, even thinking about a new horn. I look forward to reading your blog.
Paul Jackson
Hi Paul,
Welcome! I feel your pain with the counting. Yesterday my horn teacher reminded me again about using the dreaded metronome. I’m going to have to figure out how not to completely block it out when I play. I did get a good tip about two months ago from Scott Bacon that has helped the brain / fingers problem. For any fast etude or passage practice it slowly by first putting your finger down deliberately and then play the note. So a C major scale on F horn would be C, put down 1st valve, D, lift up 1st valve, E, put down 1st valve, F and so on. Then build up speed always using this technique. It feels very odd at first. I had to think very hard to get this working. However, my brain / fingering coordination has improved dramatically. Let me know if this works for you.
Sincerely,
Tina
Tina -
I’ve truly enjoyed reading your blog and can truly sympathize with you on so many levels! I’d love to talk to you about your horn, mouthpiece and embouchure issues in greater detail if you’ve got some time and are willing to call me (or e-mail me with your number). I’ve been through so many identical issues – trying (and falling in love with) an Otto horn, trying and wanting to like the LDx5 (and ultimately not liking it), trying the Laskey mouthpiece and getting frustrated and not knowing why, switching mouthpieces more frequently than changing socks and so on….
If you’d like to call, you can reach me at 540-429-2335. I know it’s a holiday weekend, but I’m certainly not doing anything, so please feel free to call at anytime. I’m in your same timezone.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Jeremy
PS-
Please pardon any typos…I’m using a phone to type and it has a tiny screen.
Hi Jeremy,
Wow. I would definitely like to talk to you about this similar path we seem to be going down. I’m swamped tomorrow with all the family home but after turkey day my life should calm down and I’ll give you a call. Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Tina
Gee, I had no idea there were so many others out there all taking up horn after a long hiatus.
I played horn in high school, college, and the US 30th Army band. Then put it down in 1970 when I went to work (telephone company switchman, then mostly computer system administration and programming). For 4 decades I would rarely, if ever, pick up my horn. But I still kept it, hoping I might get back into it one day. I retired in October 2009 (at age 65) and have played my old horn a few hours per week since then. Things are coming back, though I’m not yet back to where I was in my youth.
The horn I have is the same horn that my parents bought for me in 1961. They bought it in West Berlin while on vacation. Supposedly it was smuggled across from East Berlin. I’ve never seen another one like it. It’s a F/Bb compensating horn made by “Meister Karl Dressel”. It has mechanical linkages and a detachable bell. It’s been a pretty good horn, but I think it could use a good cleaning, something I hope to get done if/when I find a 2nd new/used horn. I will probably keep my old horn for ever as it has sentimental value for me.
Finding a new horn is turning out to be much more difficult than I thought. Music stores only keep a very few new horns and I find it difficult to judge older horns. I think I may just have to wait many months if not a year or more for some knowledgeable professional to point me to a good horn.
I have not yet found a band/orchestra/chamber group to play in, but there is an opportunity coming up in February. I feel I really need to play in a group to get a feeling of fulfillment. But even without, it’s fun and satisfying if/when I play and feel improvement in my playing.
Cheers,
Marnix
Tina
Once a Horn player…always a horn player? Was is it with old horn players picking the beast up after decades? I do not know but the bug has bit me as well!
I sold off my 6D years ago and recently I picked up a demo Willson CS 240. Great Swiss horn.
I had a question about timing and attending the BTI. It seemed to me that you were on your journey for a year before gracing the doors of BTI. I have no idea of where I will be in 5 months. I am taking lessons. I am practicing but I also have the dreaded day job. I work from home so I can get in practice AM and PM.
I am just starting to read your posts and am looking forward to reading many more.
I am not sure if you mentioned the Jasper Rees book, ” A Devil To Play”? It chronicles this UK player’s first year of playing after 20+ years of not….like the rest of us. If you have not read it is a scream with lots of British humor.
Keep it up Tina!! Thanks for sharing.
David,
Thanks for writing! I was at BTI about a year after I went back to the beast. I was able to keep up with most of it. The horn choir was not a problem at all. The quartet was a bit more challenging to say the least but it was worth every minute of it. There was one fellow who had only started up again 3 months before BTI and he seemed to be okay. And there was a lady there who had been playing for about 9 months. It’s a very nurturing environment and I never felt like I wasn’t good enough to be there. I plan on going again this year.
I did read “A Devil to Play”. I enjoyed the book and it got me to drag out Mozart 3 and work on it for a while. I may be speaking heresy but I’m not a big fan of Mozart so I got to a point where I could play it okay, not great and certainly not at performance level, and then I put it away.
Speaking of old horn players coming back to the horn, a friend of mine who plays 1st horn in the band I’m in has just started a Facebook page called the Midlife Horn Player. You may enjoy reading or participating in the discussions.
Sincerely,
Tina
Tina
Thank you! I will eagerly await your postings and seek out the Facebook page!
I also appreciate your encouragement at BTI. The timing may not be perfect but I hate to pass up the chance. I know I have an open slot in my calendar and so I will push ahead. I will drop you a line in a few months to amuse you with my stories as I am sure I will have them.
If anyone reads this post and I will go to Facebook, I am interested to find if anyone else like me is a fan of Willson horns? I think I may have found an undiscovered gem. A Swiss handmade horn that competes well with a Paxman 23 and an Alex 103 at slightly less cost (Willson seems to have raised their prices as their popularity picks up)
Thanks again Tina!!
Dave
Tina, this may be redundant at this point,but are you familiar with Jasper Rees’ book “Devil to Play,” a hilarious, wonderful, informative chronicle of the British journalist’s saga re-learning the horn at age 39, having last played it at 17? He vows to play the Mozart Third Concerto at the British Horn Society, after one year of resuming practice..
I see above that you have seen the book. Excuse me for not reading the comments before commenting.
I started in playing the Horn when I was 64. Fortunately, I had an excellent teacher who played in the symphony orchestra and who was very tolerant of my efforts.
I have had interesting experiences with my efforts in joining community symphonic bands. Some band directors seemed happy to have me in their band but others told me to leave and not come back until my playing was at an acceptable level for them.
I now play in two symphonic bands and practice at least an hour a day.
Richard
Hi There
Thanks for the great blog. I too quit after high school and started again at 65 when I retired. I’m in a community orchestra and 2 bands – lots of fun and great performing experience. I take lessons from Wendy Limbertie here in Toronto- a good player and excellent teacher.
I have had the good fortune to be at the 2009 IHS Symposium and the recent IWBC meeting here in Toronto, and have heard and met some great players: Anamia Larsen, Jeff Nelsen, Joan Watson, Andrew Pelletier, Lisa Bontrago & Michelle Stebleton, Christopher Leuba, Fergus Mc William, Patti Evans, Gail Williams, Eric Ruske and Others.
PS Patti Evans is the Principal Horn with the Winnipeg SO and an AMAZING player!!, he said seriously enviously!!!
I too will be at the NJ BTI this year and appreciate the comments above on another’s experience there.
I first read a review of Jasper’s book the same week I decided to get back into the saddle: got it a month later and a great read.
Being a bit of a gearhead, I have a Berg single Bb, A Hoyer double, a no -name Chinese single Bb and 2 valvectomied horns- one F&Eb ( & soon to be D & C) and another Bb and A. (Old saying: “beware of the man with only one gun for he probably knows how to use it!”)
PPS check out “Bach Valentin Eschmann” on You Tube, then try to find your socks in the next county.
Cheers
Thanks for your comments! I was also at 2009 IHS and the IWBC last week. I will be at BTI so we can chat there. I’ve always been a computer and technology gearhead but haven’t yet gotten into the multiple horn camp. Maybe someday when I play better. I have probably purchased all the ‘this will make you play better’ horn toys but they really haven’t made me play better. I’ve learned that the only one who can make me play better is me.
Sincerely,
Tina
Hullo, Tina. I’m a week away from 52 and about a year ago thought I might like to take up the horn again, which I had abandoned in its case for about 15 years. I wondered whether it would be possible, and googled and found your blog. So I took the horn for a thorough service and have been playing it obsessively ever since. I went to the IHS in Brisbane and had the absolute time of my life. So count me in as another re-convert!
Congratulations on starting to play again. Thanks for your comment and thanks for reading my blog! I’m still obsessed and I hope to stay that way. I had the same experience at IHS last year in Illinois. I didn’t want it to end. I considered going to Brisbane but 25 hours in an airplane was more than I wanted to deal with plus I had many rehearsals and concerts to play in. If you have any questions that I can help with give me a shout.
Sincerely,
Tina
It is so encouraging to meet the community of like minded horn players.
I took up horn i my early 50s and now that im retired its my major interest. I play in a community orchestra and im learning jazz horn. I dont have a teacher yet.
Good luck and keep practicing.
Tina
A year later and I have some updates. I too started my own little website but it does not have the traffic you have. I also went to BTI and it was great and am going back agian this year.
I am also writing an article for “The Brass Herald” (UK publication gaining a following here in the U.S.). I am covering the Barry Tuckwell Institute this year but am I also doing a second article on folks like us. Those that took up an intstrument later in Life or those, like me, who after 3 decades, dusted off the horn and played again.
I plan on speaking to several folks for this second article and I hope some folks will leave post at my blog as to why they started or came back.
Hope you are well. Thanks for the inspiration!
Dave “Scooter” Bryan
Hi Tina,
It’s Lyn from the BSO Academy….Such a wonderful week. It’s been very difficult coming home for both John (tuba) and I. Not many of our friends understand what an experience we just had.
I wish I could have gone to the BTI this week but it just wasn’t possible. Anyway, it was great meeting you. I think we should have talked more. I, too am totally obsessed with the horn. I absolutely love it! And I admire you for the progress you have made! I hope our paths will cross again someday!
Lyn Banghart
Hi Lyn,
Yes, it was an amazing week. I also wish I could have gone to BTI and I hope that next year the two programs won’t be back to back. I too hope our paths cross again – maybe at the BSO Academy next year. There is always email!
Tina
Hi Tina
While dealing with a serious 1-on-1 with cancer I started thinking about things I wished that I had done. Because I’ve been blessed and lucky most of my life the list wasn’t long, but at the top was the horn. I had not played horn since I was a senior in High School, forty nine years ago. My wife knew somone who played in a Brazosport Wind Ensemble and said we should go to a rehearsal and listen. Next Monday night we were there. After about an hour a very nice lady handed me a folder of music and told me to pick one of the school horns and showed me where to sit. I couldn’t even remember the fingerings and I could barely read the music because of the tears in my eyes.
That was six months ago. My wife let me buy the horn of my dreams, an 8D. I always have a mouthpiece in my pocket. I did not remember how hard a horn is to play but its worth every hour of practice because once in a while it’s all there, even if only for a few measures and you hear something so beautiful that you forget that it’s coming from the instrument you are holding.
To anyone who ever played, it doesn’t matter how “good” your are. There is no pressure to be First Chair. There is the joy of sharing with others something only a few people cand do: I can play horn.
BTW, Scooter I saw your post above. I love the Yamaha.
Regards to all
Forrest Mobley
Angleton, Texas
Hello Tina,
Just keep playing! I’m a (burnt out) NY broadway pit player that needed to explore other professions for a while. I can honestly say that it something that never leaves you. No matter what I sound like that day, I’m a happier person after playing. I can definitely offer some help. What gets me in shape the quickest is 2 things. Air and buzz. Make sure you’re using enough air from the first note of the day. I’ve gone through entire routines only to find a half hour later that I never took a complete breath! Playing a HUGE old conn, you an see the problem. The other is buzz. Practice with the rim only. It gets the metal out of the way of the air. I sound so much more focused when I’m feeding the horn the correct pitches. Lastly, when you feel confident, record yourself. Mirrors and recorders don’t lie!
Please stay in touch. It looks like you’ve got one of my friends here in VA – Jeremy posting as well.
Cheers,
Don Spaulding
I’m not sure if this is the correct place to ask (I’m not au fait with blogging)… however, I’m interested to hear about your Dieter Otto horn.
I have been unable to find many online reviews of Otto horns. I’m yet another late life returnee to horn playing (haven’t played since 1979) and I would like to start out with a horn that I can keep for years, rather than upgrade models constantly. The Otto appeals to me at this stage but I’m a bit concerned about your experience of finding it difficult to get a good tone. Also, I’m wondering if they are more difficult to get serviced?
Hi Mark,
Thanks for writing! I’m selling my Otto horn but not because I don’t like it. I think Otto horns are great horns and they sound great. My initial issue was sound but that was me playing badly, not the horn. I, fortunately, fixed that issue with the horn but developed a physical problem while playing a 1969 8D that I got in the spring. The Conn is a heavy horn my already bad tendonitis in my left shoulder got worse to the point of not being able to hold the horn up to play it. I ended up practicing with my elbow on a table to relieve the pain. Consequently I started looking for the lightest horn I could find and I ended up with a Schmid which is why I’m selling the Otto. My shoulder problem isn’t solved but it’s a whole lot better.
As far as servicing an Otto, that probably depends on where you live and how you feel about shipping your horn around. Scott Bacon at Seigfried’s Call sells them and has mine there. He’s in Beacon, NY. Houghton Horns in Dallas, TX also sells them. Both are great dealers and first rate to do business with.
Feel free to email me if you want to chat more. tina.barkan@mac.com.
Sincerely,
Tina