Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Horn Section: Q&A

The answer to the horn pedagogy, how do you say it? Questionnaire from Matthew Bramart from the Lebanon Valley College. Hello Matthew. Question number one. Do you prefer playing in the high or the low range of the horn? Or are you equally comfortable throughout all registers? I'm equally uncomfortable throughout all registers, but if I would prefer something, I would prefer... What do you prefer? Everything. I like it all the way. What are some things you do to improve stability in the high register? Sam. Stefan's always telling me I should be improving stability in the high register, so I would say practice, practice, practice. But what? I do this, like you told me. But that's more flexibility. It's the only thing I can do in the high range. Very easy. I'm going up. I have my famous warm-up for the high range. Okay. I've never heard Fergus do a warm-up at all. What are some of the things you do to improve your stability in the low register? Oh. Stefan? I try not to avoid not to practice low register. That's very naughty. Is it? You try to avoid to practice low register. Not avoid. Very good. And so on. You see, dear viewers, that he's keeping his chin down and keeping everything near to the front and everything stable and not having his hand too much on the bell. And a lot of air. A lot of air. He's supporting also the low register. High register, you need more speed of the air, low register more. Stefan, what are some good orchestral excerpts in which to practice high horn? But slow. Slow and in F sharp, in G, in A. Low, low register. What are some good orchestral excerpts in which to practice low horn? Have you ever practiced any? I don't practice. What about Shostakovich? Shostakovich 5. That's a nightmare for everyone. Would you like to play it for us? What we will do together. Piano. I forgot the rest of it. We should have practiced it beforehand because we did what any good horn group shouldn't do and that is all breathe together at the same time. But if we were playing this in a concert, of course, we would practice and work that way. Maybe you wouldn't sit on the saucepan with me. When playing a solo in a performance that is in the extreme of the horn's range, how do you ensure you will play it successfully? I don't play solos in a performance. We pray a lot. There is no way around it. You just have to practice like a crazy man or woman. But also when you practice, you have to play like a one-time experience. Don't interrupt and start from the beginning. Just play it through and then maybe you can also record and listen to it and then you think, oh, that's terrible. Is that me or is it terrible? I have actually a very mean trick I do sometimes with myself. I set a timer so that I know 55 seconds until my entry comes and I sit there waiting for the clock to come down and then you have to play it right on that. Yeah, because the audience doesn't pay to hear you try. It's true. So you've got to put the pressure on yourself as well while you're practicing and practice getting it right just once. Klaus! Can you turn it on? Yes. That's typical preparation. So he's preparing the playing solos by eating bananas and all that stuff. Okay, is this a good one for Fergus? No, it's not actually. In a typical practice session. And for how long does my warm-up last? We have to tell you. I'm sorry. Fergus is not a big fan of warming up. So he comes into the whole room, takes his horn and goes on stage. That's something very important for Fergus. Sometimes he just does a... C or something and then he goes on. But what's very important for him is that he drinks his coffee before a performance otherwise it's a danger of falling asleep on stage. He's a phenomenon. This man is a phenomenon. It depends on how long the first half is, whether it's a single or a double. But actually I do warm-up about half an hour before going to the half. And the important thing also for us is that if we don't have a rehearsal in the morning but have a concert in the evening, we always practice in the morning as well. At least we do. Just to get some good muscles going and the air going. How often do you restring your valves? Valves? Valves. You don't restring them? No strings. No restringing. No string detection. So just buy an alexander so you never have to restring your valves. Do you have any tips on generally how to improve my horn playing? Your horn playing? His horn playing. Your horn playing. Whose horn playing? Mine? No, Matthew's horn playing. Matthew's horn playing. Matthew! No. Listen to good music and try to play nice. Copy and paste. Practice. Listen. Listen and practice. And also play a lot with other people because as you can see it's fun to play in one section and it's fun to play duets and quartets. Well not with you. So try and do a lot of ensemble work. And sing. Sing a lot. Yeah. Under the shower. Maybe not in public. But in tune.