[Trombone-l] Conch shell on Reveultas

[Tom Gibson]

I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about what reviewers say,  
Raymond. Very few of the paper's subscribers do:-)
Believing the good reviews and taking offense at the bad are both  
probably ill-advised.
There is a bit of a void in formal "music criticism" here in Atlanta  
since the AJC has re-structured and basically fired Pierre Ruhe.
I don't notice much difference in attendance, interest, and support  
for the live music scene....though I do miss his often snide, holier- 
than-thou attitude. I think that's part of their game. It's amusing.
I do notice fewer players from stage looking around for his big red  
coiff in the audience......I think many miss seeing it, actually.

Some of the best reviews I've seen were by Virgil Thompson. There's a  
compilation book available with his "best of". It's very entertaining  
and witty.

Congrats on the conch performance!

Dr. Tom Gibson
tom at trombonelessons.com
Visit me at iTunes:
Trombonelessons.com Video Podcasts
(or just search "trombonelessons" at the iTunes store)










On Sep 10, 2007, at 8:27 AM, Raymond Horton wrote:

OK, remember about three weeks ago when I was asking for advice on the
conch shell part on Revueltas "La Noche de los Mayas?" I got some very
helpful advice from the list - particularly Jeff Albert and Jackie
Harris-Stone. I practiced the shell, and was ready for my four-bar
cadenza, (wailed a couple of high E's - you guys would have been proud
of this bass trombonist) and the whole thing went absolutely superbly.
So this is what I get to read in the paper, in the midst of a favorable
review (you can see the whole review at:

<http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070909/ 
SCENE05/709090582/1011/SCENE>


“You don't often see a large man in white tie and tails blowing into a
conch shell (do you think his mother beams, ‘My son, the conch  
player!?’).”

This reviewer is a really snide person whom I have known for years -
he's been in my house. He really thinks he is hot stuff, I guess because
he is the nephew of a famous composer with the same last name. Years
ago, when the paper would print the reviewers "credentials" at the top
of their reviews, his would read "Mr Adler took a music appreciation
course at Eastman School of Music."


I wrote a letter to the paper, but I don't know if I should send it.
Does this just make me sound defensive and pathetic? Here it is:

-------------

To the Editor of the _/Courier-Journal_/:

Right in the midst of reading Andrew Adler’s positive review of a
glorious night by the Louisville Orchestra (“Fanfara is a full and
fabulous night of fun” September 8 SCENE) I was surprised to read a
rather odd, humorous reference to myself: “You don't often see a large
man in white tie and tails blowing into a conch shell (do you think his
mother beams, ‘My son, the conch player!?’).” I don’t know why the
comment bothered me (perhaps because my mother passed away this last
March, but yes, she was proud of me). The comment would be bad enough if
I were, indeed, a lonely conch player, waiting by the phone for my next
gig, but Andrew knows me – I have been Bass Trombonist of the Louisville
Orchestra for a third of a century, have played in a solo capacity with
the orchestra on bass trombone and euphonium (according to my scrapbook,
he called my euphonium playing a “modest astonishment,” whatever that
means), have had compositions performed by the LO and other groups in
town (two that Andrew reviewed – he liked one, sort of passed on the
other). No, not a lonely conch player, I was just handed the shell three
weeks ago (it often falls to the bass trombonist, since the Revueltas
work we were performing has no part for our instrument) and asked to
learn to play it. I researched the instrument, listened to other players
and recordings, practiced it, and did as much with the part and my
improvised four-bar cadenza as I possibly could. Afterwards, musicians,
conductor, and members of the audience complimented me for it, a
composer offered to write for me and the instrument (I had to tell him I
had already packed it up to send it back), and, oh yes, I read the
ridicule of myself and my mom in the paper. I suppose some try to make
the most of their opportunities, some don’t.

Raymond Horton
Bass Trombonist
Louisville Orchestra




_______________________________________________
Trombone-l mailing list
Trombone-l at maillists.samford.edu
http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l