Day 201: Horn-o-phrenia
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
201 — Horn-o-phrenia
19-February-1972
(Samstag–Sat.)
TRANSCRIPT
Spent most of day
practicing piano. These last couple of days have
really been terrible with the horn. I don’t know why,
but I’ve been playing extremely bad. ?X!!!$%
Spend the rest of the day playing a little guitar and
relaxing and reading. I enjoy the guitar. Perhaps I
need to get back in the swing.
REFLECTIONS
Horn-o-phrenia.
The
dictionary describes horn-o-phrenia as the following:
a playing disorder of the French horn and its
players, characterized by bipolar swings of good
playing and not-so-good playing, resulting in
confusion and anxiety for the attended horn player. A
close relative of schizophrenia.
What can I say? I’m afflicted with horn-o-phrenia. A
few days ago, I was singing the praises of practicing
and that I was doing better. Today was one of those
bipolar swings. Again, I suspect its not as bad as it
sounds (except for those occasional high notes).
The
cure for horn-o-phrenia. The cure
for horn-o-phrenia is good-old new-fashioned YouTube
videos to cheer me up— two are very nice videos based
on Wagner’s Siegfried Horn Call. These two performers
are quite accomplished. Prof. Hans Pizka does a great
job of telling the story of Siegfried and playing the
Siegfried Horn Call. A young hornist, Annamia
Eriksson, plays the call in a beautiful and vibrant
palatial hall. I don’t know Annamia. Is that an
Alexander she’s playing? Both renditions are very
nice. Thanks again, to both of you.
I can only conclude that, as a young student, I was
trying to play Wagner’s Seigried Horn Call as well as
I could. Damn those high notes.
Hans Pizka tells the story of (and
plays) the Siegfried Horn
Call
Annamia Eriksson, playing
Siegried’s Horn Call in a beautiful
hall
John
- - - -
