Well, I've gotten unpardonably behind. Too much fun stuff going on here. I'll start with Thursday and work back.

After an early (for me) breakfast, I head over with my compatriot Peter Roll to William Hobson's presentation/performance on the alphorn. As we are walking across campus, it starts to snow! The white stuff comes down for about fifteen minutes, although it's too "warm" to stick to anything. Unfortunately the recital hall is just a bit small for this noble instrument, but Hobson puts on an entertaining and superb show. It's almost enough to make you want to find the C$2500 to order one … Dr. Daryl Caswell also discusses a bit of the technology of alphorn design. A very worthwhile presentation and one that cements my intent to show up later in the day at the alphorn excursion to Lake Louise.

The next session on tap is entitled "Amateur Session: for all serious amateurs." One of the comments that was heard frequently last year was the lack of topics for those of us who are primarily recreational players, and this conference represents the I.H.S.' initial effort to address that segment of the audience. Marilyn Bone Kloss starts out with a reasonable sets of do's and don'ts for getting along in an ensemble, as well as a draft of her upcoming article in the Horn Call. There are many good ideas here, and things that I will talk to her about excerpting for my ensemble's newsletter. Next up is Paul Mansur, who says that he now considers himself an amateur since retiring; he offers tips on practicing effectively in a limited time and also hands out several warmup exercises. Looks like good stuff. The final thing on tap is a 'master class on multiple horn orchestral extracts' with W. Peter Kurau, professor of horn at the Eastman School of Music. I had figured that people would have been pre-selected for this; imagine my surprise when Marilyn started asking for volunteers. Of course, my horn is all the way at the other end of the campus; Marilyn very generously allows me to use her E. Schmid and mouthpiece so that I can have a go. So, four of us end up on Die Frieschutz - which most of you probably know is for two horns in F and two in C. Well, I can't sight read and transpose, and plop myself on the second horn in F part. It then turns out that someone else can't transpose, and isn't willing to play first, so I end up playing first. Fortunately it isn't terribly high - though of course the initial entrance is a piano high G (written). Of course, one of Marilyn's points was that you must be able to transpose..

We struggle through the excerpt; after all, we are amateurs - but Peter makes some great suggestions in the limited time we have available. It reinforces the opinion I gained last year that his students are lucky to have him - and when he says afterwards what a special group of people they are, I'm even more impressed.

The duo that follows us (on a Beethoven excerpt) shows a bit more skill than our quartet, and Peter works extensively with them, making a significant difference in their playing. He made one in ours too, but we were fighting to find the right notes a lot.

This session was great; the suggestions I would have for future ones would be to include some band horn parts as well. As an example, some parts from Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy or Irish Tune from County Derry would work well in this context; or, transcriptions such as the Hindemith March from Symphonic Metamorphosis or Arnold's Four Scottish Dances. Why the need for band specific stuff? Well, my quartet was entirely band players. I'll feed this back to Marilyn later (and she'll see this on the list, too).

After lunch, it's time to head to the Alphorn Excursion over at Lake Louise. It is lightly raining as we (John Kowalchuk, Dr. Catherine Roche-Wallace, and myself) hop into the rental car for the 45 minute drive to Lake Louise. Alphorn players are used to playing in all sorts of conditions, however, so the show is still on. On the way, we see a black bear on the far side of the highway; this is relatively rare, as the guide I got when entering the national park only estimates 50-75 in a huge area.

By the time we get to Lake Louise, some of the alphorns have already set up on a path partway around the lake; we just follow the sound to find them! Of course, the other tourists at the lake think this is a great novelty, and there are many pictures taken and videos made of the 'performance.' All 12 alphorns set up and play the one quartet that seems to be music here for - after this, the group splits up with some going further down the lake. We remain with the first set and eventually are rewarded with the chance to play some trios. The echoes coming off the enshrouded mountains are totally enchanting. You can see why the Swiss like doing this so much.

After a couple of hours of this, we go back to Banff and head our separate ways. Tonight is the big banquet in the dining hall, so most people put on their finest and head on over. The results of the Farkas competition are announced; as I'd suspected, the young hornist from Hungary, Peter Erdei, is the winner. Also announced are the winner of the Punto and Honorary Membership awards. Johnny Pherigo is presented a plaque to commemorate his five-year term as Editor of the Horn Call. We also hear at lunch that Julia Studebaker's troubles continued today, when she did not show for her master class. Froydis apparently filled in at the last second.

The evening concert presents two hornists who I am not familiar with, but both of whom end up doing a fine job. The program is:

Stransky is playing a Vienna (pumpen-) horn, and displays amazing skill and virtuosity with that instrument. The crowd gives him only the second standing ovation of the conference at the conclusion of the Brahms. Maruyama also puts in a winning performance, especially on the 'Carmen Fantasy.' All the accompianists seem to be having an incredibly good time, as well, especially Ms. Kanamaru, who continues the wonderful work she put in at last year's conference.

All for now - Wednesday's summary to follow shortly.

Ron (delinquent) Boerger