October 09, 2011

Well, we’ve passed September of a new school year! Yay!!

No one got hurt, and everyone learned a ton! The best thing to do with our learning is to turn it into solutions. We all learned a lot of what to do, and what not to do. All those “not to do”s can still be worded in what to do. Try it…

See?! Now you’re skipping a step…a step we actually ADD to our process by choosing to think “don’t do this.”

Baby Rhys first lesson with his Baby Horn

Be Solution Based

Well, we’ve passed September of a new school year! Yay!!

No one got hurt, and everyone learned a ton! The best thing to do with our learning is to turn it into solutions. We all learned a lot of what to do, and what not to do. All those “not to do”s can still be worded in what to do. Try it…

See?! Now you’re skipping a step…a step we actually ADD to our process by choosing to think “don’t do this.”

Just do it!!

Please take 7 seconds and sign up for my NEW “Fearless Performance for Musicians” newsletter. It’s going to be awesome…I promise!

Really…it takes 7 seconds, and you’ll get a ton of great, free-and-fearless ideas.

We all had a blast at Fearless Camp this year! Everybody played, everybody had fun…oh, and learned what TO do!

Fearless guitarist Vish Watkins takes his bow

Yup, we is Fearless!!

My son Rhys just turned 1 year old!  Here he is trying on his first pair of Canadian Brass performance sneakers.  He looks ready to go…

Rhys' first Canadian Brass Concert Sneakers

He’s an excellent student.

Baby Rhys first lesson with his Baby Horn

His hand position needs some work…

Rhys and Daddy play duets!

…and don’t try to stop him from practicing!!  (Something very different from his father…who was always more-than-happy to stop.)

Get your own, daddy...this one's miiiiiiiine!!

He’s a part of a very special group of students known as Studio Nelsen…all of whom are living and learning well!

Rhys and his Studio Nelsen

Therapy on its way for us all…for sure…

Crazy Studio Nelsen pic...

Horn worshiping…

A studio that "scares others" together plays together?

…of the scariest kind.  We’re gearing up for Halloween!

Dale Clevenger has started his second year as Adjunct Professor of Horn here at IU.  It’s a treat for my students to study with both their teacher and their teacher’s teacher.

Dale will do a public master class on October 13.

We have another very special guest coming at the beginning of November…Mr. Bill VerMeulen.  He will be doing a public master class on November 4.  All are welcome at these special events.

I had a blast playing Gustav Mahler’s first symphony with the Cincinnati Symphony last week.  That is a strong and happy horn section, and a wonderful sounding orchestra. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was conducting, and he made his standards clear out of the gate, and the orchestra went from there.  Concerts had everyone leaping to their feet…after, of course, us horns stood up to play the ending of the symphony.  Thank you Gustav!

I’ll be going to Sarasota Florida to see Nina sing in Madame Butterfly.  Can’t wait!  I’ll see Rhys too…yayyyy.  Facetime and Skype are good, but nothing like the real thing, eh?!

At the end of October, I’m off to Germany to perform some recitals and master classes.   I’m going to Bavaria!!

My concert with the "Bavarian Chamber Brass"

Unfortunately, that uber-fun German celebration “OctoberFest” starts in late September, and I’ll miss it.

November 13, I will be performing Edward Gregson’s concerto for Horn and Brass Band with the Griffon Brass Band with David Martin conducting.  Dave and I are messing around with some fun arrangements of some new tunes as well for this concert.  Should be a blast…literally.

I wish you all a healthy, happy, solution-filled October!

Nina and Rhys do too…

Nelsens wishing you a wonderful October!

Sarah Paradis

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Doctoral Candidate Sarah Paradis has accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Low Brass and Music Theory at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota.  Sarah will be teaching trombone, tuba, trombone choir, music theory, and piano class at BSU.  She is currently finishing her DM in Brass Pedagogy at the Jacobs School of Music.  Throughout her graduate studies at IU, she was a member of the Pete Ellefson, Carl Lenthe, M. Dee Stewart and Jeff Nelsen studios.

 

Sarah Paradis

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Doctoral Candidate Sarah Paradis has accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Low Brass and Music Theory at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota.  Sarah will be teaching trombone, tuba, trombone choir, music theory, and piano class at BSU.  She is currently finishing her DM in Brass Pedagogy at the Jacobs School of Music.  Throughout her graduate studies at IU, she was a member of the Pete Ellefson, Carl Lenthe, M. Dee Stewart and Jeff Nelsen studios.

June 22, 2011

I was writing “Thoughts Of The Day” to my students for a while, so now I’m going to write them here . I write this and future blogs to my students, my friends, my family, strangers, and to myself….in that ever-amazing pursuit of excellence.

We can find excellence in everything! One of my favorites is finding excellence in finding patience in my pursuit of excellence. Oh, what a ride!

I was writing “Thoughts Of The Day” to my students for a while, but I’m going to write them here instead. I write this and future blogs to my students, my friends, my family, strangers, and to myself….in that ever-amazing pursuit of excellence.

We can find excellence in everything! One of my favorites is finding excellence in finding patience in my pursuit of excellence. Oh, what a ride!

Sharing other peoples’ writings is important and powerful. I’ll start with a beautiful piece that comes from an interesting source. It’s the back cover of the book, “Elements of Poker” by Tommy Angelo.

“All of my good streaks and all of my bad streaks of every length and depth have had one thing in common. They did not exist in your mind. They only existed in my mind. And this is true for everyone’s winning and losing streaks. None of them actually exist. They are all mental fabrication, like past and future. Everything that ever happens happens in the present tense. But how can you have a “streak” in the present tense? You can’t. And therefore, if you are in the present tense, which, in fact, at this time, you are, then at this moment there is no streak in your life. There is no inherent existence to streaks. The streak is there when you think about it, and when you stop thinking about it, it goes away. It blossoms and withers, all in your mind. And when your mind invents a streak, you believe it exists, because you believe what your mind tells you. But the truth is there is only the hand you are playing.”

Play your present hand!

Such a freeing piece of writing!!! You are not what you do. Risk is an approach decision that can be replaced with many things.

Be creative! After reading Tommy’s perceptive writing, I’ll take presence as my fear replacement for the day.

Good luck everyone!

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
Epictetus

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
Henry David Thoreau

Keep breathing…keep going!
Jeff

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music graduate (DM, 2006) Jessie Thoman, has become the new Assistant Professor of Horn and Music History at the University of Tennessee, Martin.  Dr. Thoman is very excited to join the great faculty of this thriving music school.  Jessie will be teaching all things horn, all things music history, chamber music, Fearlessness, and laughter.  Dr. Thoman will be moving from her position as Instructor of Horn at University of Nevada, Reno.

Jessie studied with Jeff Nelsen and will continue in her role as Assistant Director of his “Fearless Performance for Musicians” summer seminar.  Prior to completing her doctoral degree at IU Jacobs School of Music, Jessie attended The Ohio State University (MM, MA – 2000) and the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam (BM in Music Education – 1997).  Jessie will also be continuing as the horn player in the highly successful Mirari Brass touring all over the United States performing recitals and presenting masterclasses.

Photo courtesy of Kimono Photography.

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When I considered moving to Bloomington in 2005, I was living in New York City.  I mildly doubted I could be swayed to move to a small town.  Things quickly changed when I saw the incredible list if concerts and events that happen here in Bloomington.  I also got to spend some time with a few of the many impressive colleagues I might enjoy, should I join the faculty.

I was swayed.  My wife and I made the move here, and soon discovered that life in Bloomington is a wonderful mix of New York City life and my life on the pig farm in Canada, where I grew up.  This magical place has all the great things of both, and at the same time lacks the worst of both.

My name is Jeff Nelsen, and I am in my fifth year of teaching horn, chamber music, orchestral repertoire, and training “Fearless Performance” at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  I thought I’d write a quick blog on what kind of things go on here at IU over a typical month.

When I considered moving to Bloomington in 2005, I was living in New York City.  I mildly doubted I could be swayed to move to a small town.  Things quickly changed when I saw the incredible list if concerts and events that happen here in Bloomington.  I also got to spend some time with a few of the many impressive colleagues I might enjoy, should I join the faculty.

I was swayed.  My wife and I made the move here, and soon discovered that life in Bloomington is a wonderful mix of New York City life and my life on the pig farm in Canada, where I grew up.  This magical place has all the great things of both, and at the same time lacks the worst of both.

In September, 2010, I started my year by getting all my students together and discussing why we were all in Bloomington.  We decided it was more than to get our degree at the illustrious school that is Indiana University.

“Most people don’t aim too high and miss, they aim too low, and hit.”
- Bob Moawad

We wanted to train to be expressive performers!  Since we perform when we are playing our horns, meeting our future boss, or  maybe meeting our future wife or husband, expressive performance is catch-all template approach to a massive goal that creates success in all areas of life!

If we did the best training we possible could, we would be able to walk out on stage or walk up to a potential colleague and perform expressively; the bonus would be that when people experienced us doing so, they’d hire us!  But getting hired would not be our goal WHILE performing.  While performing, we are focused on performing our best Mozart or discussing great ideas well.

How well we perform is based on how we study, both technically and musically.  How creatively we study, and resultantly perform, is based on our imagination.  Here is a quote from a friend who lives in Santa Barbara.

““In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, “If we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination.” …and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.”
- Brian Andreas

Indiana University is a magical place.  There are endless opportunities and endless resources, if we use our imagination.

One of the great resources here is a new initiative called “Project Jumpstart”.

“Project Jumpstart is a student-centered and student-driven career and entrepreneurial leadership program.  With a team of students, staff, and faculty, Project Jumpstart will provide 24 high impact career workshops this year, plus new online resources, and individual advising.  We want to help YOU jumpstart your career.”

Angela Beeching is the project leader, and has created something very special here.

I spoke at one of the many wonderful workshops.  There was a room full of open-minded eager students there to take it all in.  The topic of our discussion was “Audition Success: the Specifics of Preparation and Presentation Skills”.  The subtext was:

Where to find listings, tips on how to present yourself, what and how to prepare, plus ideas for how to create more audition opportunities. For singers, pianists, orchestral players, dancers, and jazzers: we’ll consider the full range audition experience and how to enhance yours.

I loved the panel that Angela and her team put together.  Our panel was the chair of our organ department, Janette Fishell, a member of the voice department, Patricia Wise, a member of the jazz department, Patrick Harbison and a horn department member, me.

We each spoke about how we became expressive performers, and shared our thoughts about the past and present music business.  It was not surprising how many commonalities we shared between us, while also sharing a massively wide array of suggestions for reaching your goals as a musician in the 21^st century.

…and maybe shared a few laughs along the way too.  Expressive performance comes in many forms.  J

One of my students, Zach Glavan, shared a quote from the previous night’s workshop.  The workshop was titled “Me, Inc.: Assembling a Professional Portfolio, Shaping Your Attitude” with subtitles:

What do you need to present yourself professionally and artistically? And how does your attitude factor into the image you present? We’ll discuss the use of on and offline marketing materials but also the concept of building your image and reputation as a professional.

The quote was:

“Destiny is no matter of chance.  It is a matter of choice:  it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
- William Jennings Bryan

I was interviewed by two members of the Project Jumpstart team and they posted some excerpts from our great conversation on the website.  Please listen to some of my thoughts on how I’ve achieved a few of the things I feel fortunate to have done.

Right before the school year began, I hosted the fourth annual “Fearless Performance for Musicians” summer seminar.  The seminar was titled “Fearless Audition Training” the first few years, so now, regardless of its new name, most people lovingly refer to it as “F.A.T. Camp”.

Many of the performance preparation tools I spoke about during the Jumpstart lecture come from my seminars and lectures I give throughout the year.  You can listen to a wonderful radio segment about the seminar created by Bloomington’s own Annie Corrigan at WFIU.

The seminar is set up to facilitate daily performances and constructive analysis of those performances.  The largest amount of learning happens through the experience of performing over and over again in real situations.  These real situations can be simulated daily, if you use your imagination!  You can check out more about this summer’s “Fearless Performance for Musicians”. It is life changing, without a doubt!  Guaranteed!!

Here is a little bit of a “IU Life in Photos” from a month here in Bloomington.  Enjoy!

Horn students Katie Upton, Torrey D’Angelo, Ryan O’Connell, Laurel Roseborrough, Julie Gerhardt, and Eric Dumouchelle at an IU Football game!

Peggy Moran (hn) and Greg Martin (pn), performing in recital.

Zach Glavan (hn) and Jacob Medlin, local horn maker, chattin’ about horns.  Click on Jacob’s name to see what he’s been up to since coming to IU.  Here is a list of what Zach Glavan experienced at IU in the Fall of this year.  Be sure to watch his YouTube videos listed at the end.

Zach’s Fall ’10 List

ORCHESTRA

• Columbus Indiana Philharmonic (Principal Horn) David Bowden, conductor

• Symphony No. 1; Brahms
• Coronation Te Deum; Walton
• Nänie; Brahms
• Symphony No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra; Guilmant
• Christmas Concert

• Terra Haute Symphony Orchestra (Sub. Principal Horn) David Bowden, conductor

• Christmas Concert
  
• 4 Concerts with the IU Philharmonic (4th Horn)

Leonard Slatkin, conductor

• Symphonie fantastique: Berlioz
• Double Play: Cindy McTee

Arthur Fagen, conductor

• Symphony No. 4: Bruckner

Kevin Noe, conductor

• Symphony No. 4; Mahler

Arthur Fagen, conductor

• Symphony No. 5; Prokofiev

• IU Conductor’s Orchestra (Session’s led/taught by Murry Sidlin and Arthur Fagen) 3 days a week from 10-11AM

Repertoire Included…

• Symphony No. 4: Bruckner
• Appalachian Spring; Copland
• Firebird Suite; Stravinsky
• American in Paris; Gershwin

AD HOC ORCHESTRA, 2nd Horn  Paul Kim, Conductor

Rachel Patrick, violin; Dan Lelchuck, cello

Brahms Double Concerto

Verdi; La Forza del Destino

OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL PREMIER, horn

• Wizard of Wall Street; Lauren Cregor Devine

Featuring Jordan Gelber (Avenue Q) and Nicole Parker (MadTV) August 26th-29th

AUDITITIONS

• IU Ensemble Placement; IU Phil
• Toronto Symphony Orchestra, 2nd Horn
• Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra, 2nd/4th

RECITALS

• Senior Recital; Recital Hall

Thunor’s Gate: Mark Oliviero, 2010 Commissioned by Zach Glavan

Canto Serioso: Carl Nielsen, Arranged for horn and Strings by Zach Glavan

The Lost Temple: Bin Li, 2010 Commission by Zach Glavan

2 Sonatas for Horn and Strings: Luigi Cherubini (Horn and String Quartet)

Exit Music: RADIOHEAD/Thom York, Arranged by Zach Glavan

• Seraphinoff; Studio Natural Horn Recital

Sonata No. 1; Cherubini

Grand Quartet; Gallay

• Chamber Recital

Divertimento in D; Mozart (1st Horn)

Octet; Spohr (2nd Horn)

• IU Composition Recital; Auer Hall

The Lost Temple, Bin Li

MASTERCLASSES (Performed and Attended)

• Dale Clevenger – Friday, December 3rd

Suite No. 5, Sarabande; Bach

• Dale Clevenger – Wednesday, December 1st

Philharmonic Sectional; Prokofiev’s 5th

• Many Laureano – Monday, September 27th

Brass Masterclass – Bruckner’s 4th

• Liz Freimuth – Monday, October 11th

Excerpts

• Tom Sherwood – Monday, October 18th
• Gail Williams – Friday, November 19th
• Jeff Nelsen – Monday, September 6th

Excerpts

• Richard Seraphinoff

Natural Horn class every Wednesday

LESSONS – 15 this semester

• 13 + with Jeff – each usually with a performance at the beginning
• 10-12 with Rick Seraphinoff – Double horn and Natural Horn
• 2 with Dale Clevenger – performed Cherubini; 2nd Sonata
• 1 with Liz Freimuth, performed Mozart; Concerto No. 4
• 1 with Tom Sherwood; excerpts

YOUTUBE – Watch me in HD!

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4A9lkTs7hw
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3wLUDSLfaM

• In January, travelled to Spain to perform with orchestras there.
• Will be with Spanish orchestras through the summer…

 



A morning of horn…at 7am!!!  We do this 4 times a week…to varying participation.  :)

 



Ryan O’Connell teaching Studio Nelsen some ways of notating music in “Sibelius” computer software.

 



Chicago Symphony principal hornist Dale Clevenger being interviewed by two IU hornists, Eric Dumouchelle and Jenny Smoak.

 



Bruckner’s Symphony Number 4, horn section Zach Glavan, Everett Burns, Jenny Smoak, Jesse Clevenger, and Tracy Bass.

 



IU Horns, post Bruckner 4, with Maestro Leonard Slatkin, Dale Clevenger, and myself.

 



The IU Freshman Horn Choir with Michael Lombardi conducting.

 



Studio Nelsen recording project!!

 



Project Jumpstart organizer Angela Beeching (of “Beyond Talent” fame) speaking to Monday night horn class.



Comparing horns, and helping design a new 667 for Yamaha…with ears in the hall, describing the differences.  Ok, the ear’s mouths were describing the differences…

 



The most fearless performer in the world!!

 



Duet performance with Elizabeth Freimuth, Cincinnati Symphony principal hornist.

 



Ahhh yeah, we rocked it!  :)

 



IU Homecoming Parade!

 

 



Tom Sherwood, Cincinnati Symphony Associate Principal hornist at Monday night horn class!

 



Tom working with Katie Upton.

 



Beautiful fall weather in Brown County, around Bloomington.

 



Stunning…

 

 

 

 

So if you find yourself wanting to attend IU…we understand.

 

See you soon…

All the best,

Jeff

As a kid growing up in North Carolina, Jacob Medlin loved taking his toys apart to figure out how they worked.

He still likes taking things apart — the 26-year-old master’s student at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music has a box full of parts from the instruments he took apart (and never quite figured out how to put back together). Today, though, Medlin’s focus has shifted to building.

Working out of a bright blue basement studio in his Ellettsville home, Medlin creates about one new Geyer-style double French horn a month. Each horn takes him about 160 hours to complete, though he’s getting faster as he streamlines the process.

-as published by Jennifer Piurek

As a kid growing up in North Carolina, Jacob Medlin loved taking his toys apart to figure out how they worked.

He still likes taking things apart — the 26-year-old master’s student at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music has a box full of parts from the instruments he took apart (and never quite figured out how to put back together). Today, though, Medlin’s focus has shifted to building.

Working out of a bright blue basement studio in his Ellettsville home, Medlin creates about one new Geyer-style double French horn a month. Each horn takes him about 160 hours to complete, though he’s getting faster as he streamlines the process.

‘The horn chose me’

Medlin comes from a musical family; his mom plays clarinet and his dad plays horn. When it came time to choose an instrument in the third grade, he picked clarinet.

A few years later, Medlin stood before his middle school band director playing his sixth-grade audition on clarinet. There was a moment of silence before the band director looked at him and said, “You might just be one of the worst clarinet players I’ve ever had audition for me.”

Because all of Medlin’s friends were entering the advanced band program and he wanted to have the same lunch period as his buddies, he agreed to switch to horn to fill a gap in the advanced band. “All of this is to say that yes, I chose the horn, sort of, but sort of not. Really the horn chose me.”

“The same thing happened for my dad,” Medlin said, laughing. “In sixth grade, he wanted to play the drums, but the band director said ‘We have too many drums.’ My dad said, ‘OK, how about trumpet? Saxophone?’ He went through everything he could name until finally, the band director handed him a horn and said ‘Why don’t you try this?’”

Playing horn requires a lot of facial dexterity, Medlin said, pointing out the relative thinness of the rim compared with the trumpet or trombone. “Band directors are hesitant to start young children on the horn. Most kids never get around to seeing a horn until high school, and at that point, a lot of them don’t want to switch until they have some reason to.”

Horn player to instrument maker

From the sixth grade on, Medlin played the horn with increasing interest, continuing to study the instrument at the University of North Carolina, where he received his undergraduate degree in 2006. He eventually found his way to IU as a master’s student to study French horn with Jeff Nelsen at the Jacobs School.

“Jeff is the kind of teacher that focuses on the right things — making sure that you’re having an enjoyable experience, making sure that the music comes first,” Medlin said. “I had been brought up in a technically oriented school of playing. I saw him as the person who could kind of free me to get my brain out of it.”

Upon learning that his advisor, Rick Seraphinoff, built natural horns (the valve-less predecessor to modern horns), Medlin asked if he could observe Seraphinoff in action.

“I think a lot of times when you say something like that, ask if you can come by ‘sometime,’ the scheduling is kind of amorphous,” Medlin said. “But Rick said, ‘Sure, I’ll be back there at 5 or 6 tonight. You should come by.”

Medlin found that he loved watching the process of instrument-building. He began to spend 10 to 15 hours in Seraphinoff’s studio near Brown County each week, observing for a few months before he used his advisor’s tools to practice building horns of his own over the span of the next year. “Rick was the big impetus for all of this,” Medlin said, gesturing around his workshop, a veritable shrine to his North Carolina roots.

Unlike most other horn makers, Medlin doesn’t finish the horns before presenting them to their new owners. Not only is it hard to predict how a given horn will turn out, he said, but horn players are looking for different qualities based on their personal preferences.

“A lot of (horn makers) have tried to design their horns so they sound exactly the same, so that if someone wants a horn from them, they know exactly the way it plays,” he said. “But horns are tricky instruments. I could build a horn today and do the same thing tomorrow but have that horn not play the same way.”

Medlin initially builds a “skeleton” horn and then brings in the person who will be playing the instrument to find out exactly what they’re looking for in tone, articulation and feel.

“If there’s something about the horn that they don’t particularly like or there’s something they wish would be different, I’m sitting right there. Usually, it can be very quickly fixed. If I just make the horn and send it to them, we can’t do those easy things that we could have very easily ironed out had they been here.”

Hornmakers “R” Us

While he purchases some of the basic horn pieces from a maker in Germany, Medlin crafts much of the horn with his own two hands, along the way improvising tools that help him screw in short pieces of tubing or take ripples out of a specific section of the instrument’s bell.

“I wish there was a ‘Hornmakers “R” Us’ where I could just buy all of this stuff,” Medlin joked. “But since I only make about 10-12 horns in a year, it doesn’t make sense to do big production stuff yet.”

During a visit to his studio, Medlin had three horns in the works in various stages. His two cats prowled upstairs while one of the four foster kittens he and his wife, Jennifer Medlin, were taking care of that week sneaked downstairs to the studio.

So far, Medlin has created 10 horns that have found homes with musicians in U.S. locations such as Cincinnati and North Carolina and as far away as Australia. For about one month each year, Medlin travels to trade shows, where he hopes to become better known as a horn maker. As a relatively young, new horn maker, Medlin depends upon word-of-mouth from those who are playing Medlin horns. “It really is that one friend tells two friends and they tell five friends . . . Five years later, I’ll have more work than I can do.”

Medlin’s website, http://medlinhorns.com/ (slogan “Medlin Horns: Traditional horns with modern attitude”) is less marketing focused and more instructional.

“It’s about giving people a lot of the information I wish I’d had when I was growing up. Things about horn maintenance and things you never really learn until you’ve got your horn in 6,000 pieces,” said Medlin. “My hope is that people find the website looking for information and they eventually say, ‘This guy makes a good horn.’”

Since he switched gears from performance to instrument creation, Medlin has had to turn down some performance opportunities and come to terms with the fact that he is no longer pursuing a career as a French horn player.

“I’ve played my whole life, so it took me awhile to be OK with not playing. It was difficult for me to stomach that maybe what I thought I was going to do for my entire life wasn’t what I’m doing,” admitted Medlin, who still teaches horn lessons and practices his instrument when he has time.

“But when I sit down and think about why I went to school and what I was trying to accomplish, I think ‘OK, I wanted to be involved with horn, doing something artistic and paying my bills. I’m able to do all of those things.’”

There are probably only 10 horn makers in the U.S., Medlin said, as opposed to the “hundreds and hundreds” of students who graduate each year and compete for a limited number of positions. “I never thought this is what I’d be doing — but it’s a nice way to stay involved with horn community and to have more artistic space.”

–Jennifer Piurek

This story was originally published Sept. 2, 2010.

It has been such an incredible summer for me.  I hope you had a wonderful summer too!

Welcome to my new website!  Please take a look around, and enjoy this Brahms Trio CD video below!  My new CD comes out September 14!  Pre-orders available now.  Yay!

Busy as always, I traveled to 4 continents, playing both solo concerts and Canadian Brass shows.

My first stop of the summer was a trip to China with Canadian Brass.  Canadian Brass was the first western group to go behind the iron curtain in 1970.  It was wild for Chuck to return 40 years later…and wonderful for us new guys to see China, and hear Chuck’s thoughts…

It has been such an incredible summer for me.  I hope it’s been for you too!

Welcome to my new website!  Please take a look around, and enjoy this Brahms Trio CD video below!  My new CD comes out September 14!  Pre-orders available now.  Yay!

Busy as always, I traveled to 4 continents, playing both solo concerts and Canadian Brass shows.

My first stop of the summer was a trip to China with Canadian Brass.  Canadian Brass was the first western group to go behind the iron curtain in 1970.  It was wild for Chuck to return 40 years later…and wonderful for us new guys to see China, and hear Chuck’s thoughts…

Here we are at the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi’An.

As you can see, Shanghai is beautiful by night!  We tasted incredible foods, did a lot of shopping, and of course, played some magnificent concerts!

Here we are in front of a HUGE advertisement for our concert.

The fans after the concerts were incredible!  I look forward to my next trip to China- It is a wonderful country with such genuine people!

After China, I headed back to Bloomington by way of New York City, where I stopped to see Nina sing at Carnegie Hall!

My sister Suzanne, her husband David and their 2 children, Jacob and Roni came down for the weekend to see Nina sing, and experience the big city.  It was great to see them and spend a wonderful afternoon and evening together in NYC.

We headed back to Bloomington just in time to have my mother join us for a week.

She watched me teach a few lessons, and of course had much wisdom from her own vocal teaching concepts to share with me and my students.  During this week, I did a masterclass for Paul Kiesgan’s “Teaching Men to Sing” seminar at IU.  Much to my huge delight, participating in the seminar was one of my mom’s dear friends and singing buddies from Edmonton, Lary Benson.

After a short stint in Bloomington I was off for 7 weeks to travel the world.  First stop- Europe with Canadian Brass.  We were in the Netherlands during one of their world cup victories, in Germany to watch the next and in Italy for the semi-finals.  There is nothing like being in Europe for an event like this.  It really is a special time.

Here we are after our concert in the Netherlands, wearing our orange hats in honor of the big Netherlands win. Chris, seen on the far right, had already traded his crazy orange hat by this time, and he’s wearing mine in this pic.  :)  World Cup is a very social time EVERYWHERE you go!  It’s awesome!!

In front of the gorgeous castle we played at in Bolzano, Italy!

After Italy, we headed back to the states for a one day trip to Texas, where we were featured artists at the International Trombone Association conference in Austin, Texas.

The next morning I packed my bags and traveled to LA, where I met up with Nina.  To the airport, anyway…  She had been in California visiting family during my trip to Europe.  We had a quick breakfast with Nina’s mom before hopping on our plane to Dunedin, New Zealand (by way of Tokyo and Brisbane…all in all, totaling 42 hours of travel!)

Our 5 hour layover in Tokyo was spent eating, and getting massages.  I highly recommend a massage during a long day of travel!  It helps you feel rejuvenated and ready to hop on the next plane, or three…

Aaaahhhhhh!!!! :)

Our flight to Brisbane was a short 9 hours, followed by a 4 hour layover.  We spent our time trying out the local candies! Mmmmmmm Violet Crumble!

Arriving in Dunedin, New Zealand was gorgeous!  It was winter down under- but the weather, albeit a bit chilly, was beautiful.  On our first full day in NZ, we ventured out on a nature trek.  It was our only full day off and we decided we had better see the sights while we could.

The trek was filled with green hills,

Yellow Eyed Penguins,

Huge sea lions,

And, of course, SHEEP!

The next day I taught a couple of masterclasses, and had my first rehearsal with the orchestra.  I had been hired as the soloist to play Mozart’s 4th Horn Concerto with the orchestra.

…during the concert with the Southern Sinfonia Dunedin and Maestro Dane Lam.

New Zealand was absolutely spectacular!  We look forward to returning soon!

We were off to Brisbane, Australia for the International Horn Society’s annual symposium. This year our host was the ever-joyfilled Peter Luff- a wonderful horn player, and dear friend!

Peter invited me to be a featured artist, and when I proposed to him that Nina and I do a recital together, he was trilled with the idea. We shared our concert with amazing Japanese hornist Hiroshi Matsuzaki, principal hornist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.  Our collaborative artist on piano was Tomoko Kanamaru.  He opened with the Rheinberger Sonata, and then I played 3 pieces, including the world premier of a piece commissioned by my student at IU, Zach Glavan through the Mier Rimon commissioning assistance fund at I.H.S.  ”Thunor’s Gate” is a piece for horn and electronics composed by IU grad Mark Oliviero.

Mark and I post concert.

Nina and I also premiered another new work in the recital that I commissioned my IU horn student Ryan O’ Connell to write for us with poetry by Brian Andreas. It is an incredible cycle of 5 songs titled “Remembering the Future” for Horn, Mezzo Soprano and Piano.

We ended the recital with a new rendition of “Con Te Partiro” that I had arranged for 2 horns, Mezzo Soprano, and Piano by Tony Rickard.  We invited Hiroshi to perform with us.

While in Australia, we had to find some time to see the sites and visit with friends, of course!

We had a wonderful meal with my student Julian, and his mother Lin, both from Melbourne.

And we also spent an incredible day and night on the Gold Coast with dear friends Scott and Andrea Bacon.  Scott is the owner of Siegfried’s Call and has some of the best ears for which I have ever played!

We had to hit the Australia Zoo while in Brisbane.  Nina couldn’t WAIT to hold a Koala!

We also saw Crocodiles, Wombats and pet the Kangaroos!

It was a fantastic way to end our stay in Brisbane!

Next stop, Tokyo for the Hamamatsu Wind Academy.  The week opened with a performance of the brass faculty at the new Yamaha concert hall in Ginza, Tokyo.

We spent an afternoon getting to know some of Nina’s distant Japanese relatives.  They took us to an incredible traditional Japanese meal.

After a few days in Tokyo- with an exciting new purchase of a DSLR camera, we headed south to Hamamatsu.

In Hamamatsu, I had a class of 8 horn students, an accompanist and a translator, who came from all over Japan, and one from Taiwan.  All of the students were between the ages of 18-22.  It was a very special week, filled with lots of learning- about the horn, culture, language.  But, most importantly, it was a week where we all made 10 wonderful friends!

Here we are trying out the local cuisine of Eel.

And of course, you have to go to an arcade while in Japan!

The final concert was a concerto competition, where 3 performers were selected to perform in a special concert this coming December in Tokyo.  Much to our delight, one of my students, Tomohiro Kato was picked as one of the winners!

The horn class on the last night of the festival.  WOW what a night!

We couldn’t leave Japan without heading to the famous Tokyo fish market.

We took a quick early morning trip to the Tokyo fish market before hopping on the plane!

We ate some amazing sushi at 8am with dear friend and IU colleague Otis Murphy.

And we also bought some amazing Japanese knives!

Next stop, HOME!

Here we are at the Indianapolis Airport after 20ish hours of travel!

My fourth annual Fearless Performance for Musicians was held at Indiana University this summer from August 16-21.  It was a spectacular week.  We had 33 participants- mainly hornists, but we also had trumpet, tuba, string bass, bassoon and piano.

During this week we discussed and experienced countless techniques to help overcome stage fright.  We work on building a repertoire of replacements for fearful choices. We learn through experience, and have daily performances, masterclasses, auditions, and lessons.  It is an incredible, life-changing week.  I hope you’ll all attend next year.

Before the summer came to a close, we had one more visitor.  My aunt Linda, who lives in Vancouver, came to stay with us for the week.

And thus, ended our summer.  So far, the 2010/2011 school year is looking incredible.  I have a wonderful group of students, pre-bonded together through Fearless Camp, and hitting the ground running for the first week of classes.  We had our first Studio Nelsen meeting and took our annual Studio Nelsen photo.

Followed by our annual crazy Studio Nelsen photo.

I am overwhelmed with excitement for the next few months. There are many upcoming life changes, and developments I have coming my way.  I hope you are equally as excited about your future.

One of the biggest developments in my life is that I have decided to leave my full-time commitment to my favorite ensemble in the world, Canadian Brass.  This is a bitter-sweet decision.  I will miss the guys, and the bonds we shared both on and off the world’s stages.  A huge thank you to my Canadian Brass colleagues for our years together.  A special thanks to Chuck and Gene, for all they taught me, and shared with me through their amazing creation that is Canadian Brass.  Another deeply felt love and appreciation for whom I will miss the most, the Canadian Brass audiences.  You are the best audiences in the world, and I thank you for your aggressive support for the wonderful Canadian Brass concert experience.  I look forward to joining you at the next Canadian Brass concert!

My connection to Canadian Brass will never end.  It is a family affair.  I am the first artist on their new CD line titled, “Soloists of the Canadian Brass”.  Thank you to Chuck for creating the Opening Day label, and making sure it thrives during this time of record label demise.

My CD is titled, “Brahms: Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40″.  My amazing collaborative artists are veteran violinist and fellow IU faculty, Ik-Hwan Bae, and pianist extraordinaire from New York, Naomi Kudo.  We also perform the Mozart Horn Quintet in E-flat major, K. 407, through a new adaptation for horn, violin, and piano by Tony Rickard.  This new Mozart trio is a beautiful stand alone piece, and a fitting companion to the Brahms trio for any recital program.

Click here to pre-order your copy now…please.  My wife Nina’s mother, Janice Blair, painted the stunning cover art.

You will LOVE this CD, I promise!  Perfect for your next dinner party, long drive, short drive, or relaxing music listening session…or exciting listening session too…

The most exciting development in my life is going to happen in this October.  My wife Nina is pregnant with our first child, a boy! We’re due in mid-October, and we are very busy getting the nursery ready, going to birthing classes, and at least trying to get some rest along the way.

I am bursting with excitement with what the coming year holds for me, Nina, my students, and the rest of our extended families.

Take your school year by storm everyone…you might as well!!!  There are exciting things happening all around you.  This year will be the best ever, as long as you deeply believe and LIVE what Henry Ford said:  ”Say you can, say you can’t…either way you’re right.”

And here is also some inspiration for what lies ahead:

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived the length of it.  I want to have lived the width of it as well.”

- Diane Ackerman

…and remember, keep breathing…  :)

Jeff

Visit Jessie at www.jessiethoman.com and at www.miraribrass.com

Jan Owens and Ericka Tyner at the Susan Slaughter Solo Brass Competition at the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) June 16-20 in Toronto, Canada.

Ericka Tyner, a doctoral student member of Studio Nelsen at Indiana University, wins first place in Horn Category III at the 2010 Susan Slaughter Solo Brass Competition at the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) June 16-20 in Toronto, Canada.  Ericka then advanced to the final round where she competed with nine other first-place winners from all of the instrumental categories and won third place in Overall Category III (ages 29 and older).

Full Indiana University Press Release – July 6, 2010

Three IU Jacobs School of Music students place in international brass competition

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Three students from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music placed in the 2010 Susan Slaughter Solo Brass Competition at the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) June 16-20 in Toronto, Canada.

Ericka Tyner

Ericka Tyner, student of Jacobs Professors Jeff Nelsen (2008-present) and Richard Seraphinoff (2007-2008), won first place in Horn Category III, then advanced to the final round, where she competed with nine other first-place winners from all of the instrumental categories and won third place in Overall Category III (ages 29 and older).

Read Ericka’s full bio, and other Studio Nelsen students’ bios.

Sarah Paradis, who has studied with Jacobs professors Peter Ellefson, Carl Lenthe and M. Dee Stewart, won second place in Trombone Category II.

Kristin Cazenave, student of Edmund Cord, won second place in Trumpet Category II.

All of the students brought home monetary awards.

2010 Susan Slaughter Solo Brass Competition – June 20, 2010 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada