☯️ Holistic Horn Ep. 3 - Shanyse Strickland, multi-genre hornist, thinking & playing outside the box

Shanyse Strickland is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger & composer, educator, and overall musical innovator.  Listen to the end of the podcast to hear us trade improvised licks and discover the one improvisation trick Shanyse feels can add color to any line. 

Points we cover (among many others!):

- High vs. low playing - being okay with where you excel

- How Shanyse got started

- Mars' journey w/ 4 embouchures

- Shanyse’s on spirituality and the horn

- Anxiety may related to not operating in your zone of genius

- Meditating with the horn - how, why, and effects

- finding your purpose

- what it was like being the only black horn player in high school

- shining light on hidden norms in the horn world

- finding your own primary path as a musician

- experiences as a black, queer, woman horn player 

- be a great musician first, horn player second

- hesitant attacks (valsalva) & trauma resolution 

- listen to shanyse improvise a little

- mars serenades shanyse!

LINKS:

Shanyse’s website:

https://www.shanysestrickland.com/

Releasing anger with a french horn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FKA3nGh-bM

This episode is sponsored by High Range Magic, a 3 month bootcamp for horn players. Find out more at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOG58cB9AU8

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Holistic Horn, Episode 2- Jeff Lang on Success, Accuracy, Chops, Sound & Virtuosity

Jeffrey Lang (https://www.jeffrey-lang.com/) is Associate Principal Horn in Philadelphia Orchestra, and French horn faculty at Temple, Curtis Institute, and Bard.  

Check out his beautiful Brahms Trio Recording here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE-RwOHxk0k

You can listen to his album on Spotify here

https://open.spotify.com/album/2SXQdpFoerw104WtM8MCaX

On this podcast we cover SO MANY TOPICS, here is a short list:

- Post-pandemic insights, the function of music in society

- How to avoid being a jaded professional

- What makes a student successful

- It’s never good to be down on your playing

- “Choke”, the book: why athletes and musicians screw up and how to fix your place of focus to avoid choking

- When jeff DOESN’T feel bad about missing notes, and when he does (great wisdom!)

- You can probably forgive yourself a little more if you’re a horn player

- Two simple secrets to building accuracy on the horn

- How to get around the the paradox that attachment to accuracy leads to less accuracy

- How jeff approaches endurance, high range, recovery

- The difference between working out & warming up

- The number one way you can screw up your chops 

- Can ibuprofen be helpful as a prophylactic?

- The player who wins auditions

- Making a good sound

- If Jeff could wave a magic wand in the horn world… 

- Postage stamps to murals

- Fixing scarcity mentality in the horn world

- The 3 players that most inspired Jeff, and how he attempted to merge their qualities into his own sound.

- What Jeff would put on a billboard for all horn players

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Other links from the conversation:

ChopSaver - great recovery lip balm! https://www.chopsaver.com/

"Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To": https://a.co/d/8lvTcGn

James Chambers Plays the French Horn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEsvZ3KCsLQ

Holistic Horn Ep. 1 - Victoria Knudtson of St. Louis Symphony - Motivation, Phrasing, and Magic

This first episode of the Holistic Horn podcast, with Victoria Knudson (@victoria_laray on Instagram) covers:  

- Victoria’s story, and the potent fertilizer her teacher nourished her growth with. 

- First notes of the day, performed on the show - Victoria’s, and mine! 

- Thoughts on phrasing as storytelling, and an example from Mozart 4 

- The difference between piano playing & vocal training and how they impact hornists 

- An incredible story about magic in Japan 

- How we can get more in touch with the ineffable, both in ensembles, and by ourselves.  

CORRECTION: Victoria mentioned a meaningful recording as Mahler 1 with National Symphony, she later confirmed she meant Shostakovich 5 with Rostropovich: https://www.allmusic.com/album/shostakovich-symphony-no-5-mw0001845464

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Want to reach a new paradigm in your high playing?  A few slots remain for the coming High Range Magic bootcamp, book a call before I run out of times 

https://calendly.com/mgsynergy/high-range-magic

Watch the free 75 minute high range masterclass covering 3 secrets to build & maintain your high register… plus hard data from the last bootcamp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE1zMkqVQOo

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About the podcast  

Hosted by hornist, educator, and entrepreneur Mars Gelfo, The Holistic Horn podcast is meant to feature incredible personalities from the horn & music world, to provide actionable insights, inspiration, and thought-provoking ideas to help you live your best life as a musician & whole human.