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By D. Quincy Whitney GLOBE CORRESPONDANT LITTLETON - "Come Blow Your Horn!" might very well be the theme of the moment beginning today in Littleton. For the next two weeks, every nook and cranny of the White Mountain School will be filled with the sounds of French horns as the third annual Kendall Betts Horn Camp takes over the school. Four culminating concerts will be open to the public. Horn and piano recitals will take place at the White Mountain School, this Friday and Saturday, June 28. Hornathon Ensemble Concerts will take place at the Littleton Opera House, this Saturday and Friday, June 27. The brainstorm of founder Kendall Betts, principal horn of the Minnesota Orchestra, instructor of horn at the University of Minnesota, and hornist with the North Country Chamber Players, the camp is unique in the nation as it gathers together world-class faculty with horn players of all skills and ages. The faculty includes a stellar cast of professional horn players: Toronto free-lancer Vincent Barbee; Greg Hustis, principal horn of the Dallas Symphony; Peter Kurau, professor at the Eastman School of Music; David Ohanian, hornist with the Canadian Brass; Soichiro Ohno, first horn of the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra; William Purvis, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; Jean Rife, professor of horn at the University of New Hampshire and MIT; Julie Schleif, instructor of horn at the Interlochen Arts Academy; leading British soloist Michael Thompson; Abby Mayer, USMA Band West Point; and collaborative pianist Stephen Harlos. The intense immersion atmosphere of the camp, which stresses a whole body approach to playing the horn, has its roots in the nature of the horn as well as the nature of Kendall Betts. "There are special demands on the horn player. You need strong abdominal muscles, good embouchure (the method of applying the lips and tongue to the instrument’s mouthpiece), good teeth, a good ear. |
Unless the embouchure is set exactly right or if it is tired, you can miss notes on the horn. Also, you can’t play the horn 10 hours a day continuously like you can the piano or the violin and develop your technique. All this takes time and encouragement." said Betts in a recent interview from his home in Sugar Hill. Betts, a piano prodigy by age 10, has a highly intuitive approach to the horn. When Betts wanted to play in the school band in the sixth grade, the only free instruments available to him were drums, tuba and trombone as his parents did not think his interest would last. Within a week of picking up the trombone, he became the best player in the band. "When I was 11, under the Christmas tree one morning was a French horn and two recordings, a Mozart horn concerto and a Strauss horn concerto. By the end of Christmas Day, I was playing Mozart horn concertos by ear," recalled Betts. Betts graduated high school from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, then obtained his college degree at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. When he joined the Philadelphia Orchestra, at age 22, Betts became the youngest member since his own teacher had come to the orchestra. But, in 1975, Betts quit the music business, enrolling in an MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania. A turning point came when he was asked to play his horn in a Broadway Show, "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Allen J. Lerner. "Lenny loved my playing so the next thing I knew, the show book was being written for me, and it became a virtuoso horn book. I got to know the orchestrator. I began to realize that there was more to the music business than just the Philadelphia Orchestra," said Betts. Though the show folded after a week, Betts reentered the music business freelancing in New York and Los Angeles. In 1979, Betts went to Minnesota where he has played and taught horn ever since. He has been coming to New Hampshire each summer since 1978 at the inception of the North Country Chamber Players. The idea for the horn camp originated with the example of his teacher and mentor Ward Fern, second horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra. |
"Ward did not have a lot of time, but he had literally hundreds of students. He would come over on Saturday morning at 10. There would be 20 players there. There would be horns coming out of every corner of his house. He’d teach you for 20 minutes, then tell you to go work on something. He would teach in this manner all day long, individualized instruction. That’s sort of the way the camp goes," said Betts. According to Betts, he is known among his International Horn Society colleagues for his lightheartedness as well as his intensity. "I’m relatively well known for my sense of humor and surprise escapades getting humorous pieces written and performing them for everybody with comedy involved. Horn players are a high stress group so we need the stress relief. We have a lot of fun at camp, especially in the evening sessions. Somebody will do something funny and things get improvised," said Betts. One evening faculty concert will feature three professionals playing the same piece, demonstrating British, German and American schools of playing and the essence of individual interpretation. "Unfortunately, the French gave up their nationalistic style. Though in the English language, it’s still the ‘French’ horn, nobody plays the French horn anymore," said Betts. Betts is determined his Horn Camp be a place where the player, not the professional, is the star. "There is no competition at this camp. In fact, the first thing I tell them at camp is: ‘If you have an ego, check it at the door.’ The horn is a difficult instrument; you need some ego to perform in public. On stage, you’ve got to think you’re the greatest thing in the world. Off stage, being nice, being cooperative is especially important to playing in an orchestra. We try to foster that attitude at camp," said Betts. |
