John Morgan,
My experience bears some resemblance to your own. I started playing American baritone at age 9, 60 years ago. I came from a musician family (Univ of Michigan graduates) and was taking private lessons at age 10 from a recent Univ. of MI graduate and doing annual state solo competitions starting at age 11. I was very intense in my study of "baritone horn" through high school, performing Marcello "Cello Sonata in C" in 7th grade, "Morceau Symphonique" as an 8th grader, Mozart's "Bassoon Concerto" as a freshman, "From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific" in my junior year and Boccalari's "Fantasia di Concerto" in my senior year. The last two years I was the California State Honor Band 1st chair euphonium performer. In college, I was a computer science major, not a music major, but I played constantly as 1st euphonium including in the Cal Band and Wind Ensemble at UC Berkeley through 1974. I even took up trumpet and played with the University Jazz Band. (helped build my chops and added a high F to my euphonium range).
I continued performing after college in wind ensembles and community bands in southern California while working in aerospace. When we moved to Massachusetts, I joined a couple of professional wind ensembles as the sole euphonium player. To make a long story short. I have never stopped playing, but never was a full time professional as my job. I was always committed to playing as well as I could and relied on the benefits of my early training and youthful strength to carry me through just about anything. I even took lessons from David Werden in the early 1980s. I continued this for many years, even as my position in high tech started requiring massive amounts of domestic and international travel.
In 2000 this all changed. I had a heart attack and left my career in high tech. As I started my recovery, I found that my former ability to just pick up the horn and play was gone. My breathing was shot, my strength and stamina was poor. All the things I used to be able to do in my youth had been sabotaged by the loss of cardio-pulmonary capacity and bad habits developed over years of casual playing. After a few years of recovery and starting my 2nd career as a math teacher, I decided to get serious. In 2006 I met Michael Milnarik, a Boston area free-lance tubist and terrific low brass teacher. I started weekly lessons with Mike focusing on fundamentals of breathing, embouchure, and technique. My goal was to see how far I could go in my musical and physical recovery. I started attending summer workshops run by Mike and also adult band camps like "Blue Lake" in the US and the International Brass Band Summer School in Wales. By sometime around 2010, my playing was better than it ever had been. with several recitals performed including performances of Pantomime, Horovitz' Euphonium Concerto, Party Piece by Sparke, and others. Since 2007 I have been to Wales 10 times, been a member of the New England Brass Band for 11 years, performed several seasons with the Metropolitan Wind Ensemble, and many other groups. I even did solo competitions at NABBA. Since my 2010 retirement as a math teacher, being a high level amateur musician has been my full-time retirement avocation.
I definitely now find myself obsessed with maximizing my "good habits" developed under Mike's tutelage, like good posture, embouchure, breathing, musicianship, etc. to the max so that I can perform at the limits of my now declining physical abilities. I have a rigorous daily routine that helps me gauge my current readiness to play well. I have to play around frequent hand injuries (3 trigger fingers, 2 operations, broken fingers, tendinitis in both left and right arms, reduced lung capacity, etc.) by optimizing the good things I have learned as I age.
I must admit, coincident with the start of the pandemic of March 2020, I also reached a low point in my motivation. I had been getting burned out with the level of rehearsal, practice, performance, and particularly the administrative roles (librarian and treasurer) I had carried in volunteer groups over the last 10 years. I am hopeful that 2021 will bring back the joy of performing live music with people who help motivate me to be my best.
At this point, I am ready to acknowledge that as a 70 year old with several of the well known co-morbidities, my physical abilities (eyesight, ability to sight read, stamina, etc.) are on the decline. But I believe there are still some good notes left in me and I am very willing to contribute in a supporting role as the "young-uns" take leadership in some the ensembles that I hope to perform in.
Doug
Last edited by daruby; 01-03-2021 at 08:51 AM.
Adams E3 0.60 Sterling bell - Prototype top sprung valves
Concord Band
Winchendon Winds
Townsend Military Band