Countdown to euphony

Audio

Listen to Jennifer Hurt play the euphonium and talk about the instrument.

A couple weeks before the school year began, Hurt, along with her studio professor, Angelo Manzo, chose what to perform at Hurt’s recital. She listened to recordings of many pieces to hear what they sounded like, which helped her and her teacher select the music. All of the pieces come from the standard repertoire for euphonium players, although they are from different musical eras. Telemann’s sonata, originally written for the bassoon, is from the Baroque period, while the piece by Hummel, adapted from a work originally for clarinets and strings, is from the late Classical era. The other three pieces, all written for euphonium, were composed in the 20th century.

Hurt said she picked music she was able to do but that still provided a challenge. Her favorite piece on the program is “Fantasy.”

“At first I didn’t like it — I didn’t understand how it worked,” she said. But after listening to it and playing it, Hurt not only understands it; she likes it.

Throughout: Practice

Once the music was chosen, Hurt began to spend a lot of time in practice room 230 in the Fine Arts Building on Lowry Mall. She made practicing a part of her daily routine, playing her euphonium at least two hours every day in order to build up stamina for her upcoming recital; her body, especially her mouth and lips, had to become capable of playing an intense concert.

In the beginning, Hurt had to “get to know” the music. She listened to professional recordings of the pieces and even e-mailed Steven Mead, a famous British euphonium player, to get his opinion on the music.

To Hurt’s surprise, Mead answered. He advised her to “take note of the stylistic requirements” for each piece and to practice with a metronome to ensure accurate rhythms. He also provided a few specific comments for each piece. About “Rhapsody for Euphonium,” Mead said to play with a “good, full tone in the opening section; don’t play too soft.”

A head of time: Reserve performance venue

Practically all School of Music recitals by faculty and students alike are held in Rogers Whitmore Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Building. Therefore, the number of dates available for a senior recital is limited.

But Hurt did not have to worry about that too much. Because she is from out of state and had family traveling long distances to see her performance, she was allowed to sign up for a slot before other students. Hurt chose Oct. 29 because it was a little past mid-semester; she felt that would be enough time to prepare her music. Hurt decided to do a recital this semester because if she were to fail the “course,” she could try again next semester.

11/2 months out: Write program notes

Program notes are a standard part of any classical music concert. They provide historical background for the audience that helps make the performance more interesting.

Hurt is required to write her own program notes, totaling approximately 3,000 words. Although she began the research for them well before the recital, she was still refining and editing days before it. She found plenty of information about the composers but needed more information on the pieces themselves.

“It’s hard to write about the actual music,” she said.

Throughout: More practice

After Hurt learned the basics of the music — notes and rhythms — it was time to focus on the more musical aspects of playing.

She was able to play her music top-to-bottom, and often played along with a recording to get a feel for the phrase structure and style of the piece.

Hurt began working on tiny details in the music, keeping a running list of what to practice in Microsoft Outlook. She and professor Manzo worked on “miniscule problems” during lessons, Hurt said.

1 month out: Get accompanist

An integral part of a solo instrumental performance is the piano accompaniment. In music from more recent periods, the piano plays a prominent role along with the solo instrument, while in earlier music, the piano just provides a harmonic background. In either case, the piano is still necessary to support the musician’s sound.

Hurt chose Natalia Bolshakova, a frequent accompanist in the School of Music, to play for her recital. They rehearsed together six times before the performance.

The cost would have been about $150, but Hurt ended up paying nothing. Bolshakova is employed by the MU School of Music, and part of her job is accompanying a certain quota of recitals. Hurt’s counted toward that.

1 month out: Send horn to the shop

Euphoniums are made of brass, and Hurt’s is silver-plated. Unlike clarinets or flutes, which can be swabbed after playing to remove condensation from the inside, the euphonium cannot be cleaned easily. To truly clean the inside of the instrument, it must be submerged in water or chemicals, which will wash away the “crud.” Hurt sent her euphonium to the shop to get it professionally cleaned and to get dents removed. In the two weeks it was gone, she borrowed a friend’s instrument to practice. When Hurt got her instrument back, it was dent-free but not clean; she decided to clean it herself to save money.

Throughout: Even more practice

With her own instrument in the shop, practicing became frustrating. Hurt had to adjust to something unfamiliar and different — playing on an instrument that was not her own. The loaned instrument was not as nice nor as large as Hurt’s. It couldn’t produce the quality or fullness of sound that Hurt was used to. She dubbed those two weeks “a time of maintenance, not improvement.”

1 week out: Give horn a bath

About a week prior to the recital, Hurt took the valves (the “buttons” pressed in order to create different notes) out of her euphonium and bathed the instrument in her bathtub. She let it soak in a tub of hot, slightly soapy water. When she removed it, the euphonium was quite clean. The bath water was not.

“There were disgusting chunks of mold in it,” Hurt said.

But the euphonium was no longer covered in fingerprints, and the valves didn’t stick.

“My tuning is even better,” Hurt said.

Hurt was also glad she cleaned the instrument herself. That way, she was sure that nothing would get damaged or broken. And, with only one week till her recital, a less-than-whole instrument would have been a nightmare.

When time permits: Choose outfit

Of course, the most important thing in a senior recital is what the music sounds like.

But how the student looks is important, too.

At first, Hurt had planned to go shopping for a performance outfit, but she opted to wear the charcoal-gray suit she already had in her closet.

“It’s what I usually wear when I perform,” she said, preferring the familiar and comfortable over the new.

5 days out: Play preview

One part of the senior recital course at MU is the preview, at which a student plays the entire recital program for a faculty panel and submits completed program notes.

In Hurt’s case, she played for the brass faculty. A student must pass the preview in order to perform the recital for course credit.

And Hurt did pass — though she got a little wet while doing it. She was shaking throughout her performance and during the breaks between pieces. When she tried to get a drink, she ended up “sloshing water everywhere,” she said.

Oct. 29, 2006, 3:30 p.m.: Perform

Hurt arrived at the Fine Arts Building at about 2:30 p.m. on the big day. She had awakened early, but didn’t really have anything to do until her recital.

“Time passed so slowly,” she said.

Once she was in the building, Hurt and Manzo practiced bowing. Her teacher made Hurt walk out to the middle of the stage, hold her instrument in both hands, then bend forward as if looking at her feet.

At 3:30 p.m., after the “please turn off your cell phone” announcement, there was a pre-concert hush, and then Hurt took the stage. She wore the charcoal-gray suit with a blue shirt and black heels — a nice contrast with the shiny silver euphonium. Standing in the middle of the stage, Hurt looked confident.

“I wasn’t nervous till I played my first note,” she said later. But even when she was nervous, it didn’t really show.

“I felt better as the recital went on,” she said.

On the whole, Hurt was satisfied with her recital. Her only qualm was the fact that her program notes, evidence of much hard research, did not get distributed at the recital. Her professor had not had time to do a final edit because he was ill, so the program notes were never finished and printed.

Afterwards: Celebrate

After her recital, Hurt was greeted by her parents with a dozen red roses and her grandparents with a dozen yellow roses. She and her family then went to Sophia’s for dinner. Hurt was glad her recital was over and happy to spend time with her family. But most of all, she was exhausted.

“All I could think about was going home and going to bed,” she said. Hurt had only slept about four hours the night before, and she hadn’t slept well in the preceding weeks.

But afterward, the stress dissipated. Hurt had completed Music 4970, the senior recital class, and she had survived.

“I feel good about (the performance),” she said. “But it’s done, and that’s all that matters.”