Musicians

Posted with permission

Baroque trumpet players are an elite group, like celebrity chefs, dramatic tenors, and ace relief pitchers. In the forefront of this select set is Canadian John Thiessen, who has the panache of Mario Batali, the staying power of Placido Domingo, and the awesome control of Mariano Rivera. Many conductors won’t announce a program until they’ve locked Thiessen onto the personnel list, and plenty of repertoire gets shelved if he is not available.

Can shy people play the trumpet?

Absolutely, and there may be a bit more room for them to play early music. To be first trumpet in a modern orchestra you really need to be a type A personality. In early music there’s room for a little more “right side of the brain” playing.

Is it necessary to approach the Baroque trumpet from a background on the modern trumpet?

I don’t think so, but I think you have to be fundamentally secure in your sound production and muscle control by the time you start the Baroque trumpet. If you haven’t started by the time you’re in your early teens, it may be too late. I just met a 10-year-old in Boulder who has started on the Baroque trumpet. This absolutely thrilled me. Who knows, he may play Brandenburg 2 by his 18^th birthday!

Who were some of the pioneers in reviving the Baroque trumpet in the 20^th century?

Walter Holy was probably the first serious pioneer. His recordings of Bach cantatas with Concentus Musicus are available. Don Smithers and Ed Tarr were the two notable Americans who took up the Baroque trumpet in the 1960s. Of course, the huge challenge was playing very high register notes on an instrument twice to three times the length of a piccolo B/A or D trumpet.

How many historical instruments do you have?

I think I have something like 8 or 9 Baroque trumpets. Baroque trumpets are made to play in a few different keys, with interchangeable crooks and yards. The longest instruments often play from low A through D and the smallest from E through F. Then there are distinctions between English and continental styled copies, the choice of materials, and tube diameter. These all affect the sound timbre. You might use an instrument of lighter material for Baroque chamber music and a heavier instrument with a larger bell for classical orchestral playing. If possible, you want to play instrument copies appropriate to the specific time and place of the composition.

Are there compromises in the design of the instruments you play? What about the use of fingerholes?

Using an instrument with fingerholes is a modern compromise, to be sure, because the original instruments do not have holes. Obviously, the skilled players from the Baroque era learned how to be accurate and find some level of pitch accommodation on the few “out of tune” natural harmonics or partials. However, in defense of fingerholes it is arguable that the early instrument with the most difficult task of basic note production and accuracy is the trumpet, and yet we are expected to perform at the same level of accuracy and intonation as our string and wind colleagues. Fingerholes have been used on historical instrument copies for quite some time now. Walter Holy developed a three finger hole system that is still used today by most European makers. Michael Laird, a wonderful British player, came up with a four hole system, which is what I use. The British instrument makers all make use of the latter.

Are there any professionals playing without fingerholes?

There are a few playing either exclusively or almost exclusively without fingerholes, the most notable ones being Jean-François Madeuf, professor at Basle’s Schola Cantorum, and the UK’s David Staff.

Can you tell by looking at them play?

Oh, yes. The original way of holding a Baroque trumpet is with one hand, the other resting on the hip.

Is it a macho thing, the challenge?

I think it’s the next step in the evolution of trumpet playing. At this point there are so many serious players at the international level who can play note-perfect, in-tune performances of the most difficult 17^th and 18^th century repertoire using fingerholes, it’s almost like that threshold has been reached. So the next [logical] step, of course, is to play in the original manner.

Are you going to go there?

If I can develop to an acceptable level of technique with no holes, then I’ll do it. I practice two hours a day, and the first 30 minutes are spent exclusively playing long tones on a real natural trumpet. So I’m already doing a quarter of my daily practice on it. I’ve done a little bit of Purcell and Jeremiah Clarke without holes, but just as demos, not yet for a paying audience.

Does a natural trumpet without holes actually sound different, or is it just psychological?

I’m not sure what the appeal is to an audience, except for the few in the know, most often trumpet players. Some of the notes are going to come out where they sound in the natural harmonic series, and inevitably sound a bit out of tune. But after much embouchure work, it’s possible to get them acceptably close. Natural horn players as a group have been successfully playing without holes from the start. But the natural horn sounds an octave lower than the trumpet, and I think the same level of variance between the natural harmonic and a more-or-less equal temperament is less offensive to the ear. Another perceived difference between Baroque trumpet and horn playing in the upper register is that trumpet players tend to fatigue a little sooner and inevitably go sharper.

With fingerholes you don’t get that?

When you open a hole you have a bigger place to put the harmonic, and in some cases, a choice of holes. The extra demands of strength and finesse performing without fingerholes means the embouchure is going to fatigue sooner. With holes you just have a bigger space to put the notes. So if you are going sharp, say on a top G, a note on which there’s a tendency to play high, you open up a hole and you can lean down on the note.

So, eventually you will all be playing without holes.

It’s the eventual goal, of course. There are always a couple of members of the audience who come up to me after a show and mention the fingerholes. But in general, if you give a good performance that is note clean and in tune, the vast majority of the audience will go home happy, rather than if you did it exactly the right way and then went out and missed a pile of notes. But Madeuf and Staff have definitely raised the bar. Perhaps as players and presenters we should disclose more accurate information about the trumpets. One idea would be to call instruments with holes “Baroque trumpets” and those without “natural trumpets.” Or say “Baroque trumpets (vented).”

I’ve been on the road with you enough to know that you have routines, you like things to be a certain way.

To play this instrument you have to be rested and relaxed. I try to arrive at the first rehearsal very, very well prepared, almost to the point of being over practiced. There are figures that you can play perfectly in practice, but in the context of a rehearsal, you’re asked to play it 10 or 12 times in a row; often for the benefit of the whole ensemble. That places great demands on strength and facility. And the basic demands of travel put strains on the system. So in general I have a set practice routine that I do every day, whether I have a concert or not. It’s just a general calisthenic-type thing. I use a lot of long tones; I think that’s fundamental to the sound and the embouchure. Then eating the right things, getting enough rest, all those things.

I know about the salmon thing.

I like to eat salmon on concert days.

Is that just a superstition?

I find for me it’s like a comfort food, because you get a high amount of protein, but it doesn’t translate into excessive energy. When I play the trumpet I like to perform on a full stomach. I can rehearse hungry and heavily caffeinated, but it’s tough to give a good performance if I’m heavily caffeinated or undernourished.

You have a calm thing, too, when you play. Do you meditate?

I think I am a meditative person. Playing the Baroque trumpet in a concert, I think you have to lose yourself in the music, because for the majority of the time on stage you’re not playing. For example, you sit out on stage for a long time before you play “The Trumpet shall Sound” in Handel’s Messiah, so you have to almost trick yourself into thinking that you’re already playing, while also relaxing and breathing calmly.

I know! In some versions the alto has nearly an hour between “He was despised” and the next thing. It’s hard to know whether to stay in it or not; to stay energized or save your energy.

There are little things that you learn to do. The example of Messiah is a good one. The choral movement “Since by man came death” before “The trumpet shall sound” has a D major and an A major chord, so I play D and A, hopefully inaudibly, just to check my tuning and—this is more psychological than physical—just to check that I can actually play the trumpet at that point, because my heart may be beating too fast.

So when you hear notes you’re doing something internal that prepares you?

The inventor of the tuning fork was John Shore, Purcell’s trumpet soloist. It makes total sense because he had to play a trumpet tune out of nowhere, either after music in another key, but even more remarkably, after lengthy passages of spoken text. Having a tuning fork allowed him to hear his first note. Part of the job of playing the Baroque trumpet is knowing where you’re coming from harmonically, unless you have perfect pitch, of course. For instance, take movement 8 in the Christmas Oratorio, “Grosser Herr,” which is in D major, and is preceded by a G major chord. Bach’s other use of the same music, in cantata 214, is preceded by D major. The player obviously has to hear that. Another tricky moment is the Benedictus of Mozart’s Requiem. Sussmayr at that point actually changes from D into B without a tuning break. You need to have the instrument exactly in tune, and you have to hear your note, because the entrance is ff.

Was trumpet your first instrument? Did you start when you were little?

Yes, just because it was there. I have an older brother who started on trumpet and got a new instrument, so there was an extra one in the house when I was 8 years old. I think if I had to do it again, ...well, my favorite instrument is the cello.

Really? Have you ever played the cello?

No.

I can’t believe you don’t play your favorite instrument!

Well, maybe I’ll take up the gamba later. In music school my best friends were the cellists. I could listen to Jordi Savall forever. That’s what it’s about—there’s a certain range of sound that hits you. My first trumpet teacher for seven years was a trombonist. When he would demonstrate for me, it was this big, round, beautiful sound. And perhaps I have always tried to copy that.

How much are you home in New York City these days and how much are you on the road?

About half and half. Most of the time away is in the Bay Area, but I have a smattering of things in Boston, New York, Toronto, Los Angeles. Next week I play Telemann and Torelli concerti on Baroque trumpet with a modern orchestra at the Colorado Music Festival. I have sent scores ahead with Baroque bowings. This is kind of a new thing, an interest in early music at modern instrument festivals, and I think it will be fine. And I go to Europe once a year with Tafelmusik. I’d like to play more in Europe; it’s just a question of working that out.

Is the trumpet scene very different over there?

Certainly there are a greater number of serious players in Europe, but then again, the performing opportunities are greater there. In North America the few of us that play either full-time or halftime on the Baroque trumpet, are shuttling back and forth between the coasts performing with the handful of ensembles who use natural brass. In England today, all or nearly all the conservatories teach Baroque trumpet, so there are many young players graduating with the facility to play.

What music do you listen to?

I listen to jazz and that’s about it. I have the radio on all day at home, mostly NPR AM, because I’m a news hound, but as soon as six o’clock in the evening comes around, then it’s the jazz station. When the Yankees are playing, I most definitely practice to that.

What are you going to do in your next life?

Play golf. It’s similar to the trumpet, a lot of time between shots, and very cerebral. Parts of my golf game are very good and parts are awful. I’d like to find out the answer to all that. If I had to choose another profession that is as difficult to maintain excellence in, it would be professional golf.

This interview from the Spring 2003 issue of Early Music America magazine is posted with permission of the author and editor and is copyright ©2003 Early Music America, Inc.