Piano, Horn and Italian
Thursday, August 18, 2022 by Billy Roberts | Vision
Update 7-25-23: This spring, I began to let up on piano and Italian after nine months of extra focus in those areas. At the beginning of May, I quit studying Italian so that I could spend that time learning French. The horn has gradually regained it's place of prominence, although piano comes in close as my second instrument.
Four months ago, I wrote the blog “Singing Is Essential.” At the time, I felt that I needed to consistently vocalize five days per week, regardless of what other hobbies and pursuits I had. However, other interests over the past few months have shifted my views on the necessity of a daily vocal routine for me; namely, three specific pursuits that each help me to become a better singer: piano, French horn, and Italian.
Although it’s hard to say whether I have put more hours in to horn, voice, or piano over the course of my life, the piano has definitely been a constant for me as other musical interests have come and gone. I began studying the piano at age four and took lessons with the same teacher up through my sophomore year of high school. I made a decent amount of progress each year, and by the end I was able to accompany a typical church choir; however, my musicianship lacked depth until college, when I took several semesters of applied piano with three different graduate assistants and was challenged to work on pieces that took several weeks to learn and several months to learn well.
Most of my initial study of the French horn was on my own, but as with piano, my musicianship greatly increased when I went to college and took applied lessons with the horn. I did have to unlearn a few bad habits, relearn a bit of technique, and ultimately tie my new technique back to the positive aspects of the natural technique that I started with, but the process gave me a great appreciation for the power of music to inspire when coupled with discipline and a solid practice routine. It was actually several years after graduation when most of the fruit from this endeavor really began to show.
The development of breath control and learning to use practice time efficiently were two benefits from horn playing that directly carried over into my approach to the voice. I often use the phrase, “sing through the horn,” but it’s easier said than done due to subtle changes in the throat in the mechanics of vibrating the lips versus the vocal cords. However, once you develop an awareness of which muscles are used the same way and which ones need adjustment, the change can become as simple as flipping a switch. I’m finding that the horn works every muscle that I use to sing with. I just have to figure out how much vocal work I need per week to be able to flip that switch.
The study of Italian is the missing piece that I needed to tie it all together. For over fifteen years I have felt that I really should learn to speak Italian, because of its pure vowels, and brush up on German, which I studied in high school, but language learning was not a high priority on my list. The trip to Europe with my family this summer provided just the motivation I needed in order to finally study Italian. Over the past few weeks, as I’ve started to learn basic words and phrases in Italian, it has become evident that most of my daily need for vocal exercise can be achieved simply by speaking correctly. I have two evenings per week where I have an hour set aside specifically for singing, and that seems to be enough right now.
In short, the combination of piano, horn, and Italian keeps my ears, breath control, and voice in good enough shape that singing comes naturally now with minimal vocal work. This is good, because with thirty minutes per day set aside for each of these three hobbies, I would have to sacrifice more important things like family or relationships were that not the case. There are only so many hours in a day. I’m also grateful for the years of music training that have helped me figure out how to practice well when I only have thirty minutes. I recognize that this means never achieving virtuosity on any of these instruments, but I’m finding greater meaning and fulfillment at this stage of life by being more available to serve others with the various gifts that God has given me.
