The Brass Junkies 80: Jennifer Montone
Andrew Hitz
Listen via
iTunes
Spotify
Soundcloud
Stitcher
Jennifer Montone is one of my favorite horn players in the world. We met each other about 25 years ago as students at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and even then it was obvious she was going to be a superstar.
The visualization she does on stage before big solos with the Philadelphia Orchestra that she describes in this interview will take your breath away. Amazing stuff!
From the show notes:
TBJ80: Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Horn Jennifer Montone on playing, meditating and telling your own story
Jennifer Montone has played with the Philadelphia Orchestra for 11 years. Prior to that, she spent time in the Dallas, St. Louis and New Jersey Symphonies and teaches at both Curtis and Juilliard.
In this fun and lively conversation, we cover:
- Playing at Tanglewood as a student in the Empire Brass Seminar
- Lance playing w/Jennifer in Philly (it had such a lasting impact on her)
- Dealing with pressure
- Meditation and yoga, the influence of “Soprano on Her Head,” the work of Noa Kageyama and Don Greene
- Concentrating energy from your Chi
- Headspace app, Hittleman yoga book, Mt. Fuji meditation, Jack Kornfield, Kripalu website, lava lamp meditation
- Self-talk/affirmations
- Playing while 7 1/2 months pregnant
- Re-evaluating her breath work, via Arnold Jacobs’ concepts and teachings
- The effect of posture on her approach
- Taking a positive approach to challenges in music and in life (and passing those concepts on to her students)
- Giving students permission to make musical decisions, then encouraging them to do so
- Being a female principal horn player, how things are changing and evolving
- How she wanted to be a nun up to the age of 14
- Developing leadership skills, being assertive and confident
- National Brass Ensemble
You can check out the complete show notes including all of the links mentioned during this episode over at Pedal Note Media.