Liverpool

I lived in the UK for two years: in a city called Liverpool (yeah the place the Beatles came from).

Originally I went over in September 2009 to do my Masters in Popular Music Studies. I finished that degree up by October the following year, and I wasn't quite ready to leave. I spent the next 10 months focusing on getting as many gigs as I could around town. By 'gigs' I don't really mean gigs because none of them payed. However, I was an aspiring musician, so I found myself in a 'say yes to anything' mode. I had the free time and could afford to play for free for any community group that wanted to have me. 

My playing and networking payed off: in January or February of 2011 I was put in touch with the Assistant Principal Horn for the Liverpool Philharmonic - Chris Morley. We had some good coffee chats, and he gave me some really great lessons. Around April or so he brought me in to fill in his spot as Assistant on a cute little opera by Mendelssohn. I had a BLAST. At some other point I think I played on a rehearsal or two for their Mahler 6 concert. 

Let me just say: what a fantastic horn section Liverpool has. All the guys are sweethearts and very good at what they do. Actually, that section is so good at what they do it's almost second nature to them. Their skills and abilities are that much embedded in them. Every time I was around them I could see they really loved working with each other. Very very harmonious section - even in their least harmonious moments. I loved seeing that. Made me desire to work with them and other musicians like them! 

For any young horn player out there wanting to do the horn thing, I strongly recommend living and playing abroad for awhile - at least six months. If you can, get yourself to somewhere in Europe. After all, Europe is where this whole Classical music tradition kicked off. Learn yourself the local language while you're there, too. It only adds good things to your scope as a musician. 

I only can think of wonderful things to say about the Liverpool Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Follow this link and you'll get a bit of what they're like. In this video, the Phil is performing the Finale from Mahler's 5th Symphony. Just... fantastic! I miss them and everything else in Liverpool!