Principal Horn of the Cleveland Orchestra Nathaniel Silberschlag on Being Your Best

The last sentence here from Nathaniel Silberschlag, Principal Horn of the Cleveland Orchestra, from Episode 171 of The Brass Junkies really floored me:

"I honestly just was not that nervous about (his Kennedy Center Opera audition) because I didn't have any high expectations for myself. And I think because of that it lent itself to… taking no prisoners.

And I was like, I'm just going to give this my best shot. I can only be the best me on a given day."

The last 11 words from that quote had a profound impact on me.

I can only be the best me on a given day.

I love it when something so obvious is said so eloquently in a way that I need to hear. All I can do is try to be the best version of me at any given time.

While this point is obvious, the way he puts it is brilliant. His job isn’t to be great. His job is only to be the best he can be today.

None of us is promised linear progress in anything. Not even one of the best horn players in the world like Nathaniel!

There will be plenty of times when something isn’t as good on Thursday as it was on Wednesday, or even a week ago. Rather than getting held up on where we should be (in our minds, of course!), Nathaniel is encouraging us to focus simply on being our best possible version today. And that has nothing to do with last week!

Thanks for the reminder, Nathaniel. This is something I need to be reminded of from time to time!

(The above GIF is from the part of the interview when Nathaniel told us about how he had to tell the Kennedy Center Opera section that he couldn’t go out for a drink after winning the audition because he was 19 and because his father was waiting for him in the car. We were dying.)

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You can watch our entire interview with Nathaniel Silberschlag on YouTube below or find links to all the other places you can find it here.

The Brass Junkies 82: Geoffrey Pilkington

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Geoff Pilkington is one of the best horn players in the world and I am lucky to call him a dear friend. I'd been wanting to make this interview happen for a long time and finally we made the schedules work!

This one ended up being a little different than the rest. We talked about his entire career but also ended up doing a deep dive into playing the Long Call from Wagner's Siegfried. Hearing about his experience performing it as a part of the Ring Cycle here in DC a couple of years ago was fascinating.

From the show notes:

TBJ82: Geoffrey Pilkington, Principal Horn for the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra on yoga, humility and the Long Call

Geoffrey Pilkington, Principal Horn for the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra joins Andrew & Lance to talk about working with Don Greene, dealing with the effects of a pinched nerve and gives us a great behind-the-scenes look at what goes into preparing for and playing the Ring Cycle.

In this fun and lively conversation, we cover:

• His main gigs (Principal horn for National Opera in DC, and Assistant Principal in Harrisburg PA Symphony)
• Studying at Juilliard
• How his practice habits have changed
• Super final round (1st time) was Geoff and Phil Munds, Maestro, “Neither were the next Dale Clevenger”
• Super final round (2nd time) with WeiPing Chou, Maestro, “Don’t miss any notes”
• Working with Don Greene on audition prep
• His parents were amateur musicians and his Dad's request to a 5th grade Geoff, “Pick anything you want except saxophone or French horn”
• How to explain why the horn is difficult to people who know nothing about music
• How to explain why the horn is difficult to people who DO know about music
• The importance of humility for a horn player
• Playing the Ring Cycle, especially the Sigfried Long Call
• Playing with a pinched nerve in his neck and shoulder
• Adversity training with Don Greene, some dude doing “The Worm”
• Using swimming as a way to warm up and prepare physically and mentally
• Using Bikram Yoga and meditation to prepare for The Ring
• The importance of visualization in audition or performance preparation
• Why focus is like a muscle, you can work on developing it

You can check out the complete show notes including all of the links mentioned during this episode over at Pedal Note Media.

The Brass Junkies 76: Doug Rosenthal

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Doug Rosenthal is a phenomenal trombone player for the Washington National Opera and one hell of an awesome human. Love this guy! What a great interview we had with him while he was in Chicago playing Bass Trumpet on the Lyric Opera's Ring Cycle.

From the show notes:

Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra trombonist Doug Rosenthal joins Andrew & Lance in a conversation ranging from the bass trumpet to dealing with the Valsalva maneuver and his experiences as an openly gay brass player.

Currently, in his 6th season with the Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Doug was actually speaking to us from Chicago, where he was playing bass trumpet with The Lyric Opera. He explains how he manages to schedule both gigs, how he got started at Northwestern and a variety of other topics, including:

• Starting on euphonium
• Going to Bremen Germany to get a bass trumpet
• Playing with The New World Symphony
• Playing the full Ring Cycle
• His blog, "Inside the Arts"
• His challenges overcoming issues the Valsalva maneuver
• Being an openly gay brass player
• #thouhgtsandprayers for Jens

You can check out the complete show notes including all of the links mentioned during this episode over at Pedal Note Media.