Rudy Wiedoeft Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Dale Clevenger passed away on January 5th at the age of 81. For those that may not know, Dale Clevenger was the Principal Horn for the Chicago Symphony for 47 Years!!! During his tenure, the Chicago Symphony was widely considered the world's pinnacle of brass sections. In 1983 Dale gave a workshop at the DCI Convention that focused on brass tone production in the drum corps activity. He emphasized that the number one priority with any brass player is sound quality. I cannot even imagine the thousands of young brass players that he influenced, inspired, and taught over his many years. If you are looking for an example of Dale's artistry, I would start with the 3rd Movement of Gustav Mahler's 5th Symphony under the direction of Georg Solti. There is actually a video on YouTube of their performance in Japan. Amazing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanguard87 Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 I'm really sorry to hear that. I can tell you that Tim Salzman (SCV's brass caption head) attended that very workshop and referred to it often, and "Clevenger" became a code-word in the SCV horn line. I'm sure I'm getting the details of this wrong after so many years, but at one point one of the attendees said something like "that's all well and good, but you're playing on the world's finest horns and our kids are playing two-valve G bugles". This must have been a frequent objection, because Dale then pulled out a length of garden hose, stuck a mouthpiece in one end, and made it sound wonderful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Wiedoeft Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 Dale actually demonstrated on his concert horn and then was able to get an amazing sound on a french horn bugle (I believe a dynasty). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 It’s not the machine, it’s the operator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Loud is good. Tone is better. Loud & tone is best 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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