Sigma Alpha Iota

14 Spring 2024 • sai-national.org Alphn ALPHORN continued from page 13 and Kammerman's article in e Galpin Society Journal. https://bit.ly/SwissAlphorn Glenn K. Call, a dynamic professional euphonium soloist, educator, and music director, founded and led the Alphorn Society of Western New York from late 2009 to about 2015. During two interviews, Glenn and his wife Eileen shared aspects of his life. ey included his specialization in brass instruments, his performing and music directing career with diverse types of ensembles, and his recruitment efforts that helped several of his ensembles as well as the Alphorn Society to be established, become more musical, and grow. Call's philosophy of life, his interest in various religions and high-quality literature including poetry, and his love of nature and people, especially those in need, were qualities that attracted musicians to him and made them eager to follow him as a leader. Call's mother was a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP). She was musical, and in addition to being a homemaker, she served as a secretary. She oen placed toddler Glenn in a bed under the family piano. His father, a decorated fighter pilot in World War II, sold airplanes and worked on engines. Call and his wife Eileen grew up together in a Pennsylvania coal mining town except for a brief time when he lived in Falls Church, VA. Call's school band directors considered his talents, physical and auditory aptitude, and instrument preferences. In seventh grade Call played trombone. e family moved to Falls Church when he was in eighth grade, and he studied the tuba. Aer moving back to Pennsylvania, he bonded with the euphonium, which became his primary instrument. Glenn Call's professional career began with his appointment to the Marine Band, "President's Own," based in Washington, D. C., where he served from July 1976 to July 1981. Aer having given various clinics and solo feature performances on euphonium, in 1977 he was invited to participate in a brass competition in Cambria, Italy. From 1977 to 1981, Call concertized in Great Britain. His goal was to bring the euphonium into focus as a major instrument by commissioning new works and by writing stories for and publishing Euphonia magazine. In a Great Britain newspaper headline he was named "e Euphonium King." Also, in the 1980's, Call began coursework for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. He taught low brass at Eastman as well as at Nazareth College, both higher education institutions in Rochester, NY. In the 1980's, Call was the Music Director of the Frankfurters, a German American band in Buffalo, NY that played approximately 70 concerts per year. Two members played alphorn, one helped Call to learn it and he bought his alphorn. Call also met a trumpeter, who became a member and eventually the leader of the Alphorn Society. e Frankfurters toured Germany in 1987 and visited Stocker, an alphorn manufacturer in Kriens, Switzerland. Herr Stocker offered a factory tour and explained how alphorns are made. Stocker uses spruce wood. e joints are shaped from large blocks of wood, then sanded to get the shape. e bell is made from two pieces of wood which are shaped and hollowed out and put together. Joints are wrapped with cane except for the lower part of the bell. A layer of varnish is applied, it dries, sanding follows, and metal fittings are added. To learn more about Stocker's process, go to: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ZbFPrAaf1ks. In 1983, Joe Baker brought the TUBACHRISTMAS™ program to Rochester, NY. Harvey Phillips founded it as a tribute to his tuba teacher, William Bell. e program features Christmas Carols arranged for euphoniums and tubas by Alec Wilder, formerly of Rochester, NY. e program, which is overseen by the Harvey Phillips Foundation, Inc., is given in approximately 290 locations annually. Call was invited to direct, and he led over thirty annual TUBACHRISTMAS™ concerts. Managerial aspects were the responsibility of Joe Baker, a tubist and bassist who played in several Rochester region ensembles including the Greece Concert Band, Nazareth Wind Ensemble, and the Monroe County Parks Band, and others. Call invited Marcia Bornhurst Parkes and Jeremy Stoner to share some TUBACHRISTMAS™ conducting duties for a few years. At a reception following a concert, Call introduced them to his alphorn. For her, it was love at first sight and sound. She took lessons with Call, as many alphornists and others did, and he encouraged her to practice the baritone horn while transitioning to the alphorn. Call arranged and composed selections that would reflect the spirit of the natural surroundings of the alps including valleys, towns, footpaths, and flowers, such as gentians, roses, and edelweiss, which are stitched onto the trim of alphorn Society members' red tunics. Members wear black pants or dirndls with aprons. Some wear pork pie hats; others wear garlands made with flowers. As stated in the Eastman School of Music alumni files, "Morris Secon, Professor of French horn at the Eastman School of Music (1950- 1959) and Principal Horn of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (1944 to 1959, and again from 1969 to 1982), loved giving presentations on the topic of the 'Magic of Music' which oen began with sound and sight of the alphorn. He gave well over 1,000 programs on 'e Magic of Music' for grade school children, high school students, senior citizens, the developmentally disabled, and the hospital bedridden." (See https://www.esm.rochester.edu/alumni/ files/MorrisSecon.htm, October 17, 2004.) For three years (1989-1991), Glenn Call served as the Music Director of the Monroe County Parks Band, based in Rochester, NY). During a trip to Europe, the band traveled to Germany and toured Neuschwanstein Castle, located in Schwangau, Germany, south of Austria. When Call described the band and its repertoire to the Castle host, the host invited them to give an impromptu concert, and the band was stunned. Chairs were unavailable so the musicians stood while performing. e Monroe County Parks Band was the first wind band ever to perform at the Castle. Many musicians in ensembles Call directed realized that it was a meaningful experience to collaborate with him, and Call thought that he could attract like-minded people to the alphorn. He considered inviting those he thought would love to play it, especially in nature while enjoying the company of others. Private lessons were offered, and during rehearsals he coached the ensemble and helped them to achieve the deepest, most centered, and round sound possible. Call and Secon met around the year 2000 when Secon taught William Zell, a man of Swiss heritage who spoke five languages and was learning the alphorn. Secon became busy and invited Call to help Zell with his music studies, and Glenn taught private lessons at the Zell home. Glenn and his wife became friends with Will and his wife Joan, and social occasions led to a lasting friendship as well as the Zell's offer to host alphorn ensemble rehearsals at their

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